October 4, 2010

"Before we set up a watch in my village of Little Melton, about 90 per cent of toads were being squashed to death at our crossings."

"Now it's down to about 10 per cent.... On a warm, wet night they can all come out at once... I was the only person scheduled to patrol that night, and there I was frantically trying to place as many as possible in the bucket to take to the pond, while phoning for patrol reinforcements and trying not to tread on any toads myself."

Toad patrol, in England, home of Toad of Toad Hall.



ADDED: From pre-Althouse+Meade days:
Meade said...
Great buzz!

Maguro said...
Ugh...hate those $#%^*! Japanese Beetles!

Meade said...
Here, Maguro, I feed them to a toad.



Ann Althouse said...
That toad video is fascinating. I watched it 3 times. The speed is amusing, as is the subtly satisfied look on the toad's face. He's not that pleased. But he's pleased. You can tell.

Meade said...
Yes, Japanese Beetles are $#%^ers. They devour roses. No roses, no hortporn. No hortporn, and all I'm left with is my monochromatic imagination. That toad has become so addicted to Japanese Beetles, he waits at the greenhouse door every morning for me to bring him his fix. Every day he leaves a toad turd the size of your pinky finger with recognizable Japanese Beetle exoskeletons in them. I feed the turds to the roses and the cycle is oh so satisfyingly complete....
AND: Later, Althouse and Meade, having found each other, go searching for something — it was morels — and find a toad.

12 comments:

Opus One Media said...

..nothing that my pet snake Reggie wouldn't cure.....

Anonymous said...

You can get high from licking certain kinds of toads. No joke.

Peter

MadisonMan said...

What the MeadeHouse needs -- if one can overlook a certain aversion to egg salad -- is chickens. My neighbor's chickens have an insatiable appetite for Japanese Beetles. I pluck them off the raspberries, hollyhocks, ferns and roses, put them in a jar, refrigerate 'em to induce a little torpor, then take them over and watch the chickens go crazy. It's very very enjoyable to watch the little beasties be fought over by enthusiastic predators.

Automatic_Wing said...

Sounds like Meade outing himself as a toad whisperer was a key moment in the budding romance. Well done, Meade!

Anonymous said...

Poop-poop!

Beth said...

Do not select "hortporn" for a Google search. You won't find anything about botany.

Meade, qu'est-ce que c'est "hortporn"?

Methadras said...

Oh yeah, he came.

TheThinMan said...

So if you want the British government to save your life, you'll do fine as long as your a toad.

Quaestor said...

Toad Patrol? Wasn't that a 1950's kiddie sci-fi sponsored by Ralston Purina?

wv: hyponsin - a deficiency of nsin

Quaestor said...

Hortporn: Anything having to do with orchids.

traditionalguy said...

The unbeaten Fort Worth Toads have fallen to 5th while the Ducks, that the Toads beat last year rose to 4th for doing in some weakened Trojans. No matter how good you perform, some "expert" can overlook your talents. Ask Palin.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

I've got toads in my greenhouses that are far bigger than my fist. GOOD toads. Thank you. I haven't sprayed a chemical insecticide in over eight years.

OTOH, the turds those things leave on the sidewalk are the diameter of my finger finger and half as long.

Bigger than the average Madison roach ... of either sort.