The Bullfrog Bandit

THE DISCOVERY
Last Friday night we went out to eat with the Kreidler's, McKeown's, and Powers at Xochimilco since the Kreidler's were in town. We had a nice dinner and went to the McKeown's afterwards to visit for a while. It was a little late when we got home and the kids were heading back to their rooms to get ready for their baths before bed. I noticed something at the top of the steps that lead to our basement and thought something had been left there or Kirby had a fur ball. Brandon walked up to it and said, "Is this a frog?" Sure enough, there was a good sized bullfrog (without the mask) sitting at the top of the steps. After my first thought of What the.....?, I started wondering where it came from. Surely someone would notice a baseball sized frog come in a door with them. Then I remembered that one night late at night Angie was working down in her office and she heard something in the basement window well. I shined a light and saw a frog had got down there and was jumping next to the window. I figured the next day I would try to get him out. As many thoughts that occur in my head, this one was well forgotten until I see a frog in my living room weeks later! My only conclusion was that the frog got impatient waiting for me to rescue him and decided to head down the drainage tile (whose cover had come off) in the window well. The frog would have had to travel the length of our house until he emerged in our sump pump well. Since I added a backup pump system to it, it no longer has a cover on it and I haven't fixed up the doors to close it off from the rest of the basement. From there, it was an easy trip upstairs.

THE CHASE
I asked my lovely wife to go to the garage to get me a box to catch the frog in. She comes back in and asks if a pizza box will work?!?!?! After I informed her that it may be difficult to catch a frog in a pizza box, she brings me the smallest bathroom trash can we have. I figured I would go ahead and see if the frog that had just been sitting there the whole time, would cooperate with me. I figured he was probably tired and might just be in the mood to get in the little can. I had a small kids broom to help coerce him to hop in his new home. In a move that would have won any frog jumping contest, he leaps backwards halfway down the steps as everyone screams and freaks me out slightly. Every time I would get close to him, he would jump, Angie and the kids would all scream, and I would get a little more nervous that I might not be able to catch him. Finally, I cornered him in the basement and had Angie get me a cardboard box that was bigger than my miniature trash can. After learning that he was a lot better jumper than I was at catching him, I put the box over the top of him to figure out what to do then. I then took a laminated poster and slid it under the box to get something underneath him. I then took a piece of MDF and slid under the poster so I had something strong enough to carry out of the house. Angie and I grabbed the newly formed trap and carefully carried it out of the house and released him in the front yard. After a couple of minutes he hopped away. The kids kept asking if he peed in the house (as did the baby ones we had caught outside before). With all the screaming, jumping and chasing, I'm not sure it would have only been the frog that would have peed!

THE THOUGHTS
While my brain was comprehending how a bullfrog was relaxing in my living room, I was remembering back to the video I saw on the internet that morning (thanks Anita) and was talking about at the McKeown's house of the woman that found an eight foot long snake in he washing machine. Paul then started talking about the person in St. Louis that saw a snake in their shower drain that they poured bleach down to try to get rid of it only to find it in their toilet. Needless to say, I quickly decided to take some corrective action regarding the outside drain and the setup of the sump pump area. I searched the house pretty thoroughly and since I am still here (and not the hospital) you know I didn't find any other surprises.