Does anyone else think of childhood when they see grasshoppers? I swear, I don't think there is a time when I see them that I don't think of childhood. First of all, my own childhood. I just remember everywhere I went, the grasshoppers were always jumping every which way in front of and beside me. To walk through a hayfield or tall grass was something else! They were just everywhere, and lots of them...all sizes. I am not sure, but I think we shot them with BB guns also...or maybe it was my brother and my nephew that shot at them....but if they did, then I am sure I was involved in it too but the memory is so vague I just cannot be positive.And I remember the cats catching them and eating them.
Then I think of my own girls...I don't know of any other kids that did the things we let them do. Like I can remember them catching this one grasshopper and putting him in a quart jar and poking holes in the lid. And they would gather grass for it....I cannot remember how long they kept him, but he doubled in size! And I am pretty sure they set him free before the summer was over.
They also had the Monarch chrysalis and witnessed the butterfly emerge....
When they were young, up around 8 and 10, and along about that age, for two or three summers we kept one of those little wading pools in the back yard. You know, the hard plastic kind like this. You might ask what kids that age would want with one of those pools...well, we brought home tadpoles, Pumpkinseed bluegills, crawdads, and waterboatmen....I guess you would say it was an aquarium of sorts. We watched the bluegills grow, watched tadpoles change to frogs, we even had a crawdad that had a bunch of babies....I think that is the one and only time I witnessed that....and I think they brought the waterboatman home just because they could....that is all I remember them having, but I might be forgetting something.
But all these memories are jogged every time I see grasshoppers.
We used to catch fireflies and put them in a big jar. It was almost like having a lantern. We would of course release them before going in for the night.
ReplyDeleteThey always take me back to my childhood also.
ReplyDeleteI remember the grasshoppers from my childhood, too. They were everywhere in the summer. Our cats would chase them and I sometimes would catch them and give them to the cats....wasn't I awful? They would "spit tobacco" in your hand..nasty.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I remember grasshoppers, Rose, AND lightning bugs (we didn't call them fireflies), June bugs, and toad frogs.... Such great memories!!!!
ReplyDeleteCute story about the tadpoles.....
Have a great day.
Hugs,
Betsy
That is a good picture of a grasshopper. We saw lots of grasshoppers when we walked along that cornfield trail to the Erie bluffs earlier this month. None of the grasshoppers would sit still long enough for me to get a picture.
ReplyDeleteThat is a fine close up of this grasshopper. Glad he waited long enough for you to get a shot. The childhood memories were interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memories of childhood in a simpler age. I also remember the grasshoppers from my childhood.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a great childhood! I wonder how many kids experience nature the way kids used to.
ReplyDeleteI was always afraid of them jumping on me.
ReplyDeleteMore than anything I remember my Grandpa catching them to use as fishing bait. Sad but true.
What a memory! That's one reason your stories are so wonderful to read.
ReplyDelete