well, hello there!

It's been a good amount of time since posting. Looking over my last few posts and smiling, I am seeing how much has changed in just a few months. Froggies are long gone to their homes (and likely snuggled in for the winter by now), we've celebrated three birthdays, A turned 18, S turned 6 and I, 38... Plus Halloween fun, Thanksgiving, back to Self Design for another wonderful year of learning.... It's all a blur and now I'm reminded of how valuable blogging can be for recording the smaller details that often get lost in the big picture. Suddenly I felt an urge to update so here I am.

The heavy rain has come at last. And with that, a test for the work we've done on the basement to prevent it from flooding again this year. The work done on the back side of the house actually paid off but what failed miserably over the last 3 days was our submersible pump on the front side... Which led to a basement and all of its contents under 4-6 inches of water once again...

We've got a new pump now, more suited to the type of cavity made for it in our basement floor, and it's working well. We also have a new generator, a purchase that was made this time around after realizing that if the power goes out (which means nothing to power the pump) and we get 48 hours of rain, we'll be under several feet of water, never mind the several inches we just bailed out.

Which has led to talk about climate change, leading to increases in power-outages, and an even greater appreciation and desire for knowing how to survive, even if just for a short time, without conventional things like power, refrigeration, electric/gas heat... and about the merits of preserving food and collecting firewood the way we do each year. Lots of great conversations have come from this experience as they always do.

Oh, one thing I must remember to include is a celebration: K has "officially" begun to read. It is such a magical, wonderful time of growth for him and I am so glad to be part of it. He is able to look at all kinds of words now with the power to decipher their meaning; and is eager for me to help him when he gets temporarily hung up on some weird letter combination thing.... What a world has just opened up for him! I'm so excited for what this means and overjoyed to witness the process.

almost done

One or two of our tadpoles are in the final stages of metamorphosis which is so very exciting to us! They like to sit on top of the stones in the aquarium and don't seem at all interested in the blood worms we'd been feeding them. I'm pretty sure they're just busy absorbing their tails. We've only just very recently deduced that they are most likely Northern Red-Legged Frogs, which are a native species to Vancouver Island and are a protected species of BC.

this is shorty - the first to grow front legs and almost completely lose its tail

tail almost gone

hanging around waiting to be a frog?

The one closer to my thumb still has no front legs and still has a full length tail. They all seem to develop at such different rates (I'm sure there must be a reason...). The other here has been hopping around on four feet for almost a week. I've noticed that once they grow front legs and begin absorbing their tails, they seem to shrink in body size as well.

This has been such a cool project. Once they're all fully grown frogs, we plan to keep them around for a couple of weeks to feed and enjoy and then release them back to their place of origin. Possibly we'll see about over-wintering a couple indoors if we can set up an adequate habitat for them.

and just like that...

One of our tadpoles has sneakily sprouted front legs when no one was looking. Where'd they come from? They weren't there yesterday! Funny, it's the littlest one who's sprouted them, the rest are much bigger and fatter and no sign of front legs to speak of...


H is just so absolutely beyond thrilled to finally have a little frog(let) to hold at last! The day she's been waiting for, for many months. As far as figuring out what kind of frogs we have, we've searched and studied so many kinds and can't come to a decision quite yet.

(click photo to view larger)

Once fully mature, I'm hoping there will more tell-tale signs to give us a better idea ;-) They sure are tiny little things, that's for sure!

legs!

Well, I think I've officially lost track of the days (weeks, months...) we've been raising these little guys. I know they are very delayed for sure. The batches we gave to two other families are well ahead in development, some are nearly full grown frogs. Nevertheless, we do have some progress, hind legs have developed on most of our tadpoles recently. They are now carnivorous, eating blood worms which we feed them daily.

I don't know what we've done "wrong" with these guys that has resulted in them being so behind, but it isn't for lack of trying. We've tested about every variable in their living conditions possible:

-cleaning the water more frequently
-leaving the water alone and letting it get slimy and green
-using water from different sources: stream, pond, lake, river and de-chlorinated tap water
-we've had the tank inside and outside
-installed a filter and bubbler
-no filter or bubbler
-feeding algae wafers
-adding rocks/plants
-no rocks/plants

I've noticed the greatest growth spurts have occurred consistently during the first few days after a water change, then it slows again. That could just be coincidental though.

