Three Plus Two

Forty Trash Bag Challenge

Darcee at Simply Catholic is holding a "Forty Trash Bag Challenge".  The challenge is to move 40 trash bags worth of "stuff" -- actual trash, clothes, donations, clutter -- out of your house and your life in 8 weeks.  You can choose whatever size trash bag makes sense as your measuring stick. 

Unfortunately, I think we've gotten to the point where 40 trash bags makes a lot of sense.  When we moved from Missouri three years ago, I was in the first trimester of a twin pregnancy.  There was so much junk to get rid of before we moved... and I couldn't do it all.  We moved with a ton of stuff that should have been left behind.  Then, when we moved into this house from our rental, I was not very far away from bedrest toward the end of my pregnancy.  Needless to say, I definitely wasn't up to sorting through it then.

Three years later, we're still suffering from starting out on the wrong foot... plus we have three years of new stuff to deal with (along with three more people to fit in the house).  It's time for a Forty Trash Bag Challenge.

I got started over the weekend with 4 bags of clothes, which I donated.  Most of them were girl clothes.  I had to admit that even if there are more little girls in our future, those little girls would be at least 10 years younger than Katydid.  And ten years is a long time to keep clothes in storage, particularly when you don't have the room.  So those four trash bags... hurt.

Anyway, now I have 36 trash bags to go.  And a lot of catch-up from last week to do, especially since we need to get all the warm weather veggies in the ground this weekend (they're promising temps in the 70's!)  And I promise I will write about homeschooling again. Really.  Because even though our routine has completely fallen apart over the past couple weeks, and we have had strep and stomach viruses and sinus infections and tests for mono and Lyme, the kids are still doing some interesting stuff.  I'm just not planning any of it. ;-)

Simple Woman's Daybook: Monday, May 19

Stop by Peggy's for more Daybooks :-).

Outside my Window... big rumpled blue clouds moving in from the west, not blocking out the sun yet... with the sun shining, the crabapple tree with its fading pink blossoms, and leaves on the maple, it looks like spring.  But it's only 40 degrees and not forecast to go much higher.  Oh, there's the shadow... clouds are here now... the sun has moved out over the field across the street.

I am thinking... that May in upstate New York is one of the hardest months... everyone wants it to warm up and it won't!

I am thankful for... Andy feeling better this morning, after coming home from the Boy Scout campout with a stomach virus in the middle of the night Saturday.

From the kitchen... well, right now it's Cheerios with blueberries (from frozen, not fresh yet); tonight probably something easy, like spaghetti.

I am creating... a Rule for myself.

I am going... to have to take the kids to Wal-Mart this morning to see if they can fix Gareth's glasses (he stepped on them in the tent this weekend) and pick up some groceries... maybe meet Andy for lunch, though with all the running around last week, we've eaten out way too much.

I am wearing... tan knit skirt ("camel" is the official color), long sleeve chocolate brown shirt, brown cable knit knee socks, beige Birkenstocks, brown hair clip... I'm back in fall, with the weather.

I am reading... God's Smuggler, A Sonlight Core 7 book - passed on to me by Andy LOL

I am hoping... that Katydid's headache is finally better, that the new antibiotic is working

I am hearing... a lot of hyperactive car play... now the LeapPad... wind chimes at the front door...

Around the house... a lot of catch-up from this weekend

One of my favorite things... walking in my garden.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... it's going to be cold, so no outdoor planting until this weekend, and my poor tomato and pepper plants have to stay inside a little longer.  Mostly I just want to keep my head above water this week, and hope that we can avoid the doctor's office.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing for you:

Gareth getting ready to go camping.  He almost caught a fish and was able to demonstrate his sword-fighting technique.  He came home a happy camper.

At the Feeder

Marianne at Learning to Love is hosting a Backyard Birdfeeder Carnival this week.  It won't be a surprise to longtime readers of this blog that we will be participating.  Today is the first day of the count, and unfortunately -- it rained.  A lot.  But that didn't prevent a few visitors from showing up at our seed block.

It probably will surprise long-time readers of this blog that I took these photos and not Katydid.  (She was reading back in her room.  And probably watching the birds visiting her bird feeder.)

 

This picture of a bluejay did not turn out well, but I'm including it because we are so rarely visited by bluejays.  We hear them flying by all the time, but we don't see them very often.

Here's a male brown-headed cowbird.

And a female brown-headed cowbird, with the male.

You might notice that there are toys and a glove in these pictures.  The construction site on the other side of the flower bed has been steadily encroaching on the birds' territory.  I moved the seed block, but for some reason the birds won't go to the seed block in its new site; they keep coming back for the leftovers in the block's old position.  What's really funny is when a bird comes swooping in to eat as usual, notices a small child playing construction, and pulls up midflight with a ruffle of startled feathers and a squawk.  I'm going to have to shovel out the top layer of dirt as soon as it stops raining (Tuesday???) in an attempt to direct the birds to where they're really supposed to go.

