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Welcome to My Blog!
Schooling two active boys has never been more... interesting. That's the word I'm looking for!
I love my boys! God has given them the blessing of strong, active bodies and minds. We continually pray the first will remain intact, and the second will remain engaged with Him first, and then the school work. You'll meet my sweet sons, both entirely different, but both loving God to the best of their ability in the way He made them. I lovingly refer to them as my Bell Pepper Boy and my Habanero or Hambone. That should say it all!
This blog is an eclectic mix. The events, conversations, and the thoughts behind it all will be in here.
Every once in a while I'll try to capture something I don't want to forget. I hope you find things you enjoy. Please let me know if you do!
Blessings!
Our Curriculum
- Mystery of History vol. 1
- Saxon 5/4
- Horizons Grade 2
- A Beka Language
- Spelling Power
- Apologia Zoology 1
Books I'm Reading
- The Bible (Isaiah)
- Invitation to the Jesus Life
- Discover Your Child's Learning Style
- The Way They Learn
- Archimedes and the Door of Science
- (all things Trojan at the moment)
Favorite Links
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Monday, October 13, 2008 Zoo Update. . .
Posted in School Things
Hello! :')
No, my computer is not yet behaving. Yes, I have gotten pictures. Yes, you will see them someday! *Ugh!*
Our chicks are now almost completely feathered. They fly out of their little 10 gallon brooder very easily now, so we have had to cover it with a towel so they can't fly out. We could have used a mesh lid, but that is known for hurting the quail when they "bonk" their heads on it as they fly up.
In other news. . .
We have been blessed by our lovely female mantis with a wonderful opportunity to witness her making an egg case. I managed to get a couple of pictures, but she didn't exactly pick a photogenic location for her ootheca. So, we probably have bad shots, but you could probably get the idea. It's pretty neat to watch a mantis doing this right on the other side of the glass. Perfect for seeing sort of into the egg case.
We'll do more on this later, but I thought you'd want to know.
Is it possible to be "over-blessed" with critters. I think we're there.
We'll be releasing our mantis soon so she can finish out her days in a reasonably natural way. We'll keep the ootheca to overwinter in our garage. Then we'll observe what happens in the spring. Let's hope it goes well.
Have a good day, friends. We're "off" today, so we've relaxed all day. :')
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Thursday, October 9, 2008 Almost All Grown Up
Posted in School Things
Hello, friends! It's been a few days longer than I planned to get back here and update our quail project. Truthfully, I'm having a bit of trouble with my laptop, and there are very few things I've been able to get accomplished in the last week. Many sites wouldn't load. My e-mail would choose to send or not send at its every whim. *sigh* Have I mentioned I have a love-hate relationship with my technology? I can't even get to my own site to moderate it right now, and that is driving me crazy. :'P Feel free to pray for the perfect available laptop for me. ;'D
Okay, enough of that. On to the fun stuff!
Our quail hatched on September 22nd (the First Day of Autumn), which makes them now about 18 days old. It seems like they should be older to me, but I just counted on the calendar. Technically, they aren't quite three weeks old yet. Isn't that amazing? They are changing so fast, I barely recognize the little chicks for what they were.
If you look at the previous post, you'll see the photos that sort of chronicle their grown over the last couple weeks. It's been lightning-fast for us! Now, they are nearly completely feathered.
Interesting things we've learned over the last weeks:
- The chicks are wobbly for a few hours, but can run by Day 2.
- God feathered the chicks' wings first on about Day 7.
- Their backs and tails feathered next.
- After that, they feathered pretty evenly all over their bodies.
- The last place they feather is their heads.
- Feathers poke out in little covered "spikes" and are fluffed by the chicks.
- A chick can fly up (probably for protection against predators) at about a week and a half.
- The chicks can fly several feet at this point in their development.
- You can't imagine how fast they can RUN by now!
- We aren't sure of gender yet; we can't see male "bibs" on either of them.
If we compared the development of these ground birds to the development of P*'s parakeets, we would see a whole different pattern of development. Above ground nesting birds would certainly not be running or flying so early in their lives. Of course, they would need feathering, and it would take place nearly as quickly. But, we would see God do things slightly differently depending upon the needs and wisdom for that species. This qualifies for "Things that make you go, 'Hmmmmmmmm.'"
I hope you've enjoyed our little update. Pictures are coming...if I can get the laptop to give it the old "college try" in talking to my camera. ;')
Whatever the case, have a fabulous day, friends! After all, it's THURSDAY!
("And there was much rejoicing!")
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Wednesday, October 1, 2008 Faster Than . . .
Posted in School Things
The speed of light? Sure, we've all heard that one.
Faster than . . . the speed of sound? Slower than light, but faster than us.
Faster than . . . the speed of feathering? Hmmmm. We might be on to something new. I mean, really, who knew how fast God could cover a helpless fluff-ball chick with the feathers they need?
A lesson in speed:
 The day of hatch just a few hours after eggs-iting and drying off.
 Late that evening in the brooder, just 10 hours after eggs-iting.
 Just 7 days old in the brooder!
(Remember we could barely see any feathers just 24 hours before this photo was taken.)
 This is at 9 days old in the brooder!
(Roughly 36 hours after the previous photo.)
 The lighter silver chick a mere 10 days old in the brooder!!!
 And this is both of them at 10 days old in the brooder today! They are flying up pretty high in the brooder when startled now, so we'll be looking for a better solution soon. We don't want anyone running around on the floor. :'O
I told you it was fast! ;') I'd wish you "Godspeed" today, but I'm a little terrified at the concept in this moment. . . .
Have a great schooling day, friends!
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Tuesday, September 30, 2008 Our Voracious Visitor. . .
Posted in School Things
Yesterday I promised to introduce our "voracious" new friend here at our house. Were you wondering what we might have found in our area that might qualify for "voracious" in my book? The chicks sure eat a lot, but it's not them. Our dogs are rather hungry all the time, but it's not them either. Let's play a GAME!
- This new critter we are observing is wild in our area, though was never intended to be native.
- It was introduced to this country from China near Philadelphia in the early 1900's.
- Those who introduced this species hoped it would control pests.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Dictyoptesa OR Orthoptera
- Family: Mantidae
- I'll leave the binomial nomenclature for some really keen person to catch. ;')
We have photos of this new "friend" of our family. She is quite the entertainment on so many levels. You know that I have boys, so the entertainment focuses on the "coolest" activity this insect does: eating!
Warning: Turn back if you are easily "creeped out" by things in nature doing what they do best! I can't help what these photos reflect, but I can tell you it reflects her personality quite well.
Meet Anna.
Bonus points to the person who "gets" her name. ;' )
Hope you enjoyed meeting our friend. We've learned a lot about her. We know she is a she from counting the segments on the underside of her abdomen (she has 6). She may possibly be gravid, so we may get an ootheca (egg case) from her very soon. She is well-fed here (perhaps too well-fed). We have read that they make lovely pets. Did you know they were once sold in pet shops? Who knew?
As to our "cute" update for the day. . .
Our quail chicks have grown fast in only the 36 hours from our last photos. Today's photos will probably be posted tomorrow. These little chicks are really much more feathered in just a short time! It's crazy-fast!
Blessings to you this week!
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