January 24, 2023 • 19 mins
Norah and Dad discuss Freckles, Norah's newly rescued-from-the-backyard pet toad, who may be sleeping or may be dead. Welcome to the first cliffhanger in the history of The Norah and Dad Show.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dad (00:00):
Hey Nora,
Norah (00:01):
Hey dad,
Dad (00:02):
do you know what the bus driver said to the toad?
Norah (00:05):
I don't
Dad (00:07):
Hop in.
Norah (00:09):
That one was not bad.
Dad (00:11):
Ah, wait.
I got, I got one more for you.
Are you ready?
Norah (00:13):
Ooh.
Okay.
Yes.
Dad (00:16):
Do you know what toads drink?
Norah (00:18):
What
Dad (00:19):
Croak a cola.
Norah (00:23):
haha.
That
Dad (00:25):
one, not.
That one wasn't as good.
Norah (00:26):
good.
Dad (00:27):
All right, we'll go with the first one.
Hop in.
Hey, what are we talking aboutthis week?
Norah (00:32):
We are talking about our little toad friend
Dad (00:49):
Hey, welcome back to the Nora and Dad Show one week
longer than we expected beingback with you all.
We kind of screwed up last weekand forgot to record an episode,
which, which happens but theweek off gave us a cool topic to
talk about this week, but we'llget to that in a second.
But anyway, as always I'm dadand I'm here with my lovely.
(01:13):
16 year old daughter, Nora.
Hey, what's going on, Nora?
Norah (01:17):
Nothing much.
It is a Sunday night.
Um,
Dad (01:23):
All right.
Thank you all for listening.
We'll see you in two weeks,
Norah (01:25):
Yep.
Dad (01:26):
It's been a fa it's been a fairly I guess uneventful three
weeks in our house, I guess.
Yes.
Norah (01:32):
Yes.
And yeah,
Dad (01:35):
Yeah.
I mean, there hasn't been, yeah,it hasn't been too much going on
except, as you mentioned in theopening we now have a new
four-legged friend, living, wethink living in our house.
Do you wanna, do you wanna filleveryone in?
Norah (01:52):
okay.
I was living my life yesterdayand my mother comes frantically
from, um, from outside thebackyard and hands me a toad and
it's not moving and it's verycold, and she's just like, warm
it up and I didn't know what todo, so I just wrapped it in a
(02:12):
towel and kind of kept it there.
And then little monster.
Mr.
John Hyman said that we couldnot keep the toad because it
would just die like it's gonnadie, so it's okay.
Dad (02:25):
Because my house is not a zoo.
But go ahead.
Norah (02:28):
but then my mom and I convinced him that we could keep
the toad, and now we have thetoad who may or may not be
alive.
We're not
Dad (02:36):
We, we haven't, we haven't seen it actually move yet
Norah (02:40):
but I spent$20 on it.
Dad (02:44):
So,
Norah (02:45):
moved today.
Dad (02:47):
so, mom was out in the backyard picking up, dog poops
yesterday, before the snow cametoday, and, and buried all the
poops in snow and where she cameupon this toad, which you then
brought in the house and yeah.
So, you named the, you named thetoad.
What?
Norah (03:01):
Freckles.
Dad (03:02):
Freckles because if we have the animal in the house, the
animal has to have a name.
And so we found an old, or you,I guess mom found
Norah (03:12):
no, I did.
That was all me.
Dad (03:14):
when we went, we used to do, frog Jumping Valley City,
Ohio is the frog jumping capitalof, of America, apparently.
And every summer they have a.
Frog jumping competition.
And when you and your brotherwere little, we used to go do
the Frog jumping Competition andwe started by renting frogs.
Norah (03:34):
I didn't know you could rent frog.
Dad (03:35):
yeah, it was for an extra couple bucks, you could rent a
frog and they would just reachin this giant tank of frogs and
hand you a frog and you wouldrent a frog and they.
All sourced from around thearea, and I believe they
promised they returned them fromwhere they found them.
at the end of the frog jumpingcompetitions, they would hand
you a frog or you could ofcourse bring your, you could of
(03:58):
course bring your own frog
Norah (03:59):
and there were people who like have.
like they, they breed theirfrogs and have like their star
frog jumper.
Dad (04:06):
Oh, there was someone ahead of us in line one year who flew
in from California with theirfrog for frog jumping, and was
on the phone with, I guess itwas wherever they were,
whoever's house they werestaying in, telling the person,
Like what to feed the frog andwhen and when to stretch out its
(04:27):
limbs, like the frog's exerciseregimen for the day to get it
primed and ready to go for theirjump later on that day.
People take that stuff reallyseriously.
We never took it that seriously.
other than I have a, a rock andKermit the frog hat that I used
to wear for frog jumping that Inow wear when I,
Norah (04:44):
and you have cool t-shirts.
Dad (04:46):
the, I just cleared the driveway and was wearing my
Kermit the frog hat just.
Shovel the driveway.
So, and our frogs never did verywell.
They would just kind of, I think
Norah (04:56):
beef frogs,
Dad (04:57):
Yeah, they would just be frogs.
I think the rules are, they puta giant, like one of those, like
when you do do like theparachute in gym class, you know
what I'm talking about?
