Frog Dodging

03/20/2005

Saturday and Sunday have given us spring weather, dry, sunny and warm. We still have a stiff southwesterly breeze, but we are not complaining. Sunday lunch at Arichastlich with the Kerrs, or more accurately with Erica as John is away getting the seaweed harvesting boat ready for the forthcoming season. Dearest Dotty and I learn of a Saturday night at the Lee’s thirtieth anniversary bash in Glasgow. A great success, although Erica describes the strange feeling of walking into a room full of people not seen for thirty years as daunting! I was pleased to hear that several neighbours complained about the noise. Dotty and I drive back round to Glen Trollaigh in the gloaming and experience the first frog dodging of the year, this is much earlier than usual, and I am not sure why frogs chose to sit on the tarmac surface of the road in the dark terrifying elderly drivers. Do they enjoy the smooth feeling of the road surface, are they seeking mates, are they migrating from hibernation ponds to the riverbank? Who knows, but trying to avoid squashing hundreds of them requires great skill. We also see several good stags and put up a great many woodcock whirring away from the roadside, could they be feeding on the frogs, squashed or whole?  Ah, the joys of country life. A small Ardbeg before the Great Bed of Trollaigh beckons, no fire tonight as the temperature does not drop below ten degrees at night, Although, it looks like the skiing is virtually finished. Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.