All about frogs

For your Thursday enjoyment, boys and girls, "All about frogs" should begin with what Wikipedia says about this strange and abundant creature. The illustration of this post came to me in one of those ubiquitous forwarded e-mails from a friend. As with all such fun photos, the origins of it are lost in the mists of cyber time, so giving proper credit is not possible.

Girls, did you marry a prince or a frog? It also impossible to remember when I first learned that princes can turn into frogs. The question first came up for me as a child when my mother read me this wonderful fairy tale: " The Frog Prince " Classic Fairy Tale, Illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren. The reality is, I have been married to a prince for over 50 years.

To me Kermit, The Frog was always a real person, most closely associated with his friend Jim Hensen until Hensen's death in 1990. He is also associated with fellow Muppet, Miss Piggie. I never exactly understood their relationship but it is quite adorably memorable. Kermit's 50th Anniversary year was in 2005.

Frogs must have good love lives. When I was raising our children I loved to hear Tennessee Ernie Ford sing"Froggy Went a Courtin ' ." It was also recorded by, of all people, folk singer Bob Dylan. It has 19 verses, beginning with this familiar one:

1. Frog went a-courtin', and he did ride, Uh-huh,
Frog went a-courtin', and he did ride, Uh-huh,
Frog went a-courtin', and he did ride.
With a sword and a pistol by his side, Uh-huh.

Frogs and people; do frogs cause warts? My brother was great at catching frogs. He thought I would like to hold them, too, but I didn't want to at all because I was worried about this common myth. Dr. Shmerling, writing for InteliHealth, says no to the warts question. He also lists related medical myths, which include:

• The ability to cause or cure hallucinations
• The ability to detect poison
• The ability to improve fertility

All about frogs -- Did you know that frogs set up their own website over ten years ago? In conclusion this post should end in the spirit which it began, with "Weird Frog Facts."

Cross-posted at Southwest Blogger .

My topical post today at South by Southwest and The Reaction is about "Arrested Developments."

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