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FROGS, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails?
It has been "the day of the frogs" here at our house. The first big find was a tree frog. They aren't as plentiful as toads and the leopard frogs that are always around, so it's always great excitement when one is found. Next was a pool filled with tadpoles. The water was only 10 inches deep, so out come the rubber boots and net. Mom is enlisted to help with the bucket holding. About a million tadpoles later we are sloshing home with a bucket that weighs a ton! We always practice catch and release, so after showing Dad, the cat and dogs our bucket.....and after one of our dogs takes a huge gulp from the bucket - it's time to let them go in our creek. Here's a few pictures to commemorate the day- My 9 yr old and the tree frog:
My 7 yr old and the tree frog:
The tree frog:
Hope you enjoyed us sharing our nature with you! ******************* June 9, 2002 And a Poplar Sphinx Moth caught last night
Yes, this is a real moth. Notice the ruler at the bottom of the picture. This moth has a wing span of nearly 5 inches! It's lower wings are a beautiful shade of rose and steel blue! Hunter found it last night and of course it has ended up in his bug collection. A prize specimen. ******************************** Favorite recipe corner: This is an old recipe my mom used to make when I was a kid. Now my kids love it! Would that be considered passed down from generation to generation? Rhubarb Pudding: 4 C diced rhubarb 1/4 c minute tapioca 1/8 t salt 1 1/2 c sugar 1 T butter (margarine-whatever) 3 egg YOLKS Put diced rhubarb in double boiler and stir with sugar. Let set till rhubarb releases some of it's juices then add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Cook in double boiler for about an hour or longer, stirring every 10 minutes or whenever you want to lick the spoon! (you can tell when it's done by the tapioca turning clear and it turns to a nice pudding consistency, overcooking doesn't hurt it) You're going to think this isn't going to work when you first start cooking this, but believe me - it works and it's great warm with some ice cream! ~Make sure you use a DOUBLE BOILER~ ************************************* Turtles and Trashcans So, to end your suspense - the strange thing that turned up at our house after the floods was a SNAPPING TURTLE! This is about the last thing I ever thought we'd see here! No rivers or ponds are that close. Just the small creek. And it wasn't even by the creek, it was behind the house. A snapping turtle for those of you who don't know, is a prehistoric looking turtle with a long tail and claws. They can very quickly stretch their neck out - and with their powerful jaws, snap a fish in half. Or even a human finger if it's in the way. Here's a few pictures:
This turtle was about 25 lbs! It's head was as big as my average womans size fist. We ended up shoving it with a LONG stick into a large trash can, like one that the the garbage men would pick up. It fit just right in the bottom! We took it up the creek where there are no houses and let it go. (Hopefully never to return!) If you have good eyes, in the top picture you can see a leech stuck to it's shell. If the shell was like a clock, the leech would be straight down, in the 6 o'clock position. Looks like a black drip of paint. Yech! **************************** Toothy Smiles We're back from our Adventureland jaunt with the boys. What a great time! The weather fully cooperated, it was a gorgeous day. The park wasn't busy so there were no lines for rides. I believe the boys rode the Lady Luck about 10 times straight. I asked them to pick their favorite ride, but they couldn't pick just one. I know the Raging River and Log Flume were right up there because mom got wet. ha-ha.....Maybe some pictures to come later. Teeth....we have teeth falling out left & right around here. My oldest son lost one in the middle of the night at Adventureland. He thought he swallowed it, but managed to find it in the bed. My 7 yr old has a loose front tooth that has been hanging on by a thread for weeks now. We tied a string to it tonight to do the door handle thing. He was excited at first - see below:
See the string hanging from his mouth? But then he decided it wasn't a good idea. Only problem was I tied the string on so tightly that I couldn't get it back off - see below:
Not a happy camper! He eventually managed to get the string off somehow. But the tooth is still in his mouth! But this isn't all - more excitement was in store for us today! Seems meesh our cat. Otherwise known as Robbie (short for Robber Killer - the boys named him, go figure.) Anyway - the cat decided to do a little fighting sometime today. We found him with a bloody tail and in some pain. So a quick trip to the emergency vet and a cool $100. later we have a cat with a partially shaved tail and ANUS! Seems it is also scratched there-yeow! So after a quick shot of an anti-inflammatory and some antibiotics, we are home for the night....I hope - I'm pooped.
Meesh. Robbie. Bad Kitty. A picture from a day when his butt was feeling much better!
*************************** Happy Fathers Day! 6-16-02 Robbie (Bad Kat) update: Meesh is doing fine. A little sore. Has decided he doesn't like his banana flavored antibiotic. He's hiding from me as I write this. (see archives if you have no clue as to what I'm talking about) You'd think they'd make sardine flavored antibiotic for cats. Tooth Update: Still hanging in there. I had to cut his corn off the cob tonite for fear it would hurt his tooth! Maybe the tooth fairy will visit this kid on his 18th birthday??? (again, if you're clueless here, see the archives!) It's a JUNGLE out here: Ok, remember my snapping turtle adventure? (ah-um...again, see archives) How I mentioned that a snapping turtle was the last animal I thought I'd ever see out here. Well what I saw today takes the cake. The day starts innocently enough. Mom multi-tasking (making beads, doing laundry) The kids making fathers day cards. When a loud BANG - followed by yells of "A BIRD HIT THE WINDOW! A BIRD HIT THE WINDOW" Mom (me) runs to the door amid more yells of "A TURKEY! A TURKEY!" .....???? Now I'm thinking to myself as I open the door, "A turkey hit the window? I would have expected a louder thud." So I run outside to see what hit the window (I confess, I get about as excited as the kids do when this 'nature stuff' happens) - Ok, so I run outside and as I do, I see this HUGE bird.....not sitting by the window, but across the drive. And I realize that this thing - bird - HUGE UGLY bird.....is a TURKEY BUZZARD! I scare it as much as it startles me and it takes flight. (I said this thing was huge! It couldn't just 'fly away', it actually TOOK FLIGHT!) Now, this is Illinois. Not anywhere near a desert where I would think these things live. But I guess we now have 'new neighbors'! It was quite a sight. As for the thump on the window, sad news here. It was a male Grosbeak. (we feed birds here so I know all these strange and beautiful bird names) I don't know if this poor thing was scared to death when it saw this buzzard or what. But the poor thing broke it's neck when it hit the window. Instant death. So of course we had to have a burial. **************************** Tadpole Tales - Part II June 23, 2002 Well, for those of you who read our earlier escapades with the tadpoles, here's an update: They're TREE FROGS!
We went back to the abandoned pool and found our "normal frogs" weren't normal at all! They are TREE FROGS! Thousands of them. At first I thought they were iridescent Chinese beetles climbing on the sides of the pool - then Hunter yelled, "MOM! IT'S TREE FROGS!!!!!" So out comes the bucket and net and rubber boots again and this is our catch-
Then it's off to our creek to free them-
Here's a close up
******************************* Summer Camp 6-18-02 Well, the boys started summer camp the other week. When I picked them up after the first day, I asked how things went - the following was the response: "GREAT MOM! ONE KID PUKED AND WE GOT TO SEE A CAR ACCIDENT!" Ahhhhhh, to be a boy..... Summer camp is held in a state park with a walking bridge going over the road. That's why they got to see a car accident. No one hurt, but the police came (more excitement for a boy!) As far as the 'puking incident' goes - I asked if the kid was sick and was told they didn't think so. So I asked, "Well, why did he puke then?" They told me they were pretty sure that it had something to do with getting spun around too much in the tire swing! Then I was told the #1 rule of camp is no tire swing allowed for 1/2 hr after lunch. I said that must be a rule they made up after that kid puked but was told-very seriously by my youngest, "No Mom, they said they've had previous problems." Cracked me up! So guess who gets in the car tonite after camp and says he doesn't feel good.....he thinks it may have been too much tire swing!!!! Anyway - here's a cute kid & toad picture
***************************** Meet 'The Girls'
Indie & KC Well, you've seen the boys and the meesh - so I figured it's about time to meet 'the girls'. KC is our yellow lab (on the right). We found her as a puppy - full of fleas and worms. She has grown up to be a totally laid back (i.e. LAZY) and wonderful dog. She has Hunters eyes. This means she has blue eyes with a birthmark (a 1/2 brown eye) in her left eye. Rather unusual. And Hunter has the exact same birthmark in his left eye. She's a leaner and a talker. We had an old dog, Duchess that died a little over a year ago and KC became so lonely and depressed that it was clear she needed company. So enter Indie! Indie is our black lab. We adopted her from a local shelter not quite a year ago. She runs like a gazelle! A very sweet girl. The two are inseparable. They have their rituals. Like in the mornings they have their 'side by side roll on their back in the grass'. Much mouthing of each other and KC humming away like a crazy bee goes along with it. Actually, they do this periodically throughout the day. Then they have their 'lay on the deck and pretend to guard the yard between naps' routine. Last weekend the boys camped out in a tent in the yard and when I checked on them in the middle of the night, both dogs were laying in front of the tent guarding them. They're great dogs!
Here's some serious yard guarding going on from the deck (can you hear the snoring?) KC is just off to the right behind the table.
*************************** A Boy and His Dog(s) ! It starts innocently enough with one dog poking his head in the house -
Then a morning face washing
Then before you know it you have 2 big dogs trying to sneak their way into the house and one "innocent boy"! What can you do?
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