Norah (05:06):
talking about?
I do, yeah.
It's like a tarp.
Yeah.
Dad (05:08):
Yeah.
Like the giant like canvas,like, or nylon, like tart
parachute thing.
and they, they put the frog inthe middle of that and then it
gets three jumps and theymeasure how far it jumps.
And I don't think we ever had afrog in the years we did it.
I think we did it three or fourtimes.
I don't think we ever had a froggo more than like, Go more than
like two feet and some go like12, 15, 18, 20 feet.
(05:30):
I don't think we ever had a froggo more than two.
So, frog jumping, not for us.
you go down to Valley City, youhang out with Mayor Ribbit for a
day.
your frog does nothing and thenyou go home.
But the point is the tank thatwhat freckles is that?
The, the toad.
Norah (05:45):
freckles.
Dad (05:46):
But the point is that, is that the, the tank that freckles
is now, we think, we thinkliving in, was the tank that we
tank That's like a plastic, like
Norah (05:57):
It's not a very good habitat for the toad, but it's
better than him dying outside.
It's temporary.
Dad (06:03):
so the, the one year that we went and found our own frogs
or frog jumping, we, we boughtthat.
Carrying plastic, carryingcontainer thinky to put the
frogs in, to get them to andfrom the Frog Jumping
competition.
And it's been sitting in thegarage ever since.
And I don't think we've donefrog jumping in, I don't know,
10, 10 years, eight years, nineyears.
I don't know.
But so, freckles is now residingin that, habitat and Yeah.
(06:28):
And we were at the pet storetoday.
The dogs needed their nailstrimmed, and you went with us to
the pet store and purchasedwhat, what, what all did you
purchase for our, our maybeliving, maybe dead towed friend?
Norah (06:38):
some substrate, because toads are burrowing animals, so
they need to be able to burrowunder the dirt.
I got'em a little hiding logthing cuz they like to hide.
And some meal worms that I don'tthink he has eaten cuz he hasn't
moved all day.
So
Dad (06:57):
To be, to be fair.
frogs or frogs, toads.
Toads are nocturnal.
So it is possible that we'regonna go to bed tonight.
All the lights in the house willgo off and he will, awaken or
she, they, they will awaken.
They will awaken.
We decided, freckles pronounsare, are they them?
(07:18):
freckles will awaken and have anactive night, eat the, the meal
worms and.
Wake up in the morning and hewill be on the totally opposite
side of the habitat and all willbe right in the world.
But I will say we gave him agood poking this afternoon and
that thing did not move at all.
Norah (07:37):
when Mom tapped the glass, he.
Dad (07:40):
are you sure she didn't shake the thing, it just caused
it to move as if it was livingin an earthquake.
Norah (07:45):
know.
Dad (07:48):
yeah.
Norah (07:48):
see you tomorrow.
Dad (07:50):
We will see tomorrow, so at least for today, we have
another.
We think living creature in ourhouse to go along with the four
of us.
Me, your mom and you and yourbrother.
The
Norah (08:05):
and the two dogs.
Dad (08:06):
I was getting there, the two dogs and now, freckles.
The toad.
I guess the plan was to getfreckles cuz toads can, can they
not, can they not survive in thecold?
Norah (08:18):
cold weather They're supposed to, so they're supposed
to like burrow undergroundduring the winter.
They hibernate, but I thinkbecause it got up into the
fifties, freckles got confusedand came up.
So yes, if we release them, theywill die.
Dad (08:34):
now, if Freckle sees his shadow when he comes up, how
many, how many more weeks ofwinter does that mean we have,
Norah (08:40):
I don't know.
It's a good question.
You have to
Dad (08:42):
I don't know.
I'm, I'm just, I'm, or, or, oris, or is that the groundhog?
Norah (08:47):
ground.
That's the groundhog.
Dad (08:48):
That's the groundhog.
Okay.
Norah (08:49):
That was not a funny joke.
Dad (08:51):
I thought it was hilarious.
Norah (08:54):
a fan.
Dad (08:55):
Was the bus joke better?
Norah (08:57):
Yeah.
Dad (08:58):
Oh, okay.
All right.
so, so you did all the researchon the toads.
What else, what else can youtell us about freckles?
Like what's the, what's thelifespan of a, of a toad?
Norah (09:10):
Oh, I
Dad (09:10):
How long would freckles, how, like how long would
freckles.
Live And why doesn't Freckleshave enough common sense since
it's now like below freezing andsnowing?
Why doesn't he have enoughcommon sense to burrow back in
the hole he came out of when hethought it was
Norah (09:25):
maybe, I don't know.
Maybe I got frozen.
Okay.
He's an American toad.
I think that's what he lookslike.
Dad (09:33):
Okay.
Norah (09:33):
Okay.
Um,
Dad (09:39):
We know that they secrete some stuff, so you're supposed
to wash your hands after youhandle it because there's some
Norah (09:44):
Well, Andrew, you're not, you're not really supposed to
handle them.
I mean, like you can, but it'sbetter to just leave them be
Dad (09:52):
Okay.
