Sorry, Charlie

We moved away from the city.  We shouldn't have sweet-looking lost puppies wandering up to our house out here.  We really shouldn't.

Because the kids just can't resist them.  And I feel guilty if I don't give the poor dog a meal and some water, which really doesn't help them get back home again.  But I stand firm in not letting them in my house.  Because if I cave on that, this place will turn into a zoo.  A real zoo, not the kind of zoo I call it when my kids are especially crazy.

This little lost dog wandered into our yard and was promptly adopted by R & B.  R would run all over, delighted that Charlie would always run after her.  This dog had a collar, but no tags.  How did R know that his name was Charlie?  Because when she patted her leg and called "Here Charlie!" he would always come.  We demonstrated that he would do the same thing when called by a variety of other names.  But she was undeterred.  His name was Charlie.

So Charlie he became.  At least while he hung around our house.

When I noticed through the window that these two little miscreants were actually trying to get dog kisses, that's when I had to go outside . . . with camera in hand.  I snapped one picture and then told them to stop trying to get the stray dog to lick their faces.  Because, ewww.

But that didn't stop them from romping around in the grass and having a grand old time.

And they were surprisingly gently with this pup.  They certainly gave him more attention than they normally give the two big dogs that we do allow in the house.

Even J was infatuated with Charlie.

Charlie hung around all day, whether the kids were inside or out.  That night, he yipped nearly all night outside our bedroom window.  That didn't exactly encourage my feelings of compassion for him.  Not one bit.

But we still put a little house up for him since it was so cold.  And we fed him.  And we gave him water.  And the kids continued to pour out affection on him.

They were truly disappointed when he was long gone when we returned from church the next day.  Sorry, Charlie, our roster is full.  I hope you found your way back home safely and that you'll remember with fondness your mini vacation to kidland.

The Fine Art of Frog Catching

I've been doing a fair amount of frog catching with my boy.  And I've learned a thing or two along the way.  A jar is necessary.  Or a box.  Unless you happen to like holding slimy, squirmy things.  

Which J (and his mother) do not like.  So we stick to jars.

You have to move quickly and pounce, sometimes even before you're ready.  Because those frogs are quick little critters.  

And they are masters of camouflage.  Which makes them tricky to find in the first place.  J stalked our fire-pit turned mini-pond for several hours, trying to catch this guy.

He finally succeeded.  Poor homely frog.  He really should choose his ponds more carefully.  I imagine all that soot is not good for his complexion.

 But no frog has been quite as homely as this guy who looked like a pile of poo in the grass.  That's how J found him.  He was on the lookout for landmines and happened to look twice at this one.

He looked a little more frog-like after J gently prodded him out of his hole.  After taking pictures, we returned him to his hideout and tried not to step on him.

Some frogs are so small that they are easily mistaken for large grasshoppers or crickets, which we also see a lot of around here.  So you always have to look closely at hopping things.  That's a small acorn top in the background.

This tiny frog was about the size of my thumb nail.

And I really need to do some more research on these froggies.  There's just way too much that I don't know about them.

Catching frogs is always a temporary thing around here.  J was pretty enthralled with this guy, so he spent a few hours in captivity being studied and admired.  And when it was time to set him free, he decided to just hang out for a bit next to the chicken coop.

Then he ignored my advice and jumped right through that fence into the coop.  We tried and tried to help him out of that place, but he was too good at evasive maneuvers.  He must have found a way out eventually, though, because he wasn't in there when we went to check the next day.

I imagine we'll learn a great deal more about frogs and frog catching in the future, especially if I have this intrepid nature explorer to guide and inspire me.  I'm happy to let him do most of the catching and I'll stick mostly to photography.  My camera isn't usually slimy and it never squirms.  Which I am very grateful for.

Creepy Crawlies

Just in time for Halloween.  Ha!  Sometimes procrastination makes you timely, after all.

I've had such a hard time processing the plethora of nature photos I've taken since we moved in.  Some might say that I take too many pictures.  But they would be wrong, of course.  There's just way too many cool things to photograph.  It fascinates me.  I have to give J the credit for finding about half of the specimens I take pictures of.  The other half I find all on my own.

Which is probably the thing that is most surprising to me about living here.  I certainly didn't expect to find myself sitting/laying on the ground quite so often to get the right angle on these creepy crawlies.  Although I am not all that surprised at how much I truly enjoy it.  I've always loved the challenge aspect of photography.  When you have to work to get a great shot, it's all the sweeter.

I also find myself feeling grateful for my telephoto lens.  Because sometimes these subjects are very creepy and I'm glad the photo can look like they were very close, when in fact they were not.  I would like to avoid the possibility of one of these spiders crawling onto my lens because I don't think my camera would fare very well if I tossed it in an attempt to rid myself of the spider.  My camera is very dear to me.

These were among my early attempts to photograph spider webs.  It's really tricky to get the camera to focus just right which is why these are a little blurry.

As time went by, I got a little better at capturing what I wanted.

This beautifully colored spider was pretty huge.  That's a large moth it has trapped in its web.  I was really thankful for my zoom lens for this one.  It was the biggest spider I had ever seen that wasn't behind glass.

