August 15: Hedgehogs and Millipedes

The annual Township Art Fair rolled around this weekend, and today we decided to kill a few hours by taking a stroll through the event. The kids always seem to enjoy it what with the bounce house, inflatable slide and face painting. They also got to sit in a fire truck and participate in a safety "tour" run by the Fire Dept. There was a motor home split into 3 rooms - kitchen, living room (with fireplace) and a bedroom. We went from room-to-room and in each a gentleman instructed on the dangers that kids may encounter. In the final room, he even released smoke into the room and we got to climb out the window on a fire ladder. It was actually pretty cool and educational! That, however, was not the highlight...at least for me. Nope, it was the exhibit from the local Nature Center. Every year they have rabbits, snakes, usually a tarantula or such. This year they also had a small hedgehog, which the kids and I were able to pet. Now, you would think that a hedgehog would be prickly or sharp to the touch, but it's actually quite soft; provided you stroke its fur in the right direction. We also pet an African Giant Millipede, which was quite creepy. I always thought of millipedes and centipedes being one in the same, just with a different number of legs. But I learned the two are quite different. First, the millipede is a herbivore, while the centipede is a carnivore. The millipede moves quite slowly, whereas, we all know, the centipede travels very quickly. Finally, the centipede is actually venomous, as a result of poison glands in their limbs. And, here I just thought they were all legs and no bite. Oh, that was bad.