My mom instilled in me many great and wonderful qualities. From the fact that we resemble each other physically to our mutual love of reading, our children, the gospel, yummy food....and a love for armadillos.
As a kid I kind of thought my mom was a bit nutty for saying her favorite animal was an armadillo. I grew up in Utah, there wasn't an actual armadillo anywhere to be seen. They seemed like such a funny animal. People didn't have armadillos as pets and I don't even know if I ever saw one at a zoo....they were kind of foreign and maybe even slightly exotic. But my mom loved them and so began my soft-spot for the funny creatures. She developed quite the little collection - from her armadillo pajamas to the earrings, stuffed armadillos, and any other little armadillo trinkets we could find if we traveled to Texas or somewhere that armadillos weren't quite so "exotic".
So when we talked about moving to Texas one of my first thoughts was that I couldn't wait to see an armadillo! Everyone always said they were just roadkill in Texas - so I figured we'd see them all over the place. But for the first 6 months we were in the state I didn't see a single one! I even got to the point where I joked that the first time I actually saw one on the side of the road that I would be so excited that I'd probably get out and bring its carcase home with me.
I had gotten really good at being able to tell what was littering the freeway as we drove. I could identify dead possums, squirrels, dogs, cats, the occasional raccoon or even differentiate between roadkill and an old discarded boot on the side of the road - but no armadillos....I was so disappointed.
Fast forward to May when my "dream" had finally come true. We saw it on the highway on the way home from visiting our cousins about an hour from our house. As we passed it I was sad that I hadn't gotten a good view of it. So Cory, being the loving husband that he is - turned around and went back so I could bag it up and bring it home if I so desired. We got out and took a couple of pictures - Gabe got out to examine it and then the smell hit - YUCK! Not something I hoped to have rotting in my trunk!
1 comment:
i'd love to see an armadillo, too! i travel to houston every couple of months and haven't seen one yet, though i did see a nutria. blech. today we went to hogle zoo and there is an armadillo there but it was sleeping and i couldn't really see it. i was bummed.
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