I am aghast at poor Denzil’s eviction from the car. 😮 Dropped from a tree, dated at by humans, and flung verge wise (hopefully by a wiper) his day could not have been more exciting!
“…his eyes on stalks…” Rebecca—you write marvelous and vivid and precious stories!!! I Ioved this one. Also, I’m a fellow namer of inanimate objects. 😊 My current car is named Beezus after “Ramona and Beezus” by Beverly Cleary.
Snails are a special one for me. They remind me of patient endurance, and I keep a tiny ceramic one on my windowsill to remind me to keep going. 🐌
I like to think that the tenacious Denzil went flying off the windscreen onto the verge where he began a new adventure. I have been flung off of a few metaphorical windscreens in my life and it did me world of good.
PS I love the construction of this phrase: "with a destination printed loud"
Such a clever, imaginative, slice of life post this morning.
Oh my goodness, I didn't see that coming! My husband looked up with surprise when I let out a gasp while reading, lol. Poor Denzil. I hope he was flung somewhere with a soft landing. Great story! 💚
Thanks for mentioning my experiments posts! I enjoyed reading this: very humorous and heartwarming. A few points:
1. A slug is a homeless snail.
2. I always think, when I discover we've driven miles with, say, a spide hanging from the door handle, that the creature must be really teed off at the though of having to make its way back to his or her family and friends!
3. You set traps????😩 We try to RESCUE mice that have been caught by our resident murderers. They look sweet. By the way, we tried everything to get rid of mice, which were coming in because of building works next door, and the fields near the back of the house, and in the end the ONLY think that worked was the arrival of cats.
I kept wondering when you two were going to figure that out!! 😂
Gotta love the Denzils of the world -- living life on the edge like that. I think of slugs as homeless snails. Helps me feel a bit more compassionate. Wish I could share the image of the one I found sliding across the wall just beside my head, as I lay propped up in bed. LOL! Maybe it, like Denzil, was the wandering sort.
Grateful for the post share, Rebecca, and for your ever-present curiosity!
I remember a time a very tiny black slug hitched its way into the house on the fur of one of my cats, I only found it because I always do a “tick-check” on him when he comes into the house. His fur was black and medium length. The slug was still in “Loki’s” fur. I lifted it out and looked at it on my finger. I decided to have a conversation with it. “It” told me about the art of camouflage. When I asked “why do you move so slowly?” It simply replied, “To conserve energy and not get dehydrated.” Hmmm, maybe some sage advice we could all do well with. I put him back outside in the wet grass.
I tried to choke off a laugh when Jim “absently turned on the wipers…”. OMG! (And, just like that, your entertainment was gone.) I’m sure you two will continue to recall your silliness at a future time watching the slug traverse the wind shield, then laugh all over again! Great fun!
Oh, my! Too funny to think about the unexpected adventures of hitchhiking critters! The real upside for the humans is that these hitchhikers rode on the _outside_ of the vehicles. I'd be very alarmed if I drove along and a snail or a mouse made its way across my dashboard! I once put my jeep in park, jumped out in the middle of the road, pulled off my shoe, and started pounding furiously on the dash after a huge, creepy spider emerged from an air vent. Everyone who passed must have thought I was a lunatic (they would not be totally wrong ;-) It ran away and hid, and I had to drive around knowing it still lurked somewhere in the car.
Laugh out loudness, way beyond what "LOL" conveys. "Dressed in its spiral outfit, this mollusc benefits from better PR than its naked cousin, the latter to my mind having absolutely nothing to offer." I've encountered so many of each kind of cousin in my gardening years, hiding under hosta and other woodland plants. I wore gloves almost all the time when working in the woods just to avoid touching all that slimy softness. I hope Denzil escaped the wipers and flew off into a nearby, familiar neighborhood.
I absolutely love this post! Denzil's adventure would make a super Aardman sketch, complete with antennae blowing back. Can you imagine him telling his family about the journey when he finally dragged himself into the house (Of course he has a house! Complete with rugs, family portraits on the walls and occasional lamps), wiping the rain off his eye stalks and asking for a drink (not beer - that's lethal for snails) . His little kiddles, Walter and Harriet, would gaze at their father in awe, with their eyes (yes!) on stalks and Beatrice, his wife, would cluck and stir the nettle stew on the hob...
I am aghast at poor Denzil’s eviction from the car. 😮 Dropped from a tree, dated at by humans, and flung verge wise (hopefully by a wiper) his day could not have been more exciting!
Only you two could have a snail crawl across your vehicle's windshield. Ha ha!
And I do hope that Denzil is both all right and happily crawling around somewhere else.
