Hey there, Raven. I think the froggie people are elsewhere this week, at least I haven't seen any of them posting.They are all doing the garden work that I should be doing. Since I don't have any luck keeping frogs and toads near my pond I can only pass on what they would tell you with much less authority. It's not that I don't like the frogs, it's more that the neighbors all around us use so many chemicals. And then there are the dogs, there are amazing numbers of dogs and at night the wild critters are out and about snacking amazingly well. So you have an amphibian nursery going on! I once had that happen at a place we rented.The frogs were amazing! For a week they serenaded us and then vanished.I guess they found a sexy friend and a place to claim in the boggy area beyond the yard. I don't know how many frog predators you will have but it is a good bet some of the eggs will hatch and the froggies will grow to do their serenade again although in reduced numbers for a while. There are some forums devoted entirely to frogs and toads but this one spends a lot of time on the subject. With all you have uncovered you will fit in here quite nicely. It sounds like you did all the right things. You put them in sheltered, moist to wet locations. There are plenty of hiding places where they can locate insects and it isn't too far from where the eggs were laid in the first place, which is a bonus. The only thing to do now is keep the area watered if there is no rain and avoid using pesticides. Mother nature is very very generous with frog eggs so it is not surprising they don't stick around where the competition is so great and they provide dinner to many critters on the way to new locations. To a great extent they return to the areas where they hatched so erecting permanent barriers should be avoided although survivors in large numbers can be found crossing major highways at times. A small park near where I used to work erected a Frog Crossing sign and you traveled that street at your own risk in early spring. The highway I used to get home could be positively hazardous when the frogs were on the move. I am sure other posters can help far more than I can. Please keep posting. I'm sure they will show up soon. Sandy

Certainly looks like a Fishtail (Caryota mitis). They do form a pretty dense clump. I've not had the roots of mine get into any mischief. They're probably a lot less messy than a lot of other palms. The fronds stay on for a long time. They are invasive though, birds carry the seeds around and spread them.

Updated web album with photos of stone stacked wall. Pool Build 1

Ilovered.. Great to know that the cover seemed to deter the mice! Beagles, because of the natural look your doing, you could probably set up a 'ladder' of rocks to save anything that might fall in. I bet you could make it look like a feature. FWIW, our pool was salt and it didn't deter the raccoons or birds. In fact, our infinity edge provided quite a show because the song birds would line up on it to take a drink. I used to call our pool the world's most expensive bird bath :) Also, I know you have dogs, so may you want to educate your neighbors about using snap traps instead of poison for the mice (and god forbid glue traps). If you routinely see dead mice on your walks, that is most likely the cause. That also means your dog is in danger, in addition to the owls, hawks, cats, foxes etc. Most people don't think they are killing those other animals and a friendly talk may be appreciated, unless they don't care of course. Our friend's cat died that way and it even kills mountain lions, which are much bigger than your dogs. FWIW, I never found any poop in our pool, but maybe we just had polite raccoons. . I wouldn't think Raccoons, unless it's a baby, wouldn't down in a pool because they are pretty agile and good swimmers. But, plenty of other animals would't be able to get out, so I'd put in an attractive ramp. Rockybird. I never thought of getting them from the bottom! I do know I've pulled out many floating bees that looked 100% dead and 10 minutes later they come to. Have the time they'd fly right back into the pool.. it was so hard getting my laps in!!! You will probably appreciate knowing that I have a humane pet vacuum I use to catch and release bugs in the house and I live trap rodents and release them in the park :) roarah, I'm thinking about our next pool being ozone or something that isn't salt, so maybe that will help.