They've Grown

It has been a while since we let our baby frogs go. They were so cute. Today I was turning on the water for my garden and looked down. Guess what I saw? It was one of our baby frogs. Apparantly he likes it in the butterfly garden because he is still there. I ran to get the kids and of course Tyler had to pick him up.

When we went to put him back we found his brother (or sister). They have grown so I guess they are finding lots of food. If they like ants, they can have a feast.

I hope they stick around a long time. We will make sure there is water there for them and maybe they will. I'll keep you posted.

All Grown Up

Well, 6 of our tadpoles are tadpoles no more. They are frogs. I have decided that tonight we will set them free. I think they might starve if we don't. I'm not much of a mother frog. I catch bugs, but I'm not sure they eat them. The are just so cute!! I love to watch them.

Remember what the looked like just a couple of weeks ago? See his tail. It is all gone and he can breathe on land now.

The little guy on the rock is our newest convert. See how tiny he is and how almost transparent his little arms are. Compare his size with the one on the right.

Here's the whole family. There are 6 total. One is hiding at the top of the rock.

Only 2 or 3 are left that aren't complet frogs yet. This guy is close. He has arms and legs, but he still has a pretty long tail. It won't be long before he comes out of the water.

I have loved raising these tadpoles to become frogs. We fed them algae wafers and flake fish food as tadpoles. We then fed the frogs bugs and bloodworms. They had to be tiny bugs because they are tiny frogs. Actually, they are toads. To catch bugs, took my small fish net and a jar with some water in it to the tall grass in our yard. I made sure the water was dechlorinated just like the water in their tank. Then I set the jar down with the lid loose. I would pull the net through the grass and on to the jar after quickly removing the lid. The back on goes the lid just as quickly. Swirl goes the water in the jar to get their wings wet. That keeps them from flying away. Now I can pour them into the tank. Supper time. We also have ant in our house from time to time. Now is one of those times. We would gently squish the ants and put them in the frog water. I am tired of catching bugs, so tonight we set them free.

More Self-sufficient?

Recently, I have felt that I should learn to be more self-sufficient. Times are tough and we are always called by God to be good stewards of all He gives us. This year my garden is doing so much better. I am learning little by little how to grow things successfully. I harvested my first green beans and my first pea pod yesterday. My tomatoes have gone wild and I should have tons of ripe ones within the week. My children and I went on a bike ride today and decided to drive the truck back to a house that had cut down 2 trees. I wanted to cut some of the smaller branches to use as support for my beans and peas. It worked well and it was free.

Another idea my husband and I have been working on for a while is saving rain water to use in the garden during the summer. We have had the containers to catch the water for a while, but that was as far as it went. Well this weekend we decided it was time. We bought the stuff and I finished them today. I am so proud. Now it won't rain. We will have drought waiting to use our new rain barrels. LOL

This is our big barrel. I just cut off the downspout with a hacksaw and attached a plastic diverter to it with screws. Then I put the plastic diverter into the hole on the top. This one comes with an spigot. I just have to figure out how to attach a garden hose to it.This one is actually 2 plastic barrels attached with a pvc pipe. I used a hole saw to cut a hole in the top of both barrels and insert the pvc pipe. I then caulked around both for a good seal.The water will come down the downspout, into the plastic diverter and into the first barrel. When that barrel is full it will overflow into the second barrel. When the second barrel is full it will overflow into the yard. We will be elevating both barrels so gravity will help empty them easier.I also used a paddel bit to drill a hole for the spigots in the barrels. Teflon tape will create a seal around those to keep the water in. All I have to do is attach the hose and turn on the spigot. Free water.Finally, I finished my swing. It is not in its final spot in the yard, but it is finished. The next thing is to figure out where to put it. Then we will buy a section of cattle fencing and create an arch over it. On that we will grow some sort of vine. It will be awesome when it is done. I'll keep you posted.

Fun in the Mud

Something or somebody has been walking in my garden!!!!!

Ok, it was really my kiddos. We have had a lot of rain this weekend. I mean A LOT. Since Friday, we have had 3.5 inches according to our rain guage. That is a lot for us. Most of it fell this morning around 7AM. Our back yard was a lake. Friday afternoon we were having tornado warnings at around 5PM. We are tired of rain.

So today, after church, I went out to survey the damage to my garden. All of my corn was blown over. I set out to put it back up by straightening and packing it with mud. Then I tied them with rope for extra stability until it all dries out. My corn is planted 3 -5 stalks per hill with peas or beans and squash planted around them. That is called the "Three Sisters" garden. It was done by the Native Americans, so I thought I'd try it. Now it is very humid outside and I am wading mud and water up past my ankles trying not to fall over. My kids, on the other hand, are out there in the unplanted part having a ball. Then they went over into the "lake" part of the yard and waded the water. They had a blast!

This is the last third of my garden that I haven't gotten planted yet. I don't think this qualifies as tilling. LOL

Of course, he had to fall down in it.

We Have Lungs!!!

This morning we awoke to this: a frog sitting on a rock. That means he now has lungs. He sat there for a while. I have to clean the tank and wipe down the walls today so I can get better side view pictures. It is so exciting to see God's handiwork changing right before my eyes just as He designed it to. Awesome.

We Have Arms!!!!!!

Tonight I found a tadpole that has arms. This is so exciting!!!! He looks like a real frog doesn't he. One down, about 15 more to go. Click to make the pix larger.

