Gabe Goes Naturing

On Sunday, Libby took Gabe and met some friends at one of the local lakes for a nature walk and some fishing. Because it was ridiculously hot all weekend, and because I didn't feel like wrestling her in a stroller along a nature trail, Norah and I stayed behind and had our own brand of fun (where I lay on the floor and try to doze while she stands right next to me and bounces up and down--often on my head--until I give up and help her flip through the pages in one of her books instead).

Gabe and his "bonkulars." This is about the exact distance one needs to be from the observational target to see it clearly in these binoculars. They are cheap plastic with "lenses." They do not focus or adjust in any way shape or form. But he enjoyed looking through them at things that were right in front of his face. Here he is examining one of the region's rarer plant offerings, the "fluff pustule."

Here he is closely monitoring the activities of the notorious "purple people eater" made famous in the song by Sheb Wooley back in 1958. Obviously, Sheb took some liberties with the creature as it doesn't fly, have a horn, or even a single eye. At this relatively young stage in its development, it's pretty safe for human observation--its primary diet consisting of kitten and other cute furry animals--but, eventually, it will develop a taste for dentists (Fun Fact: Audrey II in "Little Shop of Horrors" is loosely based on this carnivorous creature--"loosely" in that they only got the dentist eating part right). Despite the moderate safety of the situation, I'm still a little surprised that Libby let Gabe get this close. I suppose he has to learn someday, though, that being a dentist is a terrible idea.

Gabe sitting just outside The Fireswamp, waiting to tangle with his very first R.O.U.S.! Really, it's pretty extraordinary just how many cultural references can be traced back to this particular lake area. It is truly a remarkable region.

Gabe looking at dirt. Since I can't see what's going on anywhere else in the area, I have to assume that this is shortly after he vanquished the Jabberwocky. Sadly, due to poor camera work, we'll never know for sure what carnage lays just beyond the camera's visual range.

After the nature walk of doom, Libby and Gabe decided to do a little fishing. This was Gabe's first fishing adventure. Personally, I have a great distaste for the sport, partly because I think it's cruel, if you're not going to eat the fish, to jam a hook in its mouth just for the sport of it--I know I wouldn't appreciate someone tossing a piece of cheesecake into my line of sight then yanking a barbed hook into my mouth when I took my first bite (first bite, even! At least let me finish it!), but mostly because fish are slimy and gross and I don't like touching them to dislodge said hook. I know how to fish, of course, and it is a skill that I will doubtless make much less squeamish use of after the Rapture when I need to fish for survival, but, until then, I'll leave it to people who don't mind hurting other living creatures for the fun of it.

Not surprisingly, Gabe had a knack for it. He caught his first fish moments after his first cast.

Gabe, with Libby keeping a close eye out for fresh water monsters, of which this lake is positively FILLED with.

Mother and son, posing for a picture in front of the suspiciously still lake.

At first glance, one might assume that the moisture on Libby's back is sweat. It did, after all, get up to around 100 degrees (about 40 hexawarms, for those on the metric system) that day. But no! Shortly after the earlier picture was taken of them standing on the dock, the gossamer clad hand of the Lady of the Lake shot up from under the dock, grabbed Libby by the waist of her jeans, and pulled her into the lake. She's such a bitch (the Lady, not Libby). After a brief scuffle, Libby used her Ring of Water Twat Repulsion ("twat" of course referring to the disposition of the Water Creature, and not its anatomical makeup--as ALL Water Creatures are notoriously sexless, just try to sex test a mermaid if you have any doubts) and escaped a watery death, but her clothes were soaked in the process.

Gabe with his first catch: a juvenile Makara. You can tell it's a juvenile because it has not yet developed its signature trunk. And it isn't as big as two houses. But, because they wanted to allow the creature to reach its full potential--in the hopes that it would give the Lady of the Lake a sound trampling, or whatever you call what a giant elephant-headed fish does in the water (a snorpling? a swimpling?). Not that it will matter. The young fish will almost surely be eaten by one of the rival tribes of Naga or Sleestak. They tend to fish the lake to near extinction every year before their hibernation season starts.

And that sums up Gabe's nature adventure! Pretty successful, by all accounts, but I'm pretty glad that I chose to stay inside with Norah instead. All we had to deal with was a single alien abduction attempt--and a pretty junior varsity one, at that.