In re: to dispatching those nasty Bufo (cane) toads. Golf clubs, sticks, stones, car tires and shovels will all do the trick alright, but from my own experience is really going to be unpleasant and messy. As to ever putting one of them in my freezer, as mentioned by another poster - hell no! LOL That would involve: (1) handling them; and (2) putting a poisonous animal next to my food. If, like me, you get freaked out even being close to them, I suggest you pick a method that will not only get the job done instantly, but without the nasty guts, sounds, squirming and/or jumping around that occurs, if you happen to simply injure one (be aware - they really can take a beating and keep on ticking, so to speak). My solution: cattle prod, or, stun baton (much longer than your handheld stun gun). I currently have one that puts out 6,000,000 volts that I purchased for $47 (including delivery charge) on-line a few months ago. I found my dog swimming in circles in the pool chasing one of them just as summer began. I went online and purchased one that day. I personally know far too many people, who have had pets seriously poisoned and/or killed by messing with these disgusting pests. I assure you, with electricity, all it takes is one quick zap - they instantly lock up and don't move. However, make sure to have a pair of tongs nearby to help pick them up and discard them somewhere they will never see the light of day again. I say this for two reasons: (1) The first Bufo I ever zapped, to my astonishment, came back around after 3 hours and hopped away; and (2) the electric shock causes their poison glands to involuntarily activate. You don't want the resulting poison getting on your skin, or, create the possibility of your pet messing with them and getting poisoned by accident. Now, I use tongs to put them in those plastic grocery bags you get from the store. I tie the bag closed tightly and put it out with the trash. I have also heard of two other methods: (1) spray them thoroughly with common, household bleach; or, (2) get a 5 gallon bucket, line the sides with cooking oil, bury it in the ground (all the way up to the top) and put dog food inside. I have not tried the latter, but, supposedly, they will go in and can't jump out. My wife sprayed one with bleach and it did actually die sometime later. The HUGE selling point for me personally with my method is that they freeze-up and stop moving instantly. Good luck.

I've read these forums off and on for several years now. It's amazing how many searches for gardening info bring up Garden Web forums! I bought my first house last fall and decided this week it was time to register and join in here. So many wonderfully talented and knowledgeable gardeners here! And, then, I find a forum specifically for Okies! One of the things I liked best about the house when I first looked at it was the backyard. There are just all kinds of plants. I have to wait to see what many of them are, although my neighbor next door has clued me in on some. The neighbors have a landscape pond in their backyard. One of the things I expected to miss about my last apartment (lived there for over 10 years) was the landscaping, complete with ponds, a stream and lots of wildlife including frogs and toads. I was thrilled to find out that the neighbors pond has frogs in it as I love listening to them. They were worried that the new owner (me) might object to having to hear frogs croak. I think we both got lucky! The backyard slopes severely and has some sort of evergreen planted all around it. Over the years many of lower branches have been trimmed off due to disease, according to the neighbor. Now they are very tall with foliage only at the top. Quite a few of them suffered a good deal during last winter's ice storm. There's still at least one sizeable branch that is broken and needs to be cut off. A couple in the back aren't broken but are badly bent over. I'm sort of hoping that the bent ones somehow magically recover as the birds and squirrels seem quite fond of them. I have already counted at least 15 different species of birds in my new backyard, and that doesn't include mockingbirds which I have seen in the front yard. I also saw a tiny mouse near the back fence a couple of weeks ago when I watering a spot that has some irises and a crepe myrtle. Last Monday evening I saw a baby rabbit in the neighbor's yard by my garage. Some of the plants (many of these I can't verify yet, just going by what the neighbor tells me) include crepe myrtle (3 in the back), a Rose of Sharon, irises, hardy hibiscus (looks like 4 of those), daylilies and some other lily the neighbor wasn't sure of the type, clematis out front, what appears to be a lilac someone tried to chop down that is coming back but is probably too close to the house for good air flow, and some boxwoods up next to the front of the house. The boxwoods look nice but stink so I am going to try to relocate them farther from the house in the front yard and create a flower bed with them as a back drop. To replace the stinky bushes up close to the house I have already acquired two blue hollies, four mini roses, a peony, azalea, hydrangea, blue lilac, and a romantica rose. I'm probably going overboard, but my gardening for the past 20 years has been limited to pots and whisky barrels on an apartment patio, and I'm just so excited to have a house with lots of room for gardens now! My biggest problem is that a large part of the backyard is heavily shaded due to the evergreens, and, especially around the perimeter, there isn't even much in the way of grass. Lots of weeds in the areas where there is grass. I'm looking forward to finding out all the creative gardening things I can do with my new house! I've probably rambled on long enough now. Going to leave work early today to have lunch at the Arts Festival then home to plant and transplant! Debra

Broken Lady, We used to have peacocks about a mile up the road from us...but they didn't make it through their first summer. I am assuming the coyotes or panthers or cougars got them. I did love seeing them roam the neighborhood, but they are so obnoxiously loud! Leaper, When we lived in a civilized neighborhood in Fort Worth, where everyone had lovely yards and no ponds (this was in the early 1980s) I actually built a small pond and then mail-ordered some of those bullfrog tadpoles from a pond company. When I opened the package, the tadpoles were so large I thought they'd sent me fish by mistake! Of course they grew into lovely bullfrogs with lovely voices and we enjoyed their singing so much. And, I don't think the frogs bothered anyone because everyone stayed inside with the air conditioners running all the time and probably never even heard the frogs! lol I love the frogs, but they have been quieter than usual this spring undoubtedly because we have been so dry. So, if a little more rain will fall, maybe we'll have a little more frog and toad singing around here! As loud as they are, I miss them when they are abnormally quiet! I know they are here, because I hear them and see them every now and then, but not as much as usual. Dawn

I have toads and turtles living in my garden, and eating tomatoes to obtain the water, since my little wildlife pond has dried up. Think I am going to put a large shallow pan of water in a shady corner of the veggie garden and hope they will get the water there instead of from the tomatoes. I don't know which birds eat small toads, but my son rescued a good-sized frog from one of the chickens a couple of days ago. She was running around with it in her mouth while all the other hens chased her. I think snakes and other creatures do eat small toads and frogs. Since all the stock tanks around here are drying up or have already dried up due to the drought, I've been having lots of great blue herons and white cattle egrets coming to my waterlily pond to hunt for food. We don't have as many aquatic-type frogs and toads as usual, but seem to have a bumper crop of tree frogs this year. I love listening to them at night. Sometimes I find them in my large container plantings, and sometimes they come and stick to the windows, although I don't know why. I wonder if they are waiting for a bug to try to fly by? Earlier this week we had a frog swimming around and around in circles in the dogs' plastic wading pool. The dogs didn't even seem to notice him. Water is getting really scarce, and I feel sorry for all the critters who need it.