Once More, but with Amphibians / Prodigal's Return

We had thunderstorms sometime overnight and then later in the afternoon that book-ended our March day. But in the mid-day, after lunch and between the rains, I strolled over to my favorite pond in the Barrens to check out the amphibians.

I'd been there the day before and witnessed (and heard) the amazing frog party that is spring in the Barrens. Upon my return to the pond, I was rewarded with further amphibian adventures. There were frogs everywhere! The ruckus they made was amazing!

This is a shot of the far end of my favorite pond in the Scotia Barrens. Every dot on the surface is either one or two (or sometimes more) frogs. The sun came out for 15 minutes, and while it shone, they really went nuts. I saw one frog hop RIGHT OUT OF THE WATER in the middle of the pond, like a leaping dolphin. Way cool, froggy. Good show!

I have some other news, but it's from our yard, not the Barrens. Do you remember in the winter, that one of our fawns died during a mid-November snowstorm? I hauled its remains into the woods in my trusty yard cart, and the vultures came the next day to take care of clean-up and removal.

On January 30th, my husband and I had returned from errands in town, and my husband saw a fawn in the yard. As I watched it walk through our woods into the neighbors' woods, my heart dropped: the fawn was injured, and visibly limping. But that's all I got: one glimpse, before it left our yard. I didn't know what to do, if anything.

But I worried about it. In fact, sometimes at night, I'd wonder if the fawn was somewhere suffering, or dying, maybe in our own yard. I searched the woods several times: no fawn. And I'd ask myself - would I want to know what happened, even if the news was bad? I did want to know because I wanted to help somehow, if I could. In fact, that's the prayer I prayed: please, just let me help somehow.

Well, guess who showed up on this day. Yep, the fawn! Our prodigal child has returned. You may see it in the extras. It still has a small limp in its one front leg, but it seems healthy otherwise. It is robust and it is no longer traveling alone. It has a FAMILY now. It was with a herd of deer that preened and licked each other; they waited for the fawn, and took care of it.

So here's a shout-out to the fawn that I have worried about for going on two months; who made it through the winter; who appears to be healing somewhat from its injuries; and who is now part of a family herd. Hooray!!

I have two soundtrack songs. One is for the frogs, who were going crazy on this pond, and for the sunshine that made them especially go nuts: Dolly Parton, with Shine. And for my fawn who is still alive, has made it through winter, is healing, and has a family now, here's Ozzy Osbourne, with Mama, I'm Coming Home.