Category: Nature

Please help Naming this Picture

This summer I found a unknown seed that I think is a tree that is sprouting.

There is a parks photo contest that I want to enter.  I decided to change the seed picture to make it more interesting. This is the version momma and I like best.  It is the one I will use for the contest, but I can not think of a name for it.

On the right is the original. Momma played with the shading.  I then copied it twice, downsized the copies and made them look like babies. I erased a little bit of the junk. I then “colored” in the rest. It was fun.

The name needs to have something about seed or unknown seed and preferably  ostrich.

Thank you in advance!

 

Coyote

Rustle Rustle. Eight coyotes walk across a dry buffalo waller. As they cross it, one of them smells Pronghorn. They follow the smell.

The Pronghorns are grazing quietly when suddenly, a coyote leaps out at the closest one!  The Pronghorn kicks it and the rest of the coyotes attack! The other Pronghorns leap away to safety.

Later, a mouse nibbles on a partly eaten Pronghorn. A raccoon walks up and starts eating. The mouse hides. The raccoon takes another bite right where the mouse is hiding. Crunch!!!!  The raccoon has accidentally bit the mouses body off.  Soon the raccoon walks off and a Coyote, who  returns after looking for something better then day old  Pronghorn, pounces on the raccoon.

Here is the real story. At our house we find  raccoon skulls,  we have at least two. One day I was exploring with my friends the Seller’s and we found a deer  skull –it turned in to a Pronghorn in this story.  When we went to Colorado Uncle Bill gave me a Coyote and a mouse skull.

A few days before we left Colorado, we went exploring to get neat pictures of the Coyote skull. We saw dog –or were those Coyote?– tracks. When we got back to where we were staying,  we learned that Aunt Francis had just called to tell Oma that there were seven coyotes nearby in Aunt Catherine’s yard!!! She said not to let the kids play outside.  We had not seen the coyotes, but we did see lots of really good tracks!

 

 

It’s a girl!!!!!

The first baby alpaca was born at the farm across the street today! 

It is a girl!

The baby’s mom is Ebony.  She does not have a name yet.  She is so cute; almost all legs and neck! All of these pictures are of her at about an hour old!

She was walking when we saw her first. We did not see her being born :(.  I went to work today and the baby alpaca most have been born a few minutes earlier, because the rest of the alpacas had gone inside. When they came out, they were acting like they did not know there was a baby out there. We had gone over to see it and the other alpacas were eating. I fed the goats and then ran home to tell Momma. When we came back, all the rest of the alpacas had gone outside to say hello to the baby. Momma alpaca would not let them get to close!

When we put Ebony and her baby in a stall so they could have mommy and baby time, Ebony started humming and baby alpaca started to  hum. Then Black Beauty, Ebony’s other daughter, started humming. The Ebony started humming again.

I hope to get to see the next one born. I hope to have my camera too! The baby is going to be an aunt sometime this month.

A baby alpaca is called a cria. They weigh about 20 pounds at birth (about what Megan weighs now).  It takes them about 15 minutes to learn to walk. The baby alpaca walks better than Megan does now.

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear ___________, Happy birthday to you!!!!!  🙂

New Critters

A friend from church gave us a praying mantis egg case. We hope to get some good pictures of them hatching.

We want to learn more about them so we have some questions;

  1. When do adult Praying Mantises lay their eggs ?
  2. Where do they lay the eggs? And how can we find some more?
  3. When do the babies hatch?
  4. What do the babies eat? Can we raise them?
if you can read this you are way too close

It’s That Time Again!

We are starting to collect sap to start syruping again! It is getting pretty warm during the day and chilly at night. So we decided to start again.

Today we drilled the holes (about 2 inches deep), put the taps in and directed it to the buckets. We put tin foil over to keep the bugs out. We watched the sap drip out! Hooray! We checked it about 5:00 and have about a half cup already! I hope it starts going a lot faster.

Now Daddy is going to get longer tubing so we can put them both in one bucket. We need to find another tree to tap it and more buckets to save the sap in.

If you have clean milk containers or clean food grade buckets, please save them for us! I hope to get lots! I hope for enough to last all year and extra to try maple sugar and candy.