"Slugs", Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails. . .

Slugs, snails, and puppy dog tails that's what our little boy is made of!

California continues to have some new, exciting discoveries for the younger Wickers (since I'm younger than Lloyd, I'm including myself - I've haven't lived in this climate before:-)) Yesterday late afternoon it rained and when I went outside for a moment, I discovered my first snail. A closer look at the sidewalk revealed a number of snails and little slugs. It was quite exciting for me so I called the kids outside -- and then I couldn't get them back in. Andrew would just run from one snail to the next and refused to be lured back into the dryness and warmth of the house. Anika was nervous at first but once she overcame her apprehension she had fun discovering whole families of snails. "There is a Mom, Daddy, and brother snail" she told me. They were soaked and dirty when they finally came in but it was a fun adventure. (Lloyd teases me that I was as excited as they were. . . It was old hat for him; he even confessed to torturing poor snails with salt when he was growing up. I'm going to try and prevent Andrew from learning that!!)


I wish I had a better shot of the snail but once Scout sniffed it and Andrew touched it; the poor thing wasn't coming out of its shell for anything. When we first saw it, it was slowly moving across the sidewalk with its antenna up.