This happens in everyone's house, right?

I sometimes lose sight of what are normal household events and what is just plain odd. This might be borderline, what do you think? A couple of days ago, M. called me to say that I should expect a box of worms to arrive in the mail. I will admit this didn't even make me blink. I mean, we've already had a snake arrive by mail, what's some worms? It should probably me mentioned that this was a pound of worms. A pound of worms does not come in a very large box, it turns out.

M. came over yesterday to tend to the new worms. If you wonder how worms come when they arrive in the mail in a box, this is what you get.

The directions tell you to rehydrate them with some water and then place them in some sort of soil or compost. This really is a bag of worms. Just worms. It was a lot of worms. You want to see? It was kind of bizarrely fascinating and disgusting all at the same time.

What you think is dirt is really just a light dusting of dirt over hundreds of little squiggling worms. Trust me when I say the whole thing is even less appealing when the dirt is brushed away and you see all the pinkness of the squirming worms.

Now, comes the even funnier part. The worms were purchased as treats for M.'s African clawed frog, Secunda. Secunda has been around for years. We've lost count of how old she is... maybe 15+ years? She's an old frog. She's gone to college, she's moved apartments, she is still alive. She also really enjoys the occasional worm. It did not strike me as odd that M. would buy worms for Secunda, because this has been going on for years. I realized, though, as I was reading through the instructions for how to care for your new worms, that this is not why most people buy a pound of worms. Most people buy a pound of worms to add to their compost or into the garden. Go figure. The thought truly never entered my head that there was a purpose for mail order worms outside of frog treats. It made me laugh. At myself.

The funniest part came at the end of the instruction sheet. It was a list of FAQ's and the last question was, "Can I ever have too many worms?" Now, first, who asks this question, I wonder? As you are going about your day, do you ever stop to worry that yes, indeed, you may have too many worms? Although now that I have planted that seed, perhaps this will jump up in the queue of personal worries. But wait, never fear, I have an answer for you which will calm your late night tossings and turnings over you personal worm population. The official answer is...

"No, you cannot."

So there you go. All in the span of a few seconds I have given you something new to worry about and taken away that worry all in one fell swoop.

You're welcome.