At a Snail's Pace

Unbelievably, it rained again. In late May. In California. Sheesh.

Abby was bouncing off the walls and driving us all insane. I decided to take her for a walk no matter how much it was raining. I dug out her favorite blue umbrella - because it's so light weight and easy for her to carry one handed - zipped up her coat, and together we headed out into the rain.

No one else was out and about, so we talked loudly above the sound of the rain. I enjoyed our mommy/daughter time.



We passed a house that has been abandoned for some time. It hasn't had a for sale sign out front for a while now, but we know no one has moved in yet. The blinds are slightly open, the lights are on timers, the garbage cans are rolled out on the wrong day and then brought in the next. Someone is making an effort with the place, but it's obviously empty.

Anyway, as we approached the house, Abby squealed with glee. "Snails!" She pointed to the sidewalk right in front of the driveway. Sure enough, there were about 20 snails making their way across the sidewalk. Ewwwwwww. Gross. Talk about treacherous footing. And then -



CRUNCH.

Yuck, Abby stepped on one. "Can I touch it?"

"Heck no! Abby, that's disgusting."

She hunkered down to examine the snail patee. Slightly curious myself, I squatted next to her and looked around. Just to our right was another squashed snail with some relatives gathered around mourning their brother. Ummm, nope. It was more like they were slurping up the goo. Gross! Snails are NASTY creatures!!!

Then I looked up across the expanse of the abandon home's driveway. I actually gasped. The driveway was covered with snails.

It was a mass exodus. A snail's apocalypse in progress.



This was the best picture I could get where you can see the snails rather than brown bumps. But I kid you not, the entire driveway was covered with snails. I'm guessing maybe 2 or 3 hundred! Apparently, with no one home to lay bait or poison, snails can really multiply. And I didn't know they were cannibals either.

All in all, a very educating - and disgusting - walk in the rain...