Menace to Our Neighborhood

We've got a coyote on the loose, and he's getting very bold. Here is a picture of him. (Click on the picture to blow it up bigger so you can see him better.) In the middle of the day, he ran across the entire width of our property, across the property of our neighbor, and into a bunch of pine trees. He's been spotted several times, by many different neighbors. A couple neighbors are planning a hunt soon. This is because the coyote has taken down a couple goats, many chickens, and even a horse lately.

Wordless Wednesday: Babies ARE Cute, No Matter the Species

Okay, so I mislead you. I am going to say 2 short things about today's pictures, so it's not "Wordless Wednesday" after all. Sorry about that.

• The baby grasshoppers cover the top of both sides of this fence post.
• They each measured about 1/4 inch long, though I did not have a ruler with me to measure them.

Silver Lining in the Clouds

I am always hearing about silver linings in the clouds, and a couple days ago, I snapped this picture. It's the view from the front of our house. It was so beautiful. I really needed a panoramic or wide angle camera to get the whole thing.


I am trying to remember to snap a picture of a beautiful sunset also. I see them all the time, but forget to document it.

Snake Update

He got out of his mess! We got up this morning and he was gone. We were so relieved. Silly, maybe, but our mouse-eating machine is still on duty. Unless he has internal injuries that is. Which, of course, I will never know.

Wordless Wednesday, Not!

I was going to use this picture for my first "Wordless Wednesday" but I could NOT go without saying something!

My son C found this on our back porch this afternoon. It's up high on the screen enclosure. He had crawled from the bottom all the way to the top, where he tried to make a U-turn apparently. No, it's not our pet corn snake! I believe it's the corn snake that we found a couple weeks ago, and turned it loose in our wood pile, which sits just a few feet from where he is seen in this picture. We were hoping he could help with our field mice situation. (We've found 4 mice drowned in the swimming pool in the last several weeks.)

I think this snake is stuck, and I fear for his life. I keep trying to figure out how I can get him out of that tight spot, but don't think I can. I tried really gently, to slide him out of the tight bind. It didn't seem to be working so I stopped. Maybe he can somehow wiggle his way out? (When I was a kid, my step-brother once tied a garter snake in a tight knot in a tree. He was surprised to find out later that the snake had gotten himself free.) He was still there after several hours from when he was discovered, so we'll wait and see if he's still there in the morning.

Rain Update

Well, we had 2 1/2 inches of rain from that storm. Our grass will certainly appreciate it. When I woke up in the morning, I looked out across to our neighbor's property, and found several places of standing water, not just the one I could see shining in the moonlight during the night. I got a picture of them, but not all of them show up in the frame of the picture. This is the view from the front of our house, which includes the kids' bedrooms, the office, and the dining room. I am using a new camera here (got it on a close-out special with a large coupon too, so it was pretty cheap. I'm just not sure yet what kind of pictures it takes.) I needed a camera of my own. I've been using one of the boys'.

Anyway, back to the storm. I found out when I got up that the tornado watch for our county had expired (!) and I didn't realize it. I'm always making silly mistakes like this. Could it be because I'm blonde? No, I don't think so. It's because I have so many different things on my mind all the time, that when I hear bits and pieces of the news, I get it put back together in my head, but all wrong! So, I stayed up to protect my family from something they didn't need protection from after all. That's the breaks!

I had to drive in to town to get some things for Ch. We are laying irrigation in our fields, in prep for planting. Well, on the way back home, I saw another Bald Eagle flying above the main road near the park that our homeschool group frequents weekly. It could be the same one our friends, the B's, saw at the park a couple weeks ago. And here is a wonderful picture of a Bald Eagle, sent to me by a friend. The picture was taken by somebody in Montana. But it's too pretty not to share. It definitely helps me feel better after missing my fantastic eagle photo-op the other day. Okay, so I am leaving you with 2 eagle pictures. I couldn't decide which one I liked better.