Well,
Norah (09:54):
American towed
Dad (09:55):
I, I, I vote, I voted for leaving him or leaving them be,
but I was out voted.
Norah (10:00):
No, I mean, like, you're not supposed to like touch them
very often.
Dad (10:04):
Okay.
Norah (10:05):
Um, it's not telling me how long.
I mean, and they live, they canlive up to 30 years in
captivity.
Dad (10:15):
Have you seen
Norah (10:16):
the wild.
They can only survive for likeone to two years though.
But can, I mean that's like theaverage, but they can live up to
10 years in the wild.
Dad (10:25):
have you seen the new, iPhone commercial?
Where the guy, I think he's liketaking care of his friend's
lizard, and he texts his friend,the lizard is like belly up on
the kitchen counter and he textshis friends that the lizard is
dead.
And then the lizard, like, Iguess it was sleeping and wakes
up and flips over and startswalking around and he deletes
the text message.
Have you.
Norah (10:43):
No.
Dad (10:44):
That's all I think of when I see that toad just laying
there motionless in them.
I'm waiting for it to like wakeup and be like, ah, I was just
kidding with you guys.
I'm really not dead.
Norah (10:51):
Did you know that frogs and toads are perhaps the most
intelligent among the amphibiansand have the largest brain to
body ratio?
Dad (11:01):
Okay.
I find that hard to believebecause our toad got confused by
our weather pattern, so I findthat very hard to believe.
Norah (11:09):
This is a big issue of talking about my ecology class,
is that a lot of animals aredying cuz of climate change cuz
they're coming out too early.
Dad (11:17):
Yeah.
And that, that, that is, that isreally sad.
Yeah.
So hopefully
Norah (11:23):
oh,
Dad (11:25):
What
Norah (11:25):
we can figure out if freckles is a boy or a girl.
Dad (11:29):
and how does one go about sexing a toad?
Norah (11:32):
males have black or brown throats while females have white
throats.
Dad (11:38):
Okay, well we should go.
We should go.
pick up freckles and,
Norah (11:45):
I don't wanna bug him anymore today.
Dad (11:47):
Yeah, I, I think freckles has been trauma.
May, maybe we can say figuringout freckles gender for another
day.
I think freckles has beentraumatized
Norah (11:54):
is alive first.
Dad (11:55):
He was all, you know, happy in his borough outside, and then
it got warm and he came out and,and now got snatched
Norah (12:05):
so happy because it was springtime.
He thought, really thought itwas spring, so ready and
Dad (12:12):
Yeah.
And now he's locked in this cagein someone's home.
He has no idea what's going on.
His family's probably out therelooking for him like freckles,
and they don't know where he
Norah (12:23):
would, would they rather have him come back alive though,
or find him dead in the yard?
Dad (12:27):
I, I don't, I don't know the answer to that.
I guess I'd rather he come backalive, but still think of poor
freckles, husband and or wifeand children.
Cuz Toads, toads have lots ofkids.
They, they can have likehundreds and hundreds of, of
children, baby toads.
think of all of them.
Worried about poor freckles,who's locked up inside our home.
(12:51):
This now sounds like a Pixar.
Norah (12:55):
No.
Dad (12:56):
No cause in cause in the Pixar movie, the, the main
character wouldn't start,wouldn't start out dead.
Norah (13:01):
out?
Yes.
Oh, okay.
Freckles does not have pale andflaky skin, so that that's a
sign of death.
Oh, and they also play Dead?
Dad (13:13):
They play dead.
Norah (13:15):
Yeah,
Dad (13:16):
Are you saying toads play possum.
Norah (13:18):
I suppose.
Dad (13:20):
Why do they play dead?
Norah (13:23):
Oh, and their eyes are open when they hibernate, so
they look kind of dead.
Dad (13:29):
So you think he's hibernating or, or It's
hibernating.
Norah (13:33):
maybe
Dad (13:34):
So we don't, we, so we don't think freckles is
deceased.
Norah (13:38):
we'll see.
I mean, he needs to eat.
So if he doesn't eat well, Iguess if he's hibernated, he
probably doesn't need to eat.
Dad (13:44):
Right.
Norah (13:45):
Huh?
Dad (13:46):
Oh, this is, this is all fascinating now.
Norah (13:49):
I'm gonna talk to Mr.
Wright, the ecology teachertomorrow, and.
Dad (13:53):
You should have looked all this up before you shed tears
over, over freckles being deadthis afternoon.
Norah (13:59):
Well, mom told me she picked him up and went, oh, he's
dead.
And I had just spent$20 on him.
Dad (14:13):
20 of your hard earned
Norah (14:15):
They can play dead up to 48 hours.
That's awful.
Dad (14:20):
Wow.
Maybe they are the smartestamphibians of the animal
kingdom.
Norah (14:25):
huh?
Okay, so he's probably scaredand that's why he's playing
dead.
Dad (14:31):
Wouldn't you be scared of some giant things?
Scooped you up and threw you ina plexi?
Threw you in a plexiglass cage.
Norah (14:38):
which is why I'm not gonna, I'm not bothering him
anymore.
I'm just gonna spray his habitatwith water every once in a while
and, drop in some meal worm.
