Spring: Friday with Frogs

Alternate title: Freezing Friday without Frogs. It’s a cool 30 degrees here today, and while we might get outside for a wee bit this afternoon we are surely not going frog hunting. As luck would have it, we learned a fun fact earlier in the week from a naturalist: wood frogs freeze solid in the winter. To see an informative 4-minute time-lapse video, follow this link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3209/05.html

Spring: Thursday's Tiny Treasures

Doesn’t it seem too early for butterflies? But we saw some! As well as boxelder beetles clustered on the sun-warmed siding of our house, a bunch of frenzied red ants in a sand pile, and a variety of insects under upturned rocks. I mustn’t neglect to include the oh-so-charming Japanese beetles invading our window spaces and the woodtick Kevin found crawling up his arm last night.

Spring: Wednesday in the Woods

Can you imagine my surprise when our Wednesday nature class involved a tour of tapped maple trees?! How fortuitous for us with our tree theme! Aside from that, Mateo and I gathered leaves from the ground and compared shapes, including the coniferous variety.

Spring: Tuesday Tweets

Our Tuesday ended up being filled with errand-running, which meant that by the time we got around to bird-watching the birds were scarce (perhaps back at home digesting dinner?). But we did HEAR birds singing in the morning (is there anything more uplifting?) and we did SEE geese standing on the ice of half-frozen water bodies while driving in the car (that would be us in the car, not the geese) and we spotted plenty of bird SIGNS such as nests and woodpecker holes. Mission accomplished.

Spring: Monday for Mammals

In celebration of National Wildlife Week we are spending as much time outside as possible! The National Wildlife Federation has a list of suggested family activities, today’s being a search for signs of mammals. We found a squirrel nest, a stick pile den (rabbits?), several holes in the ground, lots of new mole tunnels and significant damage to our apple trees (argh, those deer). Many squirrels were spotted during a walk around town this morning, but we’ve only seen a couple in the woods. The chipmunks are being elusive, too. Hmm, the village residents must be much better about keeping their bird feeders filled than we are.

It's Coming...

Feliz Cumpleaños, Tia Pat!

S is for...

S is for Dr. Seuss! We celebrated his birthday on March 2nd by making a wacky birthday cake and reading some of his books – luckily we have 9 in our collection because the library was all out! Mateo’s favorite: The Cat in the Hat. My favorite: The Lorax.

S is also for Snake. We met a fox snake (not a Fox in Socks snake) at the park last week. The kids were able to touch the snake, as well as a shedded snakeskin. Sssssssssuper cool! We also learned that there are no poisonous snakes where we live. Sssssssssuch a relief!