Rollie Pollies and such

I guess since this blog is entitled "My Kansan Life" I should probably tell some stories about my life. First, a not-so-serious one.

Rollie pollies. I don't know if everyone calls them that, but that is what I have always called pill bugs. They are small with a lot of legs and roll up into a ball when you try to handle them. When I was small I used to like to grab them up and pull them apart. We had several thousand in our yard, climbing on the foundation of our home, etc. I would spend hours doing this (well, it seemed like hours, maybe just 30 minutes?). I am not sure what the fascination was, but I found it fun.

One day as I was swinging on my swingset (my favorite thing in the world to do), I saw a colorful bug flying around. I thought it was pretty. I watched it as it settled down onto a flower. I reached down and grabbed it and pulled it apart. IMMEDIATELY my thumb began to throb with pain. I ran crying into my house where my mom could survey the damage. I told her what I had done. She proceeded to get some "mommy tools" out to get the nuisance out of my thumb. She then explained that I had pulled apart a bee, and to not mess with those "pretty" bugs anymore. They have stingers, and that is what I had in my thumb. Lesson learned.