The rabbits, however, have had no problem locating the seed block.  They're fertilizing the lemon balm, which may be one reason it's taking over the world... or at least my backyard.  This particular rabbit hung out underneath the toddler slide for the better part of the afternoon.  I guess it was nice and dry under there.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the close encounter I had with a male ruby-throated hummingbird yesterday afternoon.  I went to look out the screen door when it clouded up suddenly, and to my amazement, a hummer flew right up to the screen and hovered there in front of me for a moment before flying away.  Our crabapples have been absolutely amazing this year, which makes the hummingbirds happy, but apparently I don't have a picture of one in bloom, just a photo (which Katydid did take) of the blossoms:

They smell divine, especially at dusk.  According to my husband, who listens to NPR's "Nature Minute", flowering trees such as the crabapple often release their scents at dusk to attract night pollinators (like moths) that aren't attracted by color.  Lucky for us.

Snakes. Why Did It Have to be Snakes.

No more snakes.  Thank goodness. 

To answer a few of your questions: the snake was indeed alive in this picture.  I believe that Andy regarded this as a failure on his part.  (You have to understand that Andy and Indiana Jones share a few salient features, and not just the rugged good looks. Ahem.)  Basically, from his perch on the bed, Andy yelled for Katydid to go get a hoe.  After warning him that he wasn't Jeff Corwin, she came back with a kid's hoe, and Andy tried to whack the snake with it.  He only managed to stun the snake (thankfully for my bedroom carpet), and then flipped it into the bin.  I took a quick picture for purposes of identification -- amid cries of "Can I take a picture?  Can I take a picture, too?  Is it a diamondback?  Is it poisonous?  What kind of snake is it?" -- and then Gareth and Andy brought the snake out into the woods and turned it loose.  Back at the house, Katydid and Farmerboy speculated that Edgar (our resident crow) would probably eat it.  Or that it would get picked off by a hawk.  Or an owl.

Nature red in tooth and claw, you see.

Anyway, when I called my mom (who also shares some pertinent characteristics with Indiana Jones) and told her the story, she said, "A hoe?  You're supposed to chase it into a pillow case and then throw it outside."

This from the woman who once ran over a snake by accident and then stopped and backed over it again to make sure it was dead.

But everyone to whom Andy told the story said the same thing.  " A hoe? You're supposed to chase it into a pillow case and then throw it outside."

How is it that everyone but us knows this?  Do we not watch enough TV?

So I googled "snake in the house" and came up with this WikiHow article, which tells you to "resist beating the snake with a broom or stick" (says nothing about a kid's hoe) and to throw a blanket over it and call Animal Control.  Undoubtedly, this is probably the safest thing to do -- if you live in a place where Animal Control is reachable when you need them and will not laugh at you for being a weenie about a little snake in your house.

I mean, unless you are clearly facing a Burmese Python or an Anaconda or a ten foot rattle snake or something, and if Animal Control will not just ask you why you don't shoot it.  When I was a kid, we discovered that we had snakes in our attic.  And not just little snakes, either.  My mother (remember the story about my mother?) ran into a five-foot long snake one day and ran downstairs to call the police department.  They laughed at her. 

"But I think it might be a rattlesnake!" she said.

"Well..." said the officer, "Earl Ray's off duty and he likes to eat rattlesnake, so maybe I'll give him a call and see if he'll come out there and shoot it."

And Earl Ray did come out to our house and shoot the snake in our attic.  After it was done, he climbed down the attic ladder, disgusted.  "Just a chicken snake," he said.

I don't know what he did with the snake.  To my mother's credit, chicken snakes do imitate the sound of a rattler's tail.  So she wasn't coming up with something totally out of the realm of possibility.  My mom and dad still have chicken snakes in their attic, as a matter of fact, and if you go up there to find something in a box, you will probably also find some really, really long snake skins.  However, I don't think that my mother has ventured into the attic in a very, very long time.

I did eventually find out that using a pillow case to catch a snake is recommended if you have a snake in your house.  But I still don't know how everybody seems to know this but me.  Next time I'll ask Andy to hold on while I google the instructions.

;-)

Why I am not the cool nature study mom you think I am

Because when faced with this on my bedroom floor...

... I do not really care what kind of snake it is.  I just want it OUT OF MY BEDROOM.

(We think it's a milk snake.  Any opinions?)

Emily Post is funny, too

First of all...

My kids thought this was really funny.  They played it over and over again.  I thought it was pretty funny, too, but probably for different reasons. ;-)

So Emily Post is funny, too?

