Guess what M discovered today...

General knowledge about me, my kids are either #1, #2, or #3 or they are S, M and L. Not their first name initial but their sizes. Got it?

I'll tell you in a minute, but first here's a blogging tip and trick for you. When you go to post your blog for the day there's a box with the date on it. I started my previous post on 5/6 but I didn't finish it until tonight. Except that I'm fessing up, no one else would ever know that I posted it tonight and not 5/6/08. - Princess that's for you, but I know you'd never be deceitful like that. In all honesty, I did write most of it on 5/6 I just got distracted from finishing it until today.

Now that I have your attention, Princess, do you know what an astringent is?

Now, onto today's discovery. I'm posting here because it'll hopefully draw my friends to read instead of tiring of my lengthy posts elsewhere. I'm competing in a work challenge to get healthy (no I don't consider myself healthy unless you are weighing babies who are the only ones allowed to be of a "healthy" weight). My solution is to add at least two walks per week in addition to all the steps I normally take. Work even supplied pedometers for us to wear and keep track of our steps. I wear mine all through my waking hours. Every step counts.... Back to the discovery. While out on our walk today we had just gotten started and I was trying to fix M's shoe that was bugging me. He was distracted and generally uncooperative as I fiddle with him. Nearby stood his observant but naive younger brother, S.

What on earth was into them this afternoon? I just wanted to walk. Is it really that complicated. Am I going to have to nag all the way "get going" "hurry up"? I hate walks like that. You'd think I'd quit. As these questions rattled in my cage, M got my attention by pulling away and asking "What is that, Mom?" Quickly grabbing S, I jumped back not knowing if it was in the right direction or far enough. "What? Where? Huh?" I asked. "There. See. What is it?"

We are genuinely curious down here. We had a moth in it's cocoon since November last year that just hatched yesterday (I'll post it later) . We've found snakes. Baby bass eating a minnow as big as he is. Water moccasins, glass lizards, gators and the like. Today was no exception. Standing still so as to not startle this creature we called for back up. DH to the rescue! He didn't exactly know what was going on, so he made his way to us. Before he got there we wandered off deciding that either it'd be there when we returned or DH would discover it for himself if he ever did come.

We got about 100 yards before DH hollered at us to come back for show and tell. So we did. So, what did we find? A broad-headed Skink. Check it out here: tiny link. Just looking at him gave me the creeps. The shape of his head made me believe that he could be poisionous so we kept our distance, but not too much. He was all shiny and very still. I even considered whether or not he bites.

As all the excitement seemed to have abated, S and I left for the walk I really wanted to take. M and L stayed beind with DH to take pictures and check this out even more. Being the men that they are I'm sure at some point they prodded the skink to action. When I was about 200 yards down the road from them I heard a scream. It was M. The skink had skinnied between his legs and disappeared into the underbrush on the other side of the road.

So with the sun setting in the west and me happily strolling through our neighborhood with S, M caught up with me while L and DH returned home victorious in their conquest.