Name this animal!!

Being the city girl that I am, I am no use to my children identifying these tracks. We tried a google search but nothing seem to fit. Can you help us???

Low Tide on another cold and rainy day!

Outdoor Hour Challenge #6

I am not a collector because I like minimal clutter. The assignment to collect something has taken me a long time because I really did not want to do it but I also did not want to skip it. I decided that we will collect photos of all our nature observations. Enjoy!

Warning: Image Rich Post!

We awoke to rain and more cold. This is the coldest June I have ever lived through. If this is the typical weather for this area, I don't know how much longer I can take it. Our friends in Atlanta are swimming at the pool and enjoying blooming flowers and an abundant of greenery. I am still wearing a hat, a sweater, and my thick socks....sometimes 2 pairs.

Anyway, we almost did not go, but around noon the rain stopped and the sun tried to peak through. Despite failed efforts it looked not nearly as wet as the morning hours, so we packed into the car and headed to the beach. With the prices of gas out here, this decision was not taken lightly.

When we got there, we all were so happy to have done it. It was pretty good weather for what it was in the am. We got to see less impressive star fish, or anemones but the naturalists were out answering questions and pointing things out we (novice that we are) would have completely missed. Below are some pictures with a few explanations.

This really was the best of the weather. The sun tried although it never really made it out all the way. But with all the goodies to explore we soon forgot the dreariness.

Yes! We are wearing coats! IN JUNE! Enough said....

Kelp! Check out this live Kelp Forest cam!

Snails up close! Baby peep couldn't get enough of these guys.

This was very tiny and took me forever to get just right. I am still not happy, but the lighting was really hard to work with.

Shrimp!!!! He was actually green and very fast. Here are more pictures of these (Who knew!!!!) beautiful creatures.

Hermit Crab

Beautiful empty shell

Tiny crab only oldest peep was brave enough to grab. It did pinch her with its very tiny claws but it was more of a tickle than a pinch.

Mouth of a sea cucumber. His body was buried so we did not see him, but the naturalist at the beach told us there are 4 different kind of sea cucumber in that area. We are on the hunt for all four now. Another link.

Tube worm...this is only his tube. The worm is under the sand.

We only saw 2 starfish this time, but so many other things that we did not mind.

This was a tiny fish and took me forever to focus and picture. Middle peep thinks it might be a tide pool sculpin. It is! It is!! How very cool.

The soggy seaweed covered rocky ground was very slippery!

Of course, another train!

Recently grandma sent oldest peep high rain boots and just in time for our tide pool adventure. Now she could get in as deep as the boys. Tall rain boots are on my shopping list so I can wade too!

I have no idea what those are but at first they squirted water at me and then slowly opened their mouths very wide. Kind of creepy, if you ask me.

EDIT 6/13/08: Tina over at Jetihoja Academy mentioned these might be geoducks. I think she is correct! Check them out here.

Although we did not get to see a moon snail, we did see its egg casings. At first we thought they were broken pottery, but then a fellow SHG homeschooler enlightened us. These egg casings were everywhere. Next time we hope to actually see one of these guys as now we know what they look like.

Starfish in hiding!

Another tiny crab. This one wanted to be flipped over. We continually put it right side up but he would just flip back over. We are still investigating why.

Barnacles! These were at eye level so if we watched long enough we saw them actually move. It was amazing for them to realize that these shells were indeed alive.

The peeps sketched on our way there (what they hoped to see) and on our way back (what they liked best about what we saw). I will see if they will let me post them here another time. Until then, here is this site and this site to keep you researching.

Museum Mouse

I have been contemplating sharing this story or not but my sister encouraged me so here I go.

We have a small mouse infestation at our NEW house right now. They are building more houses behind us and I think these new friends were looking for new homes. Fortunately they are really small (and according to the kids, "Really cute! Can we keep him?" NOT!!!!!!) so I am not too too freaked out yet! We noticed them last week. Some pantry items had holes in them and as I investigated further I found further proof they were feasting well. After I purged more than half of really expensive food (the most hurtful being the one pound chocolate bar from Trader Joe's) I sat down to cry. When I gathered myself together, I went in search of how to get rid of them. We caught one the next day and I thought my problem was over. Little did I know.......