I've been tagging along with Jennifer as she puts together her Catholic Home Ec program.  Most of the books I ordered came yesterday.  I'm not using all the same books as Jennifer is, but I did pick up most of the core books she lists in this post, including a 1945 edition Emily Post's Etiquette.  I had no idea that Emily Post was funny; I was thinking of her in terms of Martha Stewart.  But this is what she has to say about children's "table tricks that must be corrected":

"The child must not be allowed to warm his hands on his plate, or drum on the table, or screw his napkin into a rope or make marks on the tablecloth.  If he shows talent as an artist, give him pencils or modeling wax in his playroom, but do not let him bite his slice of bread into the silhouette of an animal, or model figures in soft bread at the table.  And do not allow him to construct a tent out of two forks, or an automobile chassis out of tumblers and knives, or tie the corners of his napkins into bunny-rabbit ears.  Food and table implements are not playthings, nor is the dining room table a playground."

And then there is a section entitled "The Sheep" in the chapter "The Clothes of a Lady", in which she very wittily dissembles on women who follow every fashion fad, ending with:

Fashion is followed to the letter -- therefore they fancy, poor sheep, they are the last word in smartness.  Those whom the fashion suits are 'smart', but they are seldom, if ever, distinguished because -- they are all precisely alike."

I suppose she's a bit snarky here and there, but I think I would have enjoyed plying her with cups of tea and an elegantly set luncheon, just to listen to her talk.

Simple Woman's Daybook: Tuesday, May 13

I have wanted to participate in Peggy's Daybook for a few weeks now.  I tried to write my entry yesterday, but yesterday was far too hectic.  So rather than wait yet another week, I'm just going to post an entry today:

Outside my Window... The crabapple tree by the outer garage is covered in fuschia blossoms.
I am thinking... that I like the way the sun hits the crabapple early in the morning.  That my tea should be ready by now.  (What can I say.  It's early.)

I am thankful for... the news that Andy gave me last night about some friends back in St. Louis... a sunny forecast in the upper 60's... the blooming crabapple.
From the kitchen... for dinner tonight: quiche, spinach salad... I have some mushrooms so maybe I'll marinate them this time... I'd also like to make rhubarb sauce, but that might have to wait until tomorrow. 
I am creating... a new planner, a new household routine (I hope).
I am going... to take Katydid for more bloodwork today and stop off at the Fatima shrine while we are out.
I am wearing... white T-shirt, blue pajama pants, socks.  (Like I said, it's early.)

I am reading...Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food.

I am hoping... that Andy has a good trip to NYC today.  That Katydid's bloodwork comes back with good news and for her headache to go away.
I am hearing... the microwave heating water for more tea (It's taken me over an hour to get this far in my entry)... Pip and Pop making truck noises as they play with their trucks and tractors... All About John Deere Part 2 on TV... Chipmunk chiming in from the carpet...
Around the house... laundry, laundry, laundry (as usual) -- folded laundry to put away, more to fold, more to do... clutter to clear from the dining room table, a smell to investigate in the dining room (I'm beginning to think we've got another dead mouse in the walls...), have to water the garden, since we haven't had too much rain... need to go through the shoe bins and sort out all the snow boots and too-small shoes...

One of my favorite things... is to sit back on my bed with Chipmunk at the end of the day and pray in the quiet while I nurse him to sleep.  And this week, to look at my Mother's Day flowers on the dresser while I do so.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Start okra, more melons, and winter squash inside... make rhubarb sauce... get Gareth ready to go camping this weekend... plant asparagus, chard, lettuce, radishes, spinach... figure out about transplanting broccoli from the cold frame... harvest more micro-greens for salad... thin beets and carrots... half these things probably won't get done.  The asparagus really, really needs to go in, though.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing for you:

Strawberry plants are blooming!

Pond, Marsh, and Stream

We kicked off our pond study on Monday with a walk to the pond in the woods behind the house.  Andy was home after working most of the weekend, so we made it a family affair.  (Actually, I wouldn't have taken the kids if he hadn't been there.  It would have been too hard with a baby on my back to help the twins over slick rocks, pull them out of the muck, and keep them from falling into the water.  Luckily, the pond -- or ponds, actually -- are  only a quick walk from the house, so we can visit them often, as long as Daddy is around.) 

We collected two jars of pond water to bring home, so we could view some pond water samples under the microscope.  We also ended up with 3-5 tadpoles, a leech, a bunch of water bugs (the technical term, of course), and a whole lot of duckweed.  The water and its residents now inhabit a fish bowl on our china cabinet. 

