I want to start by saying that the pictures got jumbled up in this post, and I started straightening it out so that it would be in some sort of order, but it's too much to try to put it in chronological order. I'm angry with the Blogger system, because I did not select all the photos at once, but it sometimes messes up like that and then arranges them how it pleases.
Deer in Our Yard
A Two-Night Trip to Ponca/Jasper, AR Area
We took a walk to find the river, which was said to be a not far from the property. On our way we saw this Western rat snake (
Pantherophis obsoletus) in a tree; I think Nathan spotted it.
This tree looks like it could very well be the home to who-knows-what. I would not want to put my hand in to find out what all might have taken up residence within.
The Buffalo River, here, was very low. That's an understatement, isn't it? It's nearly non-existent. :-( I was very disappointed and saddened.
It was at least a beautiful day. We didn't stay in the river bed long, but I did take a few pictures and enjoyed the scenery and the weather.
I spent a few minutes just staring at these insects skating rapidly across the water's surface, mesmerized. They looked to me like shining stars blazing through liquid glass. This is only one of numerous activities I practice in nature that relaxes me and fills me with joy and awe.
I think these must be red stars (ok, that's what I call them, that's why the Latin is important—
Silene virginica), but I zoomed in to the max just to see these flowers this well. They were on the opposite bank of the river where there was actually water. At a glance, I think "red columbines," but of course that is not what these are
at all. I think they're red stars ("fire pinks," but they're not pink) that are sagging.
I recognized this as boneset, as it looks just like the white boneset. When I searched for "purple boneset," because of its light lavender- or periwinkle-like color I found that its popular common names are mist flower or blue boneset. The Latin is
Conoclinium coelestinum.
Goodness, I'm sure
all of the food the natives of this land ate further back in time was also natural and organic. Sure, not farmed, but no elk, bison, or trout was ever farmed two hundred years ago, either. Haha! Anyway... We loved this restaurant the last time we stayed around here back in 2010. We were sad the elk and bison pizza and the chocolate mousse pie were discontinued, because the original owner died. Her daughter took over, but no one could duplicate how her mother made some of the food. Very sad.
This was my lunch, though I couldn't eat the salsa, as it was made with fresh tomato. The salad and chili were pretty good, except it was spicier than I would have liked. My nose was a faucet.
Elizabeth and some of the others ate either elk or bison burgers. Both were options. There were so many tasty-sounding meals.
For dinner, I had a salad and some delicious trout and potatoes. My mouth is watering as I write this and think back to it. It was so good!
Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea), one of my favorites when seen in abundance
These were taken with my digital camera, but the quality is poor due to poor lighting, primarily, and distance, secondarily. I was happy that we drove down and was able to get closer to it so that I was able to take a video that was fairly good, not blurry like the still images. I just didn't bother to go through the video and make stills from that. This was the only elk we saw during our trip (besides a cow that was mostly blocked from view, and I didn't see it at all). Years ago, we saw an entire herd.
Liv lost another tooth on our way home.
Our Walks Around Home
This is a walnut caterpillar (
Datana integerrima), a newly identified species for me. I love the contrast of the shiny black body to the soft look of white hairs.
The green rough snake (
Opheodrys aestivus aestivus) is one of our favorites. I'm usually the one to spot them, but the kids love to hold and pet them.
The speckled king snake is also one of my favorite snakes. This gorgeous herpien beauty was cold, very inactive. It just laid there like that (it was alive). It was a chilly, overcast day. I hope it was able to get make it to a warmer location.
Eastern gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
Hairy curtain rust? (Stereum hirsutum)—Beautiful!!
Trusten found this giant oak leaf. I thought I found a big one last year, but this one definitely wins! Look at its magnificent size compared to Trusten and Elizabeth.
Baby Snuggles
Our friend's baby was born, and babies are meant to be held, you know, so...
Days of Soaking up Sun and Fun
While I sunbathed in peaceful meditation, the rest of the kids watched William disassemble our old dryer that Nathan had added to the A/C units scrap pile (that is now due to be scrapped and sent in for money!). He brought me this perfectly round lint ball.
He showed me numerous balls, and there were different sizes. There were several much smaller balls.
