I grew up on a farm. I experienced all sorts of things that are considered by general society to be "icky". Case in point: When I was about nine years old, my dad woke me up, because we had a sow in labor that was struggling. If we didn't do something soon, she would die. Unfortunately, I had the smallest hands/arms. You might realize by now what I needed to do. I didn't find anything, but after the "procedure", she was fine, and lived on to have more litters. It was one of the most important things I've ever done, in my humble opinion.

As a parent, I don't believe that kids should decide things are "icky" based on popular opinion. Annie and I have discussions on this far too regularly, but she always gets it. When we started working on remodeling the bathroom, she accompanied me under the house to cut some pipe. She was reluctant at first. She stayed close, keeping a wary eye on the cobwebs. We discussed the importance of spiders, and what they ate. We cut the necessary pipe, and moved out. On the way she decided spiders were cool. In fact, by the time we got back in the house she was clamoring for a pet spider. Fortunately, we have enough cobwebs (my poor housekeeping) she agreed that we would leave one and that would be our pet.

Another time, we discussed the "ickiness" of banana slugs. Banana slugs are fascinating. I believe I finally convinced Annie of this. She decided they were cool, and we regularly seek them out to see what they are doing, as you can see:

Well, to continue this, Annie’s mother was always at odds with bats. I like bats. They are useful and interesting. So, Annie and I decided to build some bat houses. I bought some books and pamphlets, and worked out a design. As you will see from our Bat House Pictures, we did a great job (pat on both our backs). We had a blast, and learned a lot about bats in the process. Unfortunately, bats don’t always follow the intentions of humans. We have no bats in our bathouses. However, there is a break in one of my eaves where a creature, such as a bat, might find access to protection from the elements. Local bats have chosen this as a home as opposed to the condominiums that Annie and I have installed. Oh well, as long as they pay the rent....

Bat Slumlord