Spring Has Sprung

Sometimes I love living in the Midwest and this is one of those times. Right now it's in the mid 60s and my windows are open, which is funny when you consider that four days ago, we got 6 inches of snow. I'd hate to be a weather forcaster around here - no matter what you say will happen, the opposite will occur.

As I hoped, the critters around here are getting more lively now that the weather is improving. The squirrels are already running wild. My neighbor has a feeder on his tree and he said he didn't mind if I started filling it, so I did. It's a good sized one, so I couldn't figure out how it emptied out by the next day. I filled it up again and the next afternoon it was empty. I started thinking that maybe I had a starving flock of birds on my hands when I noticed the bird seed all over the ground. The Squirrel Mafia struck again! I stopped filling the feeder and I haven't noticed any birds using my van for target practice, so I'll bet it was the squirrels.

It hasn't rained in days so the area over the driverbank is starting to dry up. Yesterday it was dry enough that I decided to take Logan, now 19 months old, down there with me to feed the geese. He hadn't been down to feed them since last fall and I was curious to see if he'd remember them. Since he loves to run now, I decided to forgo the stroller and just let him run around. The only way he could get into trouble down there would be to run into the river and the mud is thick enough down by the water that he wouldn't get within 75 feet of the shore. I think he remembered the geese because he started squealing the minute he saw them, but he didn't get any closer than about 50 feet. The geese either remembered him or a 2 foot human doesn't scare them; they just minded their own business and ate.

Logan had a good time at first, just toddling around. Then he found the mud. I'm no dummy, I knew more than likely he'd get covered in mud but isn't that why they invented bathtubs? He hit a thick patch of mud running full tilt and stopped dead in his tracks. He started to fall forward and put out his hands to catch himself. The minute his hands hit the mud, he let out with a blood curdling scream and started crying. I was right behind him and pulled him out, although I had to go back for one of his shoes. He clung to me like a chocoholic with the last Ding Dong in the world. Umm, aren't little boys supposed to like playing in the mud? He should, with his genes - his daddy likes to go 4-wheeling in a Jeep with no top and comes home absolutely covered in mud. Logan screamed the whole time I cleaned him up and didn't calm down until we were snuggled in the recliner with a bag of potato chips and the Disney Channel. I'll wait a couple months and then try taking Nature Boy down there again. Hopefully this won't drive him to a psychiatrist's couch in 20 years.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic