Walk by the Pond

Pete and I went for a walk one night by a local pond. We drove around to look for a fun place, and found a secluded pond in one of the places in Northern Virginia where they haven't built houses yet. Our loose objective was to go talk to the geese, or at a minimum convince them to go into the water. First we found some good feathers to bring home to mom. Then we traversed a few dangerous embankments to the far side of the pond. Pete saw a snake. He leaned down to pick it up, but it slithered away.

Me: Pete, you can't pick up a snake. It could be poisonous.
Pete: He's not poisonous, he's just shy.

We found a good piece of string on the way back to the car. We held the string between us, so Pete could pull on the string, if necessary. This was the system:

1 pull: stop walking
2 pulls: desperate emergency
3 pulls: Pete has a question

This was not the greatest system, since every time Pete had a question I was worried that it was a desperate emergency during the time between the second and third pulls.

We found a good pile of trash on the way back to the car. This was good, since we found a few more things to bring home for mom and Sam, such as a piece of red ribbon and some wood for a shelf.