Dad (14:48):
Oh, well this is now, this is now super exciting.
So we're gonna have a a, thisis, this is like the official,
is this the first official, likeNora and Dad show cliffhanger,
Norah (14:57):
I suppose it'll be a really sad one if he dies,
Dad (15:01):
Like, come back in two weeks for whether we've had a,
a, a towed resurrection or atowed funeral.
Norah (15:09):
told Jesus
Dad (15:11):
Oh, no.
Stop.
No, that's not right.
That's awful.
Are you gonna start a religionnow that worship's, freckles as
your, as your Lord and Savior
Norah (15:26):
Mays?
Only if freckles lives though.
Dad (15:30):
Yeah.
So, so everybody, everybody comeback in two weeks for the
exciting news of whether,freckles, was playing possum, or
is actually, passed on to theother.
Norah (15:41):
other side.
Dad (15:42):
So in two weeks, we will give the big update on freckles.
In two weeks, we'll also be ableto give an update on, mock
trial, which the competition isFriday.
The first round of the Ohio HighSchool mock trial competition is
Friday.
we will be, you and I along withthe rest of your mock trial team
will be down at the.
(16:05):
Cuyahoga County Justice Centerfor the first round of the
competition.
I think you guys are gonna, andI think you guys are gonna do
awesome, but we'll be able toupdate everybody in two weeks as
well.
Whether, we moved on to, whetherwe moved on to the second round,
or not, how you, how, how, howyou feeling heading into the
competition.
Do you feel, do you feelprepared?
Norah (16:24):
I cannot give away our secrets in case
Dad (16:26):
Well, no, I just mean like you, no, I just mean like, like,
like you, like you, yes.
Because all the high schoolslisten to our, our podcast to
get an a leg up on the LakeRidge mock trial team.
But do you personally, you feel,you, you feel prepared, for
someone, you've never met tocross-examine you.
Norah (16:43):
I mean, after you gave me the cross?
Yeah.
Cause I don't think anyone'sgonna have a better cross than
you.
Dad (16:47):
Ah, look at my, look at my 25 years of being a lawyer
finally paying off.
Norah (16:53):
yeah, I was pretty good cross.
Dad (16:56):
I think you know your stuff really well, and I think you'll,
I think you'll be just fine.
So I'm
Norah (16:59):
It was just that one section that I guess I had just.
Been asked about before, so Ididn't know how to answer that
question.
Dad (17:06):
it helps to get a different perspective because someone is
gonna read those, someone'sgonna read those facts and pull
something else out of it thatyou haven't expected.
So it's good that we did that,went through the exercise.
Norah (17:14):
I know.
I'm glad you did.
Dad (17:16):
yeah, so I'm gonna wish you luck now officially in front of
the whole world.
I don't think you need it.
I think you're gonna be justfine.
But I'm excited to see how ourteam
Norah (17:23):
Ready to be the best.
Blair Jor you ever.
Dad (17:27):
There we go.
Alright.
Get your, get your, get yoursnotty, get your snotty high
school student thing on.
and if people want to hear whatthe case is about it was
episode,
Norah (17:43):
episode, your mom.
Dad (17:46):
Yeah.
Whatever.
It was episode 25 of the NoranDad Show Pop Rocking Beats.
Norah (17:56):
What episode are we on now?
Dad (17:58):
where this is gonna be episode 30.
Norah (18:00):
Wow.
Dad (18:01):
I know.
Norah (18:02):
fifties coming
Dad (18:04):
50 is coming up.
We'll have a big, we'll have abig anniversary celebration, so,
Norah (18:08):
woo.
Dad (18:09):
Woohoo.
All right.
anything else you want to addabout freckles, mock trial, or
anything else going on in yourworld?
Norah (18:17):
Stay warm.
Stay alive.
Dad (18:21):
Alright.
Stay warm, stay alive.
Don't be like freckles or maybebe
Norah (18:25):
come out of hibernation early.
Dad (18:26):
we're not, we're not sure.
we will see everyone back in twoweeks.
We promise.
We promise.
We promise We'll be back in twoweeks, with an update on
freckles.
Norah (18:37):
Just in case there's a a grave incident.
Dad (18:41):
I don't only promise I pinky swear.
Promise we
Norah (18:44):
Whoa, that's a little intense.
Dad (18:46):
We'll be back in two weeks with an update on whether
freckles has lived or passed on,or if freckles has told Jesus
has passed on and then comeback.
We'll see.
So
Norah (18:58):
his.
Dad (18:59):
stay tuned.
we'll see everyone back in twoweeks.
Nora, where can everybody findyou other than.
Taking care of freckles on theLake Ridge Mock trial team are
otherwise right here on thispodcast.
Norah (19:11):
You can find me at Nora Marie Music
Dad (19:14):
And that's
Norah (19:15):
that.
That's everywhere.
Dad (19:16):
You can find me, at John Hyman everywhere.
If you like what you heard, andyou are not yet subscribe to the
show, please click the subscribebutton.
you can also, rate us and leaveus reviews on Apple Podcasts.
You can rate us on Spotify.
We take all ratings.
Uh, we love knowing that peoplethink we are five star worthy.
