Six Simple Steps to Seasonal Surprises

Here's a fun and easy project to watch the seasons change in your own neighborhood.  

Take a photo from the same spot in your yard once a week (or once a month).  

1. Look for a spot in your yard where there are trees or a garden.

2. Pick a spot that shows a good view of nature and consider if the background looks nature-y, too (avoid buildings or cars if you can).  

3. On the same day (and time!) every week, stand in that spot with your camera pointed the same direction.

4. Take a picture.   See?  That was SO easy!

5. Note any changes in the trees, flowers, garden, landscape.   Weather conditions like temperature, wind, precipitation--all worth noting, too.  

6. Keep your pictures in one spot, organized chronologically (in order by date), label them, if you can, too.

Hint!   Set a reminder on your phone or calendar.   I try to take my pictures at the same time every week (10:00 a.m. Friday); plus I set a back-up reminder to go off at 2:00 p.m., too, because sometimes I'm running errands in the morning or I get busy and forget.  

Camera:  I use an iPhone but you could also use a digital or SLR camera or even an old Polaroid InstaMatic.

I started out taking pictures and didn't include our little street lamp at the end of our driveway.  But once the leaves were down, the lamp was the really only interesting thing to look at (for a long time).

Upload Options:  I upload my picts to Instagram (Click here to see!) and share from there to my personal Facebook where I have an album titled "My Street - Once a Week".   I use the same hashtags on my Instagram uploads, so I can find them easily.   Once they're loaded into my Facebook album, I edit the description again.

When we started getting snow on the ground, the lamp was kind of a cool "marker" as it really stood out against the white!  AND it had the cutest little "frosting" of snow on top, too!

You'll notice the different "frames" I've used.  That's part of the Instagram app.   I like photos with and without the frames.   If I was to do this all over again, I would probably NOT use any frames at all.   OR always use the same one every time.   Just to be consistent.   :-)
 
In this photo (above right) you'll notice I fuzzed out the background a bit, to make the lamp-post be the main focus.   That's another little thing in Instagram.   Kind of fun for the photos where the scenery isn't that exciting.  

Now that spring's arrived, this flower bed and the street scene is starting to wake up.   The spring ephemerals are already blooming, and some bulbs that thrive in chilly temps (snowdrop and crocus for example) are already almost done here in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.  

So, get your camera and get outside and see some nature!

Butterflies - Flying Flowers!

They're everywhere!  They're everywhere! 

 

Have you noticed them flitting around 

your flower beds and bushes?    

They lightly drop in for a quick sip 

and then OFF they go to the next flower.

So, take a moment to learn the 

different parts of these

"flying flowers" 

(as my mom refers to them!)

Check out my

Nature Study Lessons Facebook page

Nature Study board on Pinterest

Summer Project: Bird Feeder

Check out this little chickadee
settling down for a nice summer dinner!

You can make one of these quite easily.

Materials:

Small screw-eye

Old sodie-pop bottle

Two wooden spoons (or two sticks/dowels)

Wild birdseed

(the birds will come if you build it!)

Snack time for a chickadee!

A couple hours before you want to do this project, 

fill the bottle with water about half-way to the top 

and freeze it solidly.

Now . . . let the FUN begin!

Take a look at the top of the lid - that's a little "screw eye" that's been screwed into the lid and it has some twine threaded through to hang over a tree branch or  hook on your deck.  If it's hard to do, use a power drill with a VERY SMALL bit to get the hole started.  Screw the screw-eye in- feel the power! 

Put a spot of super-glue on metal piece on the inside/outside of the lid  after getting the screw-eye through just so the screw doesn't pull out. 

(Set this aside for now.)

Get the bottle of ice out of the freezer and work quickly now.

On the sides, two wooden spoons poke through

holes on opposite sides of the old plastic sodie-pop bottle.

Take note - in order for the birds to extract the seed, 

fashion the ONE hole big enough on ONE SIDE ONLY 

so the seeds gently dribble out onto the spoon.

Using a sharp knife (be CAREFUL, please!), 

score the plastic to make an X where the 

spoon handle will poke through.  

Re-score until you have hit ice.   

Opposite of this on the other side of the bottle, 

make another LARGER X for the spoon bowl.

IMPORTANT

Make holes a bit too SMALL so 

the spoon is well-fitted and snugly secured.

(We don't want the birdies to spin the spoon!)

Make sure to put the lower spoon 

as close to the bottom of the bottle

as possible to ensure that the seeds 

at the bottom are accessible, too.

Once you have four holes (2 sets),

let the ice melt OR 

set bottle in a sink full of HOT water.

After the bottle is empty,

gingerly shove the spoon handle through 

the largest hole first

clear through to the smaller other hole 

on the other side.

Repeat with the other spoon.

OPTIONAL

On the side opposite of the spoon bowl

--where the spoon handle pokes out--

make a very small hole 

(about a half-inch above the opening for the handle).

That hole should be about | | this wide
(really, THAT size)
~ a tiny rectangle ~

so the birds can retrieve the small seeds 

but they won't come pouring out.

Larger seeds (like sunflowers) 

will come out on the other side.

MAKE SURE THE BOTTLE IS COMPLETELY DRY - DRY - DRY!

and I mean, not even one drip of water on the inside

(the seed will get moldy and the birds will NOT eat it). 

 

Then use a funnel to pour in several cups of birdseed.

