PORTSMOUTH HERALD (New Hampshire) 22 September 07 Two men and a frog (Ben Bulkeley)
Bob Stella, 70, and Bill Niland, 73, are enjoying their golden years. Almost every day, they show up at the Portsmouth Country Club, to get in 18 holes of golf. And every day, someone waits for them to show up.
About two years ago, someone joined Niland and Stella's golf outing, uninvited.
"Well, I went up to take my shot," said Niland. "And there was this frog, holding on to me."
"So, I grabbed him, placed him in the bushes, and thought that was that," said Stella. "But the next day, he was back in the golf cart. He crossed the entire green, and came back to our golf cart."
The frog, nicknamed Froggy, has been a mainstay ever since. For two years, the frog has been riding around with the two men as they make their way around the course.
"I don't know where he goes in the winter," said Niland. "We cover up our golf cart with a tarp, which I guess would cover him from the snow, but it isn't very warm."
The frog has become something of a celebrity around the golf course.
"People always ask about him, if he's on the cart," said Stella.
"My granddaughters came to see him," said Niland. "They thought he was cute."
Normally the frog sits behind the seat cushion, and spends the night in a basket behind the seat, nestled in a tarp.
"I've also seen him in the ball washer, soaking up the water," said Niland. "He climbs all over the cart."
Sometimes the frog even sits on the bench seat, next to Stella as he makes his way around the course.
Niland and Stella bought the golf cart a few years back from a friend. It was only after their purchase that the frog started renting cart number three.
"I don't know what draws him in," said Niland. "But there he is, every day."
"I don't know what he eats," said Stella. "I guess there are mosquitoes around. Every night I pile some grass up around him."
Mike Pennington, a friend of both Stella and Niland, sees the frog differently.
"Many of Bob's friends have noted the frog's facial features and personality match Bob's to a tee," said Pennington.
"I've never seen a frog like that before," said Niland. "I don't know what kind he is. The elusive green frog."
Stella and Niland are sure that it is the same frog that keeps returning.
"He could have quintuplets," said Niland. "But why would they keep coming back to our cart?"
And why does the frog hang around a golf course?
"Maybe because he plays golf better than us," said Niland. "Or maybe because we're so good at golf he wants to be around us."
http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070922/ENTERTAIN/709220315/-1/rss02
