Unwanted visitor is a distraction

Even the most ardent nature lovers have their limits.
It was Saturday morning.
My wife had done her Riverwatch sampling at two sites — one on Limberlost Creek and one on Loblolly Creek — and there was one more stop, a point upstream on the Loblolly to get a water temperature.
I’d done my clipboard-holding duty along the side of the creeks and was now riding shotgun as we made our way through the Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve on county road 250 West in Jackson Township.
We figured we’d do the last stop, transfer some paperwork to another volunteer, then head over to Balbec Days for a sausage sandwich for lunch.
I’d just begun to comment on the impact of the summer’s drought on the wetlands when my wife slowed her car.
“What’s that?” my wife said, pointing ahead at a tree.
And as she did, I felt something on my ankle.
“Where?” I said.
What was that? I wondered.
“There.” She pointed again.
And as she did, I felt something on my calf.
“Cedar waxwings?” she wondered.
What the heck? I wondered.
I tried to get a glimpse of the birds, but I was distracted — powerfully distracted.
Something was in the right leg of my jeans, along with my right leg, and whatever it was, it was moving north.
“I’ve never seen a cedar waxwing,” said my wife.
Neither had I, but now I felt something on my thigh and bird watching wasn’t exactly high on my agenda.
Exactly what I said at that point is anyone’s guess.
I was bouncing around in my seat, tugging at the leg of my jeans, trying to slow the upward progress of whatever it was that was making an unwelcome visit.
In short order, Connie stopped her car. I unbuckled the seatbelt and shook as if I were trying to invent a new dance.
A bewildered grasshopper dropped out to the floor of the car, made a hop over to my wife’s side, and was escorted out the door.
Apparently, I’d picked up the hitchhiker while getting back into the car at our last stop on the Loblolly.
The cedar waxwings — if that’s indeed what they were — had disappeared by that time.
But wherever they had gone, I had one simple thought: I hope that grasshoppers are part of their regular diet.

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