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Squirrel Invasion

January 29, 2009 By Laura 6 Comments

The squirrels love to hang out at our house. We’ve got many bird feeders, and the squirrels are happy to feast on what falls to the ground. Sometimes there are twice as many squirrels as this, out there. This whole area you see is going to be a beautiful bird sanctuary, when we get that far with our plans at the homestead here. We get LOTS of birds every day, and all kinds too. We love to watch the birds the most. If they only knew what a paradise we have planned for them. No doubt, the squirrels will stay too.

The kids know some of these squirrels from the others. A few even have names. We have outsmarted all but one, from getting up into our bird feeders. We don’t mind them around, but THAT is unacceptable behavior. And they know it. Only one manages to get up into one of the bird feeders, now and then. But he doesn’t enjoy his victory for long, as one of the kids always spots him, and someone is out there reprimanding.

We do love to watch their antics. They can be pretty funny sometimes.

That’s all for now. The next Christmas Craft is coming up! I’ve just been busy today with a little work. Even had a little quiet time to work today, after school and lunch, while the kids were at the youth center with Daddy ‘shootin’ hoops’. I accomplished quite a bit! But now it’s time for a good night’s sleep!

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Last Frog Released

December 1, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

This special day is actually from back on October 25, when {A} released her last frog. Festivities, other events, and work sort of prevented this from being posted about in a timely manner. Nonetheless, we couldn’t let November end, and get into all of the special times that December holds, without sharing this milestone moment with you. Especially if you have been with us from the beginning, with {A}’s ambitious mission to study bullfrogs this year. If you have not, you are welcome to catch up, if interested, with the help of these links in chronological order:

Now just as a little background info, our neighbors, who have a Better Homes and Gardens like yard, created 2 ponds. One was created for fish, but it ended up to be quite the frog haven. The kids had been invited to come visit the frogs whenever they want, and {A} takes full advantage of that invitation. : ) It’s a beautiful little pond, with a large frog statue on a bench, and frog stepping stones. It’s a Frog Paradise!

It even has a waterfall. The sound of the trickling water is probably what beckoned the escaped frogs in that direction.

SO!….The day came in October when she decided it was time to let her last frog go. As I said, some had escaped her observatory months prior, and found their way to the neighbor’s pond. So when it was time to let this last one go, {A} decided it would be the best new home for it. Complete with long lost family!

So first she brought the frog container out of the sanctuary. This very home-made, make-shift pond, was just part of their home. They had the entire sanctuary to hunt and hop around in. (There are lots of crickets, bugs and spiders!)

Then she had to find her (the frog) in the water, because she had hopped off her favorite rock she spent MANY HOURS on. {A} assures us this one is a girl.

Got her!!

Peek-A-Boo!

Here’s a really good look at one of the beauties {A} raised since she was just a little tadpole.

Like a Mama not wanting to forget the details of their babies, {A} gave her a good last look over. And I photographed even the sweet little foot. Lord knows how big these flippers will grow to be someday!

Possibly their last portrait together.

Eskimo Kisses!!

The long good-bye. (I thought I would step back and give them some privacy for this sad yet proud moment.)…

Letting her go….

Can you see her?

Home Sweet Home!

{A} thinks they’ll winter well here because of all of the mud at the bottom, and she’ll see them all again in spring. It was a very rewarding and educational experience to catch all of these amphibians back at the break of spring, feeding and caring for them, and recording their metamorphosis. It’s also nice to have such a fancy new home to be able to release them to, so close by.

We hope you enjoyed {A}’s frog adventures and updates along the way. I’ve already heard she has big plans for this coming spring once again. I know she misses her wild creatures throughout the winter months, but the winter season holds traditions, adventures and experiences of their own, that she enjoys so very much, and I am sure it’ll pass the time quickly enough until the earth springs anew with fresh life, and her little creatures wake up once again.

We’ve been very busy preparing hearth, home, and hearts for the Christmas season upon us! Lots of decorating, creating and gift making going on here, of which we’ll share what we can. As tomorrow brings us the first day of December, visit us often to see what we’ve been up to, and feel free to comment to say hello or share your thoughts or experiences with us.

