Rainy day cleanup leads to science fun!

November 20, 2014 by tam

It’s been a looooong time since I have posted to our blog – too long! Things have been busy here as they are in so many households but I am not going to try to backtrack (at least not yet) of what’s been happening here. I’ll just try to post more often because we do love to keep track of our experiences here online.

This morning’s circle time was cut short by rambunctious children. It was one of those times when you admit that it’s not working and it’s time to get outside and shake off the crazies! It was a tad rainy out but that was okay. We were all more than ready to go outside. The boys played some baseball in the yard while I did some clean-up of the dead hosta (so, so many!) and a lot Japanese lantern plants.

The lanterns got the boys wondering what would happen if they were to plant some of the seed pods indoors. We grabbed some pots and the boys filled them with soil and the pods. When they went to water the pods they started talking about a Mythbusters episode where the hosts microwave water and feed it to the plants to see the effects of microwaves on ‘food’. The results were surprising and so we shall see what happens at home. We heated the water and the microwave and added a thermometre to the mug to watch the temperature go down to room temp – fun for the boys!

First, I think we need to do a bit of research on those seed pods because I’m thinking they need to overwinter first if they are going to grow for us! 😉

Cleveland Beach

August 21, 2014 by tam

We had a great time yesterday at Cleveland Beach with Dawn and the kids. We had been interested in visiting since reading her post on Mud Puddles.

We haven’t gone hermit crab searching in years and it was super fun. Plus, F found eighteen starfish!

One of the starfish got flipped over which allowed me to take a short video of its underside.

Starfish flip!

The boys are adding sand for the green crab to borrow under.

It’s cool to watch the starfish move! The tinkling sounds are the hermit crabs moving round – Dawn said that no matter what way you turn the container they will always go to the side facing the water. Creatures are amazing! The end of this video shows the green crab burrowing into the sand.

Love snails and barnacles.

We found what looked like a little tiny tower of sand with a hole in it under the water. Upon removing part of the tower we noticed that the structure didn’t fall apart in our hands but was relatively strong. The hole was the perfect size for a water worm, which Dawn found with a bit of digging. They look quite ancient to me, perhaps a species as old as the dinos!

We had a great time at Cleveland Beach and will certainly be back again!

Rock Tumbling part 1

August 19, 2014 by tam

This is the tumbler kit we bought from Scotia Lapidary Supply at the Rocks and Gems show. The Lego Mixels are not included. 😉

First step for us was to take each bag of rocks that came with this kit and give them a quick inspection while dry, for curiosity’s sake. Each of the boys will have their own bag of rocks and having a double tumbler means they can keep their rocks separate.

Then the boys sprayed their rocks to see how they would look when polished. Oooooh. Aaaaaaw. Very exciting!

Close up of Xman’s rocks. I see some tiger’s eye, rose quartz and either sodalite or lapis – he told me but I forget which this blue one is.

L’s dry rocks.Jasper, sodalite, tiger’s eye and more!

Rocks go into the rubber tumbler.

rocks in tumbler The next step is to add some grit. This first tumbling step will round out the sharp edges.

Next the boys added water to almost cover the topmost rocks.

There are a couple of steps for adding the lids to ensure a tight seal.

Don’t over tighten or the lid may warp!

And a’tumbling they will go! This first step can take about a week for rocks that are 5.5or higher such as these. We will open the containers tomorrow to let some gases escape as per directions. Then we let them tumble for about a week before moving to step two! Can’t wait!

In my search about rocks I came across a super fun kids rocks site! Haven’t shown this to Xman yet but I think we will add it to our studies for the year. It has information about rocks and minerals with projects to go along – plus you can collect rock patches – like that’s not super cool!

Thanks again to Scotian Lapidary Supply for their tips on Facebook as we begin our first rock tumble!

Praying Mantis Eggs!

July 13, 2014 by tam

My dear friend, Dawn, called us up one day asking if we’d like a mantis egg sack. They had them at their local garden centre. Sounded like fun. As it turned out, the egg sacks we pretty pricy so we decided to split on one. As Dawn and her kids had already experienced the mantis eggs hatching, they opted for us to care for the egg sack and then take some of the wee little hunters home with them once they hatched.

