Green Darner's Corner

Herpetology Demonstration

2010-04-29T22:50:00.002-05:00

This morning we went to a reptile and amphibian demonstration given by herpetologist Mr. O'Neal at their house for our homeschool group. His program was very interesting and funny with lots of time to get up close and personal with these fascinating creatures.

There were frogs, toads, salamanders, other amphibians, turtles, lizards, snakes, and alligators. We learned the most important difference between reptiles and amphibians is that amphibians go through metamorphasis whereas reptiles do not.

Here are a few pictures to enjoy. (There were several more animals than shown here including the tiger salamander, several snakes, stinkpot turtle, various toads, skink lizard, and probably some others that I somehow missed getting pictures of them.) All are native to Arkansas except where noted.

Soft shell turtle

Bullfrog

Red-ear slider turtle

Common snapping turtle

Alligator snapping turtle

Anole - not native but found around our universities

Amphiuma - Arkansas' largest amphibian

Kingsnake

Various snakes

Copperhead

Rattlesnake

Young North American alligator

North American alligator (his name was "Norton" lol)

Snow Day

2010-01-04T17:45:00.000-06:00

Yay! It snowed! Can you believe it?

I had planned on starting lessons today, but since snow is scarcer than Christmas around here, I let Big T and Little A have a snow day. Good thing, because as of 3:00 this afternoon most of it was melted.

Actually, it started snowing yesterday evening. Just a light dusting...

Big T and Little A with the first snowballs of the year (and decade.)

Then it snowed all night and most of this morning until around noon. Here are a few pictures out and about Dragonfly corner:

Going for a walk:

Icy stream:

Around the pond at the end of the road:

Done and done

2009-12-08T00:39:00.000-06:00

Monday the 30th, I finished 7 angel gowns for Little A's rehearsal later that day (or I thought it was supposed to be that day). Altogether, 15 gowns were needed but another mom was sewing the other 8 gowns. I did manage to get an earlier start on costumes this year and all that was needed was to serge the sleeves and hems and give them a final press. Usually I put it off so long that I'm a frantic basketcase.

Here they are, all nice and pressed:

No matter how much I sew, I always learn something new with each project. With the angel gowns I learned that assembly line sewing really is faster and how to squeeze every last inch out of fabric.

While I worked on angel gowns, Little A was sewing her own project:

A Kitty Nativity! Isn't it cute?! She cut out their costumes from scraps and sewed them on my sewing machine.

Nippy is the Angel (see her wing peeking out on the left),

Sad Kitty is the Shephard (notice the real stick for a staff),

and Tigress is the Baby Jesus (with barnyard backdrop, lol).

On the first day of crazy week...

2009-12-07T23:43:00.004-06:00

Crazy week is the week of final drama rehearsals before the big production. It has become a tradition for us since joining the White County Homeschool Theater when we started homeschooling. During crazy week, we have extra long rehearsals, last minute costume sewing, stage and sound tweaking, sack lunches and fast food dinners, tired siblings, props that have gone awol, and cast pizza parties. Great fun!

Usually it is the first week of December, but this year crazy week actually began on November 30th since that was Monday. That was the morning Little A woke me bright and early,
"It snowed mama! It snowed! LOOK out the window!"
"Oh, that's frost sweetie."
"No, mama! It's snow! I know it is because I prayed for snow!"

Well, it was a pretty hard frost (our first this season)....and in Arkansas it might as well be snow, LOL!

The "snow" had all gone by chore time, but there were some lovely ice circles from the kitties food bowls.

More of crazy week to be posted soon....

....And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

2009-12-07T22:49:00.001-06:00

Wow, I really dropped off there didn't I ! Well, about the middle of October our activity schedule started to pick up the pace and in November it went into overdrive. Now that crazy week (drama rehearsal week) is finished I will have some time to catch up on blogging.

Where, oh where, to start? Geocaching? Our trip to Branson? Projects? Thanksgiving? Drama? Maybe I'll just start with crazy week and work back from there.

Stay tuned!

Black Walnuts

2009-10-07T22:16:00.001-05:00

We have a black walnut tree on the side of our house that provides good shade in the summer and a nice limb for the tire swing. However, in the fall it drops all those walnuts. It wouldn't be so bad but that is the part of the yard we use the most. It makes tire swinging like a game of dodgeball and walking around like a game of twister ... ankle twister, that is. So a couple of Saturdays ago I spent an hour or so picking them up off the ground...look at all those walnuts!

