I’m a nature loving mama. I may “camp” in a hotel room once in a while and be terrified of spiders, but I love trees, flowers, frogs and crickets etc. God said it Himself. He made it good.

We moved from Vancouver to Queensborough in April and our new location has an abundance of wildlife to enjoy. I take great pleasure in pointing out the ducks, frogs, crickets (and occasional rat) to my daughter on our frequent walks.

This morning on our walk to the community center we stopped by the construction site next door (see “For the Sake of Progress: Ode to the Cotton Wood Trees” for thoughts on that). The land is surrounded by ditches and used to be good grounds for scoping out ducks. The ducks have wisely moved on due to the construction but this morning we were enjoying watching the frogs hop around the ditches and munch on the dandelions we threw towards them. It made my heart happy and my daughter was thrilled to watch them in action.

I walked on toward the community center with a sense of contentedness. What a great place to live where my daughter can experience things like this. I’ve dreamed in recent years of living in the country but this is as far away from downtown as we are going to get and it is a great alternative.

On our return walk I was dismayed to see that the diggers had moved on from their previous task to digging out the ditches. My stomach sunk at the site. I quietly hoped that the frogs were moving out but when I stopped to talk with the traffic control lady she confirmed my gut sinking fear. She had been standing there for the last hour trying to save what frogs she could but watching the rest be crushed and buried.

My next door neighbor was thankfully able to save some large cotton wood trees on the property by presenting proof to city hall that there is a hawk’s nest in it. Frogs may not be endangered but they are harmless little singers who we enjoy and are sad to see harmed. Here is my proof, a downcast heart. Too bad that won’t get any reaction from city hall. Call me a bleeding heart but it makes me sick.

Will any of the peaceful beauty of our community be left for my children to enjoy when they are old enough to hold onto the memories?

2 thoughts on “Death by Digger

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