{"id":663,"date":"2010-07-22T18:10:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2010\/07\/amphibious-landing.html"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:17:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:17:38","slug":"amphibious-landing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2010\/07\/amphibious-landing.html","title":{"rendered":"Amphibious Landing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<p>I seem to attract wildlife, and that&#8217;s fine by me. I still get a thrill from random wildlife sightings and I hope that never goes away. I&#8217;m fascinated by everything in nature from the glittering stars to the vagaries of the weather. Insects, butterflies, birds, animals&#8230;even amphibians and reptiles.<\/p>\n<p>And they seem strangely fascinated by <i>me<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>My last stop for the night before retiring is to take Shadow out for a quick potty break.\u00a0 We usually walk no more than several hundred feet up the hill from the house to the edge of the woods. Keep in mind that I&#8217;m in the country, so there&#8217;s no light whatsoever. We have lights on the front porch which illuminate the scene just enough to cast threatening, evil shadows off of the porch.<\/p>\n<p>I leashed up Shadow, flipped on the porch lights, and stepped into the humid, moist night.\u00a0 Suddenly both Shadow and I instinctively leaped straight up in the air. My heart was racing. A squirming, hopping mass writhed around my feet.<\/p>\n<p>Frogs. Toads. About a dozen of them ranging in size from Pierre&#8217;s toy mouse to a pack of playing cards. Hopping up and down, startled by the light perhaps or the giant sneaker bearing down on them.<\/p>\n<p>I watched while they hopped into the garden, quickly taking refuge behind the azaleas and Ann&#8217;s bloomerang lilac. But what in the world were they doing standing in a group right in front of my door?<\/p>\n<p>Are they just as fascinated with me as I am with them?<\/p>\n<p>Or&#8230;.does my glowing front doorbell attract insects, and make for a nice snack bar for the toads?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I seem to attract wildlife, and that&#8217;s fine by me. I still get a thrill from random wildlife sightings and I hope that never goes away. I&#8217;m fascinated by everything in nature from the glittering stars to the vagaries of the weather. Insects, butterflies, birds, animals&#8230;even amphibians and reptiles. And they seem strangely fascinated by&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2010\/07\/amphibious-landing.html\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"","restrict_content":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2301],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-personal","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Amphibious Landing - Home Garden Joy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amphibious Landing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I seem to attract wildlife, and that&#8217;s fine by me. 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And they seem strangely fascinated by...Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2010\/07\/amphibious-landing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home Garden Joy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sevenoaksgardening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jeanne.grunert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-22T18:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T20:17:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeanne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WriterGrunert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WriterGrunert\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeanne\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a4a2d7c5e897228f42be953553e4140\"},\"headline\":\"Amphibious Landing\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-22T18:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T20:17:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html\"},\"wordCount\":282,\"commentCount\":1,\"articleSection\":[\"Personal\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html\",\"name\":\"Amphibious Landing - Home Garden Joy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-22T18:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T20:17:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a4a2d7c5e897228f42be953553e4140\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/amphibious-landing.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Amphibious Landing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home Garden Joy\",\"description\":\"Grow What Nourishes You\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a4a2d7c5e897228f42be953553e4140\",\"name\":\"Jeanne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a00d7eb73461d2099498e814aff8b33f2ad508e1d0608cc28e4457e188352d5f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a00d7eb73461d2099498e814aff8b33f2ad508e1d0608cc28e4457e188352d5f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a00d7eb73461d2099498e814aff8b33f2ad508e1d0608cc28e4457e188352d5f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeanne\"},\"description\":\"Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. 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