Something Weird?

Because Mr. Pop drives his work truck home and because on the side of that truck you see the profile of a sea turtle and beneath the name of his firm the words; “Environmental Consulting”, Mr. Pop has become the neighborhood go to guy for questions about all things crawly.

A few weeks ago the lady next door cornered him to ask how she can keep a gopher tortoise from coming into her yard and leaving “turtle poop” behind. Mr. Pop tried to tactfully reassure her that gopher tortoise “poop” was not a major crisis in a human being’s life.

Last night we were about to sit down to dinner when our door bell rang. At the front door was another neighbor from four houses down. She was holding something wrapped in a paper towel. She gently unfolded the paper towel to expose what appeared to be a small egg. She wanted Mr. Pop to identify this egg she found in her yard under some mulch. Mr. Pop said to the best of his knowledge it was most likely a snake egg and the best thing to do was to put it back where she found it. The lady seemed reluctant to do that and she informed him there were two others where she found this one. It appeared that neighbor lady didn’t want anything to do with this little egg and wasn’t going to leave. Mr. Pop told her we would bury the egg in our backyard and she should leave the other two where they were. This seemed to appease neighbor lady and her final words were, “I just don’t want something weird to hatch in my yard”.

What the hell? Something “weird”? What did she think might emerge from that little egg, an alien? That’s what’s wrong with a lot of people, they don’t understand their natural environment or appreciate its diversity. They think if it isn’t human, if it isn’t cute and furry, it’s weird and should be done away with.

We’ll keep an eye on the little egg’s new nest and if we see something “weird” hatch in our yard, I’ll let you know.