Wildflowers

Brown-eyed Susans

My favorite things to look for while camping are wildflowers.  I knew the Brown-eyed Susan, and Queen Anne's Lace, but I'd never seen the Meadow Pink or Prairie Spiderwort before.

Queen Anne's Lace

Meadow Pink

Prairie Spiderwort

For the Birds!

Cedar Waxwing

It is sometimes a little sad living in a city area that used to be considered rural.  I've seen our area go from just about being in the middle of nowhere, at least it seemed that way, to having Target, Starbucks and just about any other big retail outfit practically in our backyard.  And believe me, I do take advantage of the convenience.  But I also enjoy the natural state of things, probably more than the convenience.  So I guess in many ways I'm able to have it both ways.  

We are blessed to live in a fairly quiet neighborhood and our house backs up to a field that belongs to a lady who own 10 or so acres.  There is also a good amount of trees lining the railroad tracks nearby.  We see coyotes from time to time that live in the thick, but never mind that the Hawks choose the cell tower to nest!  Anyway, it's a nice set up for us to be able to do a little bird watching or at least enjoy them, not sure if we are true birdwatchers or not.    

I've been really surprised the last few years how many different birds are in our little neighborhood. A few we've recently seen:

English Sparrow
Scissor-tail
Mockingbird
Cardinal
Blue Jay
Purple Martin
Dove
Crow
Grackle
Barn Swallow
Cedar Waxwing
Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

We've been keeping an eye on the Red-tailed Hawks here lately.  We were able to look inside the tower and see the young ones heads bobbing around; and now we can see at least one of the juveniles perched on the tower, not quite ready to make his first attempts at flight.

In attempts to draw in some hummingbirds, which we've seen from time to time, I made up some sugar water and put it in a feeder.  Haven't seen any yet.

We saw the cedar waxwings for the first time this year.  That was quite exciting.  Pretty little birdies.

Oh, and I saw a few bats the other day.  I know they aren't birds but it was a neat sighting.

Now if I could just see an owl, I would be beside myself!


Photos from Wikipedia

Adventures in Camping

I can't wait to get some lights to hang on the awning

I received  my picture books today.  They bring back some good memories, and some not so good memories of our fall camping trips.

In August, we were blessed to get a pop-up camper.  Now, you may think that August in Texas is not exactly the best time to go camping, and you'd be right!  That's why we got one with a/c, and plus we waited until September to take our first trip.  ;-)

Our first trip was to Tyler State Park in east Texas.  We weren't there 4 hours and Rick hurt his foot.  He jumped in the lake, the water was a little more shallow than he thought, hit his foot just right and landed in the ER.  The raccoons were vicious.  I'd swear they were following me and one got right in my face as I got a drink out of the cooler.  We had to tie down the cooler lids each night to try to keep them out.  The boys had fun "'coon hunting" with their sticks though.  They just chased them away.  Rick bore the pain and we made the most of it.


Our second trip in October was much better.  We went to Lake Bob Sandlin, another east Texas State Park.  No injuries this time, and that makes for a more pleasant trip!  We enjoyed fishing and walking the trails.  There were a few historical markers too, which I always like.  I particularly enjoyed the birds.  We saw (and heard) a woodpecker, cardinal, and even a bald eagle swooping down for a fish from the lake, that was really cool.  We heard an owl one night too.

I hope to get in a late winter camping trip this year.  If not, I'll be content with a few trips in the spring.  We'd like to go back to Tyler State Park, forego jumping in the lake, and try to see a little more of the park.    

          

 5x7 picture books from snapfish.com

All the pics in this post are from Lake Bob Sandlin

      

Springing and Reading

Well, spring is "springing" down here! We had some pop-up storms yesterday afternoon, which is typical of our North Texas springtime.  I think we must have had a tiny little downburst or whirlwind or something yesterday, because I've never heard the wind come through our chimney like I did yesterday.  I thought the chimney was getting torn off.  Several things were "taken" from our back patio and window screens were torn off too. 


Reading is slow right now. Haven't felt well and my mind has been swirling the last several days. I've been tweaking our schedule and materials a little. I think I'm finally settling down though.  I had to take a step back and really remember the why and the goals for our homeschooling.  That's another post when I have more time. 

I finished "Amish Love". It was so nice of Jenn to share it with me.  It was a good, late night, mindless read. I agree with Jenn it was not very well written, but I did enjoy it.

If anyone is ever interested in reading "Amish" novels I recommend Beverly Lewis. She really incorporates the Amish culture and history into her writing. I feel like I "know" the Amish from reading her books. Her books are very different from books like "Amish Love". I don't consider her books to be "romance" novels at all. I always come away from reading her books wanting to work a little harder and appreciate nature a little more. She is spiritually encouraging as well.  The first series of hers I read was Abram's Daughters beginning with "The Covenant".  That series remains my favorite.     

A few books I have going right now are "Little Men", although I'm not that far into it. I've been reading some Catherine Levison books on Charlotte Mason Education right now too.  As well as "Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing" by Sonya Shafer from Simply Charlotte Mason.  These last few are helping me to regroup and gather my wits about me!   

Snow Icing

Well, apparently, 4-5 inches of SNOW, yes, REAL, BEAUTIFUL, POWDERY SNOW, is the icing on our icy cake this week! 

Looks like I need to go clean out the birdfeeder.  I love those snow flocked evergreen trees in the background.  Snow is better than ice!

Birdy Cakes

       (click to join the fun!)

I don't have a barnyard to tend to but do have a few featered friends fluttering around the yard from time to time.  I decided I would leave them a little treat during our icy cold weather.  It gave me a little something to do as I was going a little stir crazy.  Yes, I suppose I could have cleaned out the closets, reorganized the bookshelves, or some other long-time neglected household chore, but what's fun about that?! hehe

Of course I filled the feeder in the back yard Red Oak.

I also made some little birdy cakes and decorated the backyard tree and a few front yard bushed.

I mixed a half cup of boiling water with 2 packets of Knox brand Gelatine and then added birdseed until it was more dry than liquid.  Not precise, I know.  But it worked.  I lined a cake pan with wax paper and put a few heart shaped cookie cutters in it and filled the shapes with the mixture and patted it down.  I stuffed the yarn into it and mashed a little more mixture on top to secure it.  I let them set up in the garage.  (I get a daily email from TipNut.com with all kinds of crafty links and this was one of them.  Sorry I don't have the actual link.  Their instructions were about as precise as mine though ;-) ) 

The next day I trudged outside and hung them.  I forgot gloves and my fingers 'bout froze off the first time I went out.  I remembered gloves the second time! :-)  I keep looking out to see if my birdy friends are up for a treat, but I think they are staying cozy in their nests.  I don't blame them.  

(This one I just used a shallow berry bowl - ran out of cookie cutters to fill.) 

I also made treats for the people too!  Homemade Chocoate Chip, mmm-mmm