MY OUTDOOR EXPORATIONS

A recent post my daughter wrote about the frogs they find in their backyard reminded me of my frog, turtle and lizard explorations as a kid. we often lived in the country and my favorite thing to do was to take my dog; Cookie and explore orchards and wet lands and fields for any critters I could find. I also loved to fish, and wasn't afraid to put worms on a hook and bring home a catfish or some other kind no one wanted to eat. frogs were my favorite, and the hardest to catch. I was so patient when I wanted to be, and would sit on the bank of some pond or creek, with Cookie sitting beside me, and neither of us would move for a very long time just to see who could be still the longest. Most of the time the frogs won out, but sometimes they would move and I would snatch them. i took home jars and jars of frogs and other creatures that I usually got in trouble for. Sometimes I would hide them in my room for a later look and not put a tight lid on them and they would get out and get lost somewhere in the house. Later we would get serenaded at night by their croaking and then I was caught! The worst part was when they stopped croaking and they died somewhere and we had to deal with the awful smell! Those were some of the best times of my life, all the exploring and freedom I had just me and my dog and critters galore-and forgetting my troubles.