Wednesday, May 30, 2007

nature studies

Our new home in North Carolina overlooks a large pond, home of many interesting creatures. We have all been walking down to the trail after Will and Mary's schoolwork is completed for the day. There are little plank bridges over inlets, which the children have discovered are home to turtles, water snakes, and minnows. As of this morning they had spotted a dozen turtles and almost 2 dozen snakes, one of which was a big'un that Mary was bravely and stupidly poking with a stick.
Today Mary found a tiny yellow slider turtle which she proudly carried home in a jar. We made a little terrarium for it, complete with a rock to climb and rest upon. I am insisting that the animal go back home tomorrow as I have not the skill to keep a turtle alive on a 2 day car ride and realize that the poor creature will be grateful to get back to his natural serene environs after a day of peering and picking up by my little nature lovers.
update at 3pm:
Apparently Mary is an expert hunter, we are now up to 3 turtles, one of which is named "Star." Mommy had to perform emergency leech removal surgery from Star's head, which gave the children something else to study. We have fed them some raw ground beef after hunting for minnows with my brand new strainer proved impossible.

No comments: