Buy Three Sandwiches, Get A Free Frog!

 So the kid and I went over to WalMart tonight to hit up the Subway there for dinner--100 degrees is too damned hot to cook.

As we were leaving, sandwiches in hand, a WalMart employee ran past us to exit the store, hands cupped around something wrapped in a paper towel. From his posture I knew it was something alive, so the kid and I followed to watch the release of whatever it was--we figured it was a mouse. 

He crouched and released the creature *just* outside the automatic doors, then turned and ran back into the store. My first impression was 'Oh boy, whatever it is, is just gonna turn around and go right back INTO the store', because that's what little creatures LOVE to do.

Then we see what he released.

A tiny, gray tree frog. 

Now, it's 100 degrees, and the concrete outside is scorching, as is the big asphalt parking lot. Lil' frog is either going to broil in short order, or get stepped on/run over. The kid leaps into action and grabs up the little guy, there are trees here and there in the parking lot and we figure we'll release  it under one of them.

But...I just can't. The trees are saplings that are surrounded by rocks, and nothing about this habitat is frog-friendly.

On the other hand, I have a lovely yard at home that is perfect for frogs...

I call the kid back and tell her change of plans, Frog is going home with us. She's happy and agrees, so she gets to ride home with her hands cupped around a tiny frog who really, really wants out. I warn her not to let him go, if he gets loose in the car we'll never find him again. I buckle her into her seat, peel off her face mask, toss dinner in the back seat and we're off.

On the way, she tells me the frog has some kind of fuzz tangled around him, so we make a plan:  when we get home, she's to go directly into her bathroom and place our frog friend in the bathtub, where we can gently rinse him off and clean him.

She dashes past her so-very-confused father and places our frog friend in the tub. Yup, he's got all kinds of fuzz around his legs. A combination of water sprinkled on him and gentle pulling away of the gunk gets him clean. He appears to be a Northern Pacific Tree Frog.

Yay, clean frog friend! Although he's a bit puzzled by this whole adventure...

...and decides that he's done posing for pictures and starts to climb the bathtub. We hastily agree (he's really startlingly good at climbing) and the kid grabs him again, and troops him out to the weeping redbud tree in the front yard--a lovely, shady spot with a deep layer of bark chips, just moist enough for a frog!

He seemed uninjured, so hopefully he'll do well!