shark's teeth beach

Visit to grandpa in Bradenton, FL day 2: Casperson's Beach to gather fossilized shark's teeth. I understimated the sun, and the kids and Luke got fried and are peeling like mad at present.

Dante underestimates the waves.

Our shark tooth haul.

Back at Grandpa's in the pool.

please release me, let me goooo

We're home from Florida and looking back fondly on last Monday before we left as "Rodent Release Day". First up, Dante caught a squirrel in his havahart trap. The poor thing was chittering mournfully and frantically clawing at the sides, so we released him quickly. But not before we gathered photographic evidence. Didn't get a chance to get this up before we left.



Then it was time to let Ms. Shrew go back home after her vacation in Dante's room. Since we'd found her (or him) down by the coop, we released her back there as well. Except us going to the chicken coop usually means food for the girls, so they all galloped down to see what tasty treats we were offering. I gave them some of the leftover mealworms that we hadn't fed to the shrew, but it didn't stop them from discovering said shrew, chasing it into the coop and cornering (aka pecking) it while it squeaked wildly for help. Dante went in, chased both chickens and shrew out and I distracted the girls with more worms. The poor little thing ran out and hid itself somewhere from both chicken and human eyes.

a new perspective

going up

ta da!!!

Florida here we come!

Kathy and Tom invited us over for pizza Saturday night for one last hurrah before we head to Florida on Tuesday. Can you say cheeeeese?

Guess who's coming to dinner?

I took the kids to the Gem and Mineral show in Meriden on Sunday. I forgot the camera, but we saw all kinds of interesting things, including animals skulls, fossils and petrified wood. They had a corner for the kids to excavate little gems, blobs of copper, and shark's teeth, to pick up things like petrified wood, pumice and something else I can't remember. Luke wasn't feeling well so he stayed home. Hearing a ruckus break out amongst the chickens, he looked outside and saw this:

Looking at our numerous raptor books we have on hand for our DEP survey, we've judged this to be a Cooper's Hawk.

Having missed the silkie it had swooped at, it relocated to a better spot and waited for dinner to be served. Luke ran out to chase it away, but by the time he got downstairs it was gone.

Checkin' in on the Ladies (and gents)

nosy ladies -- clover in front, bandit in back, with a decapitated izzy in between.

Speck is camera shy but still so pretty.

Clover

Pong

Peepers is a feathery armful.

Clover again

Ms. Shrew drops in for a visit

Remember her? From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH"? One of my favorite books, just got it out at the library. Anyway.

Last weekend, while shoveling an elaborate "patio" outside the coop for our spoiled chickens, I found a little black rodent struggling in the snow. I thought it was a mole and ran inside to tell Dante to get his boots on and a box and come outside. We captured the poor thing, who was shivering and frantically trying to find it's tunnel, and brought it inside. Exhibit A:

Once we got a good look at it, we identified it as a short-tailed shrew. So we looked them up and built it a little habitat so it could stay with us for a while. Contrary to popular belief, moles and shrew are not menaces. Moles, in fact, do quite a service, aerating the soil and eating the larvae of many harmful insects. I can handle a couple of bumps in my lawn for that service. Moles DO NOT eat bulbs or the roots of plants. Ditto for shrews, tho they're wider diet means they eat some beneficial bugs too, but again, unless they're starving they don't touch plants and can be considered a gardener's friend.

Happier now in her habitat. She made a cool system of tunnels to get around even this tiny fishtank, and one lets out right where we drop in the mealworms, earthworms, and other bugs we got at the bait store.

Mushka was very interested in our guest the first day. Good thing she wasn't in the room when it got out and Dante and I had to recapture it.