Worms!

What do you get when you add Spring + Rain? Earthworms! Everywhere! Dozens of them, squirming over pavements, basking under trees, just sidewalk after sidewalk of the little creatures. It's funny, it's been so long since I've seen one, that at first I didn't even recognize them -- I actually thought they were sticks, until Steve pointed one out... and then, wham! Suddenly, we were surrounded by wormlife.

Steve says they come out like this when it rains because if they stayed underground, they'd actually drown. Kind of a cool nature fact, until you realize that the tragic part is that when they surface, the driest place to go is the pavements... and that's precisely where bikes, cars, and bipeds have the best chance of stepping on them. So you get hundreds of worms, and hundreds of squished little bodies. A regular wormicide! Poor little guys.

I made an effort to save one today, maybe that counts for something. He was a rather fat fellow, rolling lazily across a broad stretch of road, unaware of the imminent danger. I managed to find a Y-shaped stick, scoop him up, and deposit him in the grass on the other side. I hope he didn't mind the transplant! He appeared to be burrowing happily in the grass as I left -- maybe he found some nice juicy soils.

On reflection, I think there's really too many of the creatures for the odd bike to pose a significant threat to wormery at large. But still... they're so soft and squishy. I wonder how many will be left tomorrow?

Weird nature!