I am wrong often enough that it stopped being a bother to me long ago, but still it hurts to be the target of too many I-told-you-so’s from my wife. Last evening I heard the news that temperatures would be  dropping into the thirties overnight, so this is the time to bring in the gingers, elephant ears, and agaves that spend the summer outdoors.

My wife was on the phone when I started hauling in some of the larger pots, but she interrupted to say “don’t bring in any frogs”. And where she got this idea I haven’t a clue. As if I always bring in frogs.

Of course, I usually do bring in frogs when the pots are brought indoors for the season. And, if not frogs it’s snakes, and almost always there are spiders and ants. I’ve tried to claim that these beasts were already inside, and how could they possibly come in with agaves with spines so sharp I suffer at least a few significant puncture wounds while bringing them in?

But, you know and I know, and certainly my wife knows that somehow they come in burrowed in the soil, or clinging to the pots, or somehow. If this was all so easy, even I could make certain creatures aren’t brought indoors. I think that careful inspection and flooding containers will lessen the opportunities for frogs and snakes to hitchhike inside, but that would involve planning ahead, which I cannot recall ever doing.

News that a cold night is on the way seems always to come suddenly to me, so that I’m scurrying as the sun sets to to lug pots that are far too heavy when dry and back breaking impossible when wet. Some will go in the basement, and others into our small den off the kitchen. Here is the bigger problem, where I must not only caution against bringing small beasts indoors, but damage to wood floors and furniture must be avoided or there will be trouble.

Fortunately, this evening there are no catastrophes, with no damage that I’ve noticed besides dropping some soil that is inevitable while dragging such large containers that have not been cleaned up after a summer outdoors. This will be cleaned up later when I move the pots from their temporary positions to more permanent spots to take advantage of the natural light or LED’s that are set up in the basement.

Now, the sun has set, and it’s time for a break. And, this is when I see a green object in the middle of the floor in the basement that is obviously not something I dropped since it’s moving. Of course, the logical next step is to catch the dang thing before my wife finds it. So, I chase this little green frog around the basement to try to catch it barehanded, then with a small container that I hoped to drop over it. After too many tries I grabbed a bath towel from the laundry to throw over the little guy, but quickly it’s evident that this fellow is much quicker and more highly motivated to not be caught. So, I give up. Now, there’s only one thing to do, fess up. Tomorrow.