Worm Condo

We have had some heavy April showers here in Pendleton.  The other day, I had an obstacle course of trying to walk out to my truck without stepping on anyone!  Their were worms all over the walkway!

Plus, when I went to tidy up the yard from the wind blowing the cushions off, I found a bunch more worms.

Some were little, red wiggles, I think, others were the big night crawler type.
 

You didn't think I was actually going to touch em, did ya?   :)

The spatula worked out well enough to pick them up, but I had to use a stick to help them on because I was afraid they would get squished underneath if I just slide it along the concrete.  I had saved a few bait containers to reuse, as my family tends to be scared of leftovers (even more than usual) if I store worms in those containers.

I can't even remember the last time I used a worm as fishing bait.  I think it might have been when I was with my friend, Amy in Rockville a few years ago.  That did not work out so well either. 
 

I was sitting in a lawn chair and reached down to get another worm out with my hemostats. (Redear told me, "If one worm doesn't work, try two.") Suddenly, as I reached down, the first worm on my hook, got caught in my hair!

I began to scream like mad and Amy ran over thinking I had caught a nice fish or something!

She rescued me, I rewashed my hair and survived that whole ordeal.  I'm pretty sure I've been using artificial lures, jigs and flys ever since.

So, here I am tidying up the yard, and enjoying the fire, when it occurs to me that I could get to know these worms a little better and not be scared of them.  Also, I read a post on a fishing forum that mentioned conditioning worms.  (I had pictured Earthworms in a gym lifting a little set of weights.) Later, I found out it meant growing them really big, by giving them a nice place to stay, with plenty of food.  Thus, there new home, the worm condo:

Before moving my worms into their new place, I went hunting.

Hunting for morels, that is.

It was too nice of a day to be cooped up inside, plus I wanted to get an early start on where I had hoped to find some shrooms.

Sophie and I searched and hiked all over several acres of woods.

We came across this cute little dam, which I later fished in and below.  I didn't catch anything.

Didn't find any morels either.  :(

Maybe it's just too early for em still.

I did see a few separate remains of either some opossums or possibly coyote pups.  The teeth looked very much like that of a canine.

Well, back to a more tasteful subject-- worms!   Here are the soon-to-be residents of the worm condo:

They seemed excited to leave the pile and get situated in their new home.

I put a few table scraps of fruit peels, some fresh soil, and a few worms, on each floor of the condo.  The floors are constructed of scraps of newspaper (no colored ink, I've been told it's not good for em) with an elevator (a dirt center) in the middle.  Worms hate taking the stairs!  :)

I can hardly wait to see how big these guys will get!  So far, the biggest one is a full 10 inches long.  I named him Linus after a big ram I used to have. Linus wasn't into posing for any pics, but I plan on measuring him again in a couple of days to monitor his progress.  Lucy, on the other hand, was a real ham.  She is the lightest pink worm stretched out near the top of the above pic.  Charlie is the half-worm at the bottom center of the pic.  I won't bore Ya'all with introductions of everyone just yet, but let's just say we got the entire Peanuts gang living in this condo, including a little white grub named Snoopy.  :)