I am sitting at my desk, looking out over my backyard and others that are connected by white picket fences; Dooley just finished mowing his lawn and Jason is next door catching up on his landscaping chores; he just got back from vacation. Looking out over this picturesque setting one never realizes all that truly goes on in the vast space beneath our feet.

Sure during the day we see the bees, birds and an occasional one eared rabbit cutting through on their way to the wooded areas; we even have a lizard or two that makes an appearance but what happens at night when our eyes are not that fine tuned by the light of the day?

At night we have the benefit of the screened in porch, shielding us from night time pests.  We sit under Jason and Erin’s pergola and are visited by beetles and huge moths that are drawn towards the light coming through the windows, but what else is out there? You hear them, their various notes of croaking and chirping floating through the air like an amphibian symphony; occasionally we hear a screaming type sound but that is further away and for another picture/blog and that’s if I ever get the chance to see what is actually making that hideous noise. I digress.

Last night while taking Reilly out on his last jaunt around the yard to empty his little bladder Erin ran home to let the boys out for their nightly constitution; so I had the benefit of her back yard light and as I reached for the handle on the screen door something caught my eye.  I quickly let go fearing a big moth had nestled on to the side of the door frame and would fly in if I startled it by clicking the latch.  I moved away so my shadow from the light would expose the creature that caught my eye and what I found was not a soft winged thing but a green little bug eyed creature with suction cups as feet.  I quickly yet gently opened the door, got Reilly in the house, grabbed my camera and came out shooting.

I was sure Erin would freak once she saw what it was but she was just as curious as I however, she did point out that if I keep flashing this thing it may jump off the house and on to me. I decided I had enough shots and turned to step aside and move towards the door when the lilac bush just to the right of the door moved.  Yes, he did!! He made his move and leapt with grace, precision and accuracy towards the bush and landed, smack on a leaf that was left rocking from side to side. The photo shoot began again.

I was left with a decision, do I post the shot of Clyde (yes I named him for the sake of the story) stuck to the wall next to the door handle, the close up or the one of him hanging mid-air by literally the seat of his pants; yeah ok no pants, basically his toe pads.  After researching what they were called I think what we have here is a tree frog.

At night time we turn out the lights and turn up our fears; fears of what we can’t see. Some of us become down in the dumps when the darkness takes over and when the lights go off some of use seem to exude a nocturnal energy. Whatever it is that makes you lie awake at night obsessing, fearing things or contemplating the day know that there are cute little creatures out there too, just like Clyde.  As far as the chupacabra that screams off in the distance I will keep you posted.