Jason Pearce

After getting home at 10:30 p.m. from a long day of work, I find a leak dripping in my garage.

Though it could have been dripping where my car usually parks, the leak instead appeared right over all of my stuff. Brand new furniture in unopened boxes, books, photos, and several electronic items were already soaked.

Good news is my neighbors pulled up a few minutes later. We troubleshot the problem and found the source to be their AC unit and hot water heater. They rent, so I’ll have to get in touch with their landlord to resolve the matter.

Just when I finally had everything fixed (repaired the shower last week), another problem pops up.

Click on the photos I posted on Flickr for a visual damage report. Or try the video I posted YouTube.

The bullfrogs in my pond are getting so big and so populous that I’m becoming afraid of them.

The zoom on my new camera is only 3x, so I tried taking a few photos through my binoculars. It worked okay.

Last year, there were maybe three bullfrogs living in the small pond next to my condo. I used to enjoy hearing their deep croak as I drift asleep with my windows open.

This evening, I counted 27 bullfrogs as I walked the shoreline closest to my bedroom window. I can only speculate that my pond contains 50 adult bullfrogs, perhaps more.

Listening to just three bullfrogs was peaceful. It reminded me of the pond at home and gave me the perception of being closer to nature.

Fifty bullfrogs, however, are a different story. Windows shut, A/C running, stereo on, and I can still hear them croaking.

They croak all night long. It often starts with just one, followed by 49 others who respond in kind.

To put the noise in perspective, I live less than 300 yards from an airport and I’m writing about how the bullfrogs are loud.

I don’t know what to do. I thought about a humane way of gigging them (with a net) and moving them to another pond. But there’s just too many.

I also have a lot of spiders. I manage to find and kill a spider almost everyday. Though they are quite scary, at least spiders are quiet.

The good news is I don’t think I’ll see a mosquito at all this summer. I can grill in comfort knowing that I won’t be bit. Though I’ll still have to fall asleep with the noise of 50 frogs and the thought that a spider might be hiding in my bed.