Leaves and Slugs - An Ode to Spring

I don't know who said it but it is a point well taken, "never put off for tomorrow what you can do today."

In the cold, wet, damp and icky days of October when the leaves are in thick, matted piles around my yard I thought, "what the heck, I'll just rake them next to the fence and pick them up when it is a bit warmer.
Fast forward six months.

Warmer weather didn't arrive until April! I want to do yard work but, alas, my lawnmower is not working, and the battery charger isn't doing the job this time. I want to plant and prune and weed while the soil is wonderfully damp and friendly. But, I can't because I have a day's worth of dried up, nasty leaves to wrangle to the garden or burn pile or wherever I need to take them. NO ONE wants to help with the leaves (this doesn't matter if it is October or April it is pretty much the way of the family) today. So I do them, all day long.

John helped transport to the garden and raked out a few bushes for me. This is how he found his new pet, Sluggo. Sluggo actually found John. When John pulled his arm out from a pile of leaves, voila', there's the slug on his arm. He ran into the house to get his "bug habitat" and give Sluggo the life of luxury. Sluggo has different ideas. He proceeded to crawl around every surface of the luxury home. This greatly upset John who came slamming out the door to announce to me in his very disturbed voice, "Mom, Sluggo is getting on my very last nerve. He has slimed up every side of his new home. I've had it with him. He's not going to be my pet any more. He's now going to be a specimen (translation: dead for my bug collection.)

I explained to him that soft body invertebrates do not make good specimens and maybe he should return him to the wild. He agreed and said, "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'm sticking with normal pets like beetles." I wish it would always be this easy to help him out with difficult decisions but only 5 more years until teenhood and the easy stuff will be HISTORY!