ShrimpaPalooza

I drove home, dropped packages at the door and went in to wash hands.  A half hour later, I remembered that the brine shrimp for the loaches needed to go in the freezer, but wanted to give them a bit of the treat first.  The stuff I bought comes in a tray of small cubes, so you only pop out what is needed; this had thawed to the consistency of a brine shrimp slushy.  I poked the foil backing with a thumb and ka-pow, brine shrimp exploded onto the front of me, onto one of the rare brand-new, not from the thrift store shirts.  Oh, for the love of.

I rinsed and washed immediately, and presented the offering to the denizens of the aquarium--they wriggled with fishy joy and hunted for every last crumb.  Brine shrimp, for those fans of the odd, can be packaged as dried eggs, to be revived with salt water and then called sea monkeys.  The package shows a family of them with humanoid faces, arms and legs and of course a kid thinks that's what will appear but by golly, they look more like moving pink dandruff.

If you have the sort of kid who deeply desires sea monkeys because of the otherworldly implications of a whole new kingdom, you may want to explore the website that sells the kits.  Here is a quote:

 "Sea-Monkeys mail-clerk appreciate odor-free letters because they waste less time shooing the bees and process the mail faster."

 So, folks, there must be a problem with bees out where the sea monkey farm is and we don't want to cause more trouble with letters that were handled while you had that slice of pizza.  I get homework from my class that often has potato chip grease or red sauce stains, which is groady enough without any bees hovering by.  Also, don't fill out the form after you've sprayed yourself with Mom's Tabu, either.  The sea-monkey people know it's not adults filling out the letters.

I wonder if there isn't an underground nest of yellowjackets near their mailbox, those buggers are the ones who divebomb your picnic and climb into your soda can when you aren't looking.  Got one in my mouth, once, with a gulp of orange Faygo.  Fortunately, I wasn't stung, the stickiness temporarily crossed his bug circuits.  Unlike bees, they can sting you over and over and boy do they get mad; my son stepped in a nest once, and saved himself by jumping into a pond.  I don't blame the sea monkey people one bit.

Receiving something in the mail that you sent for your own self was one of the fun things of being a kid.  Well, it still is, thanks to eBay, and I wonder if most of the eBay customers aren't the same people who saved boxtops when they were kids.  Most of my shopping is done online, for the prices are way better than the local large store.  Why pay $19 for something when it can be had for $3.75?  Plus it comes to your door or down to the postal office, where you can visit two of the nicest people working behind the desk.  I am currently waiting on owl pellets, which will be another story filled with tiny bones and teeth.

The world spins on even while we sleep, for half of it is in sunshine and even in the half of night, commerce roils forward.   We turn straw to gold to brine shrimp and potato chips, and package them up to be offered as an introduction to animal science with a bowl of chips.  How great can that be, to watch the sea monkeys flitter in their saline while you snack?  Go burn off the calories with a  run around the backyard and see if you can find a praying mantis while you're at it.  Come in at twilight and wash up, get into the jammas, and grab a book to read with a flashlight.  The cat or dog will keep you company.   Love the living things, learn to take care of them as best we can.  Hands to hearts, your own world, your own kingdom.