Mud will wash off

For Dana Warfel, it was time to get her three boys out of the house, so they trekked to Springfield Township park to burn off some energy Tuesday.

Oh, it was muddy. as David was eager to show. But it was fun on the plastic tube, as Andrew half slid, and half rolled down the slide.

Dana wasn't surprised at the creative ways her boys found the mud. Her eldest, a 21-year old daughter, wasn't always in motion like the boys, she says. "They're just boys".

I recall--eons ago now-- when I young, active and looking for trouble, how we joined our neighborhood friends Johnny and Poncho at a small creek behind the house-- never did know its name. It was just about the best way to spend a hot summer afternoon.

We caught bugs, polliwogs, collected leaves and did everything to get covered in mud. We wandered home, hours later, covered in guck, usually with a jar or two of small creek critters and sometimes a garter snake.

As children do, we tried to scare Mom-- a Girl Scout leader-- by introducing her to the snake. But she was on to us. Aside from a "aw, isn't it cute?", there was no reaction. After that, we instead tried to impress her with all the things we found.

She didn't mind that we tracked mud into the kitchen, put the jars of polliwogs on the table, and petted the snake. The mud would clean up. Some of the polliwogs survived to become frogs. Dragonflies and butterflies were used in bug collections.The snake was released outdoors.

My brother went on to become the executive director of Orlando's botanical garden, and still gets his fingers dirty in the greenery. I just enjoy exploring outdoors.

We learned about nature, appreciating its miracles.