Walkabout

Hiking in Henry Cowell State Park, wading in the river, my family and I found a dozen signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), within just a few meters of river bottom. Far from running away from us, they tried to surround us and pinch our toes. The notable light stripes on their claws made them visible through the murky, silt filled water. Here’s a photo I took of a signal crayfish that Arthur caught for me. Only he was brave enough, in the face of bare toes, to scoop one up to look at it more closely. None of my sketches of the wiggly snapping crayfish are as good as this photo of our little friend.

Emerita analoga is our local sand crab. I like to dig into the sand and scoop them out. On Cowell Beach, in Santa Cruz, I’m getting about a dozen 1cm sand crabs per scoop of sand in my hand. The sand is so thick with crabs that it wiggles in my hand. Happy crabs from Coast to coast.

Zev loves crabs. Here’s a Maryland Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) for all of my East Coast friends. He wants to give you a hug.

Instead of a third drawing of human body parts. Here’s a joke from Zev: Potty Train. (As in, my son is potty training, and playing with toy trains.) He informed me that this is what he thinks
I say when I talk about “Potty training” with my husband.

Arthur started coming up with similar suggestions. For example this brain as a condolence card…
There were going to be others, for example, a picture of several common STD’s in a grid, which you could circle one and send it to a friend. They would have been funny, gag cards. But… after looking at lots of medially relevant reference photos, I decided I just didn’t want to. It was too gross. Apparently, there’s a reason I draw so many bugs and plants.

I made this as a get well soon card for someone who wasn’t feeling well. It was meant to be funny, but a little inappropriate. It’s a cartoon of the human gastrointestinal system.

The card read:
“I hear this piece hurts. Wish it didn’t. Get well soon.”