Thursday, September 01, 2005

Mid Life Crisis

You know how the stereotypical mid-life crisis involves changing your appearance and activities to try and match a much younger persons? Well, I believe that I am over-achieving a bit and am trying to match the activities of a 5 year old boy!!! Outdoors has just been fascinating to me lately and although I am not collecting bugs, I am pretty much infatuated by most other creatures strolling through our yard. I can be spotted chasing butterflies, frogs, and heaven help us when I see a rabbit. We have all sorts of frogs here. I am not sure if I really want to catch a bullfrog, but I like to approach them because I know that they are going to get spooked and jump into the pond making a fun noise and splash. I am fairly good at catching the little tree toads now (Michael Y. explained to me that although they look like toads, they are really tree frogs. Incidentally, I think that Michael would be a great side-kick. He would be the brains behind the operation for sure. I believe that Michael is 7, possibly, 8 and has knowledge that far surpasses mine.) I caught a tree toad a couple of days ago and it peed in my hand....I giggled and let him go.

I am also highly interested in digging in the dirt under the guise of weeding. I have begun the side plot and I think that this is going to be the best yet. I invested $1.00 in a plastic colander and I was ready to roll. I have found various nails and screws, plenty of glass, a piece of green glass, some worms, and a caterpillar...and then I hit the motherload. I was digging out a root and my trowel clanked. You don't clank on dirt, so I was pretty excited. I dug and dug until I unearthed what appeared to be a 1 1/2 foot rusted metal (or steel or titanium) squarish pipe like thing. I suddenly had the fear that maybe this was the secret support to the entire house, so I quickly called Daniel to investigate. I keep my cell phone with me while I weed just for important discoveries like this. Daniel appeared in aprox. 1 minute seeing as he was just upstairs and determined that the house would not collapse if I pulled the pipe out of the dirt since it wasn't attached to anything. I did and now it is sitting in the garage. Daniel was very good at complimenting me on my biggest find yet. After that, I was thrilled to find a metal bracket, and what until you hear this...a seashell!!! It was covered in dirt, but I recognized the feel of it and sure enough, after some scrubbing a beautiful shell emerged. I wonder how it got there... maybe some little girl dropped it decades ago...who knows...how fascinating.

3 comments:

Danielle said...

Jen, your gift of wonder always makes me smile.

I also think Michael would make a fine sidekick. His knowledge of the natural world is freakin' amazing. I think he puts most adults to shame, not just you!

middle aged blogger said...

I envy you your joy in the dirt. I weed a while each spring and then, sadly, tire of the whole thing. You are still digigng in September and I find that very impressive. Any time you want a new venue for digging stop over!

Rebecca said...

Jen,
I've decided: we must just drop you off at a dump somehwere and come back for you in a couple days. Think of the treasures you could find there! Admit it-- the thought of that excites you just a little bit. :)
Love you,
Becs