The night before last, as I was getting ready to turn in, I thought I’d check on the egg sack. I almost dropped the jar they were in! I wasn’t prepared to see so many tiny mantids crawling around! They lasted the night in their little new world until we were able to release them. Dawn came over with the kids and we let some of the mantids free in our yard and left some in the jar for them to take home.

Before we released the praying mantis babies L went to check on the ant larvae. Wow! Those ants sure were busy! Sorry this video is vertical – I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I went back later to check on the larvae and they were all moved underground. Guess overturning a rock will make ants move their babies in no time!

We totally geeked out on taking photos with this new macro lens that Dawn had found online. It’s super awesome for a smart phone. Stephen laughed saying we were taking photos for about 45 minutes and the kids had already lost interest and gone on to do other things together. What can I say, we like taking pics!

Mantid-face

I wasn’t sure if these little hunters would find any food but I was amazed at their prowess! An aphid and an ant!

I managed to get a video of each: (sorry for the vertical one again!)

Along the way I happened upon one of many ladybug larvae that we have happily found in our yard.

I caught this ladybug larvae eating an aphid about a week ago. Man, aphids have it tough!

Why do I always take videos vertically? Haha!

If you want to learn more about the praying mantis visit Dawn and Annie’s awesome blog Mud Puddles to Meteors! You’ll find a ton of cool info about nature and a ton of pics (surprised?)! 😉

Inviting the animals

May 20, 2014 by tam

Early in the week I bought a new bird feeder as a way to invite more species into our yard. We’ve had many a Blue Jay, European Starling, Morning Dove and Black-capped Chickadee which we love to watch.

The first few days with the new feeder didn’t show much action until our other feeder was emptied of it’s contents which was a hodgepodge of seeds. This new one holds only black sunflower seeds.

A couple of days ago, to our surprise and total glee, we got a visit from some new birds! We figured them out to be American Goldfinches, a male and female. So very exciting for us to see these lovely and brightly coloured birds visit our yard and it got us all looking anew at bird species and comparing their size to the boys – a blue heron is as tall as L. Wow! That’s a big bird. 😉

Our goldfinches seem to be taking over the feeder – maybe there will be babies in the making? Look like we have some new neighbours for a while. 🙂

At this point I really miss my DSLR body that I sold. I had a thought to grab it and a long lens then realized the lens is no good without a body to put it on. Ugh! I sold my old body and haven’t gotten a new one yet. I had to use my point and shoot 5x zoom and crop – the horror. But, hey, better than nothing and if the couple stays for the season I’ll get some good pics when my new camera body comes home to stay.

Just added:
We have now seen a male cardinal as well!

The boys are all excited and are delaying lunch so that they can sit outside and bird watch. They have their binoculars and their bird guide in hand and the two goldfinches are on the feeder.

They have notified me that we also have a house sparrow and a chipping sparrow.

Warms my heart. 🙂

Sunny days to remember

May 10, 2014 by tam

There has been a lot of rain this past month, as is expected for April. Now with May here there are a few sunny days for which we are quite happy and getting outside when we can. Of course, today, it’s rain as it is a Saturday, a day for getting outside! So, to honour the sun god, I’ve posted a pic of our glorious day last weekend, outside with no schedule to adhere to. Something to remember. 🙂

Scoopin’ Poop!

May 9, 2014 by tam

That’s right. We were scooping’ the poop yesterday and we had such a great time!

A friend of mine introduced me to one of her friends that owns two alpaca and a big pile of poop. Jen needed to get rid of the composted poop and we were more than willing to help knowing that our vegetable gardens would thank us!

We all had a great time learning about the alpaca who are native to South America and related to the camel. See that split front lip? Just like a camel. And their poop looks pretty much like a rabbit’s but bigger.

Both L and Xman had new gloves bought just yesterday as they love helping with the shovelling in the garden and their old ones were no where to be found. This is the worm we found in our yard while digging the day before. It’s a beauty!

With new gloves they were excited to help scoop. L lasted a few minutes then found it of more interest to feed Jack and Carl. Understandable. They are just so cute!

