What's In My Pocket?

Welcome to Paula's Pocket! I hope you find leaping through my blog interesting, fun and full of surprises. I write children's picture books. This is partly because I have the mind of a child and partly because I just do. I find my ideas for discovering subjects for my books mind-blogging (pun intended). What follows is just one example.

Several years ago, my husband and I found a rather adventurous frog in our bathroom. Catching it seemed like it would be no problem. However...We cornered the frog just as it leaped on the toilet seat and coaxed it in with a rolled up newspaper. Then we flushed. Did you know that a frog can attach itself to a porcelain toilet and remain long after the flusing has ended? I know that now.

Perhaps the first flush weakened him. We flushed again. He remained. I know if I had seen his face, there would have been a smirk. We stuck the cleaning brush on him and flushed. He disappeared. High fives all around.

We turned around for a final glance (more like a gloat) before turning off the lights. He sat on the rim staring at us. This meant war!I grabbed an empty garbage can to see if I could coax him in there. This determined frog jumped and attached himself to the wall, and refused to take the hint. My husband and I placed the garbage can over him sliding the unrolled newspaper from side to side as we fit it barely between the wall and the can. If we couldn't coax him, maybe we could scare him.

Either the frog was afraid or it grew tired of the game, because it worked. Once we heard the "CA-THONG" of him hitting the side, we immediately flipped the can and covered it.

Being the animal lover that I am (well, a few exceptions), I insisted my husband take the can outside and release the frog to find his family. It was dark and pouring rain. My husband stepped onto the deck and emptied the frog there.

"That was quick," I said. "Where is he?"

My husband proudly replies, "He's out on the deck."

I flipped on the light for the deck. The frog wasn't moving. I felt guilty. Did all the coaxing kill the frog? I had heard that if you touch a frog it would die? And even if it didn't die, it wasn't moving. And if it wasn't moving, it was good prey for a snake. And I DID NOT WANT A SNAKE ON MY DECK--frog or no frog!!

I voiced my concern to my husband. My husband said I was too emotional over a little frog which meant he needed to take action.He grabbed an umbrella. I watched him from the back door as he picked up a stick to prod the frog until it leaped from the deck.

My husband walked back into the house happy to be out of the rain and happy to be without a frog. I was happy, too. I even had idea for a children's book...Now you know the story behind Chasing Frogs.