Finished hibernating

I walk back into our house, with sun-kissed skin and wind-whipped hair, and a basket overflowing with outdoor scented shirts and pants fresh off the line. That comforting old-farmhouse-wood smell has returned in our front entryway. There is green grass beginning to grow around the yard. If my windows weren't all caulked shut, I'd have every one of them wide open. Barefoot mud-splattered kids shriek as their bikes whiz down the driveway. I convinced one boy to take his training wheels off yesterday and he is proud.

It hardly seems worth mentioning this weather anymore. These oddly warm days that feel like May (or even June?) have become such a fixture that they almost feel normal. February, really, was the only month that looked and felt like winter. It's easy to endure one month. It's easy to forget that this weather is an unusual gift.

The frost is already out of the ground, and with it, a gigantic beetle that had had enough of hibernating.


I have no fear (unless spiders are involved).

Those of you who live in more... ahem, tropical climates, may not agree that this is a large beetle. It's all relative, I guess. Around here, they don't come much bigger than this. We were sufficiently impressed.

We proceeded in the way my Dad always did with me. He gets the credit for my love of small critters. Ye Olde Insect Identification Book failed to deliver what we were looking for, though. Thank goodness for The Great Internet.

It's a Large Diving Beetle, we decided. Not to be confused with the Small Diving Beetle. Yes, we measured him. With a florescent yellow ruler that didn't make it into the picture. And yes, we're pretty sure he's a boy. And these pictures look like they could use a bit more red or something, no? Oh well, I'm not gonna fix them now.



All the kids held it (even if one held it very briefly and screamed - it still counts).

We even had a bit of drama. It was swimming around in our tub (you don't let gigantic beetles swim in your tub?) until somebody pulled the plug. Luckily one of the boys was quick to snatch it out of the water, although I have my doubts that it would have fit down the drain anyway.

A lot of the bugs from my childhood ended up pinned in a display box.

Not this one.

Sister was concerned that the stinky slough wasn't a good home for him.

The boys convinced her it was okay.



It's mid-March, people. In North Dakota. I looked a year back in my blog just to remind myself of what we have. I should be close to going stir-crazy, exhausted with this frozen tundra. Instead? We're soaking up an amazing early Spring.