July 19, 2008 by KellyH.

While we were outside the other day (saying goodbye to visitors–Hi, LaDawn!) my children spotted a small snake near the edge of the driveway. He was small, so we thought he was a young snake. I got my camera and snapped a few photos so we could find out what type of snake he was.

Imagine my surprise when we discovered this is a Western Pygmy Rattlesnake!

He was a tiny little guy. See those twigs? That longest one is only about four inches long. According to OKSnakes.org, this guy is probably full grown.

And, yes, he’s venomous–all rattlesnakes are venomous. No, we never heard a rattling sound. This is a very small snake, with a very small rattle–hard to hear in most cases, and I’m glad I didn’t let any of my children get close enough to try to hear it!

Once I had identified the snake, I was quick to explain to each of my children that this snake could hurt them. I’ve been trying to give them all a healthy respect for wildlife. I don’t want them to get hurt through ignorance or naivety.

How safe are your children? Do you know what kinds of snakes and spiders reside in your neighborhood? Check your local library for books on snakes, spiders, and other forms of wildlife. Learn to identify the more common critters. Teach your children to be safe and keep their distance.

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April 15, 2008 by KellyH.

I just had the privilege of assisting (ever so slightly–I took photos) with a bird rescue. I’d noticed an American Avocet hanging around the pond at the local golf course, so I contacted the Tulsa Audubon Society and let them know. Today, on our way home from piano lessons, my son and I saw people at the pond trying to catch the bird. We stopped to see if we could help. The gentleman who lives across the street had a really good dog who also assisted. Here’s a few photos…

The Avocet is now being cared for by a veterinarian who specializes in rehabilitating wild animals.

Thanks go out to John Kennington, current President of the Tulsa Audubon Society, and Gail Storey, Vice-President.

And, of course, a special thanks to Zoe for her help in rescuing the Avocet!

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April 10, 2008 by KellyH.

While I was in California last month, I almost stepped on a Banana Slug. How I managed to miss it is a mystery, but when I doubled back from my walk (about 20 feet from where I found the slug) it was right there, bright as a banana! My kids would have LOVED to see it!

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October 16, 2007 by KellyH.

He was scratching at the door. My daughter thought there was a puppy outside, so she went to the window to see. It was a lizard! Yellow head, blue body, green tail. Definitely a male, and definitely a collared lizard.

We also caught a black widow spider recently! We’ve been doing some remodeling in our home, and when my husband picked up a piece of scrap wood he felt the spider (and dropped the wood!). We’ve had this fine specimen in a small container for four days now. I believe it’s a female, because of its size. My daughter (9) went straight to the wildlife resource books and looked up black widows. Did you know black widows spin 3-D webs? Most spider webs are flat, two-dimensional weavings. Black widows create ‘balls’ for their web. We have a lot of those around the yard, but the spiders are small and brown. That will have to be my next research project… spiders!

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July 24, 2007 by KellyH.

I can’t remember if I ever tried this with my kids, but I think I’m going to.

Orange Sherbet

3 cups milk

1 cup sugar

1 package unsweetened, powdered, orange-flavored drink mix

Mix all ingredients until dissolved and well mixed. Pour into a shallow pan and place in freezer. After about one hour, stir. Stir again after another hour. Freeze until solid. Makes about 3 cups of orange sherbet (or whatever flavor you use).

(Hmmm… I always thought it was called sherbert. Guess I’ve been pronouncing it wrong all these years!)

I discovered my mispronounciation when I looked up this recipe at the Food Network. I found a really yummy looking Red Raspberry Sherbet that’s probaby lower in calories than the orange one I listed above. And I just happen to have some raspberries in my freezer!

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May 4, 2007 by KellyH.

I think this is a Squirrel Tree Frog. Notice the suction cups on the toes. This critter was hanging on our window this evening and didn’t mind having his picture taken. He’s about two inches long, and noisier than all-get-out!

Notice the yellow on the back legs. This is a male frog, looking for a female. Someone needs to tell him the lady frogs are in the pool area! Guess I’ll have to check the pool for eggs again tomorrow. Oh, and I need to take photos of the tadpoles so you can see how they’re growing!

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May 1, 2007 by KellyH.

While cleaning the pool on Sunday, we noticed a frog resting nearby. He was perfectly perched atop a ring of the tikki torch holder!

Seems the frogs were busy that night. The next morning we had lots of eggs in the pool! I collected a few batches to show the children “the change.” These pictures show what they looked like: when I collected the eggs; the next morning; and later that same day. You can see how much they’ve grown in such a short time!

But that wasn’t the end of our critter adventures that day! That same morning we helped a box turtle cross the road near our house, and later in the morning I saw him truckin’ across our lawn.

The wildlife here is fabulous!

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March 31, 2007 by KellyH.

I’m sitting on my front porch, with my laptop, watching a beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly sitting next to me. He (I don’t know how to tell if it’s male or female, so I’m opting for male at this time) was on my hand earlier, but I don’t want him to get too used to me, so I placed him on top of the mesh on the terrarium.

Some of you may remember that last fall my parsley plant developed a ton of caterpillars. We gave some to three different families, and kept the last six for ourselves. I placed the parsley into a terrarium and placed some mesh over the top to keep the birds out. One died before getting to a chrysalis, four became brown chrysalises, and one became a black chrysalis. Three of the brown ones have already hatched, and today the black one hatched. It looks identical to the other three that have hatched, so I’m wondering if it was camouflage because of where it was hanging. This one is “Small Fry.” The first three didn’t get names. Small Fry was the last one to grow, and the last one to become a chrysalis.

I sweated over these babies all winter, worrying th–

Oh, he’s walking around, fluttering… he just flew away!!! What a beautiful sight! About two and a half hours from when I found him, with wings still curled, fresh from the chrysalis.

As I was saying, I sweated over these babies all winter, worrying that any precipitation would get into their terrarium and drown them. The first two emerged when I wasn’t on the look-out. My husband came home from work and said, “So, you’ve got butterflies, huh?” Of course I had to rush out to see them!

By the time I found the third one, a week later, he was also ready to fly. But today, when I found this butterfly, he still had curled wings and a puffy body. I coaxed him onto a stick, and he walked up onto my hand. If I turned my hand to look at him, he would keep walking until his wings were dangling behind him. I eventually moved him to a stick because he tickled so much when he walked on me. At one point I noticed he was dripping. The end of his torso had opened and he was excreting a milky brown liquid. Not much–probably releasing excess fluid from his body.

(It is now four days since I began writing this entry and the last butterfly has emerged. This one is “Buddy.” It must take a great deal of effort to emerge, because they sit so still afterwards. I’m sure he’s processing all the new feelings, sights and sounds he’s experiencing. Perhaps he’s praising God for bringing him this far in his lifespan.)

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February 22, 2007 by KellyH.

I remember making this one year. It really was peculiar! If I recall, it was similar to Silly Putty, but more fluid… I think… it’s been over 10 years since I made it. I don’t even remember where the recipe came from.

• 1 cup white school glue
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tsp Borax
• 1/2 cup water

You will need two bowls.

1. Stir together, in one of the bowls, the white glue and about 3/4 cup of water.
2. In the second bowl, stir 1/2 cup water and Borax together.
3. Stir the Borax mixture into the glue mixture. Continue to stir until all the glue mixture is absorbed. This will take several minutes.
4. Allow the mixture to stand for an hour or so and it’s ready to play with. Pull on it, flatten it, roll it into a ball and bounce it!

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