The Scary. The Interesting. The Gross.

The Scary.

While in Navy Pier in Chicago, Dad, Mom, Travis, and I walked past a churro stand where I saw a black man (yes... not African American- I find that term more offensive because I don't know where he was originally born... I cannot assume Africa) tense up, grunt loudly, and fall to the pavement. He then proceeded to convulse while his family/friends surrounded him. Travis said that he saw blood coming out of his ear... but we don't know if that could have come from his mouth or head and just poured in a way that made it look like it was from his ear. I know, this is a gorier post than, well, all of my other posts... actually... it isn't only gorier... it is the ONLY gory post I've written! But I felt... I realize I began that with a conjunction, and I really don't give a flying Fig Newton... but I felt that it was scary and unforgettable enough to share. Well, to ease your mind, I will finish the story. Immediately I pulled out my cellphone and dialed 911 (as did others around). It felt like forever until someone showed up, and in my opinion, they took WAY too long- he could have died if the issue had been more severe. By the time the paramedics showed up, he was sitting up. They wheeled him away on a sort of sitting stretcher (basically he wasn't lying down) as I yelled, "We'll pray for you!" What was weird was that the family didn't go with him; they were still at the churro stand. My parents questioned this fact, and I simply replied, "They are getting their churros." I know... I am a horrible person.

The Interesting.

Today we (Mom, Dad, Travis, and I) went blueberry picking- hooray! As we were pluckety pluck plucking delicious berries of blueness, I discovered something very... interesting (imagine that)! A bigbutt, hugetastically immense hornet's nest! It was crazy! It was nearly the size of a head- no joke! Next to it was a can of wasp killer, so clearly the nest had been sprayed and, hopefully, killed. We called the parents over to see it because it was incredible. That is when Mom and I moved on to more blueberry picking. We then heard, "There are larvae inside this thing!" Yes, my father did what any mature, intelligent adult would do... he ripped the nest open. Mom and I had to see, so we trotted over to the nest to find Travis and Dad hovering over an open nest with LIVING, moving, disgustingly plump and juicy larvae wriggling around inside. Yum. Dad then picked up the can and sprayed the inside of the nest, including the larva- don't worry, they were probably on their way to hornet heaven anyway considering the nest was already sprayed. Anyway, it was a very interesting event.

The Gross.

Speaking of larvae... our blueberries ended up being their personal condos. Oh yes, as mom and I were separating the "mushy" blueberries from the firm, better berries, when I mushed the guts out of one of the duds revealing Larry the Larva: a joyous little larva enjoying the mushy inside of the blueberry, content as could be. Bye Larry. I then proceeded to mush some of the other duds revealing Larry's buddies (I think Linda was his wife or something because she was sobbing rather profusely over his demise). We discovered that the larvae nested in the mushy, older blueberries, so we were careful to throw those berries (or berries even semi-close to being mushy) out. I still don't know if I am going to be comfortable eating ANY of the blueberries (no matter how firm!). However, we froze the "good" blueberries, which will kill anything that might potentially be... living in our blueberries. But the main conclusion we all came to was that even if we did happen to consume one of those... erm... luscious... larvae, we probably consumed a ton of those little buggers last year when we picked blueberries (especially since we didn't go through them picking out mushy ones). A frightening, but true thought. Therefore, it shouldn't be a big deal, right? Wellllll now... ya see... this is one of those situations where it is better to be in "ignorant bliss" because now I don't know if I will ever... E V E R... consume another blueberry. Now that I have seen the... *gulp*... wriggling...!!!! N.a.a.a.a.s.t.y. times 20! Well, to make a long story short, we tossed out most of the second batch because it was taking up our entire lives to examine each, tiny blueberry. We finally gave up and tossed 'em.

So now you understand why I named each of these mini-stories the way I named them. I hope you enjoyed reading them (except for the first one... if you enjoyed reading that, then no offense, but you are kind of morbid). If you have any similar stories to share, please do so! If you have a comment to share, you know I would love to read it/respond to it. If you want to give quick feedback, simply press "Like" or "Dislike". It's that simple! Feedback or no feedback, I hope you enjoyed the post! :)