Got Snails?

I am sure I have mentioned these two things before; 1) I have a beautiful daughter, Erin and 2) I live at the beach. Well, if I haven't, then there you have it. Anyway, I love it when those two things get together. You see, I am divorced, and share joint custody of Erin with the ex. What that translates to is that I have her every other weekend for the entire weekend. She has her own room at the house and enjoys the beach as much as I do. With the weather getting marginally better (I am still not 100% pleased with the temperature), we will spend a great deal of our weekends on the sand.

So this weekend we took of on an adventure. You see, there are basically four types of beach visits:

1. The Sun Worshiper - all you need is a chair, a book and an iPod (and a cooler of Bud Light)
2. The Swimmer - all you need is your most comfortable bathing suit and some stamina (and a cooler of Bud Light)
3. The Adventure - all you need is a shovel, a pail, a large net, a small net and a small, curious child (with the child in tow, the BL becomes optional equipment)
4. The Beach Day (A combination of all the above) - all you need is EVERYTHING!

Where was I? Oh yes, the adventure. With our expedition gear at the ready, we combed the beach for all things "oceanic". I guess if we were looking for one thing more than any other, it would be fish. We want to catch a fish or two and put them in a tank in the house. As it turns out; however, no fish would be found. But you can always count on the great shoreline to provide something truly amazing - Saturday was no exception.

As we waded in the water, we saw underfoot a million little, black rocks. After a few minutes, my companion scooped up a bunch in the little net. As we sifted them, we realized that they were not rocks at all, but little snails. They were all alive and some were as big as dimes, others quarters. Having come up empty with the fish, we decided to keep 2 of the bigger, healthy ones as "pets". We scooped some sand, added a nice rock for climbing and provided some fresh sea kelp. The container is a little small, but should work for now. On the deck later that night, Erin named them Bob and Jim. She informed me that Jim was the more "active" of the two snails, so I can tell them apart when she is not there.

There you have it, I have "got snails"...