Teeny tiny world

This past weekend I took a trip of a different kind — into a micro world right off my patio. Saturday was cool and breezy and seemed like a good day to pull weeds between the patio bricks and around the patio before I moved plants out for the summer.

I did spend a couple of hours doing that with the help of my cat, who spent his time either trying to claw me or sit in my lap. That’s a story for another post.

Once I grew tired of weeding, I noticed a tiny snail moving past me. And that led into my adventure of exploring the micro world around me. I lay on my stomach and took time to not only photograph, but observe this tiny little world. The snails were returned to the ground after I finished taking their photo and they eventually slithered off. There were these incredibly cute seed pods that were tinier than my pinky finger (see above). Little ants were busy moving tiny bits of dirt from their hill. A bigger ant was moving a chunk of dried mud. Various tiny bugs scurried around this little world, careful to avoid the ants.

There were flowers that were tinier than even the seed pods and I even found a tooth from an unknown animal (maybe a mouse tooth). I was amazed how much life there was in a tiny little spot right off my patio. There is an entire microbiome right under our eyes every single day.

While I always knew there was a little world beneath our feet, I cannot recall the last time I just observed it. It made me appreciate so much. Our planet is incredible.