Friday, October 8, 2010

A Cautionary Tale - Why You Should Never Stick Your Hand in a Hole

This afternoon the weather was too beautiful to stay indoors, so after lunch I took the kids out to the park.

This is a park that has a large lake that the kids enjoy wading in and trails we enjoy walking on.

We crossed a bridge and walked along the sandy beach trying to catch frogs - well the girl was. On the way back over the bridge we headed on down to the water under the bridge. There is a trail through the woods next to the water and as we were passing we heard a funny noise.

The girl thought it was a frog but to me it sounded like the cry of a kitten. She could hear the sound coming from the edge of the water under some tangled vines under the turf that was overhanging the water (if that makes sense). She looked under the vines into a hole and saw a frog.

"It's a huge bullfrog!" "I think he is stuck." She put her hand in and tried to gently coax him out of the hole but couldn't see too well and she was worried she might hurt him.

"Are you sure it's a frog?" I said, feeling a bit wary. "Yes it's a frog!" she relied rather exasperatedly (b/c of course she knows what a frog looks like). The boy agreed as he also got a glimpse of it.

The girl used an empty plastic cup to try and scoop him out of the hole with. After awhile with no success, and wanting to continue our walk, I said "Just use your hands." But as I said she didn't want to hurt him and since his leg was stuck on a branch or something she didn't want to pull and end up with part of a frog in her hand.

After a little more tugging there was a quick motion, a scream and I thought I saw the frog fall into the water. I figured she was a bit grossed out by the GIANTNESS of the bullfrog.

But it wasn't so.

She screamed because, yes there was a frog. And yes he was stuck. Stuck in the MOUTH of a snake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She had been gently tugging when all of a sudden she, and the boy, saw the snake with his mouth on the frog's leg. And not just a itsy bitsy snake but a very large snake. I saw something too - just not sure if what I saw was the snake or the frog as it was so quick.

We're not too sure how much of what she was feeling in there was the frog and how much was the snake! How creepy is that??!

All three of us left that area rather quickly. I felt terrible that I had been encouraging the girl to just reach in and grab the frog. Everyone knows you should never stick your hand into a hole you can't see into!!!!!!!

As we were walking away the boy said, "It was the Providence of God that that snake had its mouth full of the frog." (meaning the snake couldn't bite the girl with his mouth already full).

At first the girl said the snake was a water moccasin, then she said maybe a copperhead. I'd say that due to it's location it was probably a water moccasin - but she said it wasn't black - so who knows!

What also totally creeps me out is thinking of that odd sound the frog was making - making b/c it was being eaten by a snake....aaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!