The Flu & Procrastination

I know it's been a while since I've updated this blog. Z and I've had the flu. Z's flu progressed into a sinus infection and a persistent cough. All of which made for one grumpy Z and one tired Mommy. We are beginning to get our schedule back on track and hopefully we will have more time to post what we've been observing in nature. However, I must say that after my last post about the rats I have avoided the backyard... like the plague. The rat and snake experience profoundly affected me even going into the backyard for about 2 weeks. David and my father worked on the playhouse today and I went out and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day. Hopefully, after ensuring that we are totally rat free ( this may take the purchase of a cat) we will begin to enjoy our own backyard again. Until then, we're finding alternate places to examine nature.

Believe it or not, we've had two nature experiences inside. A beautiful Monarch butterfly came to visit one night. It kept flying into the window by my bed. I heard it thump, thump, thumping on the window. Evidently, it was trying to get to my nightstand light for warmth. I let him in and showed the kids my "pet butterfly" the next morning. They couldn't believe a butterfly slept in our room all night. The next morning, he perched in the sunlight on the window sill in the warmth. He looked as if he was asking me to please open the window so he could go enjoy the sunny day. When I opened the window he flew out as if it was completely natural for him to sleep on the curtains at the head of my bed and fly away freely the next morning.

The second experience wasn't so wonderful. A skink found it's way inside. Lilly saw his tail and thought it was a snake. Screaming ensued until we discovered it was only a long skinny skink. Both of my attempts to catch it "without hurting it mommy!" failed. I first tried covering him with a bowl and slipping a paper underneath. He fell out and scampered under the moulding where we have a pocket door. My second attempt involved the vacuum cleaner. To make a long story short, our vacuum cleaner must not be strong enough to suck up the skink or he ran farther than I thought. We haven't seen him again. No pictures of him... sorry. But I do have one very clean vacuum cleaner!

Have you noticed the mushrooms and other fungi growing lately? The kids love examining the mushrooms especially. The intricate, soft folds underneath the tops fascinate them. Last week we found the most unusual fungi growing on a piece of mulch beside our pond. The kids examined it with a magnifying glass and tweezers. It is most unusual. If anyone knows what it is please let us know. The tiny seed type things growing in the middle would not pull out. Another interesting find in our FRONT yard. Whew!