Outdoor Mama

It is currently 10:35PM, and outside my bedroom window, somewhere in the woods, is the creature.

I'm not sure what it is, but it makes a horrible sound late at night when these kinds of sounds wake you up from a dead sleep and make you grab the flashlight and shake your husband. It's a screaming/barking/yelping/crying sort of cry that makes your heart beat in your throat just thiking about it.

A few weeks ago, on a night with perfect sleeping weather, everyone on the street heard it. At 3:00AM. And my neighbor, whose nerdiness is only matched by mine, also took the time to look it up online. We concluded that it must be a fox, although the jury is still out.

My husband isn't due home until midnight, so I'm hoping that the creature is quiet until then. I need someone to wake up if I hear it screaming.

1. Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards.

2. Flamingo's knees bend backwards.

If you didn't hear, last Saturday, June 28, was the National Wildlife Federation's Great American Backyard Campout. We were only one of three registered sites in Wayne County.

After arguing for a while, the kids and I came up with naming our camp "Wild Cherry Woods" because of the forest of cherry trees we have in the backyard. As you can see by the photo, our backyard campout was rained out, so instead we had a "family room camp in." But between rain showers, we did just about everything required of a camping trip. We...
ate hotdogs outside
made crafts (God's eyes, even!)
took a hike
stopped for ice cream
played games
sang songs
set off fireworks
and stayed up too late.

I truthfully blew the entire day having fun. It was tremendous. One of the best days of my life.
For more info on the great american backyard campout, visit www.nwf.org.

There are many reasons besides the calendar telling me that it is officially Summer. For one, fireworks are on sale at the grocery store. I’ve also been consuming a lot of macaroni salad. We’ve all got mosquito bites and sun tan lines. And, my favorite indicator of our warmest season, the lightning bugs are back.
Whether you call them lightning bugs or fireflies, these little critters with their flashing hind ends never cease to amaze me. They have been entertaining people young and old, since that very first day when someone saw a flash of light in the woods and wondered just what it could possibly be.
Since then, we’ve been chasing them and collecting them in jars to make our own nightlights. My grandmother, who is a very sweet lady, admits that she used to smash the glowing ends onto her nails as glow in the dark nail polish when she was younger. And while I never had the “guts” to do that, I’ve caught my fair share of the illuminating fliers over the years.
No matter whether you are a lightning bug watcher, catcher, collector, or manicurist, you would probably agree that those flying beetles are some of the sweetest, most innocent that you know. But just read on…
Scientifically speaking, each species of firefly has their own blinking pattern. The males are the only ones that actually fly and blink, while the females sit on the ground and respond accordingly. Or as I explain to my kids, “it’s like the boys are driving around in big fancy cars honking the horns, and if the girls want to go out on a date, they honk back.” Biology, I find, is fairly difficult to explain to young children, and I usually end up sounding like a deranged teenager caught in a tornado of gossip.
There is, however, one fantastic biological story about my flying friend that is worth the time and effort to explain.
As I said before, each species has its own pattern so that males and females know who is who because there are a lot of different species out there. But one species, or rather the almighty female of one species, is smarter than the average bug. She is an evil genius. I think she is the kind that, if she was a human, would end up being the character on the soap operas that everyone loves to hate.
She is a man-eater.
This hungry lady hangs out in the grass where the girls who are waiting for the boys with the fancy cars would be. Only she’s really a biker chick and isn’t really into cars, so when the boys drive by and honk, she has to fake an “ooh, handsome wheels” flash right back at the male, luring him into her trap.
He blinks (honks,) then she blinks (fakes,) and before you know it, the poor sucker has honed in on her location and is pulling his Mustang convertible right up to her door.
I’m certain that the faking female then throws back her little beetle head and laughs a teeny evil genius laugh before devouring the less-than-intelligent male, who really thought he was going to go on a date.
As I see it, this tale of trickery provides a few very important life lessons. For one, it’s a nice lesson in “everything isn’t always what it seems.” Secondly, it’s a great story that might get my kids interested in science. It also gives me a good defense when arguing with my husband. (As is, “do you want me to go all lightning bug on you?”) And lastly, it gives me a nice platform for explaining the perils of dating to my kids at a young age, and teaching them that boys in shiny cars should look out for girls who honk back.

Here's an easy activity that is fun to do at snacktime.

Talk about bird with your kid. Talk about chickadees with their little tiny beaks, ducks with their flat beaks, pelicans with their giant beaks. And then ask them about what types of food those birds eat. See if they can draw a relationship between beak size and food. (in other words, big pelican beaks eat big fish, goldfinches eat tiny thistle seed.)

At snacktime, set out dishes of a few differently sized foods. We used Rice Krispies, raisins, marshmallows, suckers, etc. Then provide the children with different sized "beaks." Some ideas include: tweezers, kitchen tongs, clothespins.

Fun, food, and learning too. Not much better than that!