It’s raining on the Fourth of July and I saw a frog on my porch this morning. The latter jumped into the lavender. The former is simply falling all around. I have a feeling one frog will do little to deplete the mosquito population, but I’m happy to have it. The rain, on the other hand, will give them more moist places to live. In both cases, I’m happy. Or maybe I should say all three, because mosquitos are in the equation.

I’m no fan of mosquitos but if I have to suffer them because we’re getting rain, then suffer them I will. We’ve had a late wet spring that is now stretching into summer, and everything continues to grow. I mean, you should see my trees, they’re putting this water to good use. At some point, maybe a century from now, when they get cut down, someone will look at this year’s growth ring and go, wow. In the meantime, I get to enjoy them. And that’s nice.

I also noticed this morning my swallows are lined up on the back fence, preening in the rain, and probably waiting for the mosquitos to make an appearance. Most of our broods have made it through, and we’ll maybe get one more crop before fall so there are a lot of birds on the wire. I wish they’d do more mosquito control close to the house, but they tend to hunt in the open fields and the open field by the back fence is right behind them. And just like that, they’ve gone hunting and now its up to the frog.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale