We were finally able to participate in an Outdoor Hour Nature Study project this week… it has been awhile. This week’s focus was Cardinals, Finches and Robins… super easy assignment for us. Our feeders are filled with the first two species and the Robins have recently returned… much to the kids’ enjoyment. For awhile there with every Robin sighting in the yard, Bug would pull us away from our other activities to watch at the window.
The kids have been stalking the Robins in our yard. Watching them trying to catch one makes me laugh and remember how my grandpa had teased us as kids. He told us that if you sprinkled salt on a bird’s tail feather you could catch him. Of course now I know that the joke is if you can get close enough to shake salt on the bird you could catch it… not that there is some magical property in the salt that renders the bird flightless and therefore easier to catch… as my brothers and I thought as kids. Ha… to think of us chasing the birds with a shaker of salt. 😉
I also dug up some photos from last summer of a Robin’s nest that was housed in a crabapple tree along side my grandmother’s deck. We enjoyed watching the little guys getting bigger and eventually take off on their own. I hope we are able to find another nest in easy viewing distance again this year.
BTW-If you can get your hands on a copy of Round Robin I highly recommend it. It is hand’s down one of my kids’ favorite books.
Hiking around the Sugar Bush…
Visiting the Native American camp setup…
Enjoying the smells of the Sugar Shack…
It feels like it has been forever since we have been in our normal rhythms around here. We had some out of town company and then the kids all got sick again. This time a nasty stomach flu that is taking days… Fairy’s been battling it on and off for over a week now… to pass. Thank goodness mommy is still functioning (Daddy’s down for the count)… although I’ve forgotten what sleep feels like. Fortunately, this too shall pass.
Hurry up spring! I’ve had enough of flu season!
This morning we have been watching the buzz of activity around one of the bird houses the kids built last spring. A few weeks ago, we cleaned them up, made some repairs and rehung them. A nest is already in progress in one house (we can watch the busy couple whenever we sit down at the kitchen table) and we’ve spotted several different birds checking out one of our other bird houses. It seems like it will soon be occupied as well. Spring is in full motion around here.
Bringing in Nesting Materials
The Happy Couple
Gathering the Grasses
Bug got a fun Digging for Dinosaurs Model Kit for his birthday. He first had to dig the bones out of a block of sand. (WARNING – the sand rocks were EVERYWHERE!) Then he assembled his T-rex and painted it. He had a lot of fun with it!
We have been reading a lot of books on Maple Syrup right now, since it is Sugar Season, and I wanted to share one of our favorites that wasn’t on our scheduled reading list… "Sugaring Time" by Kathryn Lasky.
The kids enjoy the black and white photographs with lots of ‘pony’ pictures. The text is beautifully descriptive and the process is outlined thoroughly. If you are interested in the Maple Syrup process, I highly recommend this book.
We were supposed to have a Sugaring Field Trip today, but it is just too cold so it has been postponed. I will be sharing photos sometime over the next couple weeks when we are able to visit the Sugar Shack.