Wormy Conversation

Various statements made by my 4 yr. old, quite the chatterbox tonight, as we checked on the status of our worms:

• Mom, these worms are my friends. I know worm language so I know what they're saying. They tell me that they like my hand a lot. They tell me if they're hungry or not, too.
• They only talk to me during the day. When they're tired at night, they just want to sleep.
• Mom, this worm is a mama and she's getting ready to have her babies. She told me that just now. If you ever find a long, long, worm with a pink, pink round dot, she's having a baby tonight. And that is a good thing because we need more baby worms.
• Mama and Daddy worms don't take care of their babies, because they're scared of the babies. People take care of their kids, but not worm mamas.
• This worm is a school kid. There's lots of school kid worms in here.
• This worm right here is a teenager.
• Worms like to eat lots of rotten fruit that you don't care for. Their favorite rotten fruit is fruit that's been cut up that people won't eat.

I think I learned a few things just now. Some kid philosophy.

On Our Way to Disney

Tuesday morning, the kids and I headed out to Disney World bright and early. We no sooner got to the top of the hill by the main road and there sat a Bald Eagle on the road fetching a road kill rabbit for his breakfast! He was no farther than 8 feet from the car!! I was so shocked to see him sitting there, I gawked for a few seconds, and then the photographer in me kicked into overdrive. I had my camera right next to me in my purse, but I was too late. He flew off down the road and landed on top of the telephone pole. There he sat, eating away. This is the best picture I could muster. Oh, how I wish I had a picture of him sitting on the road. He looked right at me and I will never forget that picture; it's forever ingrained in my memory.

This experience reminded me though of something I have known before. Whenever we are studying something, or interested in something, God seems to throw instances of enhanced learning our way. He surprises us with unexpected reinforcements! He is, after all, the Principal of our Homeschool. I have seen this time and time again. There was the time we saw a raccoon under our tree in broad daylight (they're nocturnal!) the very day we came home from the library with all our raccoon books. Or how about the time I was reading to the kids and a skunk entered the story? You guessed it!! We smelled a funny smell, and when I opened the front door, a skunk had sprayed outside somewhere! But the kids were then able to smell it for the first time (hopefully the last!), which did reinforce the story we were reading! To some, these things might be considered just coincidental occurrences, but I choose to see them for what they are. Our Heavenly Father is looking out for our homeschool journey in a very personal way. I really believe this.

We just had our Eagles class a couple months ago at Tibet Butler Nature Preserve, which we visit once a month during school months. They told us about an eagle's nest not far from the Preserve, so we stopped to see it on our way home that day. (bfarmmom--Joe was with us that day, so he saw this too.) Here's a picture of it, though it is pretty far away. (Click on the picture and it will enlarge.) One point brought out in the class was that eagles are opportunistic. If an eagle has a choice between a freshly killed meal (road kill or by another animal), he will take that over having to kill a meal for his own. He is a bird of prey, but would rather take the easier route. It was neat to see the kids recall this information, seeing the eagle with the fresh road kill in his talons.

Lunar Eclipse

Ch and I have been watching the lunar eclipse as it progresses tonight. Well, I've looked several times, and finally convinced Ch to go out once. The kids are in bed sleeping. Normally, I would have let them watch it, but they were up SO late last night due to our very first visit to Disney World, I just couldn't let them stay up late tonight.

Here is a picture of the eclipse, compliments of my Aunt in Oregon. It's neat to think that we are in opposite corners of the country, several thousand miles apart, 3 time zones difference in fact, and we are looking at the same event as it transpires in our night sky.

Trout Lake--Studying Habitats

C wanted his picture taken with this bald eagle, as we have had a fascination with them since we saw 2 flying high above our property on a couple occasions in the 3 1/2 yrs. since we've lived here. We also had a class about them at Tibet Butler Nature Preserve a couple months ago.

I never posted about our nature class at Trout Lake Nature Center. We were studying habitats. Those of you in our homeschool group know all about this already, but I am explaining that for several family members who read my blog occasionally. I don't seem to have gotten any pictures of H this time. He must have been doing his own thing that day! These pictures are over 2 weeks old now, but that's okay. They're still new to you! In fact, I may have several posts that are "old news", as I am trying to catch up somewhat.

B made a new friend with this little lady, a new addition to our HS group. It was rainy the day we were there, drizzling on and off. B is swallowed up by this poncho! Below, B is lecturing about corn snakes, since we "just got 2 as pets!"

She's Back!