Hand-Taming Chipmunks – by {A}

November 16, 2008 By A 3 Comments

Hi there! If you’ve been visiting our blog from the beginning, you may have seen posts on my chipmunks troop before. If you’ve missed them and want more background, you may want to go back to here, and also here. I have hand-tamed / trained 3 of them, and am working on my fourth, named ‘Sergeant’. The one in these photos that Mama took, is ‘Chipmouse‘, which was the easiest one to train.

My family and friends call me ‘The Chipmunk Whisperer‘. Sometimes they try to whisper back!! This REALLY tickles! Look at her little paw on my ear! My Dad said she was thinking, “I wonder if I can put some seeds in here?”.

I’ve spent extra time with them in the last month or so, knowing I’ll see them a lot less over the winter. I don’t believe that they truly hibernate, but they are like the squirrels. They stay in their burrows and sleep a LOT, only waking to eat a little bit from the food the keep right next to them. Or under them. They have been known to come out some in winter on milder days to collect nuts or berries or whatever they can find.

In this photo below, she is searching for some of her favorite treats that I might have dropped. Some of the things I’ve fed her that she loves to eat are dried corn, sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, and she has taken grapes cut into quarters when we didn’t have any of the other things in stock.

Just look at how she looks up at me! I think she loves me. Sometimes she gives me little wet kisses.

I don’t have a photo of it, but I actually taught Chipmouse how to shake paws. : ) I put my finger out by her paw, and she puts her paw on top of my finger. Then I push up, and she pushes down, and I push up, and she pushes down. It’s really fun!I think in the photo below she wanted to do a double paw shake.

I also love to twirl her tail.

I really love my chipmunks. I’m glad that God allowed them to trust me.

I’ve spent a lot of time with them, so I think they will probably remember me in the springtime. Especially ‘Chipmouse’, because we’ve spent countless hours together.

I know where her burrow is, which is on our property, so when I really miss her, I can at least whisper down to her and tell her. Notice how chipmunk holes are so nice and round? That’s how you know it’s not a snake burrow!

Well I hope you enjoyed my post. I should have another coming up. I won’t tell you what it’s about so it’s a surprise. : ) Also, today we got a very early, and very, very special Christmas present! We are all over the moon and were bouncing off the walls with happiness when we opened it! (We weren’t being impatient. We were told to open it right away.) I hope Mama blogs about it, but she wants photos. Of course!!

See you later!

Fall in All It’s Glory

October 26, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

What a GLORIOUS weekend it has been here in southern New England! We’d venture to guess this past week or so has been ‘peak’ foliage season, as opposed to the usually assumed Columbus Day weekend. Not only was this weekends absolutely beautiful visually, but we had very warm temperatures as well, so we really got to enjoy it!

The weekend started off for {A} with a youth group bonfire event. She had a really good time with her friends, singing songs, telling ‘ghost’ stories, and making s’mores! Over the course of the weekend, basking in the warm sunshine, she also spent an abundance of time with her wildlife friends. Chances are I’ll be blogging about that this week as well. All I can say for now is, she continues to amaze us with her love for nature, and it’s love for her!

We did get some much needed shopping done, and some house cleaning, as well as some very worthy house projects! (Well, Michael did the house projects.) For one, we have heat baseboards in the school room now!! After having put on our additions and finishing all of the interior ourselves, it was one project at a time. The floor got done just in time for Thanksgiving last year, I believe. Then we just never got to the heat. So although our school room is right off of our heated kitchen and the rest of our home, it was pretty dang chilly in there with no in-room heat source! Just like an old fashioned school room I suppose. But enough of that pioneer experience >> we’re happy to have heat in there now! Checked that project off our list!

Other than those accomplishments, we enjoyed the outdoors. Today we went on a little hike, and naturally, I brought along my camera. So I thought I would share some shots with you.

