A Bug Story--But Still No Pictures

As I read 'Scribbit's' post this morning titled "How to Get Rid of Tapeworms" I laughed. (You can find this great blog and this really great post at http://scribbit.blogspot.com/.) Truly, I did. Laugh, that is. Then I began to respond in the comments section. Before I hit the post comment button, I began reading the other comments left there. I laughed even more!

One mom apparently felt she was safe from the collecting of bugs, etc., as she has 4 girls--at least for now she feels safe.

To all those mothers with girls. Ha, ha. Oh, ha, ha! BEWARE! I was a girl once. (Female still. I'm a grandmotherly woman now. Not a girl. Just so you don't get confused.) I kept grashoppers, etc. in my closet, turtles under my bed, parakeets in a cage. In fact, I remember gathering bees in my little hands (I might have been four or five at the time)--and getting stung, of course, in the process. But they were so fascinating and my Mom actually let me put them in a jar for awhile--with some clover flowers, of course, in case they got hungry. And my second oldest daughter is an entomologist! (Can you imagine?)

After she married, I can't tell you how many TONS of bugs she collected in our Louisiana back yard to classify in my house, on the dining room table! And I've captured a few (bugs) over the years for her to assist in those classes she used to take. I sincerely find them rather interesting, facinating actually, to this day. Oh, just as a side note . . . those tons of bugs--caught at night, of course, with a blacklight under a white sheet strung over long flat tubs of soapy water--stink when the vile mix is brought inside for classification purposes. Just keeping to the facts. Full disclosure, here, you know.

Which reminds me. When we lived in Texas--this child was like 2 years old when we moved there and 8 when we moved away--we had these really pretty, fuzzy black with white polka dots spiders that liked our kitchen bay window. Yes, on the inside. Their eyes and fangs were metalic peacock blue. Honest. They were really "pretty". We named any such spider, "Herman." Don't ask me why, we just did. They were jumping spiders, not the web-spinning kind. They seemed rather tame. Never bit any of us.

Back then this daughter collected a few caterpillars and we kept them in a large, gallon size pickle jar while they pupated and turned into gorgeous butterflies--Gulf Coast fertillaries, or something like that. We even have pictures somewhere of her turning them loose.

A few years ago she and her husband went on another bug collecting trip while he was still working on his masters--botany/plant genetics--degree. Yeah. They make a very compatible comple that way: the plant guy and the bug girl. Anyway, when my daughter was classifying bugs one day, their not yet three-year-old daughter watched as Mommy did her thing and asked if she could help.

Before I go further, I must explain. This child and her one brother (at that time) have been raised with all kinds of books--many of which were books about bugs. She knew the names of the bugs and could tell me about them as she showed me the pictures--at two. So, when this bright child asked Mom if she could help, Mom handed her a pair of bug tweezers and told her what to look for. My daughter called me that night to report that her daughter had done an amazing job of selecting just the right kinds of bugs her Mom was looking for out of the soupy mix. We're not talking HUGE bugs here. Little bugs.

Now, my oldest grandson, her now 3 year old brother asks, whenever he talks to me on the phone, "Grandma, what kind of bugs do you have at your house?" I begin on the list--which my daughter is, of course, far more qualified to explain than I--one type of bug at a time. After a bug or two he asks, "Do you have any mosquitos?" "Oh, yeah. Lots of them." "Do they suck your blood?" he asks gleefully. "Oh, yeah."

Then in the background I hear his excited comments: "Mom! Grandma has mosquitos at her house. And they suck her blood!" Next question in his innocent voice now: "Grandma, do you have any cockroaches at your house?" "Yes, dear. We live in the woods. We can't help it." He repeats the delightful news back to his mother. Then from the background I hear my daughter chuckle and respond, "Mom, are you sure you want the world to know you have cockroaches at your house?" To which I, of course respond, "Hey! You lived here once. You know they only come IN the house on occasion--and without a invitation! We get rid of them as fast as we find them, thank you very much!"

Grandson then asks about a variety of other creepy crawly critters before his Mom decides the list is endless and she takes control of the phone again. Then my daughter reports that for a few days her two oldest would taunt each other with, "There are mosquitos or mites in the room with you. And they're going to SUCK your BLOOD!"

I think I'll end on that cheerie note. Kids. What entertainment possibilities. Glad I had all four of mine. Even more glad to have the grandchildren. Somehow they're even more entertaining. (You can't see me smiling, can you? I'm smiling. Big.)