fred and daphne

Meet our two new pets, Fred and Daphne. Or is it Daphne and Fred?




Isabela put her name in at school to bring one home. She came home with two. Apparently, her container was big enough for two.

Things I did not know:
they can live for 15 years
they eat bloodworms

Things I knew, but forgot:
free is never free

But they are super fun to watch. One of them (Isabela can tell them apart) wasn't moving too much last night. We're hoping she was just a little tired. Isabela laid her rosary on top of the tank screen...she said 'in case Daphne dies'. Very sweet.

an unexpected visitor

When we moved to this house in the country, I thought we'd definitely see lots of wildlife. I wondered if I'd even be scared to go outside. Maybe there'd be a bear!

Well, it turns out we're not that country...and the biggest wild animal attack we've had was when the skunk chased the cat around the house spraying all the way.

But the other morning, Joaquin looks out of the window and excitedly says, "A deer!" He was so close! A young Bambi. Didn't you always think Bambi was a girl's name?


I ran for the camera hoping not to scare him. We watched him for about 15 minutes...until Joaquin snuck out the front door, then around the side of the house and ended up making him leap into the woods.


Very cool, though. We're hoping he'll come visit again.

giant nature

Tuesday, I happened to stop by a bird watching store with Diego while we were waiting for a story time to begin at the bookstore next door. Diego's always loved his "pas", as he calls them, so I thought I'd see what was in there. We've been trying to attract more birds to our yard, with little success.

We put up a new bird feeder a little over a month ago, and they barely touch it.

I found out why.

It turns out that the traditional mix we've all been using for years, from Lowe's or Walmart, is mostly just "filler" and the birds don't eat it. The nice lady behind the counter showed me some much better options (which were even cheaper than that bag of junk I spilled all over the driveway!) so we bought one. I put it in our feeder that night, and had low expectations, knowing it sometimes takes birds awhile to find it.

Well, we woke up to find this! The largest pileated woodpecker I've ever seen! (Isabela looked it up in our bird watcher's guide which we now place right by the window, along with our binoculars, for times just like this.)


It was playing hide and seek with a squirrel. And while I know he wasn't looking for the seeds in our feeder, it was quite a coincidence.


My camera was on some weird setting, so I didn't get great pictures, but I was just excited to capture it at all!


We also saw a cardinal couple, a baby woodpecker, and some other birds we didn't know. SO, if you're having trouble feeding your birds...try a new food...the one we're using is black oil sunflower seeds. It also felt great to buy from a specialty store and not one of those big chains. I don't know why I don't do that more often!

"We've never seen anything like it. Ever."

It's being called a genocide. Killed by the thousands...entire communities. So many, that those that are walking around can't help but step on their bones. They are freezing to death in the snow...dehydrated and starving.

And it's not happening in some far away place, but right here in the United States...right here in Virginia.

To thousands and thousands of BATS.

They have a bad reputation...maybe from movies, and maybe because they're quite scary looking...but they are good for the environment. They eat the bugs that we all can't stand. They also help pollinate. And with the bees disappearing as well, this is becoming serious.

But what can we do?

The first thing, and easiest to do, is support funding for more research on White-Nose Syndrome, the fungus that is killing them off. Go HERE, fill out your zip code, and you can email a support letter to elected officials in Congress.

But something a little more fun might be to put up a bat house. I saw a nice one here on amazon...building your own is probably just as expensive. I did read that they should NOT be mounted on trees, but on buildings (like your house) or poles.

Batworld has some great information to learn more about bats and about White-Nose Syndrome.

You can also read this article from the Richmond Times Dispatch to find out what's happening here in VA.

Anyone ready for mosquito season? I think it could be worse this year.

smell something?

Why does my cat look like a porcupine? Well, let me tell you a story.

It started in the morning...I was coming back home from a store when I spotted a funny black cat slinking across the road ahead of me. As I got closer, I realized it was no cat at all. It was a skunk. I remember thinking it was cute... I don't usually see skunks...then I went on my way and forgot all about it.

Until around 5pm.

My neighbor called me. He said, "Watch out. A skunk was over here, and I just saw it going up your drive way."

I replied, "Oh! I saw that skunk this morning....Wait a minute....(me yelling to the kids) Where's the cat?" Kids yell back: "Outside!"

