Weekend excitement

Bonk!

Buh-bonk! Thud!

Bonk! Bonk!


It all came from the direction of the new egress windows we had installed in winter. I wondered if my worst fears were coming true or if the boys in the 'hood had taken it upon themselves to dig my yard.



Even my aching legs - from the hiking and exercising - did not stop me from racing to the yard. No-one in sight. No cracks in the brick or the foundation. Then we heard it again.

Bonk! Thud! followed by silence.

I went back downstairs to peer through the window to get a better look.

A rake?! Rake?!

It had to be a reptile. Last night's scare was bad enough. My garage had a rotten smell which my husband insisted was that of a dead animal or a dead snake. Yes, snake, he said. And he went to look. When he came back in, he had a sack of something held high in his hands. It had to be the dead snake so I screamed the neighborhood down. It turned out to be a few potatoes that I had forgotten about. Oops!


Needless to say, there was now a very interested crowd that had gathered.

But what was it?! Please join me in my ewwwwww! that echoed through the neighborhood, yet again, when you see it:


Not a reptile but an amphibian. It was named within seconds of being spotted: Toadert


My Superman managed to get it to climb onto the rake and flicked it into my lilies. The girls immediately started trying to get it out of there lest it jump right back into the 5' well.


When it didn't emerge nor jump back into the well, they pondered on what they should do next. It didn't take more than 3 seconds for them to reach a unanimous decision:

Snow cones! That certainly helped me cool off!

What did you do this weekend? Did you have any random excitement like we did?

22 comments:

Pelicano said...

That toad is so cute! I would have given him a little kiss on the snout (I leave all my options open). But was he alright? Did he live? Such a fall for the poor thing!

[thinks for a few seconds] Uh....what flavour are those snow cones??? Please say lime.

Kitt said...

Ha! I was expecting a critter of some sort as soon as you said egress window. He's cute! Poor thing.

No random excitement here, but I did get a good deal on produce. Woo!

Indian Food Rocks said...

Pel, he was as fine as a warty toad can be! And those snow cones were lime!

Kitt, I've had cats try to walk across and leap in, peer at me and then scramble out. This poor toad had no chance as his highest leap still fell short. I think it is time to get those horrid plastic covers.

Produce, eh?! I am so jealous!

Anita said...

How exciting!
Nothing even half as exciting here...I baked some bread, but what is exciting about that.

I'm not saying ewwww though - he looks sweet. And if they are around, we have hope for the environment! :D I don't see any frogs in this big bad city even in the monsoons anymore.

Where's the snow cone, that's just a pile of snow! Oh, I so want to have baraf ke gole now!

@the_whisk_affair said...

loved your post...cant help but smile!! Toadert is lucky to get the attention of these beautiful young ladies! ;-)

Shilpa said...

:) you screamed at the frog Manisha? He is so cute.
Nothing special/excitement here. Trying hard to prepare for interviews :)

Indian Food Rocks said...

Anita toads are warty and disgusting. There is nothing sweet about them. Where is the cone? I (and the girls) would rather not waste money on paper cones and use my bowls or plastic cups instead.

I miss gola so much! And esp the kala khatta one with all those chemicals in it.
:-D

JZ, Toadert has no clue how lucky he is. They might have even kissed him. But every time he leaped, they screamed. Like I did.

Shilpa, not a frog. A toad. And a toad is an amphibian. Very closely related to reptiles. And I know how you feel about those slithering creatures! All the best with your interviews!

Donna Barr said...

Oh, for heaven's sake, it's just a toad! And you WANT it in your garden -- it will eat all the slugs and lots of things that want to eat your garden. Put a little toad house out for it, and consider yourself in good shape to have your very own garden-guarding toad!

(In the spring, here, when the young cougars are looking for new homes, we just put away the little animals and kids until the cats wander away.)

lakshmi said...

I have fed to the brim this weekend (went home) :D

Holidays at Thatha's place in Madras were fabulous for the most part until my brother and cousin became 4 years old. They'd each hold a "kutchi" in hand and go around poking toads in the garden or wrapping the really small ones up in a newspaper surprise!!! Eeewwwww

TheCooker said...

Oh how I miss kala khatta. A few years ago I brought back a pack with me. But it didn't taste like anything I remembered; so disappointing! Somethings are best enjoyed in the homeland.

bee said...

that reminds me i have potatoes in my garage. maybe a snake or two as well.

Rachna said...

heeee.... the toad loook sooo huge...we set out for a picnic and came back home coz it was too hot outside... had the picnic food at home under the AC!!!

Indian Food Rocks said...

Donna, :-D Welcome to IFR! I wondered who would be the first to scold me that it is only a toad!

The problem is that nothing much grows in my yard and it is too hot for an amphibian to survive. Besides grossing me out, that is. I think he escaped from the koi pond further up the street.

You have mountain lions, too? I refuse to let my daughter wander alone in the open space where fully grown cougars have been sighted.


Lakshmi, you went home? You lucky lucky girl! I have no doubt you were well fed and you probably returned with a huge stash, too! Latha must have loved fussing over you! And no newspaper surprises for me, thank you!

TC, you totally are my langotiyaar. I was lamenting the lack of kala khatta too. There are several reasons why it tasted different. It was made with clean water and from what I read it no longer has all those terrible killer chemicals it used to have. They took away the thrill of kala khatta. Now it is a mere ghost of its former yummy self!

Bee, ewwwww!

Rachna, he was a big guy. And to me he seemed even bigger when he leaped all over the place. The heat's been getting everyone. It crossed 100F over here yesterday. At least you enjoyed the food!

Anita said...

Our 'cones' are just compacted into that shape - don't need a paper thingey! I think the golewala used to use a steel or glass tumbler to shape it. The slab of ice would be shaved using an upturned wood-shaver! You use a blender?
I use to go for the rose flavoured one...the one with Rooh Afza, never had kala khatta. What does that taste like?

Indian Food Rocks said...

Anita, too much work to compact anything. No-one can wait for that to be done either! Our golas were always gol - round - and on an ice-cream stick. Never in the shape of a cone. We have an ice shaver or a "snow cone machine". I haven't tried snow cones with a blender.

You've never had kala khatta? Not even the "I love you, Rasna" kala khatta? I think they have stopped making it but there have to be several copycats that linger. It's dark in color, tangy, and our the golewala would sprinkle his special masala that had jeera and rock salt.

Rooh Afza? Puh-leeeze!

Padma said...

I was thinking it might be snake all the way down reading the story... thank god it wasn't. Snakes are scary and sends shrills when I see them moving even on Discovery...

Indian Food Rocks said...

Padma, then you absolutely and definitely do not want to read this post from my archives. Seriously. Do not click on the link. :-D

Arundathi said...

Eeeewwwwwwww!!! one day i had a frog hop across my living room straight from the garden - did everything to get him out and have been watching for him ever since. ew!

musical said...

Toadert, the one who caught everyone's attention (and is mighty thrilled about it) :-D. Love it when the hop around (you would diasgree though).

And i heard kala-khatta!! Me wants some!!

Laavanya said...

I can't stand the warty toads either.. but the bag of potatoes bit was fun to read :)

Indian Food Rocks said...

Arundhati, ribbit! Ribbit!

Musy, they can hop all they want. As long as it not anywhere near me!

Laavanya, that was another kind of disgusting!

GB said...

LOL the potatoes. So my amphibian was a little more ewww-ier, since I got to touch him, and wartier. and indoors. How did he get in? yuck. ewww and double ewww.

Thanks for sharing!

XO,
Gagan