Post by Sach-Crabministrator on Sept 4, 2010 11:07:29 GMT -5
Well, I had an interesting afternoon yesterday. Lemme give you a little bit of background.
The weekend before school started back up here, there was a gaggle of kids from the neighborhood who were circling our house (on one side, we are separated from a big church parking lot by 2 neighbors' yards) and trash-talking to my son and his friends playing in the yard (ours or the neighbors'). Well, both myself and the neighbor (mom of one of the kids w/my son) told the boys to just ignore the other kids; as neither of us had actually heard what was said or could be sure our kids didn't start it.
After a couple afternoons of this, I went outside and out of sight of the road, to listen to what these kids would say if they thought there were no adults around. Well, after hearing the profanity and attitude, I'd had enough. So I told them they needed to find somewhere else to play and ride their bikes; that I'd had enough of them circling our house with their potty mouths and that if I saw them over here again I'd call their parents and then the cops. Now, I didn't actually have a clue who these kids were, or where they lived but I knew they didn't know that.
So, fast forward to school starting. I pick my son up in the afternoon and he tells me that one of the kids that was out behind the house that day is in his class & new to the neighborhood and school. I saw the kid and he looked afraid of me,hh. (Nevermind the fact that my 10 year old is almost as tall as me) I kinda got the feeling that maybe he wasn't the same kind of kid as the others and was just trying to fit in. The funniest part? The littlest one was the ringleader and he looked about 7! Oh and this kid, my son tells me, has a hermit crab. Of course, I asked him what he knew about the crab and what the kid had him in, etc (there was a kid in his class last year who said he got 2 at the same place as us, the same day and had them in a wire cage, but absolutely refused to talk to Matthew about his crabs) He said he didn't know. Of course I was like, "Matthew. I spend most of my time with my crabs or on my crab page and you didn't ask him about his crab?!" HH
Well, yesterday after school my son asks me if this kid can come into the yard to play. I was reluctant at first because I didn't know him or his parents and couldn't be sure he was even allowed over at our house. So I told my son this, the kid rode home on his bike to ask (supposedly) and came back.
Of course, we had to ask all about his crab. He has one crab in a painted shell with a Googly eye glued on it, in a lidless KK, with "pebbles". He feeds him "hermit crab food" and apparently had heard about the de-chlorinated water/salt water parts, but I was unclear as to whether or not he had them both for his crab. He said he he didn't have extra shells and thought "molting" was changing shells. So.....I had to make a crabby care package for this kid to take home. I gave him the bottom third of my bag of sand I had left, I gave him the one shell I had out that sounded like it would fit his guy (just boiled two days ago) and a bunch of food. I gave him a bag with mineral powder, worm castings and crushed oyster shells mixed together, a bag of "stinky foods"-surf n turf, dry anchovies, shrimp exos and a salmon cube and purple seaweed. I gave him another bag with oat straw, fruit treat, barley and red rose petals. I also put together a frozen bag with some watermelon, mango and red grapes. I even gave him two clam shells to use for dishes. I printed out a care sheet with the supply list on the back and wrote instructions for the foods, a basic on the sand and stuff like that. I put my phone number on it too. I have most of my "crab stuff" packed right now, since we will be moving within a week, or I would have been able to give him some salt and dechlorinator. I only made what I would need to last until the move and packed the rest. He was thanking me repeatedly and I even let him hold Godzilla. ;D I told him not to worry about it; that so many people had helped me when I started, how could I not help someone else out?! He was saying that when he gets his allowance he'd get more stuff and even expressed worry about would he have the money soon enough to get the stuff he needed. That was what prompted me to give him the sand. I figured at least this way the crab would have substrate and food to get him through till the kid could buy better stuff for him. I'll tell ya. Honestly, this kid was the most pleasant company we've had in a while. So, he went home with a double grocery bag weighing about 3 pounds,hh.
I was actually thrilled to be able to give him stuff since so many people helped me out when I began. I have so much dry food for my crabs that I'm not even half through what I started with! I have hoped to be able to come across someone who needed stuff I had to give. I literally don't have the money to mail stuff to anyone, so it's great to be able to help someone who lives nearby.
