The Little Blue Crab

When we first bought our house, the previous owners mentioned that one time they had a big blue crab in the garage.  As they were not from South Texas, they  found this to be particularly alarming.  Upon the end of the story, in almost perfect unison, David and I both said, "Blue crab!  Did you eat it???"  Needless to say, they most certainly DID NOT and looked at us crazily to have suggested such a thing.  

In the time since we moved in, two and a half years ago, we have witnessed some interesting wildlife phenomenon.  I will note here, that witnessing wildlife at all is a phenomenon in itself, as we live IN A NEIGHBORHOOD.  There was the most gigantic raccoon I have EVER seen "treed" on our back fence at 4 a.m. one morning.  There was the winter when the deer escaped from the ranch down the road and SWAM across the bay, climbed out on shivering, skinny legs and went jogging through the streets.  We've seen HUGE (no, seriously, HUGE) wolf spiders in the pool, and HOUSE, tree frogs on our window, snakes in the weeds, and countless coastal (and non-coastal) birds.  Our fave bird was a Loggerhead Shrike, who lived in one of our front trees, and whom we named Vlad.  I once rescued a mouse from drowning in the pool, only to be visited later by his many descendants. (That is an episode in life I would rather forget.)

Right before Penny's birthday, I posted a picture of a little blue crab that had entered our yard and was tormenting Dooley...as in, it reared its claws and all she could do was yip.  We marveled over it, scooped it up with the pool skimmer and walked it down to the bay.  Clearly he had lost his way and needed to be taken home.  

On Tuesday I kept hearing that signature Dooley yip that I am coming to know as her "crab bark".  Low and behold, ANOTHER blue crab, just weeks after the first, was in our backyard, tormenting Dooley.  I tried to implement the same method as before to rescue him.  It didn't work, and the little blue crab scuttled underneath some concrete steps.  I worried over him, wondering how he would get out and if he was hungry.  

Then yesterday Dooley had to have surgery.  As she can't partake in any strenuous exercise for 10 days, both dogs have been camped out in the sun room since yesterday evening.  Apparently this gave the little blue crab a chance to escape because this morning as Penny and I were coming home from the grocery store, I had to stop short to avoid THIS GUY hanging out in my driveway.

This time, armed with a broom and an ice chest, I was able to scoop up the crab and lug him and Penny down to the water to set him free.  He seemed overwhelmingly relieved to be back in the water, and I was glad too.  Then it occurred to me.  I never once thought, "Blue crab!  We should eat him!"