Worm Watching

In Phoenix we would go ant observing approximately once a day. We put our shoes on and walked along the patio, heads down, looking for their dark scurrying little bodies in the sunlight.
She had the height advantage. I had the experience. We were an awesome team. If they weren’t by the barbeque, we would move to the tree. Normally they were walking in single file between the tree, where they lived, and the barbeque, where they fed. On Sundays they could be found frolicking by the flowers.
We had only one casualty. A young foot soldier ant who wanted to be in the reconnaissance division broke away from the line. Hoping to find a tasty piece of left over stuck to our soles he scampered towards our feet. Tia, trying to keep track of the tiny breaker, did a little dance with her shoes. But the speed of the insect’s limbs got the better of her and she squished his slender body under her feet.

In Minnesota there aren’t so many ants. They don’t care for the rain and when it gets really cold their little feet get stuck to the ice. Being deprived of our natural contact point with God’s creation we have turned to worm watching.

But new animals call for new methods. Ants are amongst the most reliable insects in the animal kingdom. They work dusk to dawn with forty five minutes for lunch, any longer and the Queen will have them for high tea. Worms however are rather more reclusive. The conditions have to be just right for them to appear. Enough rain to muddy the fields, but not too much so that they flood. Then you have to wait long enough for them to slither onto the pathway (where they are easiest to spot), but not too long that they get eaten by birds or get squidgy in the water.

Tia likes the way they coil up when she taps their tail. It makes her giggle. She doesn’t like holding them yet, but give her time and she’ll be eating them like sushi. Zoë on the other hand is another matter. Anything that gets to her hand is in her mouth before you can say regurgitated earthworm. I daren’t bring her anywhere near a worm as she has telescopic arms. Seriously.

We are enjoying God’s creation in new ways here. The fall colors are gorgeous right now, the clear skies make the mornings more than crisp. There is a sense of life fading away in its last glory as the winter draws closer and it is so fresh and clear.
Every time I go outside I feel alive.

Chris