Toads

We have a pond in our back yard. On occasion the neighborhood toads decide it is party time, and they congregate in and around our pond. Like obnoxious neighbors who think you want to hear their music at 2 AM, these toads seem to think that we are interested in their mating rituals.

I would have no issues with them if they simply went about their business. But their mating apparently includes croaking—males use this to “attract” females— at ear splitting decibels. A singular toad doing this is just a minor distraction. However, when a dozen or so are doing it, it turns into a symphony of irritation.

I’ve tried all kind of things in my quest to keep these little beasts out of my life. I tried throwing them over the fence, which provided only temporary relief. I tried flushing them down the toilet, which gave my wife quite a shock when they managed to crawl back.

Toads really have nothing to do with paint contracting, but they do have something to do with owning a business. They are presenting me with a problem, and I am uncertain as to how to solve it. Brian Tracy recently wrote: “Define your problems clearly in writing. Accurate diagnosis is half the cure.”

I can attest to this advice. Many times I’ve wrestled with a problem, only to discover that I really didn’t know what the problem was. That can certainly make a solution difficult to find. So hopefully the toads won’t return to my yard for a while, and in the meantime I can try to define that problem more accurately.

And if that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll buy a large snake to eat them.

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