Screw on the lid and admire your handiwork.

You did it!

Now, clean up your mess, put away the tools and 

THEN

hang the feeder in a tree near a window.

. . . . .  < * )  tweet!  ( * >  . . . . .

A NOTE ABOUT BIRDSEED

Wild birdseed is the cheap stuff; 

it's okay to use if you don't have a lot of money to spend.

I buy the more expensive black-oil sunflower seed instead 

to attract CARDINALS and FINCHES.

However chickadees, juncos and sparrows will happily eat the cheaper stuff, (so will cardinals and finches if nothing else is available), so I mix the sunflower seeds with wild birdseed and everyone is happy.

Time to get your summer in gear!   

Here's an idea, go on a scavenger hunt. 

The best way to do a NATURE STUDY scavenger hunt is with a friend (or a sibling).  Find the items on the list, then have the other person verify that you saw it, mark it off the list, and LEAVE the item in the woods or along the trail.

OR if you're into taking pictures, snap a photo.  When you get home, download!

Then you don't have to bring home a bunch of specimens that would be better left right where you found them! 

Here's a printable scavenger list from the Diva Girl Parties

AND check out this list from The Taylor House blog ~

From http://www.thetaylor-house.com/#uds-search-results

 

 

Or check out this website . . . where I searched for Summer Fun Scavenger Hunts and take your pick!  It's a whole website devoted to Scavenger Hunts!

Twinkling Stars - More Than "Background"

I really enjoy star-gazing--one thing I can do to imagine what Abraham must've thought when he stood there with God, looking heavenward, imagining the number of his descendants, reeling at the thought of so many who would receive the blessing that he--little ol' Abraham--had been promised!

Check out this link:   The Night Sky 

We've been followers of Classical Astronomy for many years now, and this ministry is one worth supporting.   If you can, please do.   It's worth it--and your children will benefit from knowing just a little bit more about the blessing God gave us when He put the sun, moon, stars and planets in our night sky!

A link to an interesting post concerning beavers!   Eager beavers enter HERE!

Snowflakes

Create Snowflakes! at this website.  It's fun and you can leave a nice message when you're done with each flake!   I did this last year and used the message space to share God's love with anyone that clicked on my flakes.

Be sure you save it to your favorites...or use my new Pinterest button/gadget to post to your own bulletin board!

September Afternoon

Cardinalis cardinalis    "Pretty girl!  Pretty girl!"

We've been living in our new (to us) home for about a month now.   When I first drove into this property (back in January) I was captivated by the cardinals flitting between the shrubs at the front of the house.   They seemed like a Welcome sign--blinking red:  "Hello, come on in!"

The cardinals have occasionally dropped in since we moved in about a  month ago, but mostly I've only heard them in the woods "Pretty girl!"  Pretty girl!"   I guess they've been busy raising their family--I've caught a few quick red flashes in the woods.     

Other birds live in the woods behind our home:   loud, raucous crows cawing during the day--pestering the bluejays who shriek shrilly protecting their territory.   I like bluejays even though they're bullies at the winter bird-feeders.  Their blue and white feathers seem cheerful as they bound here and there along the edge of the woods.

However, our evenings lately have yielded another autumn-y bird song:  geese honking.   Every time I hear them, I dash out to the deck and best I'm able with the trees shielding them, spy out the small skein of geese.   Seven of 'em.    Figure that's probably Mom and Pop with their now-nearly-full-size brood of five goslings.    What a racket they can make!  

Geese remind me of autumn because where I grew up in Wisconsin we saw them in early spring as they were heading back to Canada, and then again in fall as they were rallying up for their long trip back south to their winter grounds.    Geese would scavenge through the fields where corn had been picked--they'd nibble up all the kernels that had fallen out of the reapers.    I've always enjoyed seeing geese flying overhead, in those long skeins, wings flapping majestically as they make their way to or fro.
 

Right now, Mom and Poppa Goose are getting their goslings fattened up and trained for the long-long flight to Florida or South America where they'll spend the winter.    It is a pretty amazing thought--to consider the long trip they make--without the aid of a GPS to find their destination--no hotels to bed down in each night--not even a McDonalds for a quick snack along the way!

Branta canadensis

If you'd like to learn more about Canada Goose, click this!

Nature Study Students Signed Up!

Hey kids (and parents)!   Glad to have you signed up for my class at JCCH Co-Op.    Take a little "hike" around my blog-site.   Check out the links I've posted here for you (along the right side, mostly).  

First Assignment!

MY SPY:   Get a JUMP on your classmates and go outside for a half-hour today.    Find something GREEN and come back here to describe it in one of the comments below.   BUT....describe it without saying what it is...and see if anyone else can figure it out from your description.   I did the first one - can you guess what it is?   

Hot Weather!   

A friendly cicada

These 100-degree days are tough on everyone, including plants (trees and shrubs and flowers) and animals.   I've noticed that the cicadas are making a lot of racket in the evenings, too.   But not as much as last year (thankfully)!

Click on this Wikipedia link, about half-way down the page you can find a link to listen to a cicada "singing."   But don't drive anyone crazy with too much of that "singing!"   :-)

My favorite thing about hot weather?  Hmmm....well, the sun does a nice job of solar-heating the garden hose!!   And pool water is thermally comfortable, too!  

What's your favorite thing about Hot Weather?