Grasshoppers...

They really do not disgust me, but there is something about a bug being on me and images of scenes from The Wrath of Khan that cause me not to want them on me.

Here is the scene: I was sitting in my classroom with my three World History students. I was in the middle of giving a lecture and review the points of the Greek civilization. One of the students looks at me and says, "You have a grasshopper on your shoulder."

At first, I was not in any alarm, I thought the little creature could simply be brushed off. Suddenly, I had an image flash through my overly creative and dramatic imagination of a grasshopper's "feet." How they are able to grasp and hold firmly to my shirt. I imagined the thing going into my shirt or into my ear (hence, the Star Trek scene imagery). To the delight of my students, I flipped out! I started to scream, "Get it off! Get it off!"

This was especially entertaining to the young man in my class as he repeatedly replayed the scene.

Later in the day I captured these pictures of the grasshoppers just outside my classroom. They really are quite beautiful in their own insectian way.