When Science Comes to You

This spring it was a ball of spiders. We actually found another one by the back steps, but Marcus got to it before I got the camera. It would've been really cool to get them on video. If you blow on the ball, they spread out. Here is our before and after. (okay, so it's after and before, but if you wait awhile, they do go back into the ball shape.)

Creepy Crawlie

“Hey honey, come look at this HUGE bug I found in our bedroom.” These are not the words a wife wants to hear. Unless she’s one of those people fascinated by such things. I, however, am not one of “those people”. Especially if the creepy crawlie is in my bedroom.

“He’s four inches long with some sort of long tail.” I cannot figure out how to respond to this, so I remain silent. Husband comes downstairs holding a glasses case. “I got him. He was in the window. See?” He opens the glasses case and I see bits of creepy-crawlie, very fast creepy-crawlie. I shudder a little and try to suppress the girly squeal. “What?” he says.

“Let’s bring it outside and show the kids,” I try to keep my voice normal. Tim gets a peek at creepy crawlie, but Ryan opens the case again and the creepy crawlie flies away before Sarah gets a chance to see it. She is genuinely miffed about this and I briefly wonder if she is one of “those people”. Of course it wasn’t in her BEDROOM.

I only want to know two things, “What was it? Will there be any more of them?”

My husband searches the internet and about ten minutes later, he has a full report on Megarhyssa, a wasp, formerly known as the creepy crawlie. He even has a picture to show Sarah. Click here for the rest of the story.

Megarhyssa Wasps (Ichneumonidae) on Oak

When Science comes to you (IV)

"Tim, look at this branch I found in the yard. What made these holes?"

"A woodpecker did that, mom!"

"See how it's hollow inside? What was the woodpecker trying to get?"

"Bugs."

"Yes, let's set the branch aside to show Dad tonight."

Later, I heard Tim showing it to Sarah, "Sarah, what made these holes?"

"A woodpecker?"

"Yes. See how it's hollow inside? What was the woodpecker trying to get?"

"Bugs?"

"Yes. Let's set it aside to show Dad later." It made me smile to hear my lesson repeated. I love to hear my kids teaching each other.

From a few sightings last year, we think it was a downy woodpecker, but it was very high up in the tree, and hard to see. If you hear a woodpecker in your trees, it means there's a dead branch. If there's a dead branch in your tree, it's going to come down eventually. :-) For more on Michigan's woodpeckers, look here for a video from Channel 9 and 10 in northern Michigan

http://www.9and10news.com/category/story/?id=131279

Things kids say

Ryan put a screensaver on the computer for Timothy. It looks just like a fish tank: gravel, plants, and five fish wandering around. Ryan and I are in the kitchen when we hear the question, “Dad, do fish sleep?” Here’s our new answer for these tough questions, “I don’t know, Tim, we’ll have to do some research.” Tim’s response, “Okay, Dad. Maybe they sleep in the wintertime under the ice and they wake up in the spring and stay awake.” Here’s an answer for those of you dying to know if fish sleep.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99047.htm

Total Lunar Eclipse photo from Minnesota

When Science comes to you

Last week marked the total lunar eclipse. If you missed it, you will have to wait until December 20, 2010 and hope the weather's clear. Timothy just finished a class on space at the bookstore, learned about the phases of the moon, and we are reading a space book this month. All this and I didn't know the lunar eclipse was coming until the radio announced it. It seemed a fitting addition to our schooling and he stayed up late to watch the eclipse with Dad on a special outing. When I asked him what he thought, he said it was just like what we read: that ancient people used to think the moon was being eaten up by a dragon.

Making Rain

At first the bird feeder was in the front yard and no birds came. Ryan moved it to the backyard while I was visiting my mom and dad with the kids. When we arrived home, there were birds. We saw and heard Chickadees! That was the first day. The backyard is within the territory of the twins. They had to be taught not to shake the birdfeeder. "Mama, I make it rain!" Sigh...no birds... however, we did see this furry squirrel helping himself. We don't know how he got in there, but when he jumped out, he made quite a mess. "Mama, twirl make rain!" yes, the squirrel made it rain.

