The Worms Crawl In…

Hola Chicas! Marlon here!

It’s not easy being the ship’s mascot. I have to be cute all the time. Go on long walks. And risk my life! And for what? The occasional can of dog food? I’ve learned over the years to be insufferably cute. Now and then that gets me some plates to lick clean. I’m not proud. And it breaks up the monotony of dry dog food.

Wait! You want to know when I risked my life on Aleta? There’s the constant threat of flappy things! The sails flap. That’s really scary! Then there are towels. They flap. And my peoples put their legs in and out of flappy things at least twice a day! Birds flap. But they’re mostly annoying and not too terrifying.

Then there was the time that I fell off the dock and nearly drowned in Canada. Good thing that I can swim like Mark Spits. Always a good spitter, that guy. Then a couple of days ago I nearly died from getting poisoned. In the woods. On a hike. Crazy, eh?

I was never big on eating weird things. I didn’t chew through electrical cords or eat shoes like some dogs. Socks and underwear were Annie’s thing, not mine. I got over eating worms a long time ago. It was just a brief phase I went through as a puppy.

So, out on the trail a couple of days ago I saw this long line of things that looked like hairy worms going end to end across the trail. Despite my people’s objections, I went up for a sniff and they kinda smelled familiar. Then I licked one and oh boy! Was that a mistake! Next thing you know I’m heaving and gakking my stomach out.

My head suddenly didn’t feel very good and I was seeing double and then triple. Then I gakked again and had to eat some grass to try and settle my stomach. Sorry if this is TMI, but I felt woozy and icky for the next 15 miles of the hike. At one point I sat down, just to try and stop the world from spinning. But I rallied. I dug deep and fought through. In the end I ate enough grass and drank enough water to get all the poison out of me.

I’m all better now. Thanks for asking. I’m just going to stay away from worms from now on! Open that can of dog food, would you?

Chow!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thaumetopoea pityocampa, aka the pine processionary moth, is a real thing. Never having heard of or seen them before we were all circumspect curiosity on the trail. As its name suggests, the pine processionary feeds on pine and cedar trees. Incredibly destructive, it hails from Asia and can be found across southern Europe and North Africa. Caterpillars march (process) in long lines as they search for food. Hairs on the caterpillars cause painful reactions and swelling in humans and animals. Stories of dogs dying or losing their tongues from contact with the caterpillars abound. We are grateful Marlon knew how to manage his condition.