A little adventure

It's no surprise that it's cold in January in Indiana. Those couple really warm days were like spring, though, and we took full advantage. We (as in, the kids and myself while Tony was at work) decided to go exploring in the woods behind our house. If you have been here, you know that the woods consist of a pretty steep drop off, which we sometimes refer to as the cliff. At the bottom is a small creek that runs along our property line. We slowly (and occasionally a little less slowly with a few slippery steps on muddy leaves) made our way to the bottom and walked along the water's edge. Both children thought it was great, and it burned up a lot of energy, so I thought it was great, too :)

We found tons of ferns and little hidey holes that probably house the massive wolf spiders like the one that ventured into the house in the fall (shuddering just picturing it). We quickly moved past those places to see what else we could find. Not many rocks, which surprised me, but tons of fallen trees and branches and an occasional piece of corn the squirrels had probably buried in the snow but the warm weather revealed.We found where one of the stronger pumpkins I had thrown over the hill in the fall had remained whole, and where the others had smashed to smithereens.

On the way back up the hill, we even found  a pair of old boots. Random. They looked like old gardening boots with the soles warn off, growing mossy stuff and filled with dirt (thank goodness that was all they were filled with)! It made me think of the beginning of Lent, being smeared with ashes and the priest saying, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." You know, something cheery :)

When we got back up the hill, they hadn't burned so much energy that they were ready to go inside. Then again, I can't think of a single time that has ever been the case. We stayed outside, and I let them dig in the mud while I walked through the yard for what seemed like forever picking up dog poo that the snow had been hiding. Ew.

Regardless, this meant that I wasn't very near Bailey and Michael while they were digging. Bailey saw a hole and I heard her said, “I found a hole where something lives. Michael, dig it up.” I yelled “no” from across the yard, but he had already stuck his finger in the hole. He quickly removed it, but not before he was bit/stung by something. He just looked at me, scrunched up his face and kind of whimpered then went right back to playing while his finger swelled up. He didn’t pay any attention to it whatsoever until we went in the house and heard me repeating the story on the phone, at which time he stuck out his finger and said "urt." He quickly forgot again and went back to playing.

I believe it was probably the troublesome yellow jackets we have in this area in the summer. The swelling in his finger was pretty much gone by the evening and just a little spot remained where the bite/sting occurred. I'd like to think he won't do it again--that his lesson was learned--but that would be foolish for any of us to believe.