We have a resident hawk that chose to build her nest right above our garage door/future driveway area. It seemed funny that she chose that spot because she started her nest among all the chaos of the house-building last year. Last spring, we watched her and her chosen mate on our fence post, then we watched her build the nest in the big oak tree. We watched her raise 2 young birds to maturity. We were surprised they both made it since we have been told that often times, a hawk will choose one bird to raise, and ignore the other. This momma hawk kept very busy finding enough to feed them both, and it seemed that they were always hungry! She brought lots of mice, snakes and even rats to her nest for them to devour. We figure she even terrorized the local mockingbird families. We saw several scuffles between the mockingbird community and the mamma hawk. It was even humorous to see the mockingbirds gang up and dive-bomb her nest. It got so bad at one point that she would bring the food for the babies, but stay away as much as she possiby could.

It seems she did favor one of the birds over the other, unless it was simply nature's selection-of-the-fittest in action. One of the babies left the nest about a week and a half before the other one did. We had great fun watching the little guys grow up, and watched in amazement as the teenage birds played their part well. They kept coming back to the nest for a while to get a few more handouts of supper.

Anyway, we have been delighted to find she's refurbishing her old nest to use again this spring. And we will be even happier when her eggs hatch and she'll have to scour the territory for food for the babies. We have pulled 3 dead (drowned) field mice out of our pool in the last week. At least there are no mice in the house!

The first picture above is of a young baby bird. This second picture is of her nest later in the year with the 2 older "teen" birds in it still. Click on the picture and it should expand, if you want to see them better. The pics aren't the best because I had to take them from the ground, and was not as close to the action as I would have liked to have been.

More New Pets

Our family's pet population is exploding. We just got 2000 new pets. What are they, you ask? Why, worms, of course! Working worms. They're composting our way to a better blueberry field, hopefully healthier, happier, bug-free plants! We are having serious discussions about whether we should go organic or not. Organic is healthier, yes, but will it result in good fruit? I've always admired organic produce, but have heard it's very hard to do successfully. So, we got the Can-O-Worms composting condo and we're trying it out. Here are pictures of us setting it up. It comes from Australia, of all places!! (They are light-years ahead of us here in the states for their "green" philosophy and practices.) The starter bedding the condo comes with is dried up coconut fiber. You have to add a LOT of water to get the small hard brick to expand sufficiently.

This picture of B with the worm cracks me up. She thinks that she needs to personally touch every single one and tell them each how much we love them. Then I remember that I had a fascination with worms when I was just 4 or 5 yrs. old. I can remember digging worms up in our garden when I was very small. They were my "friends".

Our Nature Study Continues

We love nature. We rely on it a lot for a good portion of our science studies. We have been attending a local nature preserve for nature classes about once a month for the last 4 years, or more! My hubby used to inquire quite frequently why we traipsed all the way over there for the classes "all the time" and I would try and explain why they were so great. But since he could never come with us, he never understood how valuable they were. Fast forward a little bit, and my hubby is finally figuring out that that's why the kids know so much about all the different animals, snakes, bugs, trees, insects, etc. living in Florida. They are no expert, by any means, but they've learned quite a lot. Here are a couple pictures of our most recent class. They are looking at a little alligator, about 1 yr. old. The preserve just got 2 gators recently (on loan from Gatorland), and it was just in time for our alligator class. I wish the pictures were better than they are.

Bits and Pieces of Today

We had several things happen today that I can write about. First, we attended our last orchestra class. Today targeted the strings section. The gentleman holding the class brought his cello and his violin. He was very good and the kids could tell he had a genuine interest in them. He said his cello was worth $82,000.00 dollars. Yes, you read that right. His cello is also 215 yrs. old. That's amazing to me. The most expensive violin (or was it cello? can't remember!) sold for almost 10 million dollars, which is even more amazing. The most entertaining thing the teacher did today for the kids, was to play samples of all manner of different types of music: jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, heavy metal, and of course, classical. The kids, as well as the parents, had a great time trying to figure out what he was playing. Some of the songs were pretty deceptive and hard to recognize, since he could only play one line of the song, unlike the actual recorded piece like it may appear on the radio.

Before we left, the official orchestra people discussed with us HS moms that they may be willing to start some orchestral shows at a discounted price here in our county. They would be held in MD at a certain church which can hold quite a few people. So, we will be watching for those developments.

