We used to have a nature center in our garage. It mainly consisted of bits and things that we collected while traveling in the summer: rocks, sea skate egg cases, feathers, etc. One odd (in retrospect) group of specimens was the jars of dead animals preserved in alcohol. The animals chosen weren’t limited to things we captured while camping and eventually died. There were also pets like the little puffer fish. And a mole. I’m not sure how we got the mole, but it was most definitely from Salisbury. It looked mostly whole, so I’m guessing it wasn’t a mole obtained by mole trap.

It was neat as a kid. Finding the jars of dead animals as an adult while packing up the house and moving was kind of strange.

Jar mole and several other specimens are still with us. Mike took them to Athens; his roommate wanted them for props in a film. They will be joining the frozen spiders that he is storing in the freezer.