Frogs and worms...

... and heaven only knows what else is out there in the dark that I am not seeing. Sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss.

Walking Savannah after dark has gotten to be a challenge. I don't leave the driveway and walk this puppy on the road after dark, and I'm glad there's enough grass next to the driveway for her to inspect and choose for her nightly 'business.' However... tonight before I even got to the driveway, there was a long worm on the stones of the walkway... at least 16" long would be my guess, and unfortunately, I stepped on the stupid thing before I knew it was there. Good grief.

My husband bought me an easy-to-hold and very bright flash-light to bring outside with me after it gets dark. My mistake tonight, however, was not shining that light down onto the paving stones before I crossed them. Had I done that, I could have side-stepped that blasted worm. As it happened, my foot was on the worm when the light hit the stones and there I was, one foot on a stone and one foot on this ridiculously long worm.... and by that time, not only was the damage done to the worm but I had to lift my foot off of that blasted thing and hope that he wasn't heading in the same direction I was. Good grief. Just the thought...

Luckily, the worm was somewhat injured when I stepped on him, and I saw him trying to move the back half of his body so it could keep in pace with the front half of his body. I'm cringing as I type this.  I don't know where the worm went and what happened to him, because by the time Savannah was finished in the grass by the driveway, that worm was nowhere to be found on the paving stones. I hope he doesn't go off into the tall grass and keep growing till he's three feet long.

However... in searching for that worm so I wouldn't step on him a second time, I missed seeing a brown frog on another one of those stones. Thankfully, that frog saw both me and Savannah and he jumped out of our way and went off into the grass, but not before scaring me so much that I nearly screamed out loud right there on the walkway. I'm not afraid of the frogs... they're sort of cute, actually, but that one on the walkway surely wouldn't have been so cute had I stepped on him. Good grief.

Will there ever be an end to the critters and crawlers and slithery things that are out there after dark? Probably not. I will never get used to this. I'm doomed.