More Squirrel Shenanigans – and the OWLS!

To follow up on yesterday’s Outdoor Hour Challenge on Squirrels, here are some of today’s nature pictures. Squirrels, of course. Even though I dug out the snow around the bird feeder, they are still attempting to get up onto the baffle. The prickly bush approach must have been too painful, and it wasn’t working anyway: …

Winter Wednesday: Trees and Their Bark

This challenge is really called “Tree Silhouettes,” but as the trees on our property and in our neighborhood are so crowded together, most of them haven’t grown into the typical shapes they would have had, had they been in an open space where they didn’t have to vie for sunlight with others. Except for the …

Outdoor Hour Challenge #45: Squirrels

Outdoor Hour Challenge #45 is Squirrels. We have plenty of them, three at least, all Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). They come out when the sun is bright on the snow. Comstock writes charmingly about squirrels, and she quotes from Thoreau, which I find always makes for captivating reading. They both seem to describe exactly …

Copying Drawing and Writing from a Book

We had another snowstorm today. Preschool was closed. Amie and I sat ,in our PJs, at her table and decided to draw something. She chose her favorite book of animals, an older edition of the Visual Encyclopedia of Animals (DK). I think she likes this book because it is small, but thick and compact with …

Skills – Competence Project: Pottery

A while ago I pledged to learn the great and ancient art of beekeeping. I contacted several bee schools and was about to enroll. Then I realized that it won’t be possible to have a hive this spring or summer, for the simple reason that there are no flowers nearby. We live in a wooded …

Germinating and Growing Seedlings under Lights: Chamber Set-Up

Today we finally had a chance to set up our germination/seedling area in the basement. It’s not fully done yet, but so far we have: One large Gorilla shelf rack – fits 4 standard Jiffy or Burpee seed starting flats perfectly. $87.97 four shop lights (2 sockets each), chain links and S hooks included. 4 …

Riot Fatigue: I Feel Like I’m Slacking

This is only our third Riot month and I feel like I’m slacking already. I realized this when last week I volunteered to drive Amie and a preschool buddy to their field trip. This was legitimate, I think: the preschool needed volunteers. On the way back – just Amie and I – I decided to …

I have Faith in a Seed

I think of the seeds every day. They’re locked away in their envelopes, in Ziploc bags, in a large cookie tin, in the cold basement. Held within these many layers, deprived of light, water and warmth and temperature fluctuations, they are kept suspended. I am rereading Thoreau’s Dispersion of Seeds. It was published for the …

Cooperative Boardgames: Max

One of our Christmas gifts was this game, Max, made by a small family-owned company called Family Pastimes that makes only cooperative games (they even print and make their own boards and boxes). We must help get the little Creatures safely home before Max, the Tomcat, catches them. In an exciting way, children learn logic, …