Ice Fishing and New Pets

Suddenly it's winter. It's been cold for about 2 weeks now, and the snow from last weekend has stuck around all week. The Dude and I attended the Boy Scout/Cub Scout Ice Fishing Contest on Snail Lake. It was the Dude's first time ice fishing. Despite my love of fishing, I've only gone ice fishing about 10 times in my life - - the last being almost a dozen years ago. For me, it's not real fishing unless you are wearing sunscreen - - and not just on your nose.

We didn't catch anything. The kids who were catching fish were hauling out little crappies - the kind that fit into the palm of your hand - - the hand of your average Cub Scout.

One odd note. The Dude took a liking to the bait - wax worms. His first grade class kept wax worms all last fall - in order to observe their various transformations. They are a lot of fun. Did you know that if you hold them by their "butts" they sort of stand up and dance? They do. Now we have two wax worms at home. Amazingly they came back from the "dead" - they were frozen solid when we left the lake. The Dude assures me that all they need is oatmeal and sugar. Oh - and their names are Erik and Mike.