Frog! On Windshield! EEK!

What do you do when you’re driving down the highway and a little frog lands on your windshield?

I don’t know. But it happened last week to me when driving home, after dark. All of a sudden there it was.

Was driving home after Christmas shopping (yes, I Christmas shop in August…sales you know.) on a county road when, WHAP, there he (or she) was. It was spread-eagled on my windshield, right in my line of sight. “EEK!” is what I think I said. I may have even asked it a question. “What are you doing!?!” It didn’t answer of course.

What to do? I decided to slow down and look for a stopping place, which are few and far between on county roads. And besides that, the frog was definitely limiting my ability to see a stopping place. The frog didn’t move. It just lay there sort of, little front and back legs stretched straight out, plastered tightly against the glass. And I was only going what Grandson calls my Grandma Speed. That means about 45 miles per hour.

But the slowing seem to encourage little frog to try an escape maneuver. So before I could stop, it flipped itself off my side, and was gone.

I was astonished. Where did it come from? Did it fall out of a tree? Surely little frogs can’t jump that high. I worried about the little frog. Did it escape unscathed? I don’t know how it could have, but I hoped so. I had never had a frog catch a ride on my windshield before. I soon found out I was not the only one who gave a frog a free ride lately.

A coworker related he had the same sort of event just recently. Good grief. What’s going on? Has our Oklahoma summer become so wet that even frogs are trying to jump out of the pond? Co-worker said he saved his frog.

I Googled ‘Frogs on windshields.’ Found one man who was driving down an interstate when a frog landed on his windshield. And he filmed the entire episode. (Don’t ya just love smart phones.) After much cussing, meaning this poor guy didn’t know what to do about a frog on his windshield either, he slowed down, found an exit and pulled off the interstate. He also was greatly concerned over his frog’s welfare.

“Don’t move dude!” man said over, and over, and over.

“We’re slowing down!”

“It’s lips are moving!” (His frog tried to talk.)

 

(Frog climbs into center of windshield.)

“Don’t move dude!”

“GET OVER!”

(Obviously this guy wants to save his frog.)

(Amazing. As vehicle slowed, frog sort of came to its senses and cleaned off its face and both front feet. Maybe it knew it was on camera.)

“We’re slowing down,” man told frog. (Frog didn’t answer him this time.)

(Then frog sort of curled up at bottom of windshield. Man cusses some more.)

“Don’t move!”

(And then his frog was gone.)

“Oh no! It’s dead!”

Well, I thought. Maybe not. Maybe all our frogs survived the ride. And why were we so concerned over the frogs’ welfare anyway? I thought maybe it’s because frogs help us out controlling bugs that bite us, like mosquitoes. Or maybe they are just so ugly they are cute. Or maybe it’s because they are tiny defenseless little critters.

Even if all the above is true, I still believe frogs should learn to stay off our windshields! I don’t have insurance for frog-induced wrecks. Try to explain that to your insurance agent.