Sigh... on a gorgeous, sunny, dry, and not-too-warm day, I spent far too much of it indoors trying to finish yet another deadline project. But later in the afternoon, after I was done and everything was off to its destination, in this case, the newspapers that feature my weekly column, I at least got to work in the garden and explore the backyard. While I was moving daylilies and hostas, I noticed a tiny streak of hopping energy, and when I moved in closer, I spotted a thumbnail-sized Wood Frog, no doubt a graduate of this year's Survivor: Vernal Pools Edition. The black-masked batrachian's parents had deposited fertilized eggs back in the early spring in the temporary pond I've monitored for the past 30 years, and against most of the odds, this one-time tadpole had somehow managed to run the gauntlet of every hazard, from disease to predators, Bull Frogs and Water Tigers among them, and grown big enough to complete the metamorphosis from aquatic larvae to land-dweller. Then, typically under the cover of rain and darkness, it left the pond area and has, successfully, so far, negotiated all the challenges of terrestrial life. If its good luck and innate skills hold, and it survives the winter, it just might be large enough to head, next spring, back to its birth pond to participate in its own edition of an age-old carry-on-the-species ritual.