Saturday, September 11, 2010

Backyard Visitors



"Come quickly, Mom!  Look what's in our backyard!"

William and I went creek walking to look for milkweed and the possibility of another Monarch caterpillar.  Did you know that only the ones who change into a butterfly this time of year live long enough to migrate to Mexico and California?   By the time we see them again in the spring, six generations have been born, reproduced and died.  Anyway, we did not see any milkweed but we did find some other treasures:

One spot in our creek I call the swimming hole.  There, even if the creek is dry, will be a small amount of water sheltering any fish or frogs trying to survive to the next rainstorm.  William went there today with dh and reportedly caught thirty fish with his net!  Walking the dry creek bed is interesting:  you see tracks of deer, raccoon and other creatures.  You find buckeye nuts:

and later learn about a boy game called "conkers".  Buckeyes are so called because Native Americans from this region thought they resembled the eye of a male deer. 

We saw wildflowers of many colors:








We also found an oak leaf with interesting attachments.  What are they?




As we walked, William shook his head.  "This is just sad, Mom," he said quietly.

What was sad? I asked.

"There is no water!  What do all the animals do?  Did all the fish except those in the swimming hole die?"

I assured him that soon, the life cycle would begin again and water would again flow.  The weather, however, has been a big tease this week.  Perhaps next?

Notes:
Daisy woke me up with her intense itching at 1:30 a.m. so I got up, walked to the barn to get the special shampoo, and washed her.  She was much happier.  I, on the other hand, could then not go to sleep, and when I did finally, I nearly overslept the time to drive Anna to her ACT test!  We made it with no stress somehow.   What is wrong with this dog?

I love fall.

Special note:  I still have trouble watching it.   I got goosebumps watching the story of Ladder 6, and how they survived.  Prayers to all affected by 9/11, which I guess would be all of us, but especially to those who lost someone special to them.

3 comments:

Cloudia said...

Bless us all




Warm Aloha from Waikiki

Comfort Spiral

Jenn Jilks said...

Wonderful shots. I love how you follow nature, like I do. The leaves probably have a bug that makes a gall. It was a year ago September...http://mymuskoka.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-when-did-that-happen.html
Did you slice them open? Very interesting things. I'll never NOT be a teacher, I guess. I want to teach and learn.

pita-woman said...

Fab shots.
I'm w/Wlm, all very sad, even though I know that eventually it will rain and the cycle continues. Makes me sad when I watch it on Animal Planet or Discovery Channel too.

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