Saving worms

It's been raining a lot for the past couple of days and today I looked out on the back patio to see that there was a good number of worms struggling to find dry ground in all the deep puddles of rain water. I have this innate desire inside of me to help living creatures whenever I can, even worms and little spiders who have trapped themselves in my bathtub right before I need to take a shower. So, I found a stick, went out into the rain, and brought every single worm to a less flooded patch of dirt or mulch. Of course, since then more worms have trapped themselves on the cement, but I am glad that I at least saved some of them. I have had to keep myself away from the back door in order to avoid going back out there and getting soaked again because I know if I see those worms struggling...I'll be right back out there in the rain and I'll have to change my clothes again to avoid getting sick.

When I was little, I remember loving to go out in the rain and splash in the puddles. I would make my way along the sidewalk and try my best not to step on any of the "silly worms" that were crawling around in my path. Every time I saw a smashed one, it made me a little sad. I remember saving worms back then too. They were slimy and gross, but kids don't usually mind that do they? I didn't use sticks to pick them up back then, I just grabbed them with my bare hands and tossed them into the grass. I'm sure I thought they enjoyed flying for a few moments too.

I still grab them with my bare hands every once in a while, but now I mostly use a stick to avoid accidentally smashing the little guys. I have to use a stick sometimes because they just refuse to be picked up and using hands and a stick to get them to curl up on themselves is really the only way to get a hold of them. Sometimes they know they've gotten themselves in trouble and they will crawl onto the stick willingly (but not my hand, it just feels too foreign to them) so that I can transport them to somewhere safe. I like those worms. I only came across one of them today. He was trapped in a rather large puddle of water and struggling to find his way out when I offered him the stick.

Poor little wormies. What can't they just crawl out onto the mulch or the top of the grass? Why on earth do they choose the cement which not only floods enough to possibly drown them, but which turns into a danger zone once the rains stops and the sun dries up all the puddles. Dry cement hurts their little worm bodies. They can't move across it as fast as wet cement and usually end up getting trapped there and dried out by the hot sun. I suppose there are people like that too. They take the hardest route and head in the wrong direction only to drown or just find themselves trapped when the rain stops and the sun comes out to dry them up. It may be easy for them to move on the wet surface (worms move easiest on wet ground which is why they come out when it's raining) but once that surface dries, they realize where they went wrong. I guess I just like to try and save some of those little wormies because I can see that where they are going isn't going to help them in the long run. I wish people could be saved just as easily. I would grab a stick, scoop them up, and drop them in the dirt.