Of course, I came right home and got to work on pond-related books.  Our library is fairly awful; the system it belongs to isn't that bad, but only 6 reserves per library card are allowed, and for some reason I can't get my card to work on the system.  (If we ever move again, my first question is going to be, what is the library like?  I miss the St. Charles County, Missouri library system like you wouldn't believe, although dealing with the anti-homeschooling librarian at the "children's" library was very, very annoying.)  Anyway, I do buy a lot of books, and most of the books I bought for the pond study I'm fairly pleased with -- and Farmerboy is enjoying them, too.  Seeing as how Farmerboy's relationship with being read to has, in the past, been somewhat turbulent, I am glad he is enjoying them.  Right now we're reading through One Small Square: Pond at the rate of several pages a day, and he has been in the possession of From Tadpole to Frog all week.  I'll post the rest of our books on the sidebar, hopefully soon.  I'm directing the bulk of this study at Farmerboy, in the hopes of luring him into kindergarten a little at a time, so the sidebar will be heavy on the picture books.  (Although I discover a series of books that I am excited about for Katydid: the Naturalist's Apprentice series, which includes a Pond-Watching book.  These we do have on reserve at the library -- our 6 book limit.  Sigh.)

Now, for the pictures:

Heading off into the woods... We use an ex-snowmobile path, which used to cut across our property.  The former owners did not want snowmobiles going across their property, so they blocked the path with a bunch of a rubble.  When we first moved in, the Snowmobile Club came to ask us if they could again run their snowmobiles in our field.  Andy politely told them no.  The snowmobiles moved across the street, where they can sometimes be heard and seen at the prime snowmobiling hours of 3 and 4 AM, and the rubble stayed to block the path on our land, just in case.  It makes a good path to walk on in the woods, though.

The seasonal stream that runs down the hill toward our house.  Yellow marsh marigolds are plentiful this time of year.  (An interesting aside: this site explains the history of marsh marigold's association with the Blessed Virgin and one of its other names, marybud.  Katydid had put a cupful of these blooms beside our statue of Our Lady of Grace when she discovered them in the woods, before we knew what they were.  I always think it's neat when connections like this are made.)

We crossed many mucky patches on our way to the pond... the result of a few days of rain. 

I think this is a raccoon track.   We didn't see any actual animals (I wonder why, considering the amount of noise we made), but we did see many signs of animal activity.

A deer track here, and just trust me that we saw some coyote scat.  (You don't want me to upload all the pictures of poop that I've found on my camera.  Not even in the name of science.)

(I had Chipmunk on my back, a mason jar in one hand, and the camera in my other hand... and apparently a big fingerprint on the lens.  Sorry about the smudges in some of these photos.)  Here we are at "The Pond".  There aren't very many places where once can approach the water, and the shore is quite marshy.   

Looks pretty slimy, doesn't it?  The whole surface is practically covered in duckweed.  I'm still not sure whether to call this a "pond" or a "swamp".

While the kids skimmed the water -- and argued over who had more tadpoles and who was going to take care of the tadpoles (Repeat after me:  The tadpoles belong to God.  The tadpoles belong to God...) -- I poked around with my camera.  This is all that remains of a road that ran through the woods.  The bank was shored up by these rocks.

Fiddleheads...

And now we're going to switch ponds, because Farmerboy wanted to see the stone wall that cuts through the woods.  There is another we place, directly behind our field, which is somewhat vaguely known as "The Swamp."  But when we headed there this time, we found that "The Swamp" now looked more like a pond than "The Pond".  It was also bigger than we remembered it.  We did not sample the water here, because we had no more jars, but I think it would be interesting to come back and take some samples so we could compare the water in both ponds.

Or swamps.  Whatever they are.

More uncurling plant life...

   

This pond (or swamp) has horsetails, which delighted Gareth.

I think this is a trillium -- not blooming yet.  I wanted to remember where it was.

More marsh marigolds, growing at the edge of the pond.  Or swamp.  Whatever it is, this is where the peepers live.  I should go outside right now and record them for you... at night, they are so loud, you wonder how many millions of them are back there.

Dawn recently posted about how her blog has become a stand-in for a nature journal.  This is also the case for me.  Katydid keeps a pen and paper nature journal, and I would love to as well.  But it's a lot harder to draw while holding a baby (or babies) than it is to hold a camera or type. 

Beautiful Photos

Today I am feeling a bit under the weather (I believe that Katydid has infected me with her case of strep, but I am trying to deny it because I don't want to have to call the doctor), and I am having a hard time remembering what it is I'm supposed to be doing.

Can you blame me for being sucked in by the photography at Big and Little?

The Orioles Are Back

... and Katydid got a picture of one, in spite of having strep.  Katydid wants to put out some jelly, in the hopes of attracting the orioles to the feeder.  The orioles always return around the time the crabapples bloom, just like the hummingbirds.  Our crabapples get a little pinker every day, and yesterday, Katydid said she saw a phoebe chasing a hummingbird.