08May2014_Alpaca_03

L did eventually come back to help scoop with Xman while I took some pictures. Eventually, I got in trouble by Xman for not holding the bag and scooping. Wow, I never expected him to take this so seriously, he was right into the poop scooping and loving it – he just needed someone to hold open the bag! He scooped until the end! He’s my poop scoop trooper!

08May2014_Alpaca_02 08May2014_Alpaca_04 From time to time we all got a bit distracted by the newfound red backed salamanders, centipedes and pill bugs. I think the boys found five salamanders. It was hard to get a picture of one as they are pretty wiggly runners!

Here’s Jen with her awesome animals! Thanks Jen! I think in all we packed up 17 bags total and I can say for certain that we all had a great time!

April Lunar Eclipse

April 15, 2014 by tam

14Apr2014_lunar eclipse_03

We were all excited about the lunar eclipse and I told the boys I’d wake them if the sky was clear. I woke just after 3am to find a clear sky with a bit of cloud lightly rolling by the moon. I tried my darndest to wake the boys but to no avail. Ahhh, to sleep so well!

I grabbed my camera and took some shots. At first our cat, Gypsy, was sitting in the window and it made the perfect image – a cat silhouetted against the moon! As soon as I crouched to get the shot she jumped off of the window sill! Guess she was trying to break the black cat and full moon stereotype! 😉

I managed to make a short gif which is easier than posting 13 images over time. (How ironic that I just happened to edit down to 13!) It’s a little wonky as I wasn’t using a tripod and the first couple of shots were from inside the house and the rest were outside, which is why there is a bit of a jump in progression. The gif is on a loop so you may have to wait a moment to see it from the beginning.

How timely it was that once the moon was fully eclipsed the cloud settled in heavier and I saw it no longer. Nonetheless, it is always a bit of a magical experience!

Signs of Spring

April 2, 2014 by tam

This past Saturday was my birthday. There was no way I was staying inside and thank goodness it wasn’t a Wednesday or we would certainly be having a storm of some sort as past Wednesdays have shown. Luckily, after the last Wednesday’s crazy blizzard with hurricane force gusts (oh yippee) the weather took a break and much of the snow melted. It was damp and muddy but just fine for going outside if you asked me! 😉

I love peeking off the trails and finding little fluffy bundles of friendly lichen like these pixie cups. So wonderful to see!

If my search was correct, these are British Soldier lichen amidst what we boys and I call a Fairy Forest.

29Mar2014_Point Pleasant_08 I was so excited to see this little guy – a sure sign of spring! Coltsfoot!

A very common lichen here in NS – Old Man’s Beard.

The boys took a break at Prince of Whales Tower. Then Stephen joined them as I went trampling around in the mud.

We ended up at the shore and spotted this blubbery dude out on the rocks! Sea lion I do believe! Wish I’d had my other camera at this point – oh well. Can you see him/her hanging off of the rock over the water? I know it’s not very clear but I couldn’t help but take a picture anyway.

One spot overlooking the harbour was perfect for some javelin throwing using old broken branches. Good fun!

As we left the park the blue sky appeared for a bit, something we haven’t seen much of these days! A good day indeed.

Ice on the trail

March 19, 2014 by tam

A couple of weeks ago we went, yet again, to our favourite park for a walk on the trails. It was a mild day and the walk was very slippery but the boys didn’t mind! There were some very cool ice formations here and there and I couldn’t help but take some pictures. The boys spotted this leaf below the ice. It was moving gently from the flow of water around it as the ice melted.

Luckily the water here is only a few feet deep with no current. Great for safety when viewing ice floats.

The boys spotted this piece floating by and I managed to grab it. It was clear as glass.

Of course, the ducks saw us and thought we had food! Sorry ducks, not allowed to feed you, park rules! (although many do anyway)

Bubbles!The boys wanted me to take a pic of this piece as well and I thought I’d go in for a closer look.

It’s amazing the forms that take shape as ice melts.

Since this day a couple of weeks ago there has been snow and rain. Does not make for a fun trek. Hope to go out again soon – we all need that fresh air and sun! Come on Spring – we are ready!

the shards

Category Archives: nature