DEBORAH CORRAO / L’Observateur / June 12, 1999

At my house we have a terrible case of procrastination, putting off things not only till tomorrow but to some unforeseen time in the future. Acouple of weeks ago I decided to empty our little aquarium that was home now to only one fish.

I put the fish in a smaller bowl (and I will admit, he seemed a lot happier when he could see again) and had my husband carry the aquarium outside to the deck where I planned on cleaning it at some unforeseen time in the future.

Well, needless to say, rainwater accumulated in it along with a lot of green stuff growing on the glass. So, I decided to put some bleach in it toclear up the green stuff, fully intending to clean it out soon.

A couple of weeks and a couple of rainfalls later my granddaughter noticed dozens of tiny tadpoles (obviously immune to, or unaware of, the harmful effects of chlorine) swimming around the still hopelessly scummy aquarium. Now I can’t clean it out. We’re waiting for frogs.Carley went outside to check her tadpoles after coming home from a Memorial Day weekend trip to Alabama with my sister.

Studying the growing amphibians, she looked lost in thought for a while, then said, “I know what probably happened. The mama and daddy frogcarried those tadpoles on their backs and then put them in the aquarium.”I immediately began visualizing two frogs loaded down with offspring on their backs making a long, arduous trek to my dirty aquarium.

I really didn’t want to spoil that image for Carley but didn’t want her science to stay skewed and scar her for her life.

“Don’t you think the mama frog laid eggs?” I questioned.

“Well, yes,” she answered. “And they carried them to the aquarium.”Turns out she’s probably right. My mother said she had seen a program onthe Discovery channel showing how frogs carry their eggs on their backs before depositing them.

All very scientific. But I’d prefer to look at in a more whimsical way…thesaga of a mama and daddy frog, babies on their backs, make the long, treacherous journey across my unmown lawn just in time to save me from having to scrub out that aquarium.

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