This spider is one of the orb weavers, but I'm not sure of the exact species. One of the boys informed me, on a different day, that I was lying in my chair in the sun with this fine creature positioned on the chair with me too close to my body. That is
not what I like. So I asked them to make it go to the grass. It stayed underneath my chair for the remaining duration. I had to keep checking to make sure it didn't bother my feet, which I had in the grass that day.
My 34th Birthday
Nathan took some picture of me with the kids, too, but they didn't turn out too well, because the kids were just ready to get in the truck and go. I wanted to go to Promised Land Animal Park for my birthday so I could see Elizabeth be happy to see and pet animals.
I think this was the first time we'd ever gone into the bird area. I'm not sure why that is, but anyway, it was pretty cool.
Trusten is feeding the birds a peanut butter and seed snack on a stick here. He really seemed to enjoy his time feeding the birds. :-)
We bought feed, as always, and we tossed out pellets for all the deer and other animals. Here Trust or Liv is offering a pellet to the camel while Elizabeth tries to pet it.
One of my favorite parts of our visits to this park is that I love the big view, gazing across the beautiful land and seeing the animals roam about it.
The day after my birthday was Labor Day, and we went to the creek so the kids could swim and play. When we got there, Trusten found a turtle before they took the plunge.
Nathan grilled part of the filet mignon we'd bought, while I fixed some potatoes and asparagus, for our Labor Day meal. The steak got a little dry this time, which is rare when Nathan is the one watching the meat. Oh well, it was still good, and the next time when we ate the rest, they were juicier.
While we waited for one of Elizabeth's therapists to come get her one day, she and her friend Jesse played.
Haha, the chair has been sitting near this peony plant and walnut tree with morning glory vine for me to sit and read or meditate while kids play, but this is where Nathan moved it to mow. ;-) Nothing special about this picture, right? Or, is there?
This grasshopper is well-camoflauged. It's green, yellow, and even a bit purple, just like the plant stem on which it's perched.
William found this owl pellet underneath our sycamore tree that's near the house. I was excited to see it, because this is the first time any of us have ever found one in nature.
I ordered some that we dissected the week Elizabeth was born or the week afterward, when we were studying owls. I asked William to leave it there on the front porch so that we could examine it after Olivia got home from school, but I don't know what happened to it. :-( So we didn't dissect it. Liv didn't even get to see it.
Macrochelys temminckii
While we were all reading together on the couch one day, one of the boys got up, and something caught his eye. He said something about a turtle, and I got up and looked out. I immediately knew exactly what it was, even from the distance. I got excited, because none of the kids had ever seen an alligator snapping turtle before; they'd only heard me talk about them. So I told them to hurry, we had to get our shoes on and go out. ;-) We did just that. I told them they could see how it would snap by using a stick. They also saw how it raised itself up.
It was odd to see one of these in our yard. There isn't much water around here. It traveled quite a ways.
I was so excited to reorder things in the laundry room and use these shelves Nathan had built for me for the science supplies for all of our experiments and projects. I bought the two plastic containers to organize the bagged kits. I couldn't stand when I had to sort through boxes for what we needed. I love for everything to be very organized.
Fall Holiday
To celebrate fall, we had a feast! We got Bianca and our three youngest kids remote helicopters (yes, William had had one his Aunt Meg got for him, and we'd bought Elizabeth one that Nathan had flown, but they get worn out, and even after replacing parts, they reached their end of life). I was really excited for Elizabeth, because she just loves watching helicopters fly. We got William a new mouse, which made him very happy.
Mmmmmm! Beef brisket, baked macaroni and cheese, and salad for our feast. I made coconut cream pie for dessert (pictured below). It was only the second time I'd ever made coconut cream pie. I wasn't pleased with the one I'd made about a decade ago. This was a different recipe, and it was ok. I think maybe I just do not like coconut cream pie, even though I love coconut. Good grief, it was just too much. It was also a mess. Maybe I don't know what I'm doing. Hahahaha!
Elizabeth caught sight of these spider napkins when we were shopping one day, and she loved them. (She really likes spiders now.) So I bought them to use for our fall feast.
I'd wanted to go do one of the painting classes for a long time, so I finally signed Tanya and myself up for one. If nothing else, we certainly laughed enough during the ordeal. She brought us some bottled water and chocolate-coconut-covered almonds, and I baked some spinach-artichoke dip and took some of it and some fresh veggies. That was pretty much our dinner that night, lol! I don't remember what I ate when I got home. Everyone already knows I'm not an artist, and so I know my painting is ugly, but I'm actually pleased I did as well as I did. I think I was afraid of the worst.
My Baby Girls!
This is funny, because it had gotten cold, but there was still a towel in the back of the vehicle from a recent swim at the creek, so this morning when Liv and I were waiting for the bus and waiting for the heat to warm us, she covered up with that towel!
Play-Doh dragonfly
Showing off her face paint job
I couldn't work with Elizabeth in her earlier years on her alphabet and other things, because she couldn't talk and didn't seem to understand well enough. She has known several letters for a long time now, but she's still working on knowing all of them very well. She has fun every time we do this puzzle.
Fresh out of the shower
Food!
I've been really enjoying Applegate Farms chicken maple sausage patties on English muffins with swiss cheese and scrambled egg. I fixed them for dinner with fruit and seasoned and baked potatoes on this particular occasion, but the kids and I have eaten them for lunch a few times. Sooo good!
I always either fix green beans or fried okra when I make chicken and dumplings. I love those combinations.
I tried to make buttered noodles like my great-grandmother Nan-Nan made them so long ago,
once about a decade ago and failed miserably. I wanted to try it again, and these turned out much better and closer, but I've got to tweak a couple of things. First of all, I used broth instead of buillon, so I've got to see whether I can find organic buillon. Second, I think I used too much butter. They are supposed to be creamy and delicious. I think every person in my household raved about how good these were, but they don't know how my Nan-Nan's tasted. So I'm planning that again soon. Mmmm...grilled chicken thigh, fried mushrooms, and cucumber.
Yes! I couldn't get enough of the grilled chicken thighs. Grilled chicken thighs are good! And besides, they're fairly easy, and these months I took a lot of easy days. I needed them.
This just recently started becoming my new breakfast almost every morning. I make a fruit smoothie with almond or coconut milk, frozen fruit and put some greens powder in. As of this writing, I just replaced my Neocell collagen tablets (that I wasn't taking enough of) with the powder, and so I've started adding the collagen powder to my smoothie.
Spicebush swallowtail larva/caterpillar (Papilio troilus)
I was washing dishes one Sunday morning while Elizabeth was playing on the back deck. She said she wanted to pet the cats. She left the back door open. I could hear her calling to me, saying there was a chipmunk. She ran into the house and urged, "Come on, come on! Hurry, Momma! There's a chipmunk. Come on! Come on!" I couldn't imagine there being a chipmunk still out there to be seen, because there is no chipmunk I've seen, besides in Sylvester's mouth, that stays still for long. That's when there is not an excited little girl shouting and running over a deck. Ninabess ran back out outside and continued, "Hurry, Momma! Come on!" When I asked whether it was still out there, she insisted that it was and came and pulled on my arm, as I was drying my hands.
So I went out on the back deck and was looking at the woods line. She said, "Look! Look!" I was looking. She then started leaning over the tarp on the deck railing and starts pulling at it. I'm thinking, by this point, that she'd discovered a dead chipmunk killed by one of the two cats. All of a sudden I spotted a bright orange spicebush swallowtail caterpillar, and Elizabeth excitedly pointed out her "chipmunk."
I was so tickled. Why in the world she thought the caterpillar was a chipmunk, I do not know. I'm not sure whether she's ever seen a chipmunk that she can remember, but she's seen a lot of caterpillars. It must be the first time she's seen a caterpillar of this sort with the big eyespots. I suppose it's like
my puzzling first experience with a hagmoth caterpillar. My hypothesis? I think she did not realize what a chipmunk was but had heard us talk about chipmunks, and when she saw the caterpillar, it looked like a good candidate for the name "chipmunk" to her. We love, love, LOVE that baby girl!
Ok, that's it. I'll try to get the other two posts up soon, then I'll be due for my November posting.
Until next time...
