Little bit of ewww, little bit of awww...

Sorry about the ewww factor with the first pic. Move on to the second and you'll piece together the story that unfolded this afternoon...

A few things that came to my mind while snapping these pictures...

1.  I must be loosing it...I can't believe I'm trying to be artistic about taking a picture of a snail. I'm waiting for the stupid snail's antennae to cast just the right shadow. (Are they antennae?) 

2. Wait, I think this is the second snail-post I've done. Geez.

3. He has no idea what's going on, where he is. And I can't believe I'm thinking about this.

4. The "date and contents" are yet to be labeled, but would probably read something like, "040709. S.S. 0001. E.S.S."*  

5. Michaela told me that she put some chalk in the snail's "home" because she learned that they like to eat chalk--makes for a harder shell. That's just too weird. How do they know?!

6. Will the "air holes" Michaela poked in the bag be enough for him? Do snails use oxygen? I can't believe I'm actually concerned about this.

Then I looked at Michaela's "book" she was making about her snail and I just smiled. I love that she spent an entire afternoon collecting and creating.  And I love her snail. It reminds me of some Sponge Bob character--its the eyes, the little lips she gave him. 

I'm glad I documented this for her because there used to be a time when she was deathly afraid of snails.** When she was two, we found her in the middle of the backyard crying hysterically, "Daddy! Daddy!" pointing to something in the grass, her body frozen with fear. We ran out there to discover that she had come face to face with a snail. It took a couple of years to get her to today's point where she willingly captured one and was even excited to write a book on the experience. What progress!

*April 7, 2009. Snail Specimen 0001. Experimental Story Subject. (there's actually another one staying safe at the bottom of the bag)

**It's a genetic thing. Her Uncle (I won't name which one) was also deathly afraid of snails growing up. His mother thought it a good idea to buy little glass painted snails for him to help him with his fear--he didn't think it funny.

Underside of snail...

I just thought that's something my Dad would have said. :)