Oh, and here's what my gloves looked like afterward:

I don't ordinarily like to use gloves much but those walnuts have an outer husk that leave a strong smell on your hands and can stain them for life (nearly). When the walnuts are dry enough, the husks come off and underneath is the hard shell. Now, that shell is very hard and you have to have a hammer (or squirrel teeth) to crack it open. There are special black walnut crackers you can get; they are huge with an anvil area to hold them and an extra long lever handle and press to crack them. Anyway, if you manage to get them open, you'll be rewarded with large pieces (or halves if you're lucky) of black walnuts which have their own special flavor.

Wanna try them? I'll trade you some for pecans. :)

Tree Limb Crossing

2009-10-07T21:45:00.002-05:00

One morning, a couple of weeks back, Big T came running in after taking out the trash saying that a tree limb had fallen across the road. That was a surprize to me because we hadn't had any strong winds, so I tried looking out the window and even stood on the porch trying to see it. The garage was blocking the view so I went out with Big T and Little A and sure enough a big limb had fallen down (mostly) across the road. Of course they felt it was blog worthy so I took a picture with them and Squeakers (our cat) next to it.

Never a dull moment out here in the country...no siree...never a dull moment.

Hay Bales

2009-10-07T20:51:00.000-05:00

It wouldn't be fall without hay bales. This picture really doesn't do justice to the sheer number that are in that field because you can't see all the way to the back. There must be hundreds!

Playing in the Stream

2009-10-07T20:30:00.005-05:00

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted anything until I saw the date of the last post. Our schedule has really picked up with all the activites and now I have a whole backload of posts to put up.

A few weeks ago, after the rain subsided somewhat, Big T and Little A asked if we could walk to the stream. We had been cooped up in the house for a few days because of all the heavy rain and when the sun started to shine again we just had to get out. So, after lunch, off to the stream we went.

Of course, it's hard to go to the stream without putting just your toes in. After your toes are in, it seems silly not to put your feet in. Then, if your feet are in you must try wading a bit, with your pants rolled up. And before you know it, somehow those pants get unrolled and you're practically swimming. "That's okay," Big T assures Little A "we have a country mom, she won't mind." Lol.

So here they are at the stream....

And with a "friend"...

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Floody, Floody Day

2009-09-17T01:50:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was fair recuperation day. It's a good thing, because it rained non-stop all day. Our yard was flooded, all of the roads were flooded, the swamp behind my house was flooded, the stream and woods were flooded. It was a good day to stay home and rest.

Let's Go to the Fair!

2009-09-17T01:29:00.000-05:00

It's fair week! Yay! Our family loves the county fair!

Tuesday morning is the day to enter any crafts or food items you've made during the year. Usually the week or so before the fair I give the kids a couple of boxes and we go on a scavenger hunt through the house to find things we've made during the year to enter. It's always fun and surprizing to see how much we've done through the year! Big T entered 8 items, Little A entered 7, and even I found 3 things to enter. Judging is done on Wednesday and we pick up our items (and ribbons and checks) on Sunday afternoon. So, we'll have to wait 'til then to see how we did.

After entering all our items it was pouring down rain so we walked around inside to look at all the exhibit booths (including our 4H club's) by local organizations, merchants, etc. Then when the rain subsided a bit we went out to the livestock barns to look at all the animals...cattle, goats, ponies, miniature horses, pigs, regular horses, sheep, chickens and other fowl, and rabbits. I forgot to go to the agri building so we missed out on seeing the largest pumpkin and watermelon...I'll have to remember to stop by there Sunday when we pick up our entries.

We decided to leave to eat lunch and I had to get ready for the sewing class that I teach some of our homeschool girls on Tuesday afternoons.

Tuesday evening is Free Admission as well as Armband Night at the fair, so that is usually when I take the kids to go on the rides and eat fair junk (woohoo!). We usually get there around 4:00ish to get good parking and buy our armbands. Also, if you get there around 4:30 many of the rides will go ahead and start and you don't have to wait in line! The crowds usually don't really get going until around 7:30ish and that's usually when we're leaving. Three hours seems to be plenty of time for my kiddos to enjoy all the rides and food and I don't have to drive home in the dark.

