Toad Traps
Five valuable lessons from a pair of holes in the ground... When I was seven years old my parents bought 12 acres of land in the woods, and built a log home. I remember much of the process; the basement going in and the foundation being poured, the wooden skeleton rising up out of it, the triangles that were the roof gables perching on top, the drywall finally making the walls look like walls, the shingles and trim that made it feel “done” and the grumpy old man who had to paint all of it before it actually was . Our new house had four full-sized windows put into the basement, in two pairs, one set each on the front and back of the house. This meant that in two areas, front and back, our yard just ended , and dropped right into a big ol’ pit - maybe ten feet long and four feet wide and three feet deep - for the windows. These holes intrigued and fascinated me. For one, I didn’t understand their purpose; they didn’t exactly offer a great ...