Poor Denzel!!! (And Hamish the teapot eh? My sister’s first car was a VW Combi van called George.) Another wonderful read. Thanks so much. 🤗🤗😘
“…his eyes on stalks…” Rebecca—you write marvelous and vivid and precious stories!!! I Ioved this one. Also, I’m a fellow namer of inanimate objects. 😊 My current car is named Beezus after “Ramona and Beezus” by Beverly Cleary.
Snails are a special one for me. They remind me of patient endurance, and I keep a tiny ceramic one on my windowsill to remind me to keep going. 🐌
What if that was his game? Get flung from windshield wipers as an extreme sport for tiny molluscs? 🐌🪂
Hey! Some of my best friends are "hardcore slughs." Fellow alums of UCSC. Here is John Travolta wearing our logo shirt https://www.filmgarb.com/vincent-vegas-uc-santa-cruz-shirt/ GO SLUGS!
I like to think that the tenacious Denzil went flying off the windscreen onto the verge where he began a new adventure. I have been flung off of a few metaphorical windscreens in my life and it did me world of good.
PS I love the construction of this phrase: "with a destination printed loud"
Such a clever, imaginative, slice of life post this morning.
I’m tickled by the “mild peril” content warning and the name Denzil! We hardly knew you, Denzil!
Oh my goodness, I didn't see that coming! My husband looked up with surprise when I let out a gasp while reading, lol. Poor Denzil. I hope he was flung somewhere with a soft landing. Great story! 💚
Thanks for mentioning my experiments posts! I enjoyed reading this: very humorous and heartwarming. A few points:
1. A slug is a homeless snail.
2. I always think, when I discover we've driven miles with, say, a spide hanging from the door handle, that the creature must be really teed off at the though of having to make its way back to his or her family and friends!
3. You set traps????😩 We try to RESCUE mice that have been caught by our resident murderers. They look sweet. By the way, we tried everything to get rid of mice, which were coming in because of building works next door, and the fields near the back of the house, and in the end the ONLY think that worked was the arrival of cats.
That slug got around : )
I kept wondering when you two were going to figure that out!! 😂
Gotta love the Denzils of the world -- living life on the edge like that. I think of slugs as homeless snails. Helps me feel a bit more compassionate. Wish I could share the image of the one I found sliding across the wall just beside my head, as I lay propped up in bed. LOL! Maybe it, like Denzil, was the wandering sort.
Grateful for the post share, Rebecca, and for your ever-present curiosity!
Loved this story, very amusing!
I remember a time a very tiny black slug hitched its way into the house on the fur of one of my cats, I only found it because I always do a “tick-check” on him when he comes into the house. His fur was black and medium length. The slug was still in “Loki’s” fur. I lifted it out and looked at it on my finger. I decided to have a conversation with it. “It” told me about the art of camouflage. When I asked “why do you move so slowly?” It simply replied, “To conserve energy and not get dehydrated.” Hmmm, maybe some sage advice we could all do well with. I put him back outside in the wet grass.
I tried to choke off a laugh when Jim “absently turned on the wipers…”. OMG! (And, just like that, your entertainment was gone.) I’m sure you two will continue to recall your silliness at a future time watching the slug traverse the wind shield, then laugh all over again! Great fun!
Oh, my! Too funny to think about the unexpected adventures of hitchhiking critters! The real upside for the humans is that these hitchhikers rode on the _outside_ of the vehicles. I'd be very alarmed if I drove along and a snail or a mouse made its way across my dashboard! I once put my jeep in park, jumped out in the middle of the road, pulled off my shoe, and started pounding furiously on the dash after a huge, creepy spider emerged from an air vent. Everyone who passed must have thought I was a lunatic (they would not be totally wrong ;-) It ran away and hid, and I had to drive around knowing it still lurked somewhere in the car.
Laugh out loudness, way beyond what "LOL" conveys. "Dressed in its spiral outfit, this mollusc benefits from better PR than its naked cousin, the latter to my mind having absolutely nothing to offer." I've encountered so many of each kind of cousin in my gardening years, hiding under hosta and other woodland plants. I wore gloves almost all the time when working in the woods just to avoid touching all that slimy softness. I hope Denzil escaped the wipers and flew off into a nearby, familiar neighborhood.
I absolutely love this post! Denzil's adventure would make a super Aardman sketch, complete with antennae blowing back. Can you imagine him telling his family about the journey when he finally dragged himself into the house (Of course he has a house! Complete with rugs, family portraits on the walls and occasional lamps), wiping the rain off his eye stalks and asking for a drink (not beer - that's lethal for snails) . His little kiddles, Walter and Harriet, would gaze at their father in awe, with their eyes (yes!) on stalks and Beatrice, his wife, would cluck and stir the nettle stew on the hob...
I have to ask: what do you call your teapot?