Until I spotted this monster who had dropped by my front porch one morning.  That's a full sized brick he's sitting on.  Creepy, huh?

I was a little jumpy when I maneuvered the camera directly below him to get this shot.  Understandably, I think.  And I find myself really wishing that I knew more about these creatures.  It might be useful to know which ones are, say, poisonous.  I'll put that on my "needs to be researched" list.

We found this shed exoskeleton out by the chicken coop.  Maybe from the same kind of giant monster spider.

These long legged creepies are all over.  But somehow they don't bother me all that much.

This bumblebee hung out on our daffodils for many weeks.  J says that it must be a queen because they are the only ones who survive once the weather turns colder.  All the others die off.  Must make for a lonely winter.

I enjoyed this crazy looking little guy.  Even though he was decidedly uncooperative for photos.  He kept running off just when I finally got the focus just right.

And he nearly walked off the edge of the world before he thought better of it and turned around again.

J finds what he calls pipe cleaner caterpillars all the time.

They sometimes get a little adventurous in where they climb.

Nice Halloween colors on Mr. Spiky, huh?

I don't even know what to say about this odd-looking fellow.  I have no idea what those little white things are.

And cicadas always look mildly alien-esque to me.  Creeeeepy!

But, I admit, their wings really are beautiful.

I think this flutterby must have been injured because it just stayed in the grass as I moved around it taking pictures.  Looks like that left wing had a rough ride.

These not-so-nice things are stink bugs.  Somebody brought them from Asia a few years ago and their population has exploded around here.  They fly.  And when they find a nice spot, they send out a smell-o-gram inviting all their friends to join them.  And the worst part is that if you smush them, they stink to high heaven.  Hence the name.  We're counting our lucky stars that they haven't been all that populous around our house so far.

I like grasshoppers.  Even though Disney's Bug's Life did their best to malign them.  I think they're really cool looking.  And they come in all shapes and colors and sizes.

This guy came to visit on my back patio.  And he was the most cooperative subject.  And B, who is almost always my trusty nature exploring side-kick, adored him.

I mean, really, what's a girl to do when she gets so many uninvited guests around her house.  Have her mom shoot them, naturally.

B did her best to catch this cricket (?), but he was a very quick jumper.  We followed him around the backyard for a good half hour.  Ah, country pleasures!

And to J's great delight, we have walking sticks around here.  They seem to like the siding on our house.

And they really are hard to spot when they're in the grass.  I don't know how many times we had to re-find this guy in order to study him.

I'm not sure how long it will be before I get around to sprucing up J's room.  But when I get to it, he's going to have one wicked awesome nature photo display.  That's for sure!

Little Boy Heaven

 Just in case you can't tell from the photo, J is in absolute heaven here.  Turtles and frogs and everything else a nature fan could possibly want.  Well, except for bamboo trees which he's dying to see for some unknown reason.  Oh, and chameleons.  I don't think he believes me when I tell him that they don't live around here.

 But there's plenty of stuff that does live around here to keep this boy occupied.  Like this little grass snake that J caught one afternoon.  He put some leaves in with it to help it feel more comfortable.  Then he caught a cricket and tossed it in to see what would happen.  We spent a good hour watching that snake hunt and then slowly munch that cricket. 

Even the little girls were completely captivated by the process.

And they adored the little three-legged turtle that I discovered making its way across the driveway.  We named it Legolas.  But J only agreed to that name after we promised that we wouldn't laugh when we said it.  He was very protective of his newly adopted pet and didn't want anyone making fun of it.

The newly adopted pet was merely wary and tried to escape every chance he got.

He was surprisingly speedy with those three legs.  Unfortunately, he didn't fare so well living in the abandoned chicken coop.  And he didn't seem to care for store bought turtle food.  So we had to institute a time limit for all future adoptions.  That way, J still gets the joy of seeing and examining creatures great and small in close quarters without doing them harm.  So far, that has worked well.

It worked out especially well for Stretch, the cool orange turtle J found in the creek a few weeks later as he was walking up to the house after school. 

He was practically bubbling over with excitement.  It was JUST what he was hoping he'd find.  A bright orange turtle that looked exactly like the picture on the turtle food.

I bet you'll never guess why J decided to name him Stretch.

This boy loved that turtle intensely for the few days that we kept him.  And he tried his best to sweet talk us out of our time limits for wild guests.  But I couldn't bear the thought of this awesome little turtle being harmed just because we liked him so much.  So, after a few days of little boy companionship, Stretch was set free.

But there's always something else to capture his interest.  He found this awesome twisted branch which makes the absolute perfect hiking stick . . . or wizard's staff . . . or royal scepter.

And when all else fails, there's always forts to build in the woods.

With the neighbor who just happens to be in the same grade and quickly became a great friend.

I love the sign that J made.  It's the perfect final touch to their clubhouse.

I believe a huge part of the reason that the Lord led us here was for this boy.  He needed to have some wilderness to roam in, some nature discoveries to make, some serious bug collecting to do.  And with this amazing place, he gets plenty of all three.  How blessed he is.