You know the grass has gotten too long when the toads take up residence all about your yard. Here in Memphis, we've been on the fringes of the hurricanes and tropical storms that have been hitting the Gulf Coast. Consequently, it's been raining just about every weekend, which has been a really convenient excuse to avoid doing yard work.

This past Saturday, though, I couldn't put it off any longer. We were in danger of losing Tangles, our little Corgi dog, in the back yard. Out came the string trimmer, the lawnmower, and a half dozen yard bags. Fortunately, the rain held off until after I was done. Unfortunately, it was a muggy 90+ degrees out there. I was trying to finish quickly so I could go back inside. At least, I was until I hit the toad.

We've seen lots of toads around our house. They like the flowerbeds and the spaces under the bushes. With the rain and the tall grass, though, they've been venturing out more into the yard. I didn't realize this until I stopped the lawnmower for the second time to empty the grass catcher. When I came back to the mower, I spied something in front of it. It was a toad that I had obviously run over. The poor little thing was on its back, making no noise, just breathing in gulps, not even twitching what was left of its limbs. There was nothing I could do for it but put it out of its misery, so I got the machete out of the garage and did so.

It took me a lot longer to finish mowing the grass after that. I was going a lot slower, keeping an eye out for the slightest movement. I know that I scared at least three other toads into the bushes. I don't think I ran over any more.