Growing Up In Greenhills - Week Two

One of the first things ZT and I did on that first day of summer break was head for the creek behind the school. We were on a mission to catch salamanders. The key to catching them is that it takes two to do it. One to slowly lift back the rock and one to reach into the water and grab the slimy critter. Most of the time we just would catch and release because most of the time we caught the little black common salamander. What we were hunting for was the red-spotted salamander.

We had been hunting for salamanders all morning and we had not caught any red-spotted salamanders. It was getting close to lunch and Mom said I had to be home for lunch because Dad was going to be home for lunch. We needed to catch one soon.

“Okay Doogie, last rock. We both need to get home. I will lift and you catch ‘em.” ZT tilted up the rock and there they were. Two beautiful red-spotted salamanders. I quickly grabbed them up and put them in our bucket. “Wow ZT, they are huge compared to the black ones.” We each took home a red-spotted salamander for our day of hunting.

Shortly after I got home my dad pulled into the driveway. I was so excited to show him my catch. I was sitting on the front porch taking off my shoes. Mom wouldn’t let me or the red-spotted salamander in the house so it was in a bucket on the porch. My dad asked why my shoes were so wet. I explained “When you hunt for things in the creek, Dad, It is best to wear your shoes. When ZT and I first got to the creek, I sat down and took off my shoes. ZT just laughed and laughed. He said unless I wanted to cut up my feet I better leave my shoes on. Dad, ZT had the coolest looking rubber boots, he called them his creek Stompin boots.” Dad looked at my sneakers and said, “ We better get you a pair of Creek Stompin boots if you ever want dry shoes. Let’s go eat