It makes both of us very, veryhappy.
(19:38):
we will see everyone back in twoweeks.
Love you, Nora.
Norah (19:42):
love you.
Hey Nora,
Norah (00:01):
Hey dad,
Dad (00:02):
do you know what the bus driver said to the toad?
Norah (00:05):
I don't
Dad (00:07):
Hop in.
Norah (00:09):
That one was not bad.
Dad (00:11):
Ah, wait.
I got, I got one more for you.
Are you ready?
Norah (00:13):
Ooh.
Okay.
Yes.
Dad (00:16):
Do you know what toads drink?
Norah (00:18):
What
Dad (00:19):
Croak a cola.
Norah (00:23):
haha.
That
Dad (00:25):
one, not.
That one wasn't as good.
Norah (00:26):
good.
Dad (00:27):
All right, we'll go with the first one.
Hop in.
Hey, what are we talking aboutthis week?
Norah (00:32):
We are talking about our little toad friend
Dad (00:49):
Hey, welcome back to the Nora and Dad Show one week
longer than we expected beingback with you all.
We kind of screwed up last weekand forgot to record an episode,
which, which happens but theweek off gave us a cool topic to
talk about this week, but we'llget to that in a second.
But anyway, as always I'm dadand I'm here with my lovely.
(01:13):
16 year old daughter, Nora.
Hey, what's going on, Nora?
Norah (01:17):
Nothing much.
It is a Sunday night.
Um,
Dad (01:23):
All right.
Thank you all for listening.
We'll see you in two weeks,
Norah (01:25):
Yep.
Dad (01:26):
It's been a fa it's been a fairly I guess uneventful three
weeks in our house, I guess.
Yes.
Norah (01:32):
Yes.
And yeah,
Dad (01:35):
Yeah.
I mean, there hasn't been, yeah,it hasn't been too much going on
except, as you mentioned in theopening we now have a new
four-legged friend, living, wethink living in our house.
Do you wanna, do you wanna filleveryone in?
Norah (01:52):
okay.
I was living my life yesterdayand my mother comes frantically
from, um, from outside thebackyard and hands me a toad and
it's not moving and it's verycold, and she's just like, warm
it up and I didn't know what todo, so I just wrapped it in a
(02:12):
towel and kind of kept it there.
And then little monster.
Mr.
John Hyman said that we couldnot keep the toad because it
would just die like it's gonnadie, so it's okay.
Dad (02:25):
Because my house is not a zoo.
But go ahead.
Norah (02:28):
but then my mom and I convinced him that we could keep
the toad, and now we have thetoad who may or may not be
alive.
We're not
Dad (02:36):
We, we haven't, we haven't seen it actually move yet
Norah (02:40):
but I spent$20 on it.
Dad (02:44):
So,
Norah (02:45):
moved today.
Dad (02:47):
so, mom was out in the backyard picking up, dog poops
yesterday, before the snow cametoday, and, and buried all the
poops in snow and where she cameupon this toad, which you then
brought in the house and yeah.
So, you named the, you named thetoad.
What?
Norah (03:01):
Freckles.
Dad (03:02):
Freckles because if we have the animal in the house, the
animal has to have a name.
And so we found an old, or you,I guess mom found
Norah (03:12):
no, I did.
That was all me.
Dad (03:14):
when we went, we used to do, frog Jumping Valley City,
Ohio is the frog jumping capitalof, of America, apparently.
And every summer they have a.
Frog jumping competition.
And when you and your brotherwere little, we used to go do
the Frog jumping Competition andwe started by renting frogs.
Norah (03:34):
I didn't know you could rent frog.
Dad (03:35):
yeah, it was for an extra couple bucks, you could rent a
frog and they would just reachin this giant tank of frogs and
hand you a frog and you wouldrent a frog and they.
All sourced from around thearea, and I believe they
promised they returned them fromwhere they found them.
at the end of the frog jumpingcompetitions, they would hand
you a frog or you could ofcourse bring your, you could of
(03:58):
course bring your own frog
Norah (03:59):
and there were people who like have.
like they, they breed theirfrogs and have like their star
frog jumper.
Dad (04:06):
Oh, there was someone ahead of us in line one year who flew
in from California with theirfrog for frog jumping, and was
on the phone with, I guess itwas wherever they were,
whoever's house they werestaying in, telling the person,
Like what to feed the frog andwhen and when to stretch out its
(04:27):
limbs, like the frog's exerciseregimen for the day to get it
primed and ready to go for theirjump later on that day.
People take that stuff reallyseriously.
We never took it that seriously.
other than I have a, a rock andKermit the frog hat that I used
to wear for frog jumping that Inow wear when I,
Norah (04:44):
and you have cool t-shirts.
Dad (04:46):
the, I just cleared the driveway and was wearing my
Kermit the frog hat just.
Shovel the driveway.
So, and our frogs never did verywell.
They would just kind of, I think
Norah (04:56):
beef frogs,
Dad (04:57):
Yeah, they would just be frogs.
I think the rules are, they puta giant, like one of those, like
when you do do like theparachute in gym class, you know
what I'm talking about?
Norah (05:06):
talking about?
I do, yeah.
It's like a tarp.
