Responding To Nature

During my first visit to the school in Monteverde this April, I asked a student if she could assist us with something. She responded in a matter-of-fact manner, "Sure, as soon as someone moves that scorpion." Looking down, the four inch arthropod was barely crawling near my shoe. The poor creature looked injured as if someone had inadvertently stepped on. Being my first experience with a scorpion, I allowed another teacher to simply scoop up the visitor with a piece of cardboard and toss it outside. I learned that scorpions in Costa Rica can cause a painful sting, similar to the sting of a wasp, but one should not be too concerned about them unless they have an allergic reaction to the venom. Hmmm, how do I find out if I am allergic? There are two ways - the safer one is to visit an allergist MD. 

All kidding aside, our boys are extremely curious about anything that moves or might move. In addition to observing animal visitors in the garden, they are especially enthusiastic to touch crawling things and on several occasions we have seen worms, cicadas, slugs and ants crawling on their three year old bodies. I encourage their interactions with the natural environment, but our yard in Costa Rica will have a greater variety of life than we see here in the suburbs, and us humans will be the visitors. Fortunately, little humans have an immense ability to respect wildlife and to learn safety procedures. Stay tuned for an update on our spider handling and snake training. Signed M