A special rock

Hiking along the creek, Mimi found something special.We were looking for unusual rocks.
This one was really unusual.

Fossils - in a rock the exact shape of the state of Indiana!

Catching crawdads

Nothing is more summer -y than wading in the creek. Look closely - there are little animals in the water.
Click on the picture and you can see the crawdad Sarah caught!

"You never saw..."

Granddad's Dad used to say " You never saw bones up a tree, did you?" So don't worry if an animal seems to be stuck up there - it will come down by itself. Especially cats.

But when Sarah was climbing the Magnolia tree, we did find bones stuck up between two branches!

We found the hip bones of some small animal. Sarah thinks that maybe a predator dragged its prey up into the tree and that is how the bones got up there. What do you think?

Thrill of the Tiny Turtle

Jacob can hardly believe it! He actually caught a tiny baby turtle.
It was so small.

He was very gentle with the baby turtle and carefully set it back beside the pond after we looked it over.

Taming the jungle

It takes a lot of hard work to clear out the garden.Jacob has been cutting and clipping back the weeds.
He discovered that someone was eating the Virginia Creeper.

I wonder what kind of caterpillar this is. What sort of butterfly will it grow up to be?

The elusive turtle

When I look out the window I can see something moving on the side of the pond.

I hurry out to see it close up. but all I see is a tail as it slides into the water and vanishes.

Maybe if I hold still and watch it will come back out.
I am staying very still. I see something on a lily pad.

It's a tiny frog.Then I see another tiny animal.

It is a little tiny turtle.

I think this is a Painted Turtle -see the little scallops of color around the edge of its shell?

I didn't know the pond had baby turtles!

Frog legs for dinner

Uh-oh. Look up in the tree by the pond. Someone is waiting for dinner. Wasn't he here yesterday, too? Hawk, are you back again? Do you think this is a restaurant?
"Don't bother about me," says the Hawk. "I'll serve myself"

"I just fancy some frog sushi for dinner"