It was a bit drizzly but all in all a very fun day!

Here's some pics of Big T and Little A on some of the rides:

Little A on her first ride the merry-go-round

Big T on his first ride the swings

Little A on her favorite one: the tiger slide (I pretty much stood here watching her slide for most of the time we were at the fair)

Big T on the "ride that started it all" ... after this one he was ready to go on all the other 'thriller' rides LOL!

A couple more of Little A on the bumper cars and fun slide:

4H Poultry Chain Judging

2009-09-17T01:07:00.001-05:00

This was our first year to participate in the 4H Poultry Chain. It has been very educational and we have learned alot about chickens. Who knew there was so much to know about chickens? LOL!

Well, to keep the poultry chain going, each child who participates is required to turn in their three best pullets to be judged and auctioned at the county fair. The money raised in the auction pays for the next year's chicks...that's why it's called a poultry "chain". In addition, each child will earn money based on how their pullets placed in the judging.

Monday was the day we had to take our chickens to the fair. Here they are getting loaded up for their big day:

The pens at the fair look small but apparently you can get three pullets in there. Big T's are on the end and Little A's are next to his.

Judging seemed to take forever....ours were the very last ones and we were waiting anxiously to see how they placed. Big T was hoping to win either Grand Champion or Reserve Champion and the judge kept going back to examine several different birds....it must have been a hard decision to make. I told Capital J that I didn't think I could be a pullet judge because that's getting a little too personal with a chicken for me. LOL!

After about an hour and a half the results were in. Big T's pullets received a blue ribbon and Little A's a red ribbon. I think they did very well considering that this was our first year. It looks like Little A may not agree with me on that, lol. Anyway, we'll give it another go next year.

4H Fair Booth

2009-09-12T21:19:00.002-05:00

Today we went to help work on the 4H fair booth. For the last 3 years our 4H club has put up an informative booth in the Exhibition Hall at our county fair. It's a lot of work and kinda chaotic but it all turns out well in the end and helps our club earn money, plus our children really enjoy working together. We always encourage the children to participate so that the booth is theirs and not just a parent production.

We chose "Cookin' in the 'Kid'chen" as our theme this year. Basically, it will be a kitchen set-up focusing on cooking with children.

Here are some pictures of Big T and Little A working on the fair booth:

Work on the fair booth started at 9am this morning and families are allowed to come and go as they are able. We stayed to help for a few hours but had to leave before noon so I don't have a picture of the finished booth yet. I'll post one in the next day or so after we go to the fair.

UPDATE: I took a picture of the finished booth when we went to the fair on Tuesday. I think it turned out really cute. You can't see it in the picture, but there are numbers placed on several items in the booth that correspond to tips on kitchen safety for kids. For instance the pan on the stove has a "2" label and if you look on the tip sheet on the side wall of the booth, number 2 says "Turn pot and pan handles in to avoid burns".

Tree Walk

2009-09-07T23:40:00.001-05:00

Today we started a unit study on trees so we went for a walk to identify some trees and gather a few leaves. My plan is to study just two or three trees every day or so and by the end of the month we will have learned about many of the common trees around here.

We could have started with the trees in our yard, but why waste a chance to go for a walk down the road, around the pond, and into the woods? So we packed guide books, paper, pencils, crayons, ziplock bags, and a clipboard in a backpack and away we went.

The first tree Little A picked to gather samples from was a Persimmon tree:

Here is what the fruit looks like:

We did a bark rubbing and a leaf rubbing on some paper with the crayons and labeled them. Then we collected a leaf sample, to press when we get home, and put it in the ziplock bag.

The next tree was a Sweetgum tree:

Here is a picture of the gumballs:

We did our bark and leaf rubbings, then collected a leaf sample. All was going well and I felt we could probably study one more tree. But Big T had found something he wanted to show us and we got distracted exploring the creek bed. As we were walking along, Little A slid on a muddy part and stepped on something that cut her foot. It was bleeding quite a bit so I went back to the house to get the car (and a popsicle for Little A - those make everything better, lol) and drove her home.

I doctored her up, prayed for her foot, read her a story, and encouraged her to take a nap. She woke up feeling much better. Tomorrow, we'll probably just pick a few trees in the back yard to study.

Bonus: We found a happy little Sassafras tree, too. But we didn't collect any samples from it (except one leaf for tasting, lol).