Yeah.
Dad (05:08):
Yeah.
Like the giant like canvas,like, or nylon, like tart
parachute thing.
and they, they put the frog inthe middle of that and then it
gets three jumps and theymeasure how far it jumps.
And I don't think we ever had afrog in the years we did it.
I think we did it three or fourtimes.
I don't think we ever had a froggo more than like, Go more than
like two feet and some go like12, 15, 18, 20 feet.
(05:30):
I don't think we ever had a froggo more than two.
So, frog jumping, not for us.
you go down to Valley City, youhang out with Mayor Ribbit for a
day.
your frog does nothing and thenyou go home.
But the point is the tank thatwhat freckles is that?
The, the toad.
Norah (05:45):
freckles.
Dad (05:46):
But the point is that, is that the, the tank that freckles
is now, we think, we thinkliving in, was the tank that we
tank That's like a plastic, like
Norah (05:57):
It's not a very good habitat for the toad, but it's
better than him dying outside.
It's temporary.
Dad (06:03):
so the, the one year that we went and found our own frogs
or frog jumping, we, we boughtthat.
Carrying plastic, carryingcontainer thinky to put the
frogs in, to get them to andfrom the Frog Jumping
competition.
And it's been sitting in thegarage ever since.
And I don't think we've donefrog jumping in, I don't know,
10, 10 years, eight years, nineyears.
I don't know.
But so, freckles is now residingin that, habitat and Yeah.
(06:28):
And we were at the pet storetoday.
The dogs needed their nailstrimmed, and you went with us to
the pet store and purchasedwhat, what, what all did you
purchase for our, our maybeliving, maybe dead towed friend?
Norah (06:38):
some substrate, because toads are burrowing animals, so
they need to be able to burrowunder the dirt.
I got'em a little hiding logthing cuz they like to hide.
And some meal worms that I don'tthink he has eaten cuz he hasn't
moved all day.
So
Dad (06:57):
To be, to be fair.
frogs or frogs, toads.
Toads are nocturnal.
So it is possible that we'regonna go to bed tonight.
All the lights in the house willgo off and he will, awaken or
she, they, they will awaken.
They will awaken.
We decided, freckles pronounsare, are they them?
(07:18):
freckles will awaken and have anactive night, eat the, the meal
worms and.
Wake up in the morning and hewill be on the totally opposite
side of the habitat and all willbe right in the world.
But I will say we gave him agood poking this afternoon and
that thing did not move at all.
Norah (07:37):
when Mom tapped the glass, he.
Dad (07:40):
are you sure she didn't shake the thing, it just caused
it to move as if it was livingin an earthquake.
Norah (07:45):
know.
Dad (07:48):
yeah.
Norah (07:48):
see you tomorrow.
Dad (07:50):
We will see tomorrow, so at least for today, we have
another.
We think living creature in ourhouse to go along with the four
of us.
Me, your mom and you and yourbrother.
The
Norah (08:05):
and the two dogs.
Dad (08:06):
I was getting there, the two dogs and now, freckles.
The toad.
I guess the plan was to getfreckles cuz toads can, can they
not, can they not survive in thecold?
Norah (08:18):
cold weather They're supposed to, so they're supposed
to like burrow undergroundduring the winter.
They hibernate, but I thinkbecause it got up into the
fifties, freckles got confusedand came up.
So yes, if we release them, theywill die.
Dad (08:34):
now, if Freckle sees his shadow when he comes up, how
many, how many more weeks ofwinter does that mean we have,
Norah (08:40):
I don't know.
It's a good question.
You have to
Dad (08:42):
I don't know.
I'm, I'm just, I'm, or, or, oris, or is that the groundhog?
Norah (08:47):
ground.
That's the groundhog.
Dad (08:48):
That's the groundhog.
Okay.
Norah (08:49):
That was not a funny joke.
Dad (08:51):
I thought it was hilarious.
Norah (08:54):
a fan.
Dad (08:55):
Was the bus joke better?
Norah (08:57):
Yeah.
Dad (08:58):
Oh, okay.
All right.
so, so you did all the researchon the toads.
What else, what else can youtell us about freckles?
Like what's the, what's thelifespan of a, of a toad?
Norah (09:10):
Oh, I
Dad (09:10):
How long would freckles, how, like how long would
freckles.
Live And why doesn't Freckleshave enough common sense since
it's now like below freezing andsnowing?
Why doesn't he have enoughcommon sense to burrow back in
the hole he came out of when hethought it was
Norah (09:25):
maybe, I don't know.
Maybe I got frozen.
Okay.
He's an American toad.
I think that's what he lookslike.
Dad (09:33):
Okay.
Norah (09:33):
Okay.
Um,
Dad (09:39):
We know that they secrete some stuff, so you're supposed
to wash your hands after youhandle it because there's some
Norah (09:44):
Well, Andrew, you're not, you're not really supposed to
handle them.
I mean, like you can, but it'sbetter to just leave them be
Dad (09:52):
Okay.
Well,
Norah (09:54):
American towed
Dad (09:55):
I, I, I vote, I voted for leaving him or leaving them be,
but I was out voted.
