My son found a thread-like worm moving in a mud puddle the other day.  When he brought it home I thought he had a piece of black wire or something similar in his hand but THEN I SAW IT WRITHING.  It just constantly writhed back and forth.  We put it in a jar with water to observe it some more (even though I'm completely repulsed by it, I just had to keep watching it). 

We found out it is a Gordian Worm or it's also known as a Horsehair Worm since it looks like a piece of hair from a horse.  They are parasites that can live inside an insect and you find them in ponds, puddles of water and other damp places.  They are not harmful to humans, thank goodness!  From what I understand, you do not see them until they're an adult and not much is known about them when they are still larvae. 

If you just have to know more, go here and here  where you'll get to read about a lady who stepped on a cricket and noticed shortly after a long thread-like worm emerging.  Doesn't it just get better and better?

Ours (My goodness, I sound so possessive.)  is an adult male.  We could tell because of its forked tail.  I was going to post a picture of our little darling but Flickr just wouldn't cooperate and since I didn't want to let you down after getting your interest peaked, I settled for one from Wikipedia.

They say that sometimes you'll find them in your toilets after disposing of an infected insect.  So if some time you see a black hair in your toilet and you don't have black hair,  you just might want to take a second look .  

 Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

My boys came running in the house the other day to inspect under the microscope a caterpillar that was found on Wesley and had been biting him.  They were wanting to know what kind it was.  I started looking up on the Internet about a black and white caterpillar but Zachary had his own ideas. 

He thought from previous readings that the white on the caterpillar was eggs.  I scoffed at the idea (Would I do something like that?) took him lightly and kept to my own research.

Well he pulled out his books, started going through them and found what he was looking for.  Guess what he found?  The white on the caterpillar was cocoons!  To be exact it is the cocoon from a braconids wasp. 

Some interesting (and somewhat nasty) info they learned about these insects were:

1. The adult wasp lays eggs inside of the host.  The larvae feeds on the host until it is time to pupate (that is the stage between larvae and adult). 
2. It will either pupate inside the host or outside - which is what the larvae did in this case.  The white cocoons on the caterpillar we caught is the pupa.

Wow!  I've never heard of such things.  There is so much about the natural world that I know nothing about.  Lots to learn.

________________________________________________________

I wanted to get some pictures of Zach to send to a friend who is a nature enthusiast.  I wanted Zachary to be in the picture but I also had to be sure to zoom in enough to actually see the caterpillar.

Attempt #1 - "This won't work.  I don't want it to look like you're about to eat it - with such relish too!"

Attempt #2:  "This is Zachary reporting for the ENN Network.  There's been a serious outbreak of hairy, black caterpillars carrying braconids wasp larvae..." 

Nah, this picture's not going to work either.

Attempt #3 A smile that looks painfully forced. 

Hey, Zachary.  What do you say we just take a picture of the caterpillar? 

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

"Hello there."

We hiked 1.7 miles to Gem Lake.  It wasn't quite the "lake" we had in mind; it was more like a pond.  The hike took us through a lot of rock so it's somewhat curious to think of there being a spot of water at the top.  There was even a small sandy beach to sit upon.   

I always find it fascinating to see rocks perched on top of another.  You wonder, "How and when did it end up there?" 

Notice the rock with the hole.

"Peek!"

I was so excited to come home and identify these wildflowers.  They almost had the look of a tulip to me.  Do you know what they are?

 This one had opened more. 

And the name of this wildflower... purple pasqueflower. 

They are also know as Wild Crocus and Lion's Beard and are a member of the buttercup family.  And finally, the purple pasqueflower is South Dakota's state flower.

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

What do you find when you go to Out of Africa, a wildlife park located nearby?

Ostriches, the world's largest bird, who in one stride can cover 10-16 feet.

Zebra's - whose skin is actually white but has black and white hair patterns

 Giraffes - who could care less about manners when eating...

And have no shame when it comes to begging for food.

Common thought on why giraffes tongues are blue/purple is that it keeps them from getting their tongue sunburned .

Bearded Dragons

And many other wild animals from the land of Africa

I'm off today (Friday) to hear Mary Schofield speak.  I love anything to do with homeschooling, so I'm quite happy about this.  Mary wrote the book The High School Handout.   I thought, though, that I would share a few pictures showing some of the diversity our state has to offer.

 I can hardly believe this is Arizona and it's in my backyard.  I didn't go on this 2 1/2 mile hike but the rest of the family, along with some friends, went and took these pictures. 

 Wesley actually got himself stuck in this piece of ice.

  This was the 50' waterfalls they hiked to.

This week as we are thinking about being thankful may we take a few moments to take pleasure in God's marvelous and incredible creation. 

Why did He (God) expend such immeasurable might of mind upon a world which is to be burned up but that He would fit it perfectly to be not the home but the school of His children?  The infinity of His skill is such that the most powerful intellects find a lifetime too short to penetrate a little way into a few secrets of some one small department of His working.

How kind we think it if a very talented friend spends a little of his thought and power of mind in teaching us or planning for us!  Have we been grateful for the infinite thought and wisdom which our Lord has expended upon us and our creation, preservation, and redemption?

