The theme/prompt for THIS week, June 23, is:
TAILS - "Summertime memory"


I was talking to a co-worker last week and we decided that our strongest memories of when we were kids are from the summer.  School memories are mostly a blur.  But the summers... they stood out!

I am all about the experiences.  I try to offer my kids every experience I can possibly give them.  I want them to be able to say, I tried that, I saw that, I made that, I broke that!

I know they're still young, but it's never too early to start is it?

We're growing a vegetable garden this year.  BG was all excited about helping me at first.  But of course she gets caught up in playing and only helps for about five minutes; long enough to dig up a worm, and then she's outta there!

But I still think it's a good experience.  When I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Kingsolver talked about city kids who didn't know that potatoes grow in the ground.  They were floored when they learned you had to dig them up to harvest them.  I vowed then that my city kids would not be like that.  My kids will not be afraid of dirt and they will know that vegetables don't come from the grocery store.  They don't?

As I've told you before, we are growing an organic garden, which means I have to get rid of pests the all-natural way.  Now that I have my groundhog detail (Super Dog), I am even more excited because that means I won't find half-eaten tomatoes everywhere. 

One of my favorite pesticides (if you will) is what my mom and I affectionately called "Slugweiser."  I either use skunked beer (which occurs during the spring months when we leave beer out in the cool garage on an inordinately hot day!) or we buy really cheap beer.  I set out my recycled yogurt containers in about three spots around the garden and come back to find the slugs drowned in the beer instead of in my cucumbers!

Slugs love salt, so they gravitate to the stuff and of course once in, they can't get back out.  My only issue with this method is that sometimes I wonder if I am inviting slugs versus actually preventing them.  But, I have seen slug damage and it is nasty... so I opt for the Slugweiser!

Due to all the rain, I've had to change out my cups more often.  As I was changing out the cups yesterday (full of slugs) I didn't want to just dump them out in the yard (gross) so I emptied out as much of the liquid as I could and then I put the rest in a plastic grocery bag to take to the trash can.

Well, one thing led to another and we stayed outside too long.  In my rush to round up the kids and all the gardening tools I left said plastic bag hanging on one of the fence posts.  I figured I would come back and get it after I put Buddy to bed.

When I came back to get the bag, I found that it had been chewed through.  There were only two slug parts that had been left in between the soggy bag pieces.  As I looked over at Super Dog I wondered if I noticed a slight slant in his gait...  He sure seemed very happy with himself.  Perhaps he wasn't drunk but he had gotten all the beer and as an added bonus, he'd gotten some doggie caviar for his trouble!

That's the last time I leave that baggie hanging there on the post.  My mom and I used to hang those there all the time and our previous dogs, classy Great Danes that they were, never even sniffed the stuff! 

This memory will be fresh in my mind all summer long; every time I see a slug, I will think of Super Dog's silly grin. 

I wonder if slugs have any nutritional value?

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