April 7th, 2016
A new favorite pastime here at our house is digging. With the plentiful moisture we receive, its pretty easy to break ground and find crawling critters. Our boys are in dirt heaven!
Our yard was what initially drew us to this house and motivated us to make a crazy yet good decision to switch our permanent housing last minute (https://www.germanyjournals.com/?p=283.) With the arrival of Spring comes the start of yard maintenance. We were so grateful when hubby pulled out the lawnmower from the shed this past Monday and it started up with only a few pulls of the chord. He was racing against the rain clouds that hung low in the sky and finished with only a bit of drizzling. While Daddy mowed, E & S started digging. When I came out to check on the three of them, this is how I found the boys…
Hubby did a great job on the yard! The grass is tamed for at least the next week or so. With the amount of rain we get here, I’m not sure how often we’ll need to mow.
As we walked around the yard, brainstorming planting projects, we came across a little snail in a window box. It immediately reminded us of the movie Turbo; a story about a garden snail that dreams of racing in the Indianapolis 500. Fantastic movie! ANYWAY…
Hubby brought the snail to the boys and they called him Turbo right from the start! It was a new experience for them to hold a snail. We weren’t completely sure if the little guy was alive but then he started crawling around and is surprisingly fast…he’s living up to his name already!
We found a better “temporary” home for him (a takeout container with a lid) that allowed E to take the snails and some worms to school the next day to show his teacher and classmates. His class is studying worms and plants right now allowing E’s visitors to receive a hearty welcome.
Turbo returned home on Tuesday afternoon and was the center of the boys attention. They dug some more, had worm races in the rain and let their hands get covered with snail slime. They were captivated!
I suggested the idea of setting Turbo free in the yard to find his family but they aren’t ready to part ways with him just yet.
It is Wednesday afternoon as I write this post and the boys are out digging in the backyard again to their heart’s content. I can sit at the kitchen table and keep an eye on them out the back door. Once we figure out where we want to plant a garden, we’ll get them working to clear the land and perhaps find Turbo’s family.
