On Insects and the Internet

I have started riding my bicycle to work when I am not sick (which means I drove a lot last week -- one of the hazards of having kids who bring bugs home.) When I am not riding my bicycle, however, it lives in my garage. Since it is relatively dark when I ride to work in the morning, I have lights on the bicycle to keep me safe.

A couple of weeks ago, when I arrived at work, I started to remove the headlight (so it doesn't get stolen) and I noticed that it looked like there was something underneath the light. As I watched, a wasp crawled out from under the light and began walking back and forth across the top of the top of the headlight. Given that I didn't have anything handy to swat it with, I opted to abandon the light, figuring that the wasp would keep anyone from stealing it. Still, I marvelled at my good luck at not getting stung.

When the kids called while they were waiting for the bus, I told Gwen the story about the wasp.

"Did you swat it?" she asked.

"No, honey, I didn't have anything to swat it with."

"What about a flyswatter?"

I laughed. "Honey, I don't carry a flyswatter around in my backpack."

"Well, you should," she said sternly. "From now on, you need to start carrying a flyswatter with you in case this sort of thing comes up again!"

Well! I guess the Gwen has spoken!


Today we were playing outside, and Xavier suddenly announced, "I think it is time to decorate the driveway again!" He ran into the garage and came back out with a box of chalk we keep in there just for this purpose.

As he got to work, he said, "Today's driveway decorations are brought to you by Xavier! If you have any questions, go to www.chalk.com for more information."