Category: Nature

So Many Toads! 2

So Many Toads!

The other evening I came home during a thunderstorm.  The toads were covering the road leading to our house. Not one or two, but so many that I couldn’t drive the car around them. I went back a little later and there weren’t nearly as many, but still saw at least 50 toads! And saw that even though I was driving about 5mph and swerving wildly from side to side,...

White-Tailed Deer 0

White-Tailed Deer

Sorry for yet another picture, but we’re just thrilled watching the deer!  We’re at a timeshare with Grams and Gramps for a few days and have been having a wonderful break.  Yesterday we spent all day at an indoor water park.  I must have gone up the stairs (about three floors) at least 25 times with LD and DD!!  Whew!  But there were no lines.  How amazing to homeschool and...

Fabulous Fall 2

Fabulous Fall

We had fun on our nature walk and found such beautiful things!!  We have a full grocery bag of acorns and pine cones for crafts in the coming weeks.  The kids have never seen fall leaves (and Daddy and I haven’t seen fall for 14 years or so!)  It is so, so amazing to be experiencing autumn again!  Gorgeous!  And the kids are so excited to see the white-tailed deer...

Mosquito Life Cycle 0

Mosquito Life Cycle

We’ve had a lot of mosquito larvae in our make-shift frog/toad habitat.  We watched a fascinating,  informative video about the mosquito’s life cycle here.  We didn’t know that the mosquito larvae breathe through a tube at the surface of the water.  Also we learned that mosquito eggs can live through the winter and hatch in the spring. Meanwhile, we have about 20-25 tadpoles that have survived in our habitat and...

Enjoying Time in the Woods 0

Enjoying Time in the Woods

On Monday we spent several hours out in the woods exploring.  The weather is perfect — low humidity and comfortable 70-80 degrees (22-25 C or so). Do you have those — knock your hand against your head moments?  Well we suddenly realized why these are called Yellow Poplars! (Below that is a purple maple leaf DD wanted in the picture as well!) There aren’t anywhere near as many mushrooms out...

Nature Around the Yard 13

Nature Around the Yard

We had a lot of fun outside yesterday. We caught lots and lots of little tadpoles (and then let most of them go), as well as a couple of 3-inch frogs.  We came across a snake which I’ve tried and tried to identify.  My best guess is that it is a water snake (another book to borrow from the library!). And finally, we found another quite amazing looking mushroom growing...

Common Five-Lined Skink 0

Common Five-Lined Skink

We have lots and lots of empty boxes out on the porch. Today it was time to break down lots of them and we found this seven-inch lizard in one of the boxes.  We think it is a ‘common five-lined skink’ — probably the adult version of the smaller, blue-tailed lizards we see all over (the Internet indicates that the blue tails fade as they mature.)

Nature Journals 0

Nature Journals

“This is the best day of my life!”  That’s what LD had to say about the nature journaling we started a couple of days ago.  He was SO excited about drawing all the things we had discovered in the woods that he kept begging for more and more time.  WHAT?!!!  Our son said that?! It’s wonderful to find somethings that is so appealing to him (especially if it involves writing/drawing)....

Exploring the Woods 0

Exploring the Woods

We are thoroughly enjoying our new environment. It is completely different than the Outback, but has so much to offer in its own beautiful way. These next few postings will show how much we’ve enjoyed exploring! We are so, so happy in our new home. We just wish Daddy weren’t having to work such long hours. 🙁 LD found this cute orange salamander.  We see lots and lots of blue-tailed...

Nature, the Best Teacher! 0

Nature, the Best Teacher!

I am being challenged to learn about our surroundings just as much as the kids.  Every time I turn around, there’s something else to look up and learn about.  Some of these pictures are reminders to myself to “go look it up!!” Up until this summer, the kids hadn’t ever seen moss.  Now they point it out everywhere and notice how different it can be. DD examined a bird’s nest...

Exploring the Woods 0

Exploring the Woods

A very small creek runs behind the house.  The kids have spent hours hunting for frogs, salamanders and water bugs. We continue to find new things in the woods near our house. We went on a short hike the other evening and came across yellow, red and purple mushrooms too. These are the only new photos to add to our growing mushroom/fungi photo collection, though! Last year, we studied the...

Settling into our New Home – Look at those Mushrooms! 1

Settling into our New Home – Look at those Mushrooms!

We made it to our new state last Wednesday and settled on our new home on Monday. Yay!!! It’s been extremely busy unpacking and sorting through the belongings we had in storage for twelve years.  We also had to get new driver’s licenses and things like that.  But in the mean time we are really amazed by our beautiful new surroundings.  What contrast to the Outback; it is so humid...

Bad Bugs, Good Bugs 6

Bad Bugs, Good Bugs

Earlier today LD, DD and I went out to collect some fossils for some cyber-friends. As LD reached under a rock he got stung by something pretty terrible. I know there are scorpions in Missouri as hubby once stepped on one here in Grams and Gramps’ house. We don’t know what it was exactly that got LD today, but cold ice compresses and benadryl spray seemed to alleviate most of...

Delicate Looking Fossil Impressions 0

Delicate Looking Fossil Impressions

We walk Boomer around Grams and Gramps’ neighborhood several times a day. Now that we know there are fossils around we keep our eye out for new discoveries. This morning, ED wanted to jump off a big, flat boulder. I leaned down to have a closer look and noticed these delicate fossil impressions. The rock face was a different consistency than rocks in which the crinoids (see the posts below)...