Mailbox Monday: Sea Turtle

 

Snuggling Snails

Slow and easy.

In broad daylight, in the front yard.

Going All Squirrely Over Owls

It all started on my birthday when we were sitting in the dark out on the porch and D and K heard the call of a flying squirrel. With all the frogs, crickets, cicadas, etc, neither B nor I were able to hear what they heard.  Of course, we didn’t really know what to listen for.  Sometime after that, we Googled the sound of flying squirrels and got a better idea of what to listen for.

Last week, B went out to get the newspaper in the very early morning and thought he heard a flying squirrel. That night we sat out on the porch in the dark and listened for a long time to the same sound calling back and forth from one  tree very near the porch to one across the yard. We were so excited. The following morning, we called D to tell him what we had heard. He suggested we try to located them with lights, which we tried the next evening, unsuccessfully. I even shared with my students about our exciting discovery.

 

So, now fast forward to Sunday. We took a drive, and along a country highway, we saw the barred owl below perched. It is rather unusual to see them out like this in the afternoon sun.

That evening, we walked around the block and as we returned to our cul-de-sac, we heard the back and forth call of the flying squirrels.  I got the binoculars and, even though the shadows had really fallen, I wanted to see if we might be able to see the flying squirrels. I could see what looked like a hole in the big oak and focused the binoculars on that spot. I was surprised to see a barred owl looking back at me. Then B found the second owl in an adjacent treetop.

It was then that we realized we had been had!

We have lots of barred owls in our neighborhood and love to hear their many calls, especially in the spring when they are mating. Several years ago, we had heard the whistling sound that the juvenile barred owls use to communicate with their mother. But we had forgotten.

So back to Google we went. The sounds are similar, but the Southern flying squirrel is a higher pitched sound.

http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Jerboa_Sounds_music.aspx

http://home.centurytel.net/bobowlcalls/recordings2/21%203%20juves%20p113%207%2019%2006%2022050.wav

We will just have to keep listening. Chances are, we do have flying squirrels, too.

A funny thing is that while we were listening in the dark, we had seen two barred owls flying and kind of worried that they might come for the flying squirrels.

Eggs: Tiny Jewels on a Leaf

We go out regularly to work in our vegetable/flower garden in the community garden.

One evening, I removed a leaf from a tomato plant where an insect had laid these stunning eggs. They looked in the evening sunlight like tiny jewels. The pictures do not begin to do justice to their shining beauty.

I assume they are those of a butterfly or moth whose larvae would feed on our plants, so I removed the leaf. These are the only eggs I have seen….for now.

I was surprised that the eggs were placed in plain view on the top of a leaf near the top of the plant. It seems so exposed to the elements, as well as to predators. If they had been on the underside of the leaf, I might easily have missed seeing them.

Canna Show You a Canna?

I noticed this large canna leaf at school and had to smile. It looked like some kid with a hole puncher had found some way to entertain himself while waiting for his bus. At the time, I  only noticed the one long, straight line of holes. However when  I got back another day with my camera, I noticed there were additional holes in shorter, less tidy lines.

I like cannas, but I don’t grow cannas anymore. The reason I don’t grow cannas is caterpillars. Cannas seem to be a favorite food and I found it impossible to grow cannas that did not have leaves that looked like lace---and not pretty lace.

When canna leaves are new on the plant, they emerge as a rolled tube.

The leaf with the straight lines of holes was chewed by a caterpillar at this stage and one good hole unfurled as the long pattern we see.

Dead Red

This red rat snake was dead in a road in our neighborhood one evening recently.

Sad.

It was a purty snake.

I have seen red rat snakes before but did not remember seeing the underbelly.

The pattern rather runs out towards the tail.

Corn Snake is another common name for red rat snakes as they can be commonly found hunting the rats that come to corn cribs. But the pattern makes me think of Indian corn!

Zucchini Queeny

One of my students brought me a zucchini she had grown. It was HUGE! When the kids saw it, one of them asked, “What does it look like inside?” Now, I couldn’t pass up that invitation to teach, so that week I brought in a grater. I sliced the end off and showed them the inside. Each child had a turn to grate the zucchini.

If it was not the end of the year when everything gets crazy, we would have cooked in class. But it is the end of the year and everything is pretty crazy, so I took the grated zucchini home and baked it into mini-muffins and there was not one left when I served them at school the next day.

Here is the kid-tested recipe for all you zucchini growers and muffin lovers.

Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini (I pressed the excess water out with my hands)
• 2/3 cup melted  butter (I used half margarine)
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)

Method

You don't need a mixer for this recipe.

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the zucchini mixture and mix in. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture. Stir in walnuts, if using.

2 Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray. Use a spoon to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and let cool another 20 minutes (if you can wait that long!).