Deogratias

Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight

I learned from a friend in my local Catholic homeschooling group that we'll be  having a total lunar exclipse tonight for the last time until December 2010.  I think there is a chance of showers and overcast skies, but I'm praying we'll be able to get a glimse of it. 

You can find more information about the eclipse here, but I picked up a couple paragraphs that contained basic information.  Unfortunately I haven't purchased my Farmer's Almanac for 2008, so I wasn't prepared in advance for this information.

Partial eclipse begins at 8:43 p.m., when the Moon begins entering Earth's shadow, and totality, the point at which the Moon is completely within Earth's shadow, begins at 10:01 p.m., and lasts until 10:51 p.m. The eclipse ends about midnight.

During totality, no direct sunlight shines on the Moon, but Earth's atmosphere reflects some sunlight onto it. The result is that the Moon gets very dim, but never dark enough to be invisible.

The color of the Moon during an eclipse varies from year to year, and depends mostly on how much dust is in the atmosphere around the world. Large amounts of dust from volcanic eruptions or forest fires can cause the Moon to be a distinct reddish color. More common is a dull orange color.

For more detailed information about the eclipse and basic diagrams, check out NASA's Eclipse Homepage.  That's where I got the picture.

We saw a new bird...

Today outside the library we saw one of these guys, which is fascinating because I don't think I have ever seen one before.  It's called a Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus). The cool thing about this is that it is a coastal bird which passes through our area only during migration.

Despite the fact that I'm thrilled to have seen this guy or gal today, I'm sad because my boys just aren't interested anymore.  They used to LOVE birdwatching, but today they were bored to death about it.  Jacob nearly begged me to move on when I pulled over to get a better look.

"I'm just not interested in this," Alex tells me later at the kitchen table.

"What kind of unusual animal would you be excited to see around here?" I ask.

"A polar bear or an African lion or a pack of wild dogs," he replies with a smile. 

Not me.  I'm happy with a Semipalmated Plover.  I must admit that the photo above was not taken by me, because I don't normally take the camera to the library.  Maybe I'll make a point to do so in the future.

Wildlife Visitors

Well, our Black and Yellow Argiope decided to leave its web last week and we thought it was gone, until someone noticed it sitting next to the basement door.  When I found it yesterday evening I thought it was dead.  But when I tried to pick it up with a stick to place in a box to examine, it let me know right away that it was still alive.  It's haning out in the lighting fixture.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we found another egg sac on the side of our house.   This one looks a little different than our other one.  I'm trying to find out how to preserve these sacs for observation because we  have to paint our house sometime soon, and the babies won't be ready to come out until spring. 

I was thinking about putting them in our butterfly canopy, but I'm not sure if they'll survive.  But the question is, do I really want them to?  I mean do we really need 300-1500 baby spiders x 2 in our yard?  Well, we're moving anyway.

Apparently these spiders are pretty common.  Just in the past few months, I have found pictures Aquinas Academy, A long and twisty passage, and Blessed Among Men. 

While we were trying to get a picture of her, my mother-in-law called to wish us a happy anniversary.  She shared with us her latest nature event.  Apparently due to the prolonged drought, a toad has found the only water source he could find - her dog Roscoe's water bowl.  He moved in about a week ago and he's still there.  They had to go out and buy Roscoe a new bowl so the toad would have someplace to live. 

The funny thing is that sometimes they go out there and he or she is  not there because he's busy hunting crickets and other insects around the garage.  Then later they'll find him home at last and happy. 

We're looking forward to Friday when we'll try to stop by and take a look at Mr. or Mrs. Toad.  We hope he hasn't moved. 

Impromptu Studies

Each of the boys has called me outside in the past couple of days to show me "something amazing!"  We saw one of these gals a week or so ago, but here is another one right next to the house.  It is a Black and Yellow Argiope.

At the bottom left of her web, we saw this:

Apparently her egg sac, containing 300-1400 little spider eggs!  Oh my!

The boys also pointed out the presence of some a Tent Caterpillar at the bottom of the stairs.  They didn't remember the name, but they knew that this species isn't good for the trees in our yard.

Next, on the way back up the deck stairs, I saw a pretty Black Swallowtail Butterfly flying around up there.  I called out to the kids who said that maybe our butterfly had come back.  When I reached the deck, I looked down to the parsley plant to the left and what should I see, but a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar chowing down on the leaves.  This one was all alone and that is where I left him (or her).  But the boys enjoyed thinking that maybe our butterfly had come back "home" to lay her eggs.  As you can see, the parsley has come back just in time!

Another Backyard Nature Study

Another wonderful thing about having a garden is that it allows you plenty of opportunity for backyard nature study.  Not only do we learn about the plants and such, we also learn about the rabbits and birds that are attracted to the garden.  And this week, we have had a different kind of visitor.

This spider is a black and yellow argiope and it is about 1 1/4 inches long!  Good thing we ran into it outside.  It is a pretty interesting spider in its behavior and its webbing, and we have been reading all about it.     

I drew a picture of her in my nature notebook, and I was trying to get the kids to do the same.  They preferrerd the Monarch butterfly on our butterfly bush and/or the mushrooms in the backyard.

Our Butterfly Story

I've been trying to get this post written for almost a week now, but somehow things keep coming up.  We released this little guy last Friday before going to the art museum.