Beware the Blue Footprint

In early September we journeyed to Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids. Did you know they help take care of injured wildlife? We saw several recovering owls, rabbits, and some turtles. They also have a bobcat there. We also decided to hike a trail. The boys are getting older so we left the stroller in the car. Tim wanted the “green” footprint but Ryan talked him into the “blue” footprint. Important note: One should always read the name of the trail or check the map. Well, after following blue footprints for what seemed like miles, we learned the name of our trail was “the back forty”. Three out of the four children wanted to be carried, one had to go potty, and one kept tripping on the roots. Four mosquito bites, three root falls, and one rustic potty break later, I was wondering if we were on a never ending loop. When things started to look familiar again and we looked at the map, we realized we had taken their longest trail, over a mile! Then we were all proud of ourselves. By the way, remember the “green” footprint Tim wanted? I call it “short, but scenic”.

Upon our return from the nature center, my older two children began requesting unique items to bring outside. Finally, they showed me their “habitat”s. There was a granola bar wrapper on the top of the fence because “Raccoons love garbage, and they can climb.” There was also a cardboard box with cheese in it and grass. “That’s the mouse habitat, Mom, they like cheese and grass.” I was still trying to figure what he had climbed to affix the wrapper to the top of the fence. I had a conference with Ryan and I am pleased to announce that the Westphal family is now the proud owner of a bird habitat. Well, a bird feeder anyway. So far, no birds.

When Science Comes to You III - The Frog

My sister and her family are here from Washington. My nieces, Willow (7) and Meadow (4) are creative, fun, active children and my kids have really enjoyed playing with their cousins while they are here. We went up to my Mom and Dad's for three days. It was while we were leaving that we met the frog.
Willow caught it by the pond. Just a little green frog. My little Sarah actually held it for a moment, but Tim did not want it anywhere near him. Marcus touched it and laughed, but Luke did not have a chance to see it as he was already loaded in the van. As Tim is getting in the van, he suddenly remembers Grandma said he could pick green beans before he leaves. Being the ever-gracious mom that I am, I agree, if he hurries. I leave Luke, Mark, and Sarah in the van and head to the back of the house to see the green beans with Tim and Willow and Holli.
One child is unaccounted for. This is the child who is holding the frog. This is Meadow, who in her kindness, wants Lucas to also see the frog. Since Lucas is buckled into his carseat and cannot come to the frog, Meadow brings the frog to him. How considerate. However, frogs are not meant to be held by children.
As I round the corner with Tim for the van, Meadow and Sarah are rushing toward me with the news. "There's a frog in the van!" Sure enough, I see him under the seat. However, I side with Tim and I am rather squeamish about actually touching an amphibian, so I opt for Meadow to catch it. She misses. We find the frog again and Aunt Holli tries. She misses. At first, Tim refuses to even get in the van with the frog hiding in there because he is scared. Finally we are all headed down the driveway. Tim is asleep in about 10 minutes. All is quiet on the way home.
The next day, I clean out the van. Children surround me, helping carry things to the porch. I hear their sweet voices. I hear Mark, "Frog, Mama, frog. Go frog." I turn to see him holding a much thinner frog than I remembered, thinner and stiff and wrinkled. He drops the frog and tells it "go frog." Then he picks it up and hands it to me.
I actually touch the dead frog. I announce that we have found the frog and we all look at the dead frog and talk about what sort of habitat frogs need and why we should not bring them anywhere far from their habitat. Tim notes that if people don't touch them, they will stay where they belong. We throw the frog away and wash hands, even the children who didn't touch the frog wash hands. I wash mine twice.

When Science comes to you II

This week we found two kittens wandering the back yard (and a pet carrier near my neighbor's porch). We took them in and the kids had great fun playing with the kittens for the day. This was the same day my sister, Holli, and her family arrived from Washington state. Her girls were also excited to see and play with the kittens. I did have to "gate" the kitties in the laundry room for their own protection. "The gruesome" tended to hug them too hard or play tug'o'war with them. Timothy took lots of pictures as he will miss the kittens.

We had the opportunity to talk about how kittens grow and how to handle them gently, etc. Sarah --"Look how tiny God made their paws!" Tim -- "and He gave them claws for protection." My neighbor has a real heart for animals and thinks someone left them so she could find homes for them. So when she arrived from work, she came and took them home. (Whew! I was getting nervous as timsarah were coming up with names!) Later that night when we let poor Lenny (our own cat) out of his exile, Tim exclaimed, "Wow, Lenny is HUGE!" I wonder what will happen next week.

When Science comes to you

We had an interesting science opportunity when we opened the door this morning to find a fully moulted cicada clinging to the door frame and still attached to its previous skin. To see a 28 second speeded up version of this amazing metamorphosis, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4MqVq9HVM .