Okay, between job-hunting, dialup timeouts, KtLW's honeydew list (written on two rolls of TP--in 2-point Arial Narrow, shorthand, single spaced), the hourly electrical storms for the past week and training a puppy for someone who's clueless about dogs, I don't get out much anymore.

And now I get snarked because the comment parties are getting too blah-zay. Ohhhh-kayy, let's see if I can get something rolling, here...

While poking around Maryland after we got chased out by the flood a couple weeks back, KtLW spotted one of those roadside "Kitsch ‘Я’ Us" establishments and insisted on taking a shopping break. About thirty seconds after bailout from the car, she spotted a four-foot bronze of a frog using a lilypad (or a toad using a toadstool) as an umbrella. Yeah--a batrachian doesn't do *wet*, right?

KtLW: "It'll be *perfect* for the pond!"

Me: "It'll scare the daylights out of the fish and attract egrets the size of condors."

KtLW: "Besides, it's on sale. Look at the price--that's *cheap* for a bronze!"

Me: "Yeah, it's cheap for a one-half scale model of the USS Missouri, too, and *that* won't work in the pond, either."

I was adamant. I expounded on the fifty irrefutable reasons why buying the thing was a Bad Idea. Halfway through number fifty-one, she said, "I need a bathroom. Wait here."

Twenty minutes later, she was back.

"It'll be delivered in two weeks. We can go, now."

*sigh* They dropped it off last Friday. I spent an hour wading in the shallow end of the pond (27 inches deep, naturally) building a sunken pedestal and hooking the blamed thing up.

I plugged in the pump, and after a couple of minutes of No Fountain, I figured the road trip disconnected the tubing somewhere inside and Frogzilla's interior was filling with water.

Right on cue, came the leak.

KtLW looked at it for about a minute and said, "That is *NOT* the effect I was looking for."

Heh. Have at it, commenters!