Found it.

As I snapped one window shade up this morning, down tumbled the errant snail from wherever it'd been perched (shade, window; I didn't see clearly; just the falling shape as it bounced onto the sofa). Unfortunately, this dislodgement snapped several c hips off the newest, most fragile thin edge of shell; I felt brief Guilt over that, wondering if losing that much shell'd kill it. I decided the least I could do was to return it to the snail wall, though I still felt a vague craving to start my own snai l colony on the old, brick walls of this early 20th century apartment building (might be even a little older than that).

Carefully holding the shell, I stared at the slimey wonder as it peeked out of the newly jagged edge, sensory horns waving about. I kn ew, though, that my place isn't really the best place for snails, as they eat green things and would have to travel quite a distance to get to the patch of grass nearby.

For the time being, I placed it carefully just outside my 1st floor window on the co ncrete/brick window ledge. Sure enough, a short while later it'd moved several inches across ledge and up about an inch on the vertical surface, where it'd glued itself and settled down for a rest.

They don't move that fast, maybe...but they get places faster than you might think. Last you see it, it's drawn up inside the shell, completely still...and a half hour later, bam, it's now several inches away, again motionless. Sneaky little creepers.

I left a few small cubes of cucumber on the ledge nearby as atonement, should it emerge later, looking for something to eat, and decided I'll return it to its original habitat, which is much nicer and closer to growing things, sometime later this weekend.

For toast afficianados who also have bread machines

"This is a really good, easy way to get that English Muffin taste and texture. Great bread to have set on the timer for a hot breakfast bread. In order to have the proper texture, there will be a sunken top to this bread."

from: The Bread Machine Cookbook by Donna Rathmell German


We're talking major, major sponginess compared to your average bread - plenty of places for the melted butter to go. A toasting bread par excellence.


English Muffin Bread

Large loaf size (1-1.5 lb. size, depending on machine brand):

1.25 cups water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups bread flour
3 tablespons dry milk
2 teaspoons yeast
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Cross-over of the Day (Buffy & Hercules)

Ain't nothing I like as much as a good cross-over - and this here's a good'un:

When Hellmouths Collide