Some Women Get Flowers, Candy, or Diamonds as Gifts from Men~Look What I Got Yesterday

I have received some unusual gifts in my time, but this one takes the prize for the most unusual ~ I love presents and will never look a gift horse in the mouth. I wanted to keep this one, but I did the right thing instead.

My friend Larry gives me something almost every time we see each other, which is quite often as he's the lock tender where I bring my students. He's a very nice man, a good friend, and I like him a lot (even if his daschund, Max, did try to kill my St. Bernard, Hugo, the first time he and his kids were at our house for dinner). He's given me flowers from his beds at the lock, vegetables from his garden at the lock ~ every summer we have a tomato sandwich picnic, a T-shirt from the Dept. of Transportation, various photographs of boats locking through that he has taken, an old tin he dug up from back in the early to mid 1800's (I collect them), among other things.

Yesterday I was there with the students from my adult education class that I teach every fall and spring. When we walked there, he came out of his office with an ice cream bucket in hand. I thought "Yummy, I LOVE ice cream", then I noticed the bucket didn't have a lid on it. Not a good sign if I had my heart set on ice cream. When he walked up to us, he said "Look what I have for you" as I saw leaves and mud in it. I said "If its a frog, forget it, I'm petrified of them". He said "I know you are, I wouldn't scare you like that.  This guy is really cute". So I looked inside and saw the hugest salamander I have ever seen. He was black and slippery with yellow polka dots. I said "Thank you..umm, this is the most unusual gift I have ever received. I could keep him in an aquarium, but I'm sure that Luna, my cat will kill him." He said that he found him in the morning on his back porch at home and brought him to work to set free by the water so he could hibernate for the winter. He said that when he saw me he remembered that I have a swamp that would be perfect for "Spot" to hibernate in. So, I brought "Spot" home, brought him in the house to show Hugo and Luna. Hugo sneezed on him. Luna tried to dive in the bucket and have a snack. I took him outside and went down by the swamp and set him free, which was no mean feat. To get to the swamp I had to walk onto the mulch pile and sunk in it up to my knees. I didn't want to just heave him into the swamp directly from the bucket taking the chance of injuring him, so I took him out and gently placed him there ~ he's pretty slippery to the touch, that was a bit icky. I am pleased to say that "Spot" is now safely ensconced in my swamp, free to do salamander things until its time to hibernate for the winter.