Yay! Crabby Karma
The weekend before school started back up here, there was a gaggle of kids from the neighborhood who were circling our house (on one side, we are separated from a big church parking lot by 2 neighbors' yards) and trash-talking to my son and his friends playing in the yard (ours or the neighbors'). Well, both myself and the neighbor (mom of one of the kids w/my son) told the boys to just ignore the other kids; as neither of us had actually heard what was said or could be sure our kids didn't start it.
After a couple afternoons of this, I went outside and out of sight of the road, to listen to what these kids would say if they thought there were no adults around. Well, after hearing the profanity and attitude, I'd had enough. So I told them they needed to find somewhere else to play and ride their bikes; that I'd had enough of them circling our house with their potty mouths and that if I saw them over here again I'd call their parents and then the cops. Now, I didn't actually have a clue who these kids were, or where they lived but I knew they didn't know that.
So, fast forward to school starting. I pick my son up in the afternoon and he tells me that one of the kids that was out behind the house that day is in his class & new to the neighborhood and school. I saw the kid and he looked afraid of me,hh. (Nevermind the fact that my 10 year old is almost as tall as me) I kinda got the feeling that maybe he wasn't the same kind of kid as the others and was just trying to fit in. The funniest part? The littlest one was the ringleader and he looked about 7! Oh and this kid, my son tells me, has a hermit crab. Of course, I asked him what he knew about the crab and what the kid had him in, etc (there was a kid in his class last year who said he got 2 at the same place as us, the same day and had them in a wire cage, but absolutely refused to talk to Matthew about his crabs) He said he didn't know. Of course I was like, "Matthew. I spend most of my time with my crabs or on my crab page and you didn't ask him about his crab?!" HH
Well, yesterday after school my son asks me if this kid can come into the yard to play. I was reluctant at first because I didn't know him or his parents and couldn't be sure he was even allowed over at our house. So I told my son this, the kid rode home on his bike to ask (supposedly) and came back.
Of course, we had to ask all about his crab. He has one crab in a painted shell with a Googly eye glued on it, in a lidless KK, with "pebbles". He feeds him "hermit crab food" and apparently had heard about the de-chlorinated water/salt water parts, but I was unclear as to whether or not he had them both for his crab. He said he he didn't have extra shells and thought "molting" was changing shells. So.....I had to make a crabby care package for this kid to take home. I gave him the bottom third of my bag of sand I had left, I gave him the one shell I had out that sounded like it would fit his guy (just boiled two days ago) and a bunch of food. I gave him a bag with mineral powder, worm castings and crushed oyster shells mixed together, a bag of "stinky foods"-surf n turf, dry anchovies, shrimp exos and a salmon cube and purple seaweed. I gave him another bag with oat straw, fruit treat, barley and red rose petals. I also put together a frozen bag with some watermelon, mango and red grapes. I even gave him two clam shells to use for dishes. I printed out a care sheet with the supply list on the back and wrote instructions for the foods, a basic on the sand and stuff like that. I put my phone number on it too. I have most of my "crab stuff" packed right now, since we will be moving within a week, or I would have been able to give him some salt and dechlorinator. I only made what I would need to last until the move and packed the rest. He was thanking me repeatedly and I even let him hold Godzilla. ;D I told him not to worry about it; that so many people had helped me when I started, how could I not help someone else out?! He was saying that when he gets his allowance he'd get more stuff and even expressed worry about would he have the money soon enough to get the stuff he needed. That was what prompted me to give him the sand. I figured at least this way the crab would have substrate and food to get him through till the kid could buy better stuff for him. I'll tell ya. Honestly, this kid was the most pleasant company we've had in a while. So, he went home with a double grocery bag weighing about 3 pounds,hh.
I was actually thrilled to be able to give him stuff since so many people helped me out when I began. I have so much dry food for my crabs that I'm not even half through what I started with! I have hoped to be able to come across someone who needed stuff I had to give. I literally don't have the money to mail stuff to anyone, so it's great to be able to help someone who lives nearby.
Yay! Crabby Karma