Herpetology Demonstration

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

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

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...

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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: