remaining “courses”

Sorry, finding time this week is most difficult!  (The “courses” would be those that follow appetizers.)

Oh, where to begin.  . .

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Last week, Mikhail was playing in the backyard with Garrett.  I was on the porch swing in the front, when Garrett comes running to me crying.

“Mommy, Mikhail was poking a nest with a stick, and he tipped it, and a baby birdie fell out. *sniff* *sniff*  So, I picked up the baby bird and put it back in the nest.”  *full out tears*

So, I go running back, and there is a baby bird upon the ground.  Tiny and helpless.  I look up and the nest is all askew (I can easily see at least 2 other birds in the nest).  Based on the two birds nearby causing a major commotion, I come to the conclusion it’s a robin’s nest.

I ran inside and call Jay, who is supposedly enroute home.  (Really he’s at Home Depot — and truly, I think you could call that place his second home.)

Anyhoo,

I ran back to the backyard, and now there are two babes on the ground.

I right the nest, and put a stool over the baby birds.  (I know, weird tactic, but bear with me.  The thought was that this was to keep them shaded.)

I had heard that some birds will not take back a babe that’s been handled by humans.  Worse, if a human were to place a bird back  in it’s nest it would sacrifice all the babies.

So, onto the internet.

For your information / knowledge, should you ever have a pesky 5 yo boy with a stick who feels free to play with nests, robins are perfectly happy to have their babes replaced in their nests.

So, back outside to find Jay in the backyard peering at the nest and the (now) 3 baby birds upon the ground.

Jay rescued the babes, and plopped them back squarely in the nest (trying to handle them as little as possible).

Then, the vigil began. . .(for the first couple of days we just watched from the house)

We discovered the nest had 4 in it. . .The beginning of this week found one of them upon the ground quite some distance from the nest, dead.

If you look careful, you can see 2 beaks, and an eye (taken the day the 4th was found dead).

Yesterday, one of the 3 remaining got spooked, and flew off.  (The grapevine is “draped” over a walkway to the shed. . .we tried to keep traffic to the shed minimal, but still we need to get things out of their occassionally.)  I don’t believe it intended to do so (or realized it could).  It tried desperately to land on a neighboring crepe myrtle, but didn’t quite know how to do that, so kind of wound up tumbling to the ground.  He then hopped around a bit.  We watched as one of the parents came over and grabbed a worm.  Then the parent flew past the babe and into a different tree.  The babe followed, but we couldn’t tell if he was able to land successfully.

You can see two beaks / heads here.  The 3rd bird (the one who took off) isn’t actually in the nest — he’s perched behind the light green leaf on the left.  The nest was getting mighty ‘full’.

The other parent came over and scolded the remaining two.  I presume it was the “mamma” bird, and I could well imagine what she was saying!

I will have to go out and check the nest this morning to see who’s remaining.

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Remember, I was talking last week of the 100+ temps?

Razzle (lacking all thought of grace).  I think she sums up so well how we were all feeling!

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This week we’ve been in the 80s, and yesterday the 70s (today is predicted to do much the same).  We were able to get out all our remaining garden plants yesterday. . .

Last night, however, our neighbor came over and gave us some corn plants that he had started, so we will be throwing them in there this morning.

Oh, those darn rabbits!  I’ve determined our local fox has died, as well as the few outdoor cats we’ve had around.  The rabbits, have no fear, and just sit throughout the yard all day and night, happily munching on plants of their choice.  Their plants of choice seem to be daylilies and bean plants.  Jay is picking up some rabbit repellent stuff at the store today. . .we’ll see how it does.

Yesterday though, not having the benefit of repellents, I just let the little guys chase the bunnies.  Normally, I’m against that sort of thing, but the bunnies were brazen yesterday, and I thought it would do them good to get some exercise.  The boys certainly slept well!

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I’ve been listening to a number of homeschool speakers recently.  I can certainly say I’ve learned some things. 

I tell you, homeschooling. . .it’s a truly humbling experience.  I can not tell you how often I think I’ve gotten a grasp on some concept only to realize later that I was only scratching the surface. 

Anyway, my recent focus has been on “writing” (and all things related).  I think I’ve heard all the talks related to that (I’ll have to double check), so now it’s on to compiling my notes into some sense of order.

  It’s funny, as I’ve been doing this (listening to the talks) while we’ve been at the pool.  I have a friend, fellow homeschooler, who wants my notes when I’ve finished compiling them. . .but I’ve had more people comment on how I take notes.  I would be truly interested to see how they take notes. . . I don’t think it’s the content to which they refer, but more the “style” of my note-taking.  It probably says something about me, but I wouldn’t have a clue as to what.

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On Tues, Garrett got his palette expander “placed”.  His new speech teacher was not at all happy about that, but she’ll adapt, just as he will.  It’s causing him to slow his speech down though, so I consider that a fantastic development.  Much better than all the spit he suddenly seems to have to deal with. . .but his “sh’s” have never come out more clear (just keep your distance!).  😉  He’s very proud of his new retainer, because in his mind it’s the first step to braces.  Weird child!

Mikhail is envious of the retainer as well.

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One of my cousin’s has been asking me about homeschooling.  She has her son in a private school now, that she’s quite happy with; however it ends after 6th grade, so she’s thinking she’ll homeschool him then.  She keeps asking me for advice or curricula suggestions.  . .I just don’t even have an idea where to begin!  I’m thinking I should send her the Rainbow Resource catalog (as I feel she’s been frustrated with me over my lack of definative answers).  The new one is a mere 1314 pages (not including index).  If nothing else it will give her an idea of how “big” this is.

Not that I would give her mine, mind you!  I made the mistake of tossing mine last year.  I did it on purpose, so I wouldn’t be inclined to buy anything.  That was NOT wise.  I would periodically go through spasms where more than anything I just wanted to look through it.  Thankfully, Mrs. H would lend me hers. . .but there’s something to be said for marking up your own catalog, if you know what I mean.

This year, mine hadn’t arrive, but Mrs. H’s had so she GAVE me her copy.  Wow, I was in heaven!  My highlighter has never been so happy.  My copy came in the mail yesterday, so she’s now got it in her possession.

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I was thinking about being a curricula junkie (as I’ve stated in the past that I am).  It dawned on me that part of my problem is the fact that I’m truly concerned that I might not do a “good job”, and surely “this” curricula would ensure success.

Not that I think that’s the only reason I’m a junkie, but it certainly would account for a large portion of the “junkiness”.

Ah, my day is running away from me, so I had best get off.