The Incredible, Unsinkable Tadpoles

Well, my babies are growing up. Not my kids....my tadpoles. My son, a couple of weeks ago, brought home a jar full of tadpoles from a friend's house where he had spent the night. The tadpoles had hatched the previous night in his friend's swimming pool. Take a minute to let that sink in!
Anyway, we had a few casualties the first night, and I presumed that most of them would perish within a few days, due to the chlorine in the pool (the levels of which were obviously not high enough, but I assumed there must at least be some). I knew of their supposed fate because I spent an extensive amount of time Googling the care and raising of tadpoles. Chlorine is their enemy. You are even supposed to buy special water conditioners if you are keeping them in tap water.
Well, I already was going to have to buy some goldfish food for these guys to eat, and I really didn't want to invest in water conditioners, knowing that these guys would be dead in a matter of days. I decided on the tactic that we used with our goldfish (which probably explains their limited life spans) - if you leave the tap water out for 24 hours, the chlorine supposedly dissipates.
There never seemed to be that much time to just let the water sit around, though, and we presumed that overnight would be just fine.
They lived. They grew. And on Sunday, they sprouted back legs! Which really freaked me out! I hadn't expected them to live that long and knew I had read something about them needing something to climb on, due to the fact that they lose their ability to breathe through gills when their legs sprout! I panicked and grabbed a dirty rock out of my front yard. They have been just fine, and didn't even mess with the rock.
Until today. When the kids were on their way out the door to school, my son came running back in the house shouting incoherently about tads and legs (we have given them a collective moniker - tads). The front legs of one had burst out of its side, and it was now climbing out of the plastic box. He could barely contain himself! I guess they need rocks and real air once their front legs sprout.
Since the kids have been at school, another one also sprouted front legs. We will be taking them to a nearby lake as their front legs sprout. I have no desire to deal with 25 frogs jumping around on my front porch, not to mention the fact that I really don't want to try catching enough bugs to feed them......
Anyway, this little group of survivors is soon to be released into the wild, where I'm quite sure they will be eaten by a catfish. Oh well.

<3 Christy

DAILY BLISS:
Giant ginger cookies baking in the oven, and my DH, home from his business trip, having earned several comp days to spend with me!