Watch out, Evelyn! |
We’ve been enjoying some impressive spring thunderstorms that have helped the grass green up and scared the dog out of her wits. The one last night has taken the cake though: it rained leeches.
Apprehensive at first, then fascinating. |
We walked Evelyn out to the bus while our car was being worked on in the shop, around the puddles and to the end of the driveway. It didn’t take long to notice the long, black thing wriggling in the shallow water wasn’t your run-of-the-mill earthworm. I took a closer look and there was no mistaking a giant leech wriggling around.
Claire investigating if we had any more in the murky puddles. |
Most likely, it was washed in from one of the ponds or creeks around us, but wherever it came from, it was a little unnerving that a bloodsucking parasite–and one so BIG–was hanging around. The girls usually aren’t skittish, but when I told them what leaches ate, everyone took a step back.
Uh, I think it’s figuring out how to escape. I’m just going to put the lid on… |
I sent Claire inside to get a jar and she came back with the smallest one she could find (why does she always do that when we’re going to catch a creepy bug?!?) and we caught that yucky thing, as proof that it really was what we claimed it was. Its fate still hasn’t been decided…Jack want to feed it to his aquaponics fish, I told him it’s big enough that it would probably suck a fish dry, the chickens might know what to do with it…all I do know is that it’s not going to be catch and release.