Next, I'll be eating grits
When I moved from Chicago to Nashville for college, I definitely experienced some culture shock. Sample first-week conversation:
Freshman-in-college Erin: Wow look at that huge bug up there in the lights!
Freshman-in-college Southern friend: Erin, that’s a bat.
Even though I’ve lived in the South for going on seven years now, I still don’t know much about critters. When we moved into our house last year, we inherited a beautiful, semi-wooded backyard. Since then, our cats have enjoyed bringing many critters into the house, including:
bird
bird (the difference being bird #2 was ALIVE and FLYING)
salamander (which I initially thought was a twig, because of rigor mortis)
grasshopper
large earthworm
small snake
That’s right, folks. Last night they brought in a real, wriggling miniature garden snake. I can’t describe with words how that made me feel, except to say I had Noah do a sweep of the bed before I’d sleep in it last night.
Also, Noah broke some serious news to me. The critter list should actually read:
dead bird
live bird
salamander
grasshopper
large earthworm SMALL SNAKE
small snake
Yep, so what I interpreted to be a large, dead earthworm under the kitchen table was actually snake #1. When I asked Noah how he could tell, he said (if truth be told, with unnecessary sarcasm), “Earthworms don’t have scales and little eyes and mouths.”
Well, forgive me for NOT INSPECTING A DEAD BUG IN OUR HOUSE UNDER A MICROSCOPE.