The pump I bought (brand new) a few weeks ago to filter and oxygenate the water stopped working yesterday. I'm guessing the motor burnt out from being overworked. Or it could have been faulty. Either way, I didn't keep the receipt so can't bring it back and am not buying another one. So they'll have to do the rest of their growing in still water that I'll change up for fresh every few days. This is getting to be a drag and a lot more work than reward. Still, we'll keep at it and hopefully soon we'll have frogs to admire and then release.

Aren't those little legs adorable though?

the essentials

Sunday started with some Essential Calvin and Hobbes for K who is teaching himself to read these days: "Mama, there are words that, no matter how I try, I will never get out of my head. When I look at them, I just know what they are, and I always will now. No matter what."....

...and ended with a new little friend who we'd never met before. This guy's a banded alder borer beetle. He was very friendly and very, very handsome with his black and white suit on. We learned a little about him, found out where he likes to live, what he likes to eat, what he looks like when he's a baby... and then we let him go.

viewing the moon

K gazes at the moonscape through a homemade telescope

Tonight we had the pleasure of joining up with some local Astronomer Society Members for their monthly moon viewing. We were treated to all kinds of knowledge about the stars and the planets which are most visible this month from where we live. Earlier in the evening we were able to view the moon's various bumps and craters with breathtaking clarity and after dusk we actually got to see Saturn and its rings, which was a complete thrill! It was great fun to be out late chatting about space with others are passionate about studying it and are excited to share it with anyone who is interested (and has a LOT of questions, like we do).

The boys agreed with me that we'll need to make it a regular thing to attend the viewing nights. There is so much to see and to learn about out there in this amazing universe we are part of and this experience has definitely served to whet our appetites for more.

released

Well.... after a little research this week, we learned this: "In nature, larger tadpoles in crowded conditions produce growth inhibitors in their droppings which when eaten by other tadpoles, stunt their growth".

This could very well explain their recent cessation of growth... it is possibly just what I had suspected. Overpopulation! We had too many tadpoles in our 10 gallon aquarium.

So today, H and I brought about 60 tadpoles back to their origins (where we got the eggs from) to be released. Which was fine because we never intended to grow this many into frogs!

There they go, into the lake where their mama (possibly) still resides. It has warmed up dramatically since a couple of months ago when we collected the eggs. It almost felt icy back then!

click to view larger

While there, one of the first things we spotted was this slithery guy. He was really big! I have looked him up and I think he's either a brown newt or a Pacific Giant Salamander. He didn't have any markings from what I could see through the murky lake sediment, so I remain unsure. Hopefully most of our little tadpoles will be able to dodge him if he happens to think they look like a good snack!


A view of the lake about 15 minutes from town. It's quite serene there, beautiful natural surroundings with no city noise, just the wind, birds and other critters chirping and calling.

H was quite happy to see her "babies" go to their home, knowing we've kept a few behind at our home to hopefully watch grow into frogs now with all the space and food they need!

early summer days

Just a few early summer days, in snapshots....

S and H have discovered the joy of using the staple gun and stuffing things to make them 3-dimensional. I have a new appreciation for the seemingly superfluous cotton ball (the stuffing).

We are watering the gardens and watching them grow, ever so slowly this year. We rescued a new (to us) terracotta strawberry pot from the recycling center and then a couple of (2 for 1) boxes of strawberry plants they were clearing out at the garden center. Hopefully this super cheap and easy little project will yield a good little crop of berries for us, maybe even for a few years before the clay eventually crumbles.

Spent the evening, just the kids and I, adventuring along the river of a local park. The longest days of the year are certainly my favorite. The kids agree. The hours of play (and tree hugging) time of each day has been seriously extended!

