Saturday, May 24, 2008

Of Worms and Birthdays

Tomorrow is my temporary kid's 15th birthday. Last night he went out with his "Big Brother" (from the program, not an actual brother). When he got home at like 11pm, he tried to get me up to look at his birthday present but I was tired so asked if I could see it today. I went in the living room (it's only 6:24am here so the boy is not up yet) and it is an ELECTRIC GUITAR! How cool is that? Since the boy is a champion at "Guitar Hero" this is a very nice gift. He has talked about a guitar off and on for a few years and I even have someone who may be able to give him a lesson or two while I'm at the radio show. Cool.

I'm getting him a suit (which he asked for). I also got him a few things from DigiPen, the college he wants to go to. But, the guitar will be the best present even if he never plays it.

As for the worms...these are my vermicompost worms. A friend is taking some today to start her own colony. They are pretty cool and eat quite a bit of my left over veg. Another colony was podded off last year. Those worms are showing development of a separate identity from their parent pod. My pod of worms (is that a "wod"?) does not eat banana peels. But they love watermelon. Last year's pod does eat banana peels. Since the population is pretty much totally replaced every 3 months, it isn't surprising that they have developed along separate lines, but it is interesting to me. I've tried banana peels on and off with mine and it just ends with me having to pick dehydrated or mouldy peels out of the worm-bedding. But put in a watermelon rind and in a day all the worms have moved over there and are fat and happy. They really do get fatter when they are eating watermelon rind! Wierd. Anyway, I will need to spend some time this morning picking worms out and putting them in a temporary home for transport. Maybe I should wear tiny chaps while I wrangle a several hundred head of livestock. I could make some out of a paperbag and wear them on my fingers! and a vest across the back of my hand. Then of course I'll need a holster for my tiny six shooter and a tiny saloon for my hand to hang out in after the roundup. Tiny tables will be smashed as the tiny piano player keeps playing through the brawl until finally a shot shatters his beer mug and he joins in the melee.

I'll let you know if it's this exciting or if I just get dirty fingernails picking through vermicompost and then a middle aged woman shows up and takes a cardboard box of worms home.

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