Snow!

As day dawned, we were surprised to find it was snowing!



"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"



Aravis tried, unsuccessfully, to look at snow through the magnascope. We did not have any black cloth in the freezer in case it snowed, and her snow crystals melted within seconds of being installed under the magnascope. If you look closely, you can see that the snow crystals in her *hair* haven't melted, though!



Yesterday's rose is today's rosecicle.



Cornflower brought in her pea seedlings.



The temp is currently around 33 degrees, so the best accumulation is on the tops of cars and houses. The kids took advantage of that for a brief snowball fight.







I am inside blogging rather than outside playing because it is *cold* this morning! And I am a wimp. ;o) The girls came inside with very wet mittens and drank tea for a few minutes, but are now back out, appreciating the snow as hard as they can until it disappears. :D

California Sunset

I am currently in California at a family reunion. I took some pictures of the sunset as the plane began its final descent into San Jose yesterday. We were over the Foothills at this point. Look at the three different strata of clouds-- cirrus, cumulus, stratus. (Click on the pictures to enlarge.)



It looks like heaven.

Toad-Frog, Conch and Pearls

Cornflower's new friend. He lives in our backyard. We disagree about whether he is a toad or a frog. What do you think?




Mariel and Cornflower's arrangement of the 'science manipulatives' from our lesson yesterday.

Pictures from a Hike

Here are some pictures of flowers and such from a hike Cornflower and I took with her Girl Scout troop in Dinosaur Valley State Park.





The Paluxy River, as viewed from the top of the hill. We forded this river at least twice during our hike. (We got a little turned around, but we managed to find our way back thanks to scouting parties and someone's iPhone GPS, hee hee.)



Indian blanket. It had rained all morning, and the drops were still on the flowers.



Golden coreopsis.



I don't know what these are, but aren't they pretty? And look at the tall, blue-green grass behind-- it was all over the edges of the path. I would like some for my front flower beds.



My very own Cornflower.



A field of (mostly) Indian blanket. Just beyond this field, we saw three deer.



I have always called this milkweed, but I just found a website that calls it 'antelope horns'. It is of the milkweed family, so I guess we can continue calling it milkweed.

Bobcat Tracks and Pictures

As we read the Burgess Animal Book this morning, Cornflower wanted to see a bobcat in the hills of California, so we googled around and found this website.

Taking Pictures of Nature

(photo credit: Cornflower)



(photo credit: Mariel)



(photo credit: Triss)

Black-Capped Chickadee

We had one of these in our tree this morning, along with eight goldfinches, who really enjoy sitting in the top branches when they aren't down on the grass feeding on nyjer. This is so fun!

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

House Finch

We had male and female house finches this morning! (Mariel took this shot.)

Carolina Wren

We identified it with the help of some friends!

Goldfinch

Mariel and I were at it again with our cameras today. As she skipped back and forth from her writing assignment to the window to catch another shot, she bubbled, "Oh, this is so fun!"

This Post is for the Birds

Mariel has been trying to attract birds to our front yard with bird seed for the last two and a half weeks, and I have been helping her. There are more birds in Texas in the fall and winter than at any other time of the year, but they didn't seem to want to come to our boring suburban-type yard. However, after much patience and a little discouragement, we finally had some takers in the bird seed department.



Ice covered the ground yesterday morning, and we realized that the birds would be looking for alternate sources of food since everything was frozen. We scattered seeds all over the front lawn and walkway. (Well, we actually had Triss scatter the seeds. Mariel and I were both indisposed-- er, I mean, in our jammies-- at the time the idea occurred, and we wanted to get the seed out there as quickly as possible.)

(Please note that the dates on the photos are incorrect. We need to reset the date stamp. All the date stamped photos were taken by Mariel. There are a couple at the end-- without date stamps-- that I took.)



And they accepted our invitation. Yay!

They were mostly sparrows-- song sparrows, house sparrows and one rufous-crowned sparrow. There was a bright red cardinal for one brilliant moment-- but he was off before we could snap a picture. There aren't enough treed areas on our street, really.

This morning we had a mourning dove as well as our little sparrow visitors, and a sprightly little chap we had seen the day before but could not identify.



He enjoyed going up and down the trunk of our elm tree,



(some of these are blurry, but we haven't quite gotten the hang of taking photos through windows)



and hopping from branch to branch.



And he really liked our nest. We think he must be a willow warbler. Or a wren, maybe? I don't think a wren would enjoy our wide-open street, though. It almost looks like a nuthatch in some of the previous pictures, but the tail is a little long. What do you think?

UPdate: Here is a pic of the Carolina Wren. Look at the coloring and white eye stripe. I think this is our bird!



Look at him poking around! He acts like a prospective homebuyer.

Warblers (and wrens) eat insects, mainly, but we saw this little guy get after a couple of black oil sunflower seeds on the grass this afternoon. Just once or twice. He was extremely interested in what the tree had to offer, but insects are rather hard to find in freezing weather.



I'm not sure what to call this bird. When I took the photo, I was fully convinced it was the warbler (or wren). I had been following the warbler (or wren) with my camera all over the tree and snapped this picture. Doesn't this bird look different, though? That yellow on the throat is very pronounced, the shape of the head and tail are different, and even the coloring is different. The more I stare at this picture the more I wonder how I could ever have thought this bird was the little warbler/wren. I think this might be a female goldfinch. What do you think?



We gave Mariel her own digital camera for Christmas this year. She and I must have presented a sight, each glued to one of the front windows, snapping away.

Ice

(Photo by Cornflower)

It is 16' outside this morning.