Norah (10:00):
No, I mean, like, you're not supposed to like touch them
very often.
Dad (10:04):
Okay.
Norah (10:05):
Um, it's not telling me how long.
I mean, and they live, they canlive up to 30 years in
captivity.
Dad (10:15):
Have you seen
Norah (10:16):
the wild.
They can only survive for likeone to two years though.
But can, I mean that's like theaverage, but they can live up to
10 years in the wild.
Dad (10:25):
have you seen the new, iPhone commercial?
Where the guy, I think he's liketaking care of his friend's
lizard, and he texts his friend,the lizard is like belly up on
the kitchen counter and he textshis friends that the lizard is
dead.
And then the lizard, like, Iguess it was sleeping and wakes
up and flips over and startswalking around and he deletes
the text message.
Have you.
Norah (10:43):
No.
Dad (10:44):
That's all I think of when I see that toad just laying
there motionless in them.
I'm waiting for it to like wakeup and be like, ah, I was just
kidding with you guys.
I'm really not dead.
Norah (10:51):
Did you know that frogs and toads are perhaps the most
intelligent among the amphibiansand have the largest brain to
body ratio?
Dad (11:01):
Okay.
I find that hard to believebecause our toad got confused by
our weather pattern, so I findthat very hard to believe.
Norah (11:09):
This is a big issue of talking about my ecology class,
is that a lot of animals aredying cuz of climate change cuz
they're coming out too early.
Dad (11:17):
Yeah.
And that, that, that is, that isreally sad.
Yeah.
So hopefully
Norah (11:23):
oh,
Dad (11:25):
What
Norah (11:25):
we can figure out if freckles is a boy or a girl.
Dad (11:29):
and how does one go about sexing a toad?
Norah (11:32):
males have black or brown throats while females have white
throats.
Dad (11:38):
Okay, well we should go.
We should go.
pick up freckles and,
Norah (11:45):
I don't wanna bug him anymore today.
Dad (11:47):
Yeah, I, I think freckles has been trauma.
May, maybe we can say figuringout freckles gender for another
day.
I think freckles has beentraumatized
Norah (11:54):
is alive first.
Dad (11:55):
He was all, you know, happy in his borough outside, and then
it got warm and he came out and,and now got snatched
Norah (12:05):
so happy because it was springtime.
He thought, really thought itwas spring, so ready and
Dad (12:12):
Yeah.
And now he's locked in this cagein someone's home.
He has no idea what's going on.
His family's probably out therelooking for him like freckles,
and they don't know where he
Norah (12:23):
would, would they rather have him come back alive though,
or find him dead in the yard?
Dad (12:27):
I, I don't, I don't know the answer to that.
I guess I'd rather he come backalive, but still think of poor
freckles, husband and or wifeand children.
Cuz Toads, toads have lots ofkids.
They, they can have likehundreds and hundreds of, of
children, baby toads.
think of all of them.
Worried about poor freckles,who's locked up inside our home.
(12:51):
This now sounds like a Pixar.
Norah (12:55):
No.
Dad (12:56):
No cause in cause in the Pixar movie, the, the main
character wouldn't start,wouldn't start out dead.
Norah (13:01):
out?
Yes.
Oh, okay.
Freckles does not have pale andflaky skin, so that that's a
sign of death.
Oh, and they also play Dead?
Dad (13:13):
They play dead.
Norah (13:15):
Yeah,
Dad (13:16):
Are you saying toads play possum.
Norah (13:18):
I suppose.
Dad (13:20):
Why do they play dead?
Norah (13:23):
Oh, and their eyes are open when they hibernate, so
they look kind of dead.
Dad (13:29):
So you think he's hibernating or, or It's
hibernating.
Norah (13:33):
maybe
Dad (13:34):
So we don't, we, so we don't think freckles is
deceased.
Norah (13:38):
we'll see.
I mean, he needs to eat.
So if he doesn't eat well, Iguess if he's hibernated, he
probably doesn't need to eat.
Dad (13:44):
Right.
Norah (13:45):
Huh?
Dad (13:46):
Oh, this is, this is all fascinating now.
Norah (13:49):
I'm gonna talk to Mr.
Wright, the ecology teachertomorrow, and.
Dad (13:53):
You should have looked all this up before you shed tears
over, over freckles being deadthis afternoon.
Norah (13:59):
Well, mom told me she picked him up and went, oh, he's
dead.
And I had just spent$20 on him.
Dad (14:13):
20 of your hard earned
Norah (14:15):
They can play dead up to 48 hours.
That's awful.
Dad (14:20):
Wow.
Maybe they are the smartestamphibians of the animal
kingdom.
Norah (14:25):
huh?
Okay, so he's probably scaredand that's why he's playing
dead.
Dad (14:31):
Wouldn't you be scared of some giant things?
Scooped you up and threw you ina plexi?
Threw you in a plexiglass cage.
Norah (14:38):
which is why I'm not gonna, I'm not bothering him
anymore.
I'm just gonna spray his habitatwith water every once in a while
and, drop in some meal worm.
Dad (14:48):
Oh, well this is now, this is now super exciting.
