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Showing posts with label grasshoppers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grasshoppers. Show all posts

Saturday, August 13, 2022

The Grasshopper (free) (not so outdoorsy) Picnic

Should you search through this site, you'll find that many - not all, but many - State Fair weeks I would take some combination of the kids on a Grasshopper Picnic; so named because we would usually share a Little Caesar's pizza in Whitnall Park, and finish by catching a jar or two of grasshoppers that we released in our yard. 

Alas, this year, three considerations have affected this outing;

1. I maintain a glorious array of bird feeders, and bringing the grasshoppers home would be ensuring their quick demise at the hands, er, beaks, of my pretties. 

2. I'm planning on going to the Fair tomorrow, and the kids work. 

and 

3. When I drove by a field this week and suggested it as a location, LuLu called it "more like a tick picnic."

Hrmph. 

So, improvisation. Today all the kids who live at home were working, but Junie and Smiley had a few hours free around noon. Alas, Smiley made plans for coffee with a friend, so Junie and I went to a small, local Italian grocery store that has a hot food counter, and bought some vittles. 

A cup of chili and a dark rye roll for me, chicken tenders and potato wedges for her. Oh, and she bought me an oatmeal raisin cookie and apple juice. 

We ate in the car and talked about the Aubreys (band of the great Finn Wolfhard) and the upcoming school year, and the siblings. What I remember best is her shock when I told her I sometimes stopped at that store for lunch when I had a morning class at Marquette. The idea of me having a life independent of their memories remains largely theoretical for all of them, I think. 

Afterwards we bought some school supplies and visited YaYa for a bit. 

Anyway, *maybe* we'll pull off a catch-and-release genu-wine Grasshopper Picnic. But if not, this was mighty nice too.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

The Grasshoppers



Three times this summer we headed over to a local park and collected grasshoppers. Whenever we got a new batch, we paroled the old ones by releasing them in the backyard. 

I love grasshoppers by the way. The drink, and the insect. 

Here's Junie releasing the last batch of the year with her friend Tia. 









Afterwards, I took them to the park. I spent most of the time there sitting by the playground reading a book on Jack the Ripper, which I'm sure wasn't alarming to anyone at all. 







The Grasshoppers



Three times this summer we headed over to a local park and collected grasshoppers. Whenever we got a new batch, we paroled the old ones by releasing them in the backyard. 

I love grasshoppers by the way. The drink, and the insect. 

Here's Junie releasing the last batch of the year with her friend Tia. 









Afterwards, I took them to the park. I spent most of the time there sitting by the playground reading a book on Jack the Ripper, which I'm sure wasn't alarming to anyone at all. 







Monday, September 5, 2016

Grasshopper Hunting to End the Summer

Last Wednesday was the last day of summer vacation for the kids (my two week vacation from classes ended that Monday). We had a  mini-tradition, for a bit, of having a picnic in Whitnall Park during the week Lisa would work at State Fair. It's been a few years, but Ginger brought it up recently and so, for a last hurrah, we did the same. 

Sorta. 

We started out with an early dinner at Kopp's Custard. 






Oy, I know YaYa will hate this picture, given it shows her apparently jamming food in her mouth. But of the two I have as options, trust me kiddo - this is the more flattering ;)


 Alas, after dinner we split up. Nothing was wrong, but for some reason I don't even remember I got it into my head to go catch grasshoppers, and that only appealed to Ginger. In an act of sisterly love, LuLu offered to come with. And so the three of us went a'huntin'. 

Ginger was game for the chase. 


LuLu was not, and served as our spotter. An effective one at that. 





 
 LuLu also became our location photographer. 




















 We were very successful, catching enough grasshoppers to fill a gallon pickle jar when we got home.






Ginger's grasshoppers have even mated and laid eggs since they joined our household!