Sharp-Shinned Hawk

On Sunday afternoon as we drove down our street and turned into the driveway, I saw a strange bird swoop down from the roof of a neighbor's house, skim the lawns, bob up over a bush and a tree, and then skirt the corner of another neighbor's roof, disappearing out of sight. It was large for a bird, but small for a raptor, and had a long, barred tail. Something in the way it behaved reminded me of a hawk. I looked it up this morning, and I believe what I saw was a sharp-shinned hawk. I thought at first it might be a young Cooper's hawk, but if memory serves, the head was small compared to the body. Notice how much the sharp-shinned hawk resembles a regular bird rather than a bird of prey, especially around the head. I've never seen a raptor fly so low in a yard in our neighborhood.

I wish I could properly upload a picture here, but the ones in public domain are too big for my posting.

The scientific name for sharp-shinned hawk is Accipiter striatus.

Sculpin

The fish that swallowed Pagoo.

"He's slimy."

--Cornflower

The Cold Front Comes In

Yesterday afternoon, the weather shifted in our area.



And with the cold wind came these so-very-interesting cloud formations. Triss said they were billow altocumulus clouds, and that the air was going up and down through them.

I cannot name clouds that easily, so I looked it up.

From The Book of Clouds by John A. Day:

Billow clouds are organized in parallel rows. These benign-looking rows are created when wind blows at highly varying speeds in layers just above and below the clouds. These winds result in very unstable air that can be a danger to pilots. Billow clouds are often seen with altocumulus and cirrocumulus.

Look at the abrupt edge of the formation! Amazing. We had to drive into town right after I took these pictures, and we examined the clouds all the way there. They looked even more spectacular as the sun set. Gradually, the rows filled in.

Happily, this unique cloud formation took place above our house the same week as Outdoor Challenge #39: Weather Challenge #1. We have been doing a quick snatch of nature study here and there for the last several weeks, rather than participate in the challenges, but I have wanted to get back into it. I guess this is our signal to begin again. :o)

Update: Triss' narration on the clouds here.

The Promise of Glory

I'm back. We went to the Bay Area to see my grandparents and Mr. Honey's family and attend a church meeting. I am full of happenings and stories but cannot share just yet. For now, here is my favorite nature photo from the trip, and a quote from The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis, which I have been a little consumed with for the last week or so:

When I attempted, a few minutes ago, to describe our spiritual longings, I was omitting one of their most curious characteristics. We usually notice it just as the moment of vision dies away, as the music ends, or as the landscape loses the celestial light. What we feel then has been well described by Keats as "the journey homeward to habitual self." You know what I mean. For a few minutes we have had the illusion of belonging to that world. Now we wak to find that it is no such thing. We have been mere spectators. Beauty has smiled, but not to welcome us; her face was turned in our direction, but not to see us. We have not been accepted, welcomed, or taken into the dance. We may go when we please, we may stay if we can: "Nobody marks us." A scientist may reply that since most of the things we call beautiful are inanimate, it is not very surprising that they take no notice of us. That, of course, is true. It is not the physical objects that I am speaking of, but that indescribable something of which they become for a moment the messengers. And part of the bitterness which mixes with the sweetness of that message is due to the fact that it so seldom seems to be a message intended for us, but rather something we have overheard. By bitterness I mean pain, not resentment. We should hardly dare to ask that any notice be taken of ourselves. But we pine. The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire. For glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgement, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.

[...]

We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.

Cocoon or Chrysalis?

Barb at the Handbook of Nature Study blog found out these two words are not interchangeable. From the Butterfly Gardening Glossary:

chrysalis - the pupa stage of a butterfly. The chrysalis is often mistakenly called a cocoon. The chrysalis forms when the butterfly caterpillar sheds its skin for the final time, and a hardened outer covering forms to cover the changing pupa inside. Chrysalis means gold in Greek. Many - though not all - chrysalises have gold spots or markings. pl - chrysalides, chrysalises

cocoon - the pupa stage of a moth. The cocoon is a covering that protects the pupa inside as it changes into a moth. Cocoons are formed from silken threads spun by the last instar caterpillar. Some species of moths will also incorporate leaves into their cocoons. After the cocoon is formed, the caterpillar inside will shed its skin for the final time, and a pupa with a hardened outer coating will form.


So now we know! I'm glad she took the time to research it out. I should have done a little more research before posting that Spunky was in a cocoon. But I know now. Spunky was in a chrysalis.

Butterfly Homecoming

We released Spunky yesterday morning.









If you look in the center of that last picture, and use your imagination, you can see a little bit of yellow among the leaves. That is our Spunky, who fluttered and flew gracefully up to the trees as soon as we opened the habitat.

Farewell, Spunky!

Butterfly

Introducing Spunky Butterfly.

From larva:



To pupa:



Through mishap and adventure:





To adult butterfly:



I'm walking in an open field
Looking for some space to fill
I believe there's something left to hold
So even when the sun goes down
And there's no one around
I'm standing in the freedom of my soul
And the truth of the matter is still the same
It's that you and I, we will not be here forever
The truth of the matter is still the same
I'm ready to stand
I'm ready to stand

--Bebo Norman

(Cornflower found Spunky this morning before 7 am-- she says we have an open house for butterflies. He had come out in the night and we missed seeing him emerge. We made that habitat just in time-- yesterday! I could tell by looking at the translucence of the chrysalid that he was coming out soon. Here is a good site for finding and nurturing your own caterpillars to butterflies. It even includes instructions for making two kinds of habitats from scratch. Our habitat cost us only $1.29-- the cost of the tulle.)