Jabba the Frog

I've started swimming again, and loving it. The water is cold for July, due to the very cool weather and thunderstorms we've endured. But today the bright afternoon sunshine invited me to play, and of course I did not resist.

But as I swam about, I was startled to see a frog, resting like a tiny 'Jabba the Hutt' (from the movie Star Wars), regarding me unblinkingly from his perch. This perch being a bulge in the blue pool liner - above the water, and just under the upper rim of the pool.

This may be the same frog I captured in my hands and tossed out of the pool yesterday, or the one my grandkids spotted last weekend, though I can't be sure. Yesterday's frog was on the northern rim of the pool, possibly trying to escape, so I thought I might have been doing him a favor. In any case, I wondered. Can a frog ever get OUT of the pool, once it has gotten in? Are there bugs and food enough for such a being?

Also, there was the matter of his skin color - apparently bleached from the chlorine that 'cleans' the pool. Both frogs - today's and yesterday's - have that skin color. It's a bit creepy to behold, but otherwise they seem quite normal. Of course it is possible that there are not two frogs, but only one,who chooses to live right there, fat and calmly watching me.

Well Jabba, I say, I don't mind you being there if you don't mind me. May this pool be good for both of us. And maybe I'll see you next sunny day.