I look out the window...and there she is chasing the skunk! Then the skunk is chasing her. Then she's chasing the skunk.

I run to the door and yell at her to come inside thinking she would zip right in to get away from it...she's ignoring me!

The kids are laughing, then Isabela starts crying worried about the cat. We're all running frantic from window to window around the house to see where they are. I"m yelling out the front door, the kids are yelling out the back door.

The neighbor thinks it might have rabies since it's running around in the day. So I REALLY want to get the cat in. I'm calling her, and...the skunk COMES UP THE STEPS...but then ducks under the porch.

Meanwhile, I call animal control...they're a little reluctant but send a guy out to us anyway.

And you know our whole yard smells like a skunk.

I finally get the cat in...grab her and a can of tomato soup...and with the help of Joaquin, I gave her a bath in it. She didn't like that one bit, but it had to be done.

Isabela ended up taking a bath in tomato juice since she thought she stunk, too.

The animal control officer pulled up with his lights flashing, spot-light shining, and did a walk around, but I guess the skunk left when we got the cat inside. The officer was quite a character himself and just added to the craziness of the night.

So all had pretty much been forgotten today...until we got in the car for a quick trip to the store...and the SMELL hit us when we opened the doors.

SKUNK! P.U! I just hope we don't smell like that after riding in it!

All this reminded me of a game I played as a kid...it was called Hook, Line, and Stinker. You went fishing for fish but would sometimes pull up trash, or a boot, or a skunk, which had a scratch and sniff sticker like the real smell. I loved that game!

I thought the kids might like it for Christmas...since we now have this great memory to go along with it.

it's time that I make time for that

This vivid blue sky called us to the park on Sunday. There were a million things I could have gotten done, but I decided to put those out of my mind and let the day happen as it would.


Our walk along the path was full of nature.

The geese came to see if we'd offer them any scraps.


If you enlarge this picture, you may spot the snake that we nearly stepped on.


The butterflies were still out and flitting around.


And the squirrels were busy gathering and munching.


There was even a sloth....


...and a monkey!


My camera refused to capture the beauty of the autumn leaves that surrounded us...


...but I was forced to do this several times along the path out of sheer happiness!


And the real magic happened on the drive home. I was staring out across the shimmering water as we crossed the reservoir, and I saw two birds flying low. I saw their white heads for just a second, but I said, "I think those are bald eagles! Turn the car around!" Juan Pablo obliged and pulled over into the rocky parking area.

A man had a camera on a tripod aimed in the direction of the birds, so I asked him, "Are those two bald eagles?"

And he said, "Yes. They're diving after those coots" (which I took to mean the birds swimming in the water. I do like to use context!)

Then he says, "If you have a minute, I'll pull out my 'scope and you can take a better look at them." It turned out, he was an avid bird watcher and tracker! He filled us in on all kinds of trivia about the eagles and let us look through his amazing telescope to get a close-up view of the birds.

By this point, my camera battery had died. But I took it out and put it back in to squeeze every ounce of juice out of it...and this is the shot I got of the eagles. Those two black spots on the branches are them...but the curve of their sharp golden beak, piercing eyes, and glistening white feathers I saw through the telescope will stay with me in my mind.


We were all so happy to have let the day happen as it did, without a plan, a time constraint, or expectations. It was the definition of a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

And it was also funny....because when we got home, we realized we had lost Diego's taggie, his most prized possession of all. So I went looking for it and got to revisit all the places we'd been....Subway, the Park, the eagle stop... I felt like that little boy in the Family Circle cartoon with the dotted path of all the places he'd been in one day.
Then I decided to get my oil changed. No kids with me...the car had been beeping about it's oil for a couple weeks...and I had the time. Then I went to Hallmark to see about buying a new taggie. But God is good, and the ones they had were too girly for me. I thought I would just head home, empty handed, when I remembered I hadn't driven through the church parking lot.

I pulled into the giant empty rows and pulled up to where we had parked. There was nothing.

But I know how Diego walks...up, down and all around.... and I thought he might have dropped it in the grass somewhere. Across the lot, I saw something... it looked like a water bottle from where I was...but I thought I'd take a closer look....

...and sure enough, there was his taggie!!

I really felt inside me, the whole time I was driving around, that I would eventually find it. It was just a matter of time.

Time was the lesson of our day. There's time for everything when time is not important.