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May. 7th, 2005 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssianHad a fun-filled day outside today - we went to some workshops held by the Wildlife Information Center. We missed the birding workshop in the morning. Rachel got to watch Mew Mews, and we stayed in bed a wee bit longer than we would have needed to for that - and we plan on going next week for a beginning/family birding event. We did benefit somewhat from that workshop, though. When we got to the center we checked out the a couple of different kinds of grosbeak and some goldfinches.
We went on a Herp Search & Pond Life workshop - Rachel caught a ladybug, Justin caught some tadpoles, and we also examined dragonfly and damselfly larvae, some whirligig beetles, a bullfrog, some turtles (a snapper and some others made distant appearances), and other various things. Brandon and I joined in for some of the hike, then one of us fell asleep and was carried back to the 3-wheeled 4-wheel-drive stroller to cruise along the railbed trail. Some invasive butterfly bushes were pulled but most escaped, as I didn't have the work gloves which seems to make all the difference when tugging out the larger ones. The invasive Tree-of-Heaven was pointed out. Gray birch was positively identified, as was poison ivy, which confirms that we have 10-20 1' tall specimens of the former and have not seen the latter at all on our property.
After a lunch break, we started off on a Botany workshop, the beginning of which Justin could dominate with identification of gray birch, sweet birch, and quaking aspen. Around that time, Brandon and I had to back away, as the Brandon was launching into a long, loud oratory, and I worried it would get distracting to the others. I've been trying to get the kids to tell me about what they learned on the hour or two walk, but all I got from them was "he pointed out some different kinds of rocks." I'm sure they got a lot more, as the speaker was very knowledgeable, and, according to a close friend who was left behind to porch-sit, prone to speaking much.
Anyway, now that we're back, it's time to relax and get some yardwork done... or at least, pretend to, and then fire up the grill!
We went on a Herp Search & Pond Life workshop - Rachel caught a ladybug, Justin caught some tadpoles, and we also examined dragonfly and damselfly larvae, some whirligig beetles, a bullfrog, some turtles (a snapper and some others made distant appearances), and other various things. Brandon and I joined in for some of the hike, then one of us fell asleep and was carried back to the 3-wheeled 4-wheel-drive stroller to cruise along the railbed trail. Some invasive butterfly bushes were pulled but most escaped, as I didn't have the work gloves which seems to make all the difference when tugging out the larger ones. The invasive Tree-of-Heaven was pointed out. Gray birch was positively identified, as was poison ivy, which confirms that we have 10-20 1' tall specimens of the former and have not seen the latter at all on our property.
After a lunch break, we started off on a Botany workshop, the beginning of which Justin could dominate with identification of gray birch, sweet birch, and quaking aspen. Around that time, Brandon and I had to back away, as the Brandon was launching into a long, loud oratory, and I worried it would get distracting to the others. I've been trying to get the kids to tell me about what they learned on the hour or two walk, but all I got from them was "he pointed out some different kinds of rocks." I'm sure they got a lot more, as the speaker was very knowledgeable, and, according to a close friend who was left behind to porch-sit, prone to speaking much.
Anyway, now that we're back, it's time to relax and get some yardwork done... or at least, pretend to, and then fire up the grill!
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-08 08:22 pm (UTC)And the music choice is very appropriate.