It all began on Tuesday, August 14th when I discovered something unusual happening to the parsley plant on the back deck.  It had these ittle green things crawling all over it.  After a little research, I learned they were caterpillars of the Eastern Black Swallowtail. We put a few inside of our butterfly pavilion, along with what was left of the parsley.  After a couple of trips to the nursery, I had a some new juicy parsley plants for them to eat. 

Originally, I captured only two of them, but one was inadvertantly squashed, so I decided to get some more.  When all was said and done, three survived to form a crystalis.  Only one crystalis survived to maturity, however, and after a couple of days of observation, we released it to the wild.

Total time from capture to release was 16 days.   It was enough time for 2 entries into our nature notebooks, one for caterpillar and one for butterfly stage. (I slipped a crystalis entry into mine too.) It was also enough time to get to know lots of information about these creatures. 

The most fun part of it all was watching the caterpillar on the day before he built his crystalis.  The field guide says they normally travel far away to do this after they finish eating.  Well, these little guys were trying to do just that.  They must have traveled up and down the sides of the pavilion and around and around the top a hundred times.  I couldn't sleep that night and I just came downstairs to watch them go.  Then when we got up in the morning, they were still and looked like this:

Then later like this:

To see more photos, check out my photo album on the right.  I tried to put them into order, but somehow they got jumbled up.

A Caterpillar on the Loose

The kids have a special interest in caterpillars these days due to recent Black Swallowtail family which we adopted for observation (More about that in a later post!).  So today, when Nicholas almost stepped on a little caterpillar in the driveway, he came back to observe and asked if we could keep it.  I said no, but I would go get the insect field guide, commonly known as the "Bug Book" and see what kind of caterpillar he was.

Well, it turns out to be an Eastern Tent Caterpillar, a known nuisance to the foliage in our area.  Here's a Link to an article with photos of the entire lifecycle.

Unfortunately, I learned after all of this information after I had placed him/her in a jar with some leaves and covered the jar with a paper towel.  Because apparently, he/she has the strength to push up the paper towel and crawl out of the jar.  So now, he's nowhere to be found - IN THE HOUSE!!

We have looked all over for him, but have had no luck.  He's probably found a nice place to curl up and make a coccoon, and some day soon we'll find a pesky little moth flying around here.  I'll keep you posted.

The Cardinal Family Helps Themselves

They're nesting in our neighbor's yard, and several times a day I see them hanging out in our garden.  Then, when I go to have a look, I find these little peck  holes in the tomatoes. 

We strung up some pie pans around the garden, but that didn't seem to help. 

Oh, well.  At least there's plenty left over for us.  They're not as plump and I'd like, probably due to the drought, but they sure are delicious!

The zucchini looks like it's winding down, so I'm looking for something to replace it with.  I'd like some nice fall vegetable. 

And the peppers look pretty pitiful because they're being encroached upon by the big tomato plants and the zucchini leaves.  After a month of growing at an angle, there are finally a few little peppers growing.

Making the Most of This Year's Garden

That was my goal for the year, and so far it has worked out.  I've lost only one item thus far to spoilage and I'm filling our stomachs and our freezer with fresh veggies.  About a month ago I read an article by Holly Pierlot in Faith and Family Magazine about how to eat from your garden all year long.  She is a busy homeschooling mom like I am, and doesn't have time to spend canning (she calls it putting down and I call it putting up).

Two recommendations that I am following are as follows:  1) putting fresh tomatoes into freezer bages and then into the freezer.   She says this will preserve them adequately for use in stews and soups (and hopefully spaghetti sauce!); and 2) freezing shredded zucchini for use in bread.

I  am extremely excited about these ideas because they are so easy.  Throwing a fresh tomato into just about any dish will add extra flavor and nutrition.  I'll be thrilled to be able to do this in the winter too.  .  Plus, the kids (and parents) have learned to love zucchini bread.  It makes a great snack or even dessert.

Oh, and I nearly forgot the lemon balm.  Apparently this is a treatment for many common maladies including dyspepsia, insect bites, anxiety and depression.  Nicholas swears by it as an insect bite soother, and I think putting it in my tea daily is helping me to relax more.  When we return from vacation, I have plans to try preserving a variety of my herbs into oil for cooking.

The only question I have now is this - What can I do with the cucumbers??!  I don't have time for pickling, and every time we finish one, I find a couple more on the vine.  And I only planted one this year!

Thank God for our Bountiful Harvest

Despite the drought we  have been able to have a bountiful harvest in our little garden so far this year.  Friday night's downpour certainly helped, as did at least twice weekly waterings.  But we have enjoyed the delicious broccoli as well as one serving of zucchini so far.  See the first  photo for the menu tonight.

Zucchini with butter grilled in aluminum foil, salad garnished in sweet banana peppers and raw broccoli!  Yum!  Of course our carnivore nature requires that we have some grilled chicken to go with that.

Please excuse the strange arrangements of photos below.  I goofed, but I don't have time to fix it.  Below are some green tomatoes and bell peppers on the vine.  Between those is a completely unrelated photo.  It is the backside of our resident male robin.  He and his mate have nested atop our trellis under the canopy of wisteria vine.  I often see them go in and out, but today I caught him at home.  I tried to get his head in the picture, but the view was obstructed by leaves.  NO, AT SECOND GLANCE, I SEE HIS EYE!  It's a good picture, so CHECK IT OUT!

Which reminds me - I had better put pie on my shopping list this week.  I must have some pie pans to use as scarecrows so that the birds don't get all the tomatoes this year!  Another benefit of having a garden - PIE!