Tadpoles - Pollywogs

This post was actually written on June 26 -

Okay, so we're finally in the house, we’re working on it and we’re working on opening the pool (which hasn’t been opened in 4 years). So, we siphoned all of the water out of the pool, with the exception of a swale in the deep end. When we got down to about a foot of water, we saw that there were a bunch of tadpoles in the pool. Apparently, my dad hates frogs and tadpoles (he used the term “pollywog” which I have never heard in my entire life and figured it was a word he made up - he does that a lot), because he suggested we just skim them out and toss them in the trash!! We have argued over this for days now. I refuse to kill 100 baby animals because their parents didn’t know that we were going to pick THIS year to open the pool. So, I suggested we get a container of some sort and skim them out and put them into the container with some water. After we do that, we can take them to a lake somewhere and let them go. But, I don’t know if that would be horrible for the froggy parents if they don’t know where their babies are, but I’d rather do that than kill them. So, I keep putting my dad off - I, finally told him to wait until the hardwood floors are refinished (because we’ll be away from the house for a whole week and won’t be able to take care of the pool that week). So, last night, J found a few of the tadpoles had grown their hind legs and were climbing up the side of the pool. So, J got them out with the skimmer and set them in a little area in the yard where Beanie wouldn’t get them. We went to check on them last night and they were gone (I’m assuming they hopped away - okay, so I'm hoping they hopped away and weren't eaten by some animal). I’m so happy! So, hopefully the others will grow their hind legs and be able to get out of the pool in the next week (when the floors are being refinished). In the end, I’m just happy they weren’t killed.

I must say, my dad thought I was an idiot, he acted as though I was some kind of PETA maniac because I wanted to save 100 little tadpoles. Oh well, he knows how I am about animals. I'm not quite PETA-like yet, but I'm getting there. I'm not a vegetarian or vegan and I don't go around throwing red paint on people with fur coats on, but I surely don't like to see animals hurt, tortured, and/or killed.

Update: July 13, 2006
We still haven’t finished working on the pool, but I am happy to report that all of the tadpoles have vacated the pool!

Update: July 19, 2006
Okay, so today St. Louis had one of the worst storms in 100 years and it knocked the pool over (our fault for keeping it empty for so long). So, now we are just going to get rid of the pool and buy one later - if we want. All of that fuss and the pool is gone! Story of my life!