Taken from Kept for the Masters Use by Frances Ridley Havergal.

Back in September of 2006 we decided to really study nature up close and personal.  But then we had a nasty surprise!  Since that time we haven't kept anything in our terrarium until a few weeks ago.

Grasshoppers are found aplenty in our yard right now so we caught about 6 and placed them in our terrarium.  Pet Bugs by Sally Kneidel gives instructions on how to keep crickets and so I followed those for our grasshoppers.

1.  We filled our terrarium with 1" of sand.

2.  We placed a toilet paper tube inside.

3.  We filled a jar lid with water for them to drink.

4.  We cut a small piece of apple for them to eat.

The kids each drew one of the grasshoppers in their Nature Journals and now we have just been observing them these few weeks.

Remember I've started my own Nature Journal?  Here's one of my pages.  I'm no artist and I struggle with how to get what I see on paper, but I'm enjoying keeping a journal all the same.

Some things we've learned are:

What an ovipositor is

Females lay their eggs by means of their ovipositors (they take this part of their body and make a deep hole in the sand where they deposit their eggs)

They can make holes to lay their eggs in decaying wood

After laying their eggs they cover them with a gummy substance to keep them safe from predators

Their eggs look like small worms but when the grasshopper hatches they are a smaller version of the adult with a large head and fan-shaped wings.

What a grasshopper dropping looks like.  My son saw the grasshopper lay this and he then scooped it up with a leaf. 

We even saw the grasshopper laying eggs one day.  I read that they will lay 15-120 eggs in one pod (hole).

This morning when I looked there were probably 12 holes in the sand.  They're supposed to hatch in the Spring but I don't know if I want to wait that long and besides what would I do with all those grasshoppers?!  I hear they have lots of protein.  I suppose I could fry them.  Seventeen years ago, while in China we were served fried grasshoppers, our first night there.  Quite a unsuspecting surprise they were!  (I didn't have the nerve to try them though.)

If I do decide to fry them I have this quite nasty sounding yummy recipe I found on the Internet.  If you try it, let me know what you think.

Recipe for Fried Grasshoppers

First, catch a bunch of grasshoppers and leave them in a jar overnight to purge (if you're finicky). Then boil them for ten minutes, after which you can easily remove the large legs, and wings, too, if they are also large.

Next, in a bowl, beat one or more eggs, depending on how many grasshoppers you have, to which you add the little critters after removing the legs and wings. Then put the beaten-egg-covered "hoppers" in a paper sack or plastic bag which contains some yellow or white cornmeal and shake. Next, place the egg and cornmeal-covered grasshoppers one by-one into a small frying pan with an inch (2.54 cm) of hot cooking oil and fry until golden brown. After cooking, remove the hoppers from the skillet and place them on paper towels - to soak up any excess oil.

This past week I learned something very interesting at Lake Powell.  At least it was to me and since you all are homeschoolers I thought you might be bowled over by this fascinating bit of knowledge.  Homeschooling moms are neat that way. 

My boys were familiar with sandstone but somehow I never had learned about it.  It is what it's name implies - sand.  But when mixed with a mineral the sand holds together and makes it rock.  If that mineral is silica, sandstone can even be used for structural purposes.

Here is a large sandstone boulder. 

 Lake Powell has sandstone cliffs all over, some up to 2,000 feet high.  They sit right in the water and you wonder why they don't just dissolve into nothing since they are comprised of sand.  But it is the mineral that is mixed in with the sand that is actually holding it together.  At least that's how I'm understanding it.

 While clearing out a nice smooth spot for our tent, my son threw a small rock out of the way and this was the result.  This was my learning moment.  This little pile of sand.

That is sandstone all behind our camp. 

Frankly, when I tried reading online about sandstone I couldn't understand much.  So, I can't share any real scientific information on my fascinating discovery except to say that sandstone is really indeed made up mostly of sand!  Who would have thought?

Did you know you can determine if an egg is fertile or not fertile by looking at the germ spot? 

The germ spot is the white spot on the yolk.  The non-fertile germ spot contains only the female's cells and looks like a solid white spot.  In a fertile egg the germ spot contains both the female and male cells.  This allows cells to divide and the spot grows while the rest of the egg is being built in the female's oviduct.  Because of this growth the fertile germ spot on the yolk looks like a circle with a somewhat clear center.

(This information was taken from a book called "Hatching - Classroom Projects" produced by the National 4-H Cooperative Curriculum System, Inc. and is used with their permission.)

We looked at one of our chicken's eggs the other day when I cracked it for breakfast and sure enough, there was the spot just like they tell you.  I won't tell you if it was fertile or not but... we do have 2 roosters with about 15 hens so chances are...

Just thought you might be interested to know just what kind of eggs you're eating...

Since we've planted a few flowers and Zachary has planted a garden, we are regularly seeing these beautiful creatures flitting around from flower to flower.

The tulip and the butterfly
Appear in gayer coats than I:
Let me be dressed fine as I will,
Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.
~Isaac Watts