So Much Trapping Bugs

There is lots of nature to explore even in a front yard in the city. We find it, trap it, and sometimes forget to set it free again. Oops.

Walkin'

We walked to Coventry and back three times in one day. First, for a haircut for Aleks. Second, to meet our friends India and River at the park, and third to eat dinner at Tommy's. On the way to the park, we met a locust. They've been fairly prevalent lately. We see them now and then in the front yard. Ever since one bit Aleks, however, we've known not to pinch them too much. Sometimes Aleks captures them and sticks them in the butterfly house, though. Today we just said hello.Then we hung out on the street corner.
These are Amaranth 'Elephant Head' flowers. There appears to be renegades from the garden behind Tommy's that are growing through the sidewalk. This one in particular looks like an elephant head. I thought we had seeds for these, but we have burgundy supercrest celosia, apparently. So we'll have celosia in our garden next year, not elephant heads. I think the elephant heads would be really cool, though.

Well, the Garden Came In

Things started growing sometime in August and by September, our basil field was massive.

I've decided that next year, the sunflowers will go in the front yard as they killed all the squash plants.

Aleksander the Terrible

All morning, he captures butterflies and moths In his net and attempts to feed them with picked flowers. At least six cabbage moths will no longer be eating my broccoli.

The butterfly, a cabbage-white,
(His honest idiocy of flight)
Will never now, it is too late,
Master the art of flying straight.
~Robert Graves, "Flying Crooked"

Monarch Madness

We went to a festival to celebrate monarchs at a local metropark. There were lots of games and lots of people and it was kind of obnoxious in that regard. Initially, we played along. The kids went "fishing."
Then we ventured inside to get in line to enter a room full of butterflies. While waiting for our turn to see the monarchs crowded against the windows on one side, I saw Aleks crawling on the floor. I began to hurry him along, getting irritated that he was on the floor, but then I discovered that he was rescuing a butterfly trapped in a spider web.
It was a Clouded Sulphur, I believe. He ended up rescuing several, in fact, while everyone else pushed busily along in the line, missing this opportunity.
The butterflies were all lovely, but I don't think most of them made it out of that room. So many had damaged wings.
Then we started away from the crowds.

We went to the marsh. Aleks had a close encounter with a mated pair of ducks.
There was an egret out on the water.
Lots of things still blooming, despite Autumn coming on.







We got nets and tried catching butterflies. We spied many, but caught none, scaring a million chipmunks hiding under bushes into running under others.
On the way out, birds were flipping at us. That's exactly what I say the back of my hair looks like when it grows out.
Then out for ice cream.
There were crayons and paper and Aleks made use of them while waiting for his just desserts.
Then deliciousness!

Then we hurried Natty off to work and met AAA back at our house to put the spare tire on our car as we discovered it had a flat on the way out the door in the morning.

Pollywog

Way back in May, for Bastian's birthday, he received a grow-a-frog kit from Mama. It took me until July to get around to ordering the tadpole itself, however, as we were in and out of town quite a bit and I was concerned about it sitting on the porch, frying in the sun.

Two months later, there was still no tadpole, however. occasionally, I'd think about this fact, but hadn't actually gotten around to doing anything about it. Reading the booklet that came with the kit might have clued me in. It stated that tadpoles are not shipped until there are three straight days of appropriate weather conditions forecast for your area. This means that the drought and intense heat we'd had all summer wouldn't do. I'm guessing they mostly send out tadpoles in the spring and in the fall.

So then, one day, with no warning, Aleks brought in the mail with a package full of tadpole. I wrote the following Facebook status update:

Anna Kiss, as it turns out, was very smart to spend the day not going out and being engaged and productive, for the poor tadpole who's been sitting in the mailbox the last hour might have been sitting there into the night.
10 September at 15:19

This was largely hilarious because the box it came in read:He arrived in a pouch inside the box.
We then had to rush out to buy spring water because it was an essential item to have for the tadpole and this was stated repeatedly in the lengthy booklet which accompanied the kit. Unfortunately, whoever laid the booklet out used a good many font sizes, making reading the dang thing annoying. Also, I sort of feel like the fact that I needed to buy spring water prior to the tadpole's arrival should have been a bulleted point somewhere on the box or the tadpole order form that I sent in. Or both and perhaps other locations as well. It just seems important.

We then prepped the habitat.
Bastian poured the poor dear in.
Aleks fed the tadpole with the included tadpole food. Whatever it is.
And then we watched him swim.
And did not give her a name.
Because none could be agreed upon.

Sparky's Hut

Aleks and the neighbor girls repeatedly went through garbage on the treelawn, much to the chagrin of their mother and I. Children are not discerning about their treelawn purchases like adults are and much mess was made. On one of these occasions, they used some of their found objects to create a habitat for the neighbor's (awful) jack russell terrier, Sparky. I'm not certain that the home was really properly constructed to Sparky's tastes, but the kids tried.