Nansha & Squishy: A tale of two frogs

About a year ago I walked into Sisters Feed & Supply and bumped into three remarkable people: Brian Blakelock, father of Hunter, 11, and Cole, 8. They were discussing who was going to pay for a big bag of crickets on the counter.

"After all, they're your frogs..." dad was saying, but it was pretty obvious he was going to pay - and had been happily paying for some time.

"What kind of frogs do you have, and how did you come by them?" I asked, curious as to whether these two scalawags were keeping destructive non-native bullfrogs, planning on releasing them into an irrigation pond or one of our lakes.

"We don't know what kind of frogs," one of the boys responded, "we found one of them on our pool cover a while back, and my dad found the other one behind a concrete wall at work."

"I don't know what kind they are either, but they sure eat a lot of crickets," dad added, with a big grin.

After a delightful discussion, we decided the frogs in question were not bullfrogs, but native Pacific Treefrogs, (Pseudacris regilla), common frogs we hear each spring calling from irrigation ponds and temporary pools all around the Sisters Country.

Hunter and Cole took their pennies to the pet store in the original vault, their piggy bank. When store owner Fred McCaulou gave them the price of the large terrarium and furniture necessary to keep their frogs healthy and happy, everyone was shocked - especially dad, but not at the price. Cole raised the vault over his head and dropped it on the floor, smashing poor old piggy to smithereens, whereupon the boys began counting out the correct amount to pay the first of many bills required to keep their frogs heathy.

This wasn't another of those "oh, can we keep them?" incidents, usually made without any regard as to how and what to feed the animals. Both boys and parents put the welfare of the frogs right up front and decided if they couldn't keep them healthy, they would be sent somewhere where the frog's welfare was guaranteed.

With their bags of crickets and mealworms, and a good-sized terrarium and necessary habitat requirements, the boys took off for home and set to work establishing a safe and happy home for their charges. But the story doesn't stop there...

Both boys made an impressive record titled, "Time Line for Frogs" recounting everything that happened to the frogs from the day they were rescued in July 2007 right up to last week. Also, Hunter and Cole, along with their little sister, three-year-old Brooklyn (who, incidentally, makes delicious imaginary cupcakes, served with tea on her lovely plastic settings) take Nansha and Squishy exercising in the bathtub and backyard pool from time to time.

The Blakelocks do not use harmful chemicals in their pool, so all's well for everyone.

Their mother Stephanie, a certified fourth-grade teacher, took Nansha and Squishy to Sisters Elementary School last year to help educate the students in her classroom.

But all good things eventually come to an end, and the time has come for Nansha and Squishy to go back to the wild. Brian knows he's never going to be repaid for all those thousands of crickets and mealworms devoured by his sons' charges, so to make it even better, he's going to build a frog pond in the backyard of their home where Nansha and Squishy and their boyfriends can gather each spring to serenade their human friends.