Cold worms, hard feelings

April 11, 2013

It was a tough week for worms.  First they got flooded up onto the ground surface.

Then they got hail fury hailed upon them.

Then they got froze.

The world ain't always kind to critters having so many hearts and no brain.
It was a good week for carnivorous birds, though.  They could eat fresh worms on Wednesday, worm puree on Thursday, and frozen wormsicles on Friday.  Mmmmm.  Get after it, early birds!  And there's also the potentially fermented crab apples.

Possibly left over from last year.  They tasted fermented to me, anyway.

It was also a good week for mudriding.  Although the mudslide on my local multi-use trail has been slightly ameliorated during 2-3 half-assed removal actions taken over the past 2 years or so, it is still ready to open its goopy arms to embrace you upon your multi-usefulness.

It is also getting to be the time of year where events of all sorts are being planned and executed mercilessly.  Have you ever asked yourself why worms get pushed out of the ground during the rain?  Or why frozen worms taste so good on a chilly spring morning?  Do robins eat worms?  Or maybe what your optimal gear for spraying your bicycling companions with mud as you traverse the mudslide might be?  If you answered affirmatively or even neutrally to one of these or a similar question of your own choosing, then perhaps the inaugural Nebraska Science Festival coming up this weekend at a variety of venues is for you!  Starring one William P. (Bill) Nye it'll be a chance to let your geek flag fly freely and flambuoyantly!  Get it?  Buontly?  (snorty geek laughing sound!) Let's go!  There's even a dancing scientist!  Wha!?  Am I dreaming?!  Feeling bloated, sore, irritable?  Of course!  Aren't we all?!  A Health Expo with some walking, running, bicycling and combination events (including an alleged gran fondo) occurs this weekend.  I am not sure exactly what a gran fondo entails, but I think there's time for eating.  Probably fondue.  Lots of it.  Let's do some binging and then feel better by stopping in for an adjustment of the spine and/or attitude!  And if you need a fat ass nature fix after being cooped up in your ugly tastefully-furnished abode for most of the winter/early spring, maybe you should get out and enjoy some Earth Day activities coming up on and around April 20th.  Bands, beer and booths at Elmwood Park.  Probably some bikes and bikey stuff.

Now that I've got a Baby Snot to tote around and limit my shoulder-rehabbing progress I notice adults and their offspring are everywhere!  When did this happen?  Why just last weekend a wee one was out with his pa going door to door.  I thought maybe he was peddling something.  Might ring the bell.  Baby's sleepin'.  I moved grudgingly towards the door and opened it after he'd already stuck a flyer on the doorknob.  He noticed me opening the door and his dad motioned for him to return and face me.  He was a scout in uniform.  It was a chilly morn, and his dad had a jacket, but he didn't and seemed a little sniffly and way more grudging in his actions than I!  The dad had a look of dutiful resolve mixed with a kind of pained empathy.  Impressed, I glanced at the flyer and said I'd be sure to leave out some food for the scouts to collect and feed to the hungry.  I plan on it.  The sniffly scout is pretty convincing.  

This got me to thinking about Baby Snot's future, and my childhood, and how the two would compare.  Organized activities were a formative force in my early, even-more-impressionable-than-now years.  Soccer.  I had no idea what it was when my dad took me to some kind of informational presentation and signed me up for a team called the Demons.  I think I got traded.  Not demonic enough, I guess.  My first game I got stuck as goalie and the other team scored 13 goals.  We got one mercy goal when they switched goaltenders towards the end of the game.  I stayed in our goal the entire game, but I stopped caring about trying to stop the ball after goal 8 or so.  I had a temper tantrum after the game and got bitched out by the hard-ass Air Force officer/coach.  Oh, those were the days!  For some reason I stuck with it for five years and got to enjoy it somewhat, eventually.  Perseverance.  Suffering.  It's what gives kids character and values, right!?  Maybe a few phobias too.  What's not to like?

Scouting seems like it might offer some similar benefits.  Maybe bicycling, too!  The thing I liked about bicycling as a kid was that no one was barking at me and telling me what to do while I was out pedaling.  And I've totally recovered from my emotional scars inflicted by the air force coach.  Those Air Force uniforms at RAGBRAI 2009 were alright.  I mean there was an eagle on the ass, for Chrissakes!  It's almost as convincing as a snivelling scout!  And I even talked to one and I didn't even try to strangle him!  Hiking's good too...