So we're gonna have a a, thisis, this is like the official,
is this the first official, likeNora and Dad show cliffhanger,
Norah (14:57):
I suppose it'll be a really sad one if he dies,
Dad (15:01):
Like, come back in two weeks for whether we've had a,
a, a towed resurrection or atowed funeral.
Norah (15:09):
told Jesus
Dad (15:11):
Oh, no.
Stop.
No, that's not right.
That's awful.
Are you gonna start a religionnow that worship's, freckles as
your, as your Lord and Savior
Norah (15:26):
Mays?
Only if freckles lives though.
Dad (15:30):
Yeah.
So, so everybody, everybody comeback in two weeks for the
exciting news of whether,freckles, was playing possum, or
is actually, passed on to theother.
Norah (15:41):
other side.
Dad (15:42):
So in two weeks, we will give the big update on freckles.
In two weeks, we'll also be ableto give an update on, mock
trial, which the competition isFriday.
The first round of the Ohio HighSchool mock trial competition is
Friday.
we will be, you and I along withthe rest of your mock trial team
will be down at the.
(16:05):
Cuyahoga County Justice Centerfor the first round of the
competition.
I think you guys are gonna, andI think you guys are gonna do
awesome, but we'll be able toupdate everybody in two weeks as
well.
Whether, we moved on to, whetherwe moved on to the second round,
or not, how you, how, how, howyou feeling heading into the
competition.
Do you feel, do you feelprepared?
Norah (16:24):
I cannot give away our secrets in case
Dad (16:26):
Well, no, I just mean like you, no, I just mean like, like,
like you, like you, yes.
Because all the high schoolslisten to our, our podcast to
get an a leg up on the LakeRidge mock trial team.
But do you personally, you feel,you, you feel prepared, for
someone, you've never met tocross-examine you.
Norah (16:43):
I mean, after you gave me the cross?
Yeah.
Cause I don't think anyone'sgonna have a better cross than
you.
Dad (16:47):
Ah, look at my, look at my 25 years of being a lawyer
finally paying off.
Norah (16:53):
yeah, I was pretty good cross.
Dad (16:56):
I think you know your stuff really well, and I think you'll,
I think you'll be just fine.
So I'm
Norah (16:59):
It was just that one section that I guess I had just.
Been asked about before, so Ididn't know how to answer that
question.
Dad (17:06):
it helps to get a different perspective because someone is
gonna read those, someone'sgonna read those facts and pull
something else out of it thatyou haven't expected.
So it's good that we did that,went through the exercise.
Norah (17:14):
I know.
I'm glad you did.
Dad (17:16):
yeah, so I'm gonna wish you luck now officially in front of
the whole world.
I don't think you need it.
I think you're gonna be justfine.
But I'm excited to see how ourteam
Norah (17:23):
Ready to be the best.
Blair Jor you ever.
Dad (17:27):
There we go.
Alright.
Get your, get your, get yoursnotty, get your snotty high
school student thing on.
and if people want to hear whatthe case is about it was
episode,
Norah (17:43):
episode, your mom.
Dad (17:46):
Yeah.
Whatever.
It was episode 25 of the NoranDad Show Pop Rocking Beats.
Norah (17:56):
What episode are we on now?
Dad (17:58):
where this is gonna be episode 30.
Norah (18:00):
Wow.
Dad (18:01):
I know.
Norah (18:02):
fifties coming
Dad (18:04):
50 is coming up.
We'll have a big, we'll have abig anniversary celebration, so,
Norah (18:08):
woo.
Dad (18:09):
Woohoo.
All right.
anything else you want to addabout freckles, mock trial, or
anything else going on in yourworld?
Norah (18:17):
Stay warm.
Stay alive.
Dad (18:21):
Alright.
Stay warm, stay alive.
Don't be like freckles or maybebe
Norah (18:25):
come out of hibernation early.
Dad (18:26):
we're not, we're not sure.
we will see everyone back in twoweeks.
We promise.
We promise.
We promise We'll be back in twoweeks, with an update on
freckles.
Norah (18:37):
Just in case there's a a grave incident.
Dad (18:41):
I don't only promise I pinky swear.
Promise we
Norah (18:44):
Whoa, that's a little intense.
Dad (18:46):
We'll be back in two weeks with an update on whether
freckles has lived or passed on,or if freckles has told Jesus
has passed on and then comeback.
We'll see.
So
Norah (18:58):
his.
Dad (18:59):
stay tuned.
we'll see everyone back in twoweeks.
Nora, where can everybody findyou other than.
Taking care of freckles on theLake Ridge Mock trial team are
otherwise right here on thispodcast.
Norah (19:11):
You can find me at Nora Marie Music
Dad (19:14):
And that's
Norah (19:15):
that.
That's everywhere.
Dad (19:16):
You can find me, at John Hyman everywhere.
If you like what you heard, andyou are not yet subscribe to the
show, please click the subscribebutton.
you can also, rate us and leaveus reviews on Apple Podcasts.
You can rate us on Spotify.
We take all ratings.
Uh, we love knowing that peoplethink we are five star worthy.
It makes both of us very, veryhappy.
(19:38):
we will see everyone back in twoweeks.
Love you, Nora.
Norah (19:42):
love you.
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