I've heard that frogs return to their water source of birth. I've had some leave and come back. She probably wants to overwinter in your pond I guess. Take her back to deep water and let her go again is what I would do. Once it is cold she won't come back as she won't make it back. She'll either die trying or spend the winter where you put her once it is consistently cold enough to sink to the bottom and stay put, base on outside temperatures. You most likely get frogs from the area nearby and also some are born in your pond. I had some newbies this year. They can take up to two years to morph. I had some spring heron killing a few of my fish and I think they got the frogs that were there (all huge) as the net was somewhat ratty in one corner and no cover. I've since replaced with a new net. So this spring I had no big frogs and one tiny one showed up, less than an inch. I named him The King as he had the pond to himself and now he is huge. Another male showed up a few weeks ago that is even bigger and now I have two for the winter so far. Not sure who will show up once it gets cold here, but they are still active in Southern MD.

This seems to be an old post resurrected, but a lot has changed with the economy too since this was posted. My neighbor whose build is a bit ahead of mine, has had issues with theft (Rural area, long blind drive). With the current state of our country theft has now become much more of an issue, so how does one distinguish from allowing neighbors or would be thieves scoping out the place? What if it is the neighbors stealing? I was working up at my lot one day and he asked if he could put no tresspassing signs on my lot too, to keep people away from our lots. Very nice of him to be looking out for me too. We also said that we would question people at either of our lots to make sure they belong, in lieu of the thefts. He ran into my brother in law one time, went over, talked to him to see who he was, there were no issues. Even though we are friendly, and look out for one another, I would never go into his house without his permission or him being there. The difference is like me, he is his own GC. If a builder invites you to look at a house or houses he is doing, it is different, because you have been invited, at least by the builder and that is that way builder are able to show off their work. If it was an issue with one of the soon to be owners of the home, most builders would not recommend that home to be viewed.

Thanks all. The pipe on the sink wall couldn't move short of pretty major structural work, unfortunately---it's the vent pipe and it's running up a load-bearing wall that is not open, so opening it would have triggered another level of permits (right now our building permit is just for non-structural modifications and walls)---so those outlets had to stay put. I'm actually fine with that, though, they'll be three inches off the counter, which seems fine---actually a bit higher than where the vertical outlets were in the old kitchen, since they had the same constraint. The new outlets they put in are, I think, 42 inches to center---the sink wall outlets are 40 inches to center. So we could probably get close by just putting them horizontally at the bottom of the existing opening. This wall has no sink or stove, though, so it's unfortunately the one spot where there's no splashing or other danger to low outlets....ah, well. They will be for the toaster oven, mixer, and other tall things, though, so they'll likely be pretty hidden regardless. The main reason to leave them alone, from DH's perspective, is just that he wants the work finished already. (We are playing GC for this ourselves, so one of us has to work at home whenever contractors are here---thus it would be nice to be done so we can move on to the next contractor!) @hydrangea_luvr, wish I had some progress pictures (or some progress!!) I took a few the day of demo, but am hoping to take another round next week if the electrician really can wrap this up so we can have our rough inspections. (He'd better, since then the plaster crew comes in to patch the plaster so we can paint the room over Thanksgiving weekend.) I have a feeling it will suddenly start to come together once the plaster goes up and it feels like a room again.

I love the idea too. Not silly or morbid. I know this isn't exactly the same thing, but when we moved from our little mountain house to our current house I wrote my kids names in a secret place in their bedroom. I was a bit heartbroken to be moving from the home I brought my babies home to. So In a hidden place in their room I left their names and the dates we lived there. I felt better knowing a piece of them would be there as long as the house was. They felt better about it too. It's our little secret.