So on Friday, I really wanted to see the Roman Art display at the Seattle Art Museum from the Louvre. (Sorry to those I promised to organize a field trip. They never called me back and after several phone calls with no results, I was discouraged. Continue reading and you will be satisfied with the karma at letting you down.) As I arrived at the parking garage, I had to drive several levels down to find a spot. I pulled into one near the museum elevators and turned off the car. The children got out and I realized I was parked too much to one side. I got back in and started the car up again while the children waited to one side. I backed up and as I was pulling forward again, I saw a shadow running across the window wipers. I started screaming (and I am NOT ashamed) as I realized what it was. I pointed and screamed words I can not repeat on this family friendly blog.

The peeps started running back and forth across the front of the car trying to get a good look at it while I was ready to just die. I felt trapped. I did not know how I was going to get out of the car. I felt as though this mouse was a super mouse and at any moment would be able to walk through the window and get me. I know these things to be impossible and highly unreasonable. I am an intelligent woman, a strong woman, but put these creatures across my path and you will see me turn into a screaming, crying baby.

It finally ran under the hood so I jumped into the back and jumped out one of the sliding doors while screaming and then running towards the elevators. Now, you ask, where did the mouse come from? That is the same thing I was trying to comprehend. Was I being stalked by mice everywhere for "getting rid of" their cousin that morning. Because if I was, it technically was Papa Peep who did it. NOT ME!!! OR did he drop onto my car from one of the pipes at the parking garage? OR Was that thing in my car at home and I just now drove with it all the way into Seattle!!!!!!????? AWWWWWWWW!!! The more I thought about it the more freaked out I got. Because we had a time limit at the museum I had to just go upstairs and deal with the mouse situation when I returned. My hope was that he saw me as part of the mouse relocation program and that he would be happier where he now was. I hoped he would find some dark corner to go to once I was out of sight. I hoped to never see him again especially under my hood or my roof.

I actually called Papa Peep and asked if he could come get us. I really did not want to drive home. I really wanted nothing to do with the car. His suggestion was to take it to a Nissan dealer and ask them to look for the mouse. Yeah!!! Do I look like I want more people laughing at me??? (The children were enough! I know you are laughing too, but I am not seeing you, am I?) So I opened the hood (OK, middle peep did) and we looked around a bit (OK Oldest Peep did), and we gathered all our coats and things that were in the car so we could make sure he had not gotten inside (OK all the peeps did that!). Once I had a good look around (OK the peeps looked but I told them where to look and how to look) and was confident the mouse had found a new home, we drove home and waited for Papa Peep to come to my rescue. Because that is what Papa Peep does for me!

And just so you know, we (OK Papa Peep) have caught 3 mice not including the Museum Mouse. When will it end......

Zoo Pictures

Last week Wednesday we went to the zoo on a very beautiful but still chilly day (at least no rain, right??)

I must say I was very impressed with the zoo. I am especially happy since it was a present from my mom. She gave us a membership to the aquarium and the zoo. We will go again really soon because we did not have enough time to see everything even though we were there for close to 4 hours. Next time we hope to start from the other side of the zoo. Some animals were not out (Hippos, Gorrillas) and we expected that with the cold but we still enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.


Well here is the slide show.

More Wild Animals!

Today we found this little dude hanging out at our trash can. It freaked oldest peep out and the boys were fascinated, but only baby peep had the courage to pick it up.

No idea where this child gets it from. Neither Papa Peep nor I like animals of any kind. Baby Peep is quite the opposite.

Bubba the Wild Turtle

So we got up early *HA* to get some yard work done. Papa Peep got out the weed whacker and we set forth. Baby Peep found his toy one and changed the batteries. He was so cute but I did not get the camera out yet. Then as Baby Peep was "cutting" the weeds too, he found the above turtle under one of our logs. I have no idea how it got there as we really do not have any creeks near us. The kids observed it for a while, named it Bubba and then left it alone. If he is lost, I hope he finds his way home soon.