Saturday project

2009-09-05T18:51:00.002-05:00

On Saturdays, if we are home all day, I usually have a project of some sort planned that I can't get to during the week. Lately, they have been outside projects such as tidying the plants. Today, however, I had planned to clean up my sewing area to get it ready for fall and winter sewing projects.

Ummmmm.....yeah.

So I decided to clean my bathroom instead. >smile<

Ah...nothing like a nice, clean bathroom to perk you up!

Maybe I'll tackle the sewing area next time.

And here is Little A's "project"...

...a set of towers for her Littlest Pet Shop pets.

Mystery egg

2009-09-05T18:19:00.001-05:00

Last week I was watering the plants and I found an egg just laying in the asparagus patch.

Hmmm...how mysterious! What kind of egg is it? How did it get there?

It's small (only 1 and 1/4 inches), oblong, hard (not leathery), and white with light grey patches. I've searched and searched for information about it but haven't found anything.

Does anyone know what this might be?

Update: A friend mentioned that it might be a lizard egg. Well, I got brave enough to open it. Whatever it is...it is definately reptilian.

Fall is in the air!

2009-08-25T09:44:00.003-05:00

Ah, it feels very fallish today! The air had a bit of that autumn chill this morning. I turned off the air conditioner and opened all the windows. I expect that by noon the temperature will have risen enough that I'll close the windows and turn the cold air on again. But how good it is to have some crisp, fall air blowing in, if even for a little while. Fall has to be just around the corner...I can hardly wait!

Ripe raspberries

2009-08-22T14:19:00.004-05:00

Time to pick raspberries! Look! Many are ripe already:

Let's look under these leaves:

Juicy, red raspberries waiting to be picked!

I think they are pretty all washed and sorted:

They look just like little jewels up close:

These will go in a bag in the freezer. As more ripen, they will be picked, washed, and added to the bag. Finally, when all the raspberries are picked I should have enough to make some raspberry jelly or syrup. Mmmm....delicious!

Today's dragonfly pic is a Great Blue Skimmer on one of my herb pots:

Volunteer tomatoes

2009-08-22T13:56:00.004-05:00

These are "volunteer" tomato plants, which means that they were found growing in the compost pile. Little A and I potted up six to keep. Whether or not they will have tomatoes is anybody's guess since they came up from the seed of whatever hybrid tomato scraps were thrown into the compost. The plants themselves seem healthy, though. "We'll just have to wait and see," I told Little A. Gardening is always an adventure!

Manduca quinquemaculata

2009-08-21T19:38:00.010-05:00

Lurking under the tomato leaves is every gardner's worst enemy. Cloaked in green corpulence, it is not easily spotted except for the tell-tale signs of excess frass and stripped leaves. Manduca quinquemaculata strikes again! Otherwise known as: the tomato hornworm.

Generally, those of us of the gardening persuasion feel they deserve a fate of squishing, stomping, or drowning. However, being homeschoolers as well, we had to satiate our curiosity and investigate. What do these voracious caterpillars turn into?

So we saved one (just one...the others...not so lucky) and put it in a gallon jar with a judicious amount of potato foliage that had sprouted in the compost pile, a layer of soil, and a spritz or two of water. Apparently, the tomato hornworm will feed on any of the nightshades such as eggplant, pepper, potato, and of course tomato. It is amazing the amount of leaves this caterpillar would go through in one day! After around three days or so of feeding, it mysteriously disappeared!

Further research revealed that it had burrowed in the soil to pupate.

This happened in June. The jar was put on a shelf in Big T's room and subsequently forgotten.

A few nights ago, Big T heard something making a flapping sound in his room. When he turned the light on the flapping sound stopped. Then it returned when he switched the light back off. Freaky! Finally, he located the sound...it was coming from the forgotten jar!

Here is the large beauty that had emerged from the soil:

A fine specimen of what is commonly called a sphinx moth. The picture doesn't capture the beautiful pinkish-orange markings on the abdomen and lower wings.

All in all it was a very interesting observation project. We learned quite a bit about the Manduca quinquemaculata, its habits and life cycle.

Know thine enemy.

Happy little flower

2009-08-21T19:34:00.000-05:00

Why, hello little cyprus vine flower! You look happy today!

