A Tale of Two Frogs

Our back porch between the kitchen and the deck has storm windows and a storm door. That setup allows us to use a heater out there and enjoy the space even in cool and cold weather. The porch also serves as a home in winter for Dianne's jungle. Before the first frost we move all the plants inside from the deck. Included are two lemon trees, a coffee plant, papaya, avocado, orchids, and lots of other stuff. 

For the past several years we've had a visitor that comes inside with all the plants. The first two or three times he was an American green tree frog we named Fred. We found him on one of the plants when they were on the porch during the winter. We saw him--or his twin--again when the plants were moved outside, then again the next winter. We didn't see him this past winter, but we did find FredToo, a gray tree frog. He was in the pineapple plant and still there when we recently moved the plants outdoors again.

We'll have to see whether FredToo remains in Dianne's jungle this year. In the meantime, you can find out more about frogs and toads [which are a type of frog] at Wikipedia's portal. 

I've also written about "A Giant Frog in Mobile in 1877."

More comments are below some of the photos. 

Fred in November 2015 

Fred on the deck March 2016

This would seem to be a lizard encroaching on Fred's pineapple plant in October 2016

Fred on the pineapple March 2017

FredToo in the pineapple plant March 2019

FredToo on the windowsill inside the porch April 2019 just before all the plants were moved outdoors

And here's what we found in the pineapple in May 2020 several weeks after moving the plant from the porch to the deck. Pineapples below.

And here's the most recent view [2019] of Dianne's deck jungle. FredToo is out there somewhere; the pineapple plant is the first one between the first two poles on the left. 

Frogs make frequent appearances in human culture, whether in culinary form, children's books or patent medicine advertisements from the 19th century. 

A Giant Frog in Mobile in 1877

The following item appeared on the front page of the Mobile Daily Tribune on a Sunday morning in 1877. At least, I think it was the Tribune. My copy has only "Mobile Daily" at the top and a daily Tribune was being published in the city in that year.


A HUGE FROG

PRONOUNCED BY SEVERAL OF OUR RIVER AND BAY MEN TO BE THE LARGEST EVER SEEN ABOUT OUR WATERS

One of the curiosities of our coast, is a mammoth frog, which was exhibited yesterday afternoon, to a crowd, down at the New Orleans and Mobile depot. He is evidently a stray animal in the pen, as no such frog was ever known to infest the waters or bays of our gulf coast before. Several river men and bay men declared that it is the largest frog ever known to exist anywhere in our swamps and bayous. It is estimated that its weight is a least 200 pounds. Tom Bullock, the courteous and popular agent of the New Orleans road, in whose keeping his frogship is, has determined to keep him on exhibition several days, when he will send him to Barnum. The old fellow was found under the wharf, at the foot of Government street and captured by a little negro boy. We advise all who would witness a real curiosity in the shape of abnormal growth, to go down to the New Orleans and Mobile depot and take a look at this--certainly the largest frog ever seen by us.


Well. What a sight the creature must have been for all the Mobilians who went to the depot to see him! Why, they would have found absolutely nothing! This item appeared in the April 1 edition of the paper.

Even in 1877, just a dozen years after the end of the Civil War and in the same year as the end of formal Reconstruction in the South, journalists in Mobile were pulling such jokes. April Fool's Day humor and hoaxes have a long history; April 1 was initially associated with pranks and such by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales.

The mention of "Barnum" refers of course to P.T. Barnum, already well-known in 1877. A major figure in the history of American business and showmanship, Barnum's career helped create the culture of spectacle in which so much of the world lives today.

I wonder if Tom Bullock, he of the great courtesy and popularity down at the depot, was also a real person?