Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Snails

The girls have become fascinated with snails. Though I'm not crazy about the critters, I have no "flowerbed" so to speak of (thank you Crazy Cat Lady next door) that they could devour, so for the most part I just leave them be. They've become a source of endless amusement for my girls though. The same poor 3 snails get mauled repeatedly - slid off whatever they happened to be climbing at the time and plopped unceremoniously into a bug catcher.

You may think I'm unhinged for allowing, nay, even encouraging, my girls to play with snails. As long as they wash their hands when they come inside or before they have a snack, I really don't see the harm. Have you ever placed one in a clear plastic container & just watched it? The undulating muscles of its pseudopod (read - big, slimy foot) is amazing to watch & their faces, with the long eye stalks & shorter I-don't-know-what stalks can almost look expressive. But I digress...

This evening they were observing a pair of snails they had collected while I was getting dinner ready. Caleigh, in her endless wonderings asked me why some people don't like snails. I explained that a lot of people, like Grandma & Grandpa, work very hard to make their gardens look beautiful and that they don't like holes in their flowers - besides that, some people are kinda grossed out by the slimy part, I added.

Caleigh mulled over this for a few minutes while she observed the snail travel across the Glad container. Then she turned to me.

"I like snails. They look like they could be cute & cuddley... but mostly slimy."

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