A Bug's Life

Jenni had a picture of a spider on her blog today. She always did have a thing with bugs!

• Somehow she managed to find snails in Tucson. Of course, they had transparent shells and were pretty small. But, she found them and decided to adopt them. I still vividly remember the morning I was putting on my make up and she brought in 3 or 4 snails and asked me to "babysit" while she had breakfast. There they were, sliming up the counter, falling into my make up drawer. I much more enjoy babysitting Vika and Eamon!
• My brother, the doctor, tried to interest Jenni in science. So, they caught some butterflies or moths (can't remember), used my straight pins to pin them to a board, and then stuck them in the freezer. They were doing a study in cryogenics. Would the butterflies survive? Well, yes, they did. Took them out of the freezer and soon their wings began to flap. Of course, they were still pinned to the board!!! But eventually they were freed. Didn't fly very straight, but they were definitely alive.
• It was a natural turn of events that Jenni wound up working in a pet hospital - she liked to make sick critters better. She also tried to enhance their lives - especially those poor little worms with no spines. Here's an interesting fact, if you insert a toothpick through the top of the worm - voila! it has a spine!!
• We seemed to have a few one-legged lizards or chameleons around the house. Turns out the little sweetheart was trying to see if they really do regenerate lost limbs!! On the bright side, how many people have a daughter who can even catch a lizard!!!
• And then there were the June bugs. Little beetle-like things we had in Tucson. One day I found one of Jenni's crayons lying on the floor and went to put it back in her crayon box. I opened the lid (I think it was an old cigar box) - imagine my surprise when I found a bunch of dead June bugs in with the crayons! I said, "Jenni, what the heck are these dead June bugs doing in your crayon box." She suddenly got upset and said, "They weren't dead when I put them in there!!"

Things were certainly never dull!