Toad Space


I encountered a toad the other day as I was preparing a garden bed for planting.  He nearly went unnoticed, being the same size and colour as a clump of the soil I was working.  But he hopped, and dirt doesn't do that.

A toad is a very ordinary thing to find outdoors in spring time, but I reflected that I haven't seen many of them lately.  When I was young, there wasn't a day in the green or brown seasons when I didn't see a toad, a turtle, a crayfish, or some similar small creature up close and personal.  In recent years, these encounters have been less frequent, mostly just during camping trips.  Rarely, there will be some accidental visitor to "human" space.  A few years ago, during a torrential rainstorm, a toad had hopped into the library with the morning deliveries and had to be redirected.  Around ten years past, I rescued a crayfish from a hotel pool.  Still, the daily contact has been missing.

Maybe part of my critter filled childhood was due to living close to the woods and on a lake.  Large untamed areas are havens for little creatures.  But my current neighborhood isn't exactly urban, and I've done my best to make our property welcoming to wildlife.  Maybe I was just closer to the ground then.  We inhabited the same sphere, and things that were small didn't escape my attention as readily.  I knew the likely places to find the toads and which small dark spaces held what sorts of bugs, and more importantly, I went there.  Now, I still may walk through the woods, even notice small things there, but I don't take enough time to just be part of that world.  I don't spend my whole day playing among the toads.

When I encountered the garden toad, I had a few friendly words and gently nudged him aside so I could continue working without hurting him.  Prepping the bed for planting was just one chore on my list that evening, and I needed to work steadily or I wouldn't finish in time.  He stayed close, watching me work.  When I was done, I tucked an empty flower pot in a corner of the space, tipped on its side to make a cool and sheltered spot for any visiting toads.  I don't know that he or any others will use it.  Still, it felt right because I can only benefit from making space for toads in my life.


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