A Story - "Shocking News" and a Little Tree Frog

 A Story 

Shocking News

"The news story was horrific.  School children had been shot by a mentally disturbed young man. Parents were stunned to learn that their child had died.  The rest of the community grappled with the shared grief, mingled with guilty relief that their child had survived. 

Tessa shuddered seeing the reports.  She had two children, about the same age as the victims. She wished that she could just keep them at home, protected, shielded from the struggles of the real world. How many other young people were falling through the mental health care cracks? Politicians put out statements in support of the suffering families but nothing concrete was done. 

Her phone pinged and after replying, she got ready to leave for the hospital.

After years of challenges, her teenage son had stopped eating and become aggressive towards her. He had finally been admitted to a psychiatric ward.  The doctor was cautious about a successful outcome with  treatment. Tessa felt dizzy with apprehension. How violent could her son be in his distress?  The hospital could only keep him for so long. The future looked terrifying. "

The weather has been pretty gray lately.  Still definitely winter and not much sun.  Hard to not feel sleepy like this little green tree frog.  I took his picture last summer while he was napping. Tree frogs make quite a loud chirping noise when they are calling to each other.  Surprisingly loud for a small creature.

Cute Little Treefrog

I saw this little guy by the back deck.  Although he is officially a Grey Treefrog as you can see he is green.  Some of them are brown and , of course, some are grey. I don't know what accounts for the variation in colour. They can climb way up in the trees with their suction cup feet and have a surprisingly loud call. This one is about 2" long. Pretty cute.

Spring Peeper?

I went down to the basement to do laundry and was startled to see about a dozen little frogs stuck to the outside of the window.  They are only about an inch long so I suspect they are spring peepers.  Not the prettiest sight, but still a reminder that spring really is a-comin. I don't know why they were right by the house as normally they would be in a marshy area in a field across the road. It has been rainy and mild for the last couple of days so I guess that woke them up. You just never know who you will encounter on any given day.

Spring Peepers

Here is a very short video that lets you hear the spring peepers (little frogs) that have started singing. The watery  sound is just some wind noise, but you can really hear the peepers.  It is a sure sign of spring.