Critter Catcher

As a kid I was something of a critter catcher. I’d spend hours in the woods wading in streams looking for crawdads. If I snagged a frog, toad, or turtle I was exceptionally happy. As a Dad, I have had to catch many a creature to appease an audience of two. That desire to catch animals has been passed along to that audience of two. Now any walk through the woods is accompanied by a quick stop at a rotten log or stream for a creature check.

On Monday, while working from home, I took a break and the boys and I went to a local park for lunch. If we were fancy I would say we had charcuterie, but it was really just cheese, meat, and crackers. After a quick bite, we walked around the pond and saw a bunch of creatures. One was a massive painted turtle sunning itself on a rock. A year ago, in this exact same place, I caught the turtle before it slipped into the water. The audience of two erupted in approval. This year, Isaac tried to do the same thing.

Isaac has become quite the daring critter catcher. Inspired by his brother’s admiration and Coyote Peterson Isaac has made some downright amazing grabs, especially of frogs that live behind Nanna and P-Pa’s house. The picture above is him trying to duplicate my feat from the year before. Unfortunately, this grab is not a stun grab, but a patience grab. I took about 20 minutes to slowly sneak up on the turtle before I grabbed it. Isaac, being 11, couldn’t wait that long. He missed the turtle, but claimed it was a slip of the foot (which did happen) that prevented the capture, not his lack of patience. Hmmmm….