a boy & his worms

Tim loves to go fishing...but not necessarily to fish.  He will throw a line in the water, and has been known to reel in a fish or two...and even throw them back all by himself.  His favorite thing about fishing, however, is the worms!  

His love of worms started very young...he's never been afraid of them that I remember.  Thankfully he's never eaten any of them either (not that I've seen anyway).  Helping me plant flowers each spring, he is always looking in the shovels full of dirt I turn over for a worm sighting.  Tim gets a container of some kind and puts a little loose dirt in the bottom and scoops up the worms we find.  He almost always names them or gives them a title...one day we had a whole family of worms from Grandpa Worm to Baby Worm in the container.  Their title is based on their size and squirmy-ness.  When he's through playing with them, he frees them back into the dirt and wishes them well with a sweet "Good-bye, Wormies!" 

When it rains, Tim is quick to spot one on the sidewalk or driveway, too, and attempt to "save" it by placing it in the grass or flower garden nearby.  Yes, I am proud!  We have both been known to get sopping wet in order to see the worms to safety.   

I see Tim's love of worms and it reminds me of myself with Grandpa Miller in the garden each spring.  I'm sure Grandpa could have finished his work alot faster without me shouting "Worm!" and grabbing for it to put it in the cleaned out soup can with a little dirt in the bottom of it.  But, Grandpa was always kind and willing to allow me to pick them up.  I did love to go fishing with the worms, but hunting and gathering them was just as much fun. 

These pictures were taken on our camping trip to John Tanner State Park in Carrollton, GA.  The fish were stealing the bait, but avoiding being caught.  Tim retired from fishing to be the worm manager...it proved to be more interesting for him.  He charged 5 pretend dollars for each worm...when we asked how much the crickets were, he said they were 5 pretend dollars and the worms went up to 10.  We had to get our own crickets, so the worms cost more since he was getting them out of the container for us.  He's quite the businessman at 6, don't you agree?   

I do love my little worm wrangler!