This first shot is of a horned caterpillar. We had never seen such an interesting little creepy-crawly before, but we did learn pretty quick that one of it’s defenses is emptying it’s stomach contents on you. YUCK!! (Sorry if that’s TMI….pretty gross indeed. But kind of interesting, in a gross-sort-of-way, don’t you think?). Anyway, the great thing about discovering this caterpillar, is that it solved a little mystery from last year! In researching exactly what kind of caterpillar this is, and learning it is a White-Lined Sphinx, we also discovered it turns into a White-Lined Sphinx Moth….which we recognized!! Last year, I had spotted one of these moths in the backyard, and I was ASTONISHED. I had NEVER seen such a thing. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me, what it was, and {A} didn’t know either. I was seriously afraid of it, but Michael wasn’t home, and I wanted him to see this thing! I nearly destroyed some of my plants trying to catch it. Was it a flying mouse? It sure looked furry enough!! But it flew like a hummingbird. (It is indeed described as a hummingbird-like moth. ) And it sure was SCARY looking!! I got it into a clear glass pyrex bowls, and it sure did put up a fight in there. It was so mad at me, I was afraid to ever let it out! The bowl had a cover on it, but he even seemed capable of taking off the cover. We could see in his eyes that he was thinking about how to do it. lol. So we put a big book, and a pair of shoes on top too, just for good measure! Eventually, Michael came home, and was just as baffled too, and disturbed. We just left it in the bowl for awhile, and then I let him let it go later. I stayed inside, though. With the doors locked. Did you click on the link above?? Check it out. Warning: NOT CUTE!!!

But here is the somewhat beautiful caterpillar it is first, along with a handful of the other shots I took. Enjoy!!

These leaves below are of a maple sapling, that has been growing right outside our schoolroom window. We’ve been enjoying watching the leaves change colors over the past weeks.

That’s all for tonight.

Hope you can come by again soon!!

Whale Carcass Washes Ashore – A Spontaneous Field Trip

September 23, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

This morning, after having had an extended weekend away, we were planning a regular school day today, with getting some our book lessons done. That is, until we woke up to helicopters, circling around and around, near our house. So my husband turned on the tv to find out what might be going on, and low and behold, there was a whale carcass washed ashore on our beach nearby. Time for a spontaneous field trip! THIS is the beauty of homeschooling!

So the kids ate breakfast, washed up and got dressed as fast as they could, and we all headed out in search of the whale. After a driving down a few side-roads that had public access ways, and checking the shore there, we finally found the spot. Except the only way down was very steep, very sandy and rocky cliff. But if you know us…..we went for it. We all made it down safely, as I wondered out loud, repeatedly, how we’d ever make it back up! But we’d figure that out later I guess. We had a dead whale to study. : )

Though it didn’t seem to be a full grown adult, it was rather impressive, nonetheless. (And seemed huge to our little kids.) It was so interesting to see all of it’s parts, up close and in person. as a whole, it was not pretty by any means!! Not anymore, anyway. Part of it was really decomposing, as it seemed to have been dead awhile, and just finally got washed ashore.

This side (photo below), was the worst. It was barely recognizable as a whale at all. And in standing on the other side, where the breeze came on off-water, the smell was intolerable. UGH! But it was this side that you could see the bones of the jaw, on the far right, as well as the eye socket. So it was fascinating, visually.

The kids enjoyed walking around it, checking it out, asking questions and stepping on it’s tail. LOL. Naturally, I was taking photos, and thinking about blogging with such yucky, yet interesting photos, about our unexpected experience. Below at this angle you can see the upper jaw bones even better, on the far left this time.

As we were looking at it, yet another couple of helicopters were flying around over head. Other people began to arrive too, and some guessed we were homeschoolers.

Once we had our fill of fascination and disgust, we decided to figure out which one of the many sets of beach access stairs, that climbed the cliff-side, were public. As we made our way down the beach, we came across a scattered intestines of the whale, here and there, that had washed up separately. (Yuck.) Once up the cliff and on our way up the road, back to our van, we saw the environmental police showing up. Marine biologists had already been there, in the earlier morning hours.

When we got home, we did some research and determined that it was a humpback whale. Later TV news reports throughout the day confirmed that. It’s not yet determined if this whale died of natural causes, or by accident due to being bumped by a ship, or caught up in fishing nets. It seems they plan to retrieve the the skeleton of the whale for museum display, and either bury the flesh, or drag it back out to sea.

It was yet another homeschooling adventure our kids were able to witness! They talked about it the rest of the day, and the little ones colored pictures of whales and other sea creatures, and recreated the scene with imaginary play. After we got all of our book lessons done of course.

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