Homemade butter

2009-08-13T18:42:00.005-05:00

Today we made butter from fresh cream. The cream we used was from milk that we get straight from the cow. We let the milk set in the refrigerator overnight and this morning there was a thick layer of cream. I spooned the cream into two clean glass jars and we sang the "shake the butter, shake shake the butter" song for about an hour.

How do we know when we're done shaking? When it looks like this:

At first when it was a small clump, Big T said it looked like a scoop of ice-cream. Then at the end he said it looked like scrambled eggs. Anyway, we had a large clump of butter in some clearish liquid which is the whey.

Then we drained the whey off (and saved it for soaking grains) and rinsed the butter of any remaining whey or it would cause the butter to sour. Then we salted it a little and here it is:

Fresh homemade butter, yum! Of course we had to try some right away!

It was very soft and spreadable and we enjoyed half a package of crackers with it LOL!

The remaining butter we put into the fridge and it hardened up just like any other butter. Altogether I would say that the amount we made would equal about 1 stick or 1/2 cup of butter.

This was our first time to make butter and I was so glad it came out so well. We'll probably be making butter once a week now that we are getting fresh milk.

Big T spotted this female pondhawk dragonfly hiding in the grass:

Sharp eyes, son!

And here's a little hummer at our feeder:

First Egg

2009-08-10T20:35:00.002-05:00

Today we received our first egg from the 4H chickens that we got in March. From one day old chicks to egg-laying hens ... it's been quite an adventure.

The egg had a very interesting color; sort of a purple-ish brown. It was also a medium size egg as chickens' eggs are smaller at first. Since Big T does most of the chicken chores, he had the privilege of eating the first egg at dinner tonight.

Now on to the dragonfly pics:

These are a pair of Whitetails (male and female) on a rock in my yard.

Here's a close-up of the male:

And here's a close-up of the female:

First day of school

2009-08-03T14:56:00.003-05:00

Today was the first day of school here at Dragonfly Corner. We like to start early in the year so that we can have the whole month of December off.

This is Litte A's (and her kitty Nip) first day of 2nd Grade:

Little A will be learning these subjects this year:

Bible
Reading
Writing
Math
Unit Study - various weekly topics
Top Secret Adventures (on Mondays) - a different country each month
Which Way USA (on Wednesdays) - a different state each month
4H Projects (on Thursdays) - projects specific to 4H
Keepers at Home (on Fridays) - projects to earn Keepers' charms
Extracurriculur Activities - 4H, gymnastics, drama

This is Big T's first day of 7th grade:

Big T will be learning these subjects this year:

Bible
Math
Grammar
World History
American History
Science
Latin
Independent Research - research papers and projects on various topics
Extracurricular activities - 4H, boy scouts, drama, soccer

Whew! Now you know why we take the whole month off in December LOL.

You know you're a homeschooler when.....you do your lessons in the middle of laundry :)

Believe it or not we got all our morning chores and lessons done by noon. Then we had lunch while I read aloud a chapter from a book. We just started Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Then we went outside for a while for some fresh air and fun.

Look what we saw:

This dragonfly found the perfect perch on my mint.

Here's a bonus:

Can you find the dragonfly in this picture?

Raspberries

2009-08-01T13:30:00.004-05:00

Saturday is usually the day we work outside in the yard and garden. However, it's raining quite heavily today (which is very unusual for this area in July) and I only managed to go outside for a few minutes to refill the hummingbird feeder and take a quick look at the plants.

The raspberries really like their new home. So much so that they are hiding the blueberries that are planted in the other side of the box. I will have to give the blueberries a new home of their own.

The raspberry plants had already produced berries earlier this spring and now they are producing again, although more abundantly. Seems very unusual doesn't it? At any rate I'm looking forward to a nice fall crop of raspberries.

Here is a close up of how the berries look so far:

I also found these little mushrooms all over my yard:

In the summer after a nice shower they pop up everywhere. I think they thrive in all that humidity. Then they are ususally gone by the next day or so when it gets hot and dry again.

Little froggy

2009-08-01T10:42:00.007-05:00

We had a little visitor today.

Welcome to Green Darner's Corner

2009-07-31T21:09:00.012-05:00

Hello,

I am Green Darner and this is my little corner of Blogland.

What will you see here?

Dragonflies.

Occasionally.

More frequently you will see glimpses into my daily life here at my home, Dragonfly Corner.