Outdoor Challenge #1

We've decided to start the Outdoor Challenge with HarmonyArt Mom this year. So for the first Challenge we went for a walk in our new backyard here in the NW. It's nearly 5 acres so we started with just the garden closest to the house. Missy Moo (age 21 months) was excited to discover fresh blueberries on some bushes! She ate the right up, reminding me of Little Sal from Blueberries for Sal. Zoom (age 8) pointed out his discover of huckleberry bushes growing up out of the stumps of old trees! That was really neat because I had no idea what they were and he'd learned about them at nature camp. We decided that we would research more about that plant. It turns out we have A LOT of it on our property. I'm hoping to make some huckleberry jam in the near future. I saw a tree with bright red berries on it that looked like a cross between a raspberry and a cherry. I wonder what that tree is. I feel pretty ignorant. I'm going to look that tree up too. My gut says it's a dogwood, but I could be totally off.

It was really fun going out there with a focus to observe and then to share what we found. Much different than just going out and playing in the yard, but equally fun.

Oh DEER!!!!

Oh my deer! I had a carrot and tried to feed the deer. It wasn't scared or anything. Until the dog came out!

slugs in love

Are they cuddling some baby eggs? Later in the day we looked at the spot again and they both were gone.

The Snake!!!!! (Skin)

Ahh! It's a snake!!!! It's gonna eat me!!! Oh wait! It's only a snake skin. Whew. Not an anaconda.

I found it on the side of the road in the grass. It had it's mouth open. You could see it's jaw. It was cool, weird, crazy and exciting. I liked discovering it.

I thought it was so cool that Zoom noticed this in the grass. It blended in so well that I walked right by. When he told me what he thought it was, at first I thought it was just a piece of old rag or canvas. But upon closer inspection, you really COULD see the mouth opened wide. The whole skin was completely intact. I'd never seen that before. I think maybe it was a baby gopher snake...but I don't know for sure. This was right in our neighborhood in the grass next to the sidewalk....

AHHH!!! It's got me!!!

Here's the Sticky Monkey Plant in bloom.

















These are the flowers of the Sticky Monkey Plant.
Its leaves and flowers are sticky and grabbing onto me. It's fun. I think they're permanent...but I hope not. :)

Mr. Sparrow

This bird, I think, is a Seaside Sparrow. What do you think? Please post a comment with your answer.
Picture was taken at the Pacific Coast south of San Francisco.

wee web on the range

This picture is like our home, but how could our home be flat like that because we can't climb. (Zoom)

This pretty web sparkled with the raindrops. Or mist drops. It was just so perfect. I'm glad we went walking even though it was misting out. (Mom)