For some strange reason we have toads at our house. First, there was the toad that we caught in a mousetrap (here's a little refresher for those who forgot), then we had the toad that lived under our garbage can at the side of the house. Most recently, I was mowing the lawn in the front yard and as I approached a thick patch of grass a toad jumped out onto the sidewalk (seconds before taking a trip to the catch-bag the hard way). I picked him up and he seemed surprisingly calm (I'm assuming it was a "he" because he was not hysterical about the fact that he was almost "eaten" by a lawn mower). Suddenly, he jumped out of my hand onto a not-so-soft clump of dirt and then took cover under the alberta spruce.

In an unrelated story, I got my hands on one of the new twenties tonight. At first I was somewhat skeptical of the significance of the changes, but I quickly became a believer. I'm a little bothered that the government is lying to us, though. The whole campaign advertises that the new colors and features will make your money more secure by making it harder to counterfeit. This is a half-truth, though. The fact of the matter is that when criminals are trying to copy the money they will be laughing so hard about how stupid the new money looks that it will be impossible for them to stay serious long enough to make a good copy! Honestly, the new twenty is absolutely ridiculous-looking! The clincher is all the little mini-20s on the back of the bill.

If it were up to me we would pay with toads instead of twenties.