Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Simple Lives

No heavy politics today. Nope, on my mind is Alan's ant farm. Remember? They moved in two months ago. They were all named Ben. Anyway, I've become fascinated with them.

They stayed in Alan's room for about a month, until he came to me and told me he wanted me to have them. It was clear why; he told me why; they're "lazy" little buggers. A whole month and they did nothing but stand around, feel each other with their antennae, pointlessly paw at the walls, and eat sugar.

However, as soon as they got into my office they started digging. They dug this and only this after a week of off and on work:
That was it. They'll walk through one end and out the other. Presumably, to the little ant brain, they enter into a whole new world each time and so why bother with another escape hole, right?

Then it looked like they were about to build another tunnel at the base of their garbage pile. But they put a dead colleague in the shallow grave and buried him back up, after a short but tasteful service:
Now though, check out the grave site a week later:
What are they making? Some sort of fungus? Biological weapon?

Anyway, I'm just enjoying my kid's ant farm more than an adult should. Thanks goodness having children gives people a passable excuse to have ant farms, play with Legos, and watch stuff like Wall-E, right?

9 comments:

Kengo Biddles said...

Oh, the impatience of youth.

And I was very confused when you said they'd buried a college there. I thought, "Dang! Those are some stone-age ants! Burying Colleges! What's next? Grade Schools!"

Then I realized you meant colleague.

(This is why I use Firefox. Built in spell check. :D )

Java said...

Yes, that and the fact that they wash dishes when they get a little older. That's exactly why we have children.

I always wanted an ant farm. Perhaps I should get one for myself.

(pssst- Google Chrome has built in spell check, too. )

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Kevin Jackson said...

But "college" wasn't spelled wrong...

Java: "they wash dishes when they get a little older. That's exactly why we have children."

I knew it!

An ant farm sounds cool. When I was in high school we needed to bring spiders to zoology to examine under a microscope. I brought a black widow and kept her until I went to college. I used to love to look at the intricacy of the traps she would make for the beetles we put in her cage.

Scot said...

Kengo "(This is why I use Firefox. Built in spell check. :D )"

Me too but it wasn't underlined :-). The worst part is that I've spent a lot of years in several colleagues and I still can't spell. ;-)

Java "Yes, that and the fact that they wash dishes when they get a little older. "

Oooo... Yeah, actually our dishwasher broke yesterday...

Kevin: I was into bugs as a kid too. But a black widow, well, they always freaked me out.

Chase said...

Hmmm... this blog worries me. I wasnt aware that an excuse, such as being a parent, was necessary to like ant farms and watch Wall-e. Damn, I am going to need to get me one these "children" things quick, because I will not be giving up Wall-e.

Craig said...

I swear we've had the college/colleague problem before...

Anyway, I'm just enjoying my kid's ant farm more than an adult should.

Absolutely no such thing. I'm a firm believer that there isn't anything kids can enjoy that adults oughtn't. Fun is fun.

C. L. Hanson said...

That is so cool!!!

Now I know what I want to get my kids for Christmas! :D

Scot said...

"I wasnt aware that an excuse, such as being a parent, was necessary to like ant farms and watch Wall-e. Damn, I am going to need to get me one these "children" things quick, because I will not be giving up Wall-e."

No worries, Chase; Until you get one, family will rent them out and even pay you for it as "baby sitting".

"I swear we've had the college/colleague problem before..."

I'll never learn.

The thing is that, if I was attentive, I'd see it's not supposed to be "college"; if I just paid attention to what my fingers do I could have figured it out, really... but I'd rather give you all a laugh at my expense.

C.L. "Now I know what I want to get my kids for Christmas! :D"

Just give really blatant hints around your kids. They don't know it's blatant and they then go tell a gift-giving grown up. That's how I'm getting new earphones this year.