Something Fishy

I wrote about my fish some time ago, but I haven't updated in a while. At that time, I had gotten a blue Betta. He was beautiful, but he died. He was diseased when I got him. Poor guy. He is now fertilizing our apple tree. Well, we couldn't be without a Betta. They are really beautiful fish. So, we picked out a red one and named him Red Ribbons.

Isn't he gorgeous. He is such a docile fish. If you know anything about Bettas, you know that they are particular about their tankmates. He can be the only one with long fins. That means only one male Betta per tank; otherwise, they would fight till the death. That also goes for any other fish with long fins. Right now his tankmates include:

3 Bloodfin Tetras. The are schooling fish and always seem to be shivering in fear. Ha.

2 albino Corey cats. I think the look like Wilford Brimley (you know, the guy how now advertises for Liberty Medical). I think it's the "moustache". In fact, I call them Wilford and Brimley. LOL Bobbi calls them Sniff and Schelley. They are scavengers and eat everything that falls to the aquarium floor. Sometimes they nibble on algae. At night, I drop a couple of pieces of shrimp pellets in for them since they are most active at night.

There are also three Otocinculus Catfish, Otto for short. This one is the runt of the litter. He has 2 bigger brothers one of which is spotted. We call him Spot, of course. They eat the algae off of the glass and other decorations. I think I would need a dozen to keep up with the algae in my tank. Spot is the most active in the day. The others are a bit scared to come out in the day.

Lately, I have noticed that Red has seemed a bit lonely. All the other fish had buddies, except for him. He would just sit on the bottom most of the day. So, I got him a friend. A female Betta we named Sugar Cookies, Sugar for short. She is much smaller and doesn't have long fins like Red, but she is all Betta. She is pink with red markings. It looks to us like she is wearing red lipstick.

It was obvious that Red was very intrigued with her. No more moping under a plant at the bottom of the tank for him. As soon as I put her in, he became very territorial. He chased the poor Tetras for days with his gill covers flared out. That is a sight to see. Then he would chase Sugar. She may be small, but she is a good swimmer and fast to. Then after a week, she was coming out of the castle when Red slowly swam down to her. Well, in true Betta form, she flared her gill covers at him and gently chased him away. The tide has turned. Hmmh. Never a dull moment. Today was even more different. Red hasn't come out of the castle yet, not even to eat. You should know that fish can go for days without eating. In fact it is good for them sometimes. Then mid-morning, I saw Sugar go in the castle with Red. He didn't chase her away and she was in there a while and maybe more than once. Maybe he is building a bubble nest. They do that when they are happy and want to have babies. I guess I'll just have to wait to find out.

Red hiding inside the castle. Mostly he stays in the top.

We also have other aquatic animal in our house. A couple of weeks ago, one of our Botany coop students brought us some tadpoles. Apparantly 10 thousand had hatched on their pool cover and they wanted to share with everyone. Some of ours died, but many lived and are growing well. They now have legs and some will probably have arms very soon.

This one isn't the biggest, but boy he sure looks like a frog now.

Tonight, Tyler put in a piece of algae pellet. Shortly we returned to find a feeding frenzy. If you can click this pix (for some reason you can't always do that), you can better see the little arm buds on the second one from the right. It won't be long before he has arms breaking through. That is exciting stuff.

I don't know what we will do with them once they are frogs. In fact, we don't even know what kind of frogs they are. I do know what we will not do with them. We will not be keeping them. Uh, NO!!! They are just a science experiment, nothing else. As is said, the brown stuff in the tank is an algae pellet. We also feed them bloodworms and fish food. I'll keep you posted on their development

How Does Your Garden Grow

I love being outside in my garden and yard. This year my garden has really taken off and I don't even have it all planted. I have a hard time getting anything done in it because I spend all my time taking pictures of God's handiwork. It is so awesome to see what will grow from a single seed. Last night I went aroud the garden and my yard with my camera snapping pictures. This slideshow is what I found.

I also have another project in the works. (One of many) I found this old kids swing in a trash pile. My husband carried it home for me. I am going to painting it green and am going to hang our bench swing on it. The bench swing was on the back porch until we screened it in. Then I will use cattle fencing to create an arch over the entire swing. On this I will plant some vines. What a great place to sit and enjoy the garden. I'll keep you posted.

These are two of the legs of the swing I have already given a coat of paint.

Nature Center

Last week, the kids and I went on a nature walk at a local nature center. It is amazing what all you can see if you just look.

My silly boy leading the way. He has two speeds: fast and faster.

This blue dragonfly was just beautiful sitting on the lilly leaf. Notice the duckweek all around it. Most people think duckweek is algae or moss, but it is a real plant with roots and leaves.

This one was just resting on a limb.

This goose family was out for a swim. There were lots of geese there that day. In fact, some trails were closed due to nesting geese.


This gosling was showing off his swimming/hunting skills for us.



Isn't he cute!!!!

Mr. Turtle came up to say hello.

Honeysuckle was in full bloom. I need some of this for our hummingbird garden we just planted. I'll post pictures of that when it is further along.


I'm not sure what this flower is, but it sure is interesting.

I found this interesting sight on the bottom of some leaves. I can only assume they are egg cases from some insect.

Isn't this bark interesting. I think it was a birch, but I am not sure.


This beautiful catkin was just sitting there waiting for me to take his picture. What is interesting is that we had just finished discussing what a catkin is in our Botany coop class. It is simply the male flower of a tree. Most are not quite as beautiful as this one.
Catkin?

We had a great time this day. We will go back soon to see the summer blooming flowers. I can't wait to see how much the goslings have grown.

l