This isn’t your run-of-the-mill dirt collecting. It’s like an episode of National Geographic. Dad prepared a “Terra Firma Specimen Extraction Kit” (pictured) and gave explicit instructions on how samples
My husband dutifully collects the samples, and always calls his dad to tell him where he got it, so he can pinpoint it on Google Earth. I just read this post back to myself and thought, “Wow, my Father-in-law is nutso and my husband is just as nutso to run around collecting dirt with a tablespoon.”
(Kidding! Neither one of them is nuts, they’re just really weird and possibly aliens — Kidding again! Love you guys! Please don’t implant a BB in my nose!)
I think Dad has dirt from about 40 states now, and it’s actually a fascinating collection. He dried all the samples out, sifted them and put them into tiny test tubes that are all labeled with the exact location of extraction. There’s a wide variety of colors and textures, plain old dirt never looked so good. It’s definitely a weird collection, but a pretty one. I think when it’s complete and he has dirt from all 50 states, the mother ship will beam it and my father-in-law up.
(Totally kidding. They’ll take my husband first.)