We came home, ate, and then did some school work after lunch. We were temporarily interuppted by a plethora of birds outside our window. We tried to identify several species of small birds, all catching bugs in the grass. We also saw a pair of Eastern Bluebirds. We are glad to see them, as we have seen them before, but sparingly. We need to look into getting a birdhouse for them and see if they will move in. A couple hours later, we discovered the Robins have migrated through! We see them every year about this time. We counted upwards of 100 Robins in our front yard alone. It is common for them to be in a large group when they first come through, but then only a handful remain near our home the entire winter.

We also saw some escapees from our front window. Our neighbors across the way had a couple goats he had to relocate to another neighbor's property. (I can't tell you their names because then you would know where we live! They are named after the town....) Anyway, I knew they weren't supposed to be back so knew they must have escaped and come back home. We drove over to the new owners' house, and sure enough, they had gotten loose. We volunteered to help capture and relocate them, and proceeded to do so. It went well, and went back home for supper.

No sooner had we gotten started with supper preparations, when hubby came home and announced he had to go pick up our neighbor's teenage son's car. It was sitting stranded a couple blocks away. I later discovered, by talking to his mother, that he had just had an entire brake job completed on his classic car. New disc brakes, maybe? Evidently, the installers botched the job. While he drove it home, the father, who was following behind him, called on the cell phone and frantically informed him of a fire ball shooting flames from under the car! They pulled over, and managed to put the fire out with an extinguisher and massive handfuls and kicking of dirt that they threw on the flames. My hubby loaded up the car in his trailer and hauled it back to their house. They are next door neighbors to us. So, we are thankful that he is safe. It could have happened on the interstate, but happened close to home, on a dirt road, no less. Thankfully it did!

And finally, B caught a lizard on her own. She is quite proud and excited about the whole thing. She is no stranger to critters, and likes to hold all sorts of stuff. Must be that having 2 older brothers wears off on her.

Rescue of a Little Bitty Bird

First thing this morning, we discovered a sweet little bird trapped within our pool screen enclosure. This has happened several times before, so we are used to it. It often doesn't end well since many times our dogs get ahold of the bird before we can. (We have discovered mocking birds, cardinals, a bluebird, bluejay, a dove, and even a humming bird.) But this time, we chased the poor little bird for close to half an hour before it was all over. We had all 4 screen doors opened hoping the bird would spot an opening to the outdoors, but he didn't. You should have seen C and me chasing him around with long-handled brooms hoping to shoo him out the door! The dogs were chasing him too, but the bird was careful to stay up high enough to keep out of the dogs' grasps. This whole time, 4 yr. old B kept praying over and over for Jesus to protect the sweet little bird, hands folded and eyes closed, sitting on her tricycle. Just when I was getting quite tired of the whole thing (hey, there was a lot of chasing going on, and it was frustratingly exhausting!), I went inside to try and recruit my hubby. I figured he might be able to reach out and grab him, since he's considerably taller than me, by almost a foot. That's right about the time the little bird started getting careless, surely from pure exhaustion and fright, and lost a lot of altitude. No sooner did I get indoors to beg for help, when I heard a scream from C. Our 80 lb. dog had the bird in her mouth! Hubby saw the whole thing through the window. The dog gave the bird up after several seconds, but only after some whacks on her back with the broom from C. coming to the bird's rescue! Can you see it in your mind's eye? So now we've got the other son H helping to restrain the dogs, while the bird hops around on the porch. Poor thing lost several feathers in the scuffle with the dog. I didn't know if it could still fly, or even if it was injured or not. Hubby's calling out, "Just reach out and grab it!" Believe me, I kept trying, but even in its stunned state, it kept evading my grasp. Finally, I got the bird, and took him to the door. He was able to fly, but only to my husband's truck parked nearby. He lodged himself in between the hood and the bug shield. He sat there several minutes, and then flew to the tree above. I hope he didn't sustain internal injuries from the clamping down of Cocoa's jaws. And in true homeschooling fashion, we went and looked in the bird book to try and identify the bird. We believe he was a Song Sparrow. It's funny how we were chasing him for so long, but don't feel like we got a very good look at him because of all the excitement!