The art of blanket fort building. It started out small, but this only inspired the kids to go big! It wasn't long before K thought it would be a great idea to set up the tent we use for camping instead!
Since we're heading out for our first camping trip of the season in less than 2 weeks, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to practice setting it up again (it was easier than I remember it being last year - yay!). Hours of soft toy - pet shop - horse stable play ensued....


We continue to observe for changes in the tadpoles.... We've had reports back from the other families who took some tadpoles from us that theirs are much larger and growing much faster. This has me perplexed (since none are dying and all seem happy and active). I can only deduce that we have too many in too small of space, which is making the water toxic too quickly (too much poop!) to be healthy and there is too much competition for food. This week we'll release a good number and see what happens. We also started sprinkling in fish flakes as I was told they like them. Stay tuned.

Ah, and the Donvier. Grandma scored this hand crank Donvier Chillfast ice cream maker second-hand (I think it was $5) and sent it to us in a parcel. It absolutely rocks! First we made vanilla and it is agreed that it's the best we ever had. The recipe used a perfect combination of milk and cream, rather than all cream (in the ice cream we made with a friend's electric mixer previously we used 100% cream and it was far too rich for me).

This week tried coconut milk ice cream. We are definitely all preferring the dairy as the coconut lends itself to a slimy texture on the tongue but it was an interesting and FUN experiment to say the least....



What can I add to this?
Oh, trips to the water park on the few occasions that it's been warm enough.
Pulling horsetail from the gardens non-stop (K is on a mission and S has also recently joined in the battle!).

Reading Hardy Boys mysteries (currently finishing "What Happened at Midnight?), which keep us all on the edge of our seats in a fun and exciting way without giving anyone nightmares. They're also incredibly rich in vocabulary which I myself find as a welcome change and challenge! We're both getting good at deducing word meanings by paying close attention to the context in which they're being used (because neither of us can stand to interrupt the flow of a suspenseful story with trips through the dictionary!).
Researching and thinking up our own good camping meals and snack ideas.... there are so many great sites for this online so I'll leave you with a few good links:

Camping Food Ideas (Complete Family Guide - recipes and ideas)
Simply Frugal (camping food recipes ideas)
Canadian Canoe Routes (camping food recipes and ideas)

That's enough goodness for now!

a favorite sweet treat

This is a traditional Mennonite treat the kids can make
together very easily. It's delicious but very sweet so we
don't make it too often but when we do, we sure enjoy it!
I love the more tart fruits like plums or sour cherries
which balance out the sweetness perfectly.
Today S and H helped me make it with last  summer's
Italian plums from our freezer.

Batter

1/2 cup    butter
1/2 cup    sugar
2              eggs
1 tsp.       vanilla
2 cups     flour
2 tsp.       baking powder

3/4 cup     milk

2-4 cups  fruit (fresh or frozen, not canned; good ones are Italian plums,
blackberries, peaches, strawberries and rhubarb, sour cherries... )

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl and mix into creamed mixture
alternating with milk. The batter should be thick enough to spread, not pourable.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, spread batter about
1 cm thick covering the whole sheet.
Arrange fruit on top however you like.

Topping (Rübel)

1 cup    flour
1 cup    sugar
1/2 cup  butter

Sprinkle rübel all over fruit and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
To brown the top, at the end of 30 minutes turn oven on broil and watch carefully.
Broil until golden (only takes a couple of minutes).


Today we had the bonus of having some leftover vanilla ice cream we
made this week to add on the side!
They were perfect together.

My variations and conversions are originally based on a recipe I found online several years ago.

long overdue update!

Well, where to begin? According to the ministry, the "official" home learning year has come to an end but the kids of course just keep learning and living and playing; art lessons, gymnastics, park and beach days, day trips to the big city or elsewhere out of town, plus lots of playing in the sandbox and on our inflatable bouncy thing have kept the kids and I all very busy. I anticipate much more of the same over the next few months, plus camping trips, loads of canning and preserving, some major and minor home renovations (indoor and out), some annual festivities to partake in here and a very special girl's 4th birthday coming up.... Whew!

And as for the little wrigglers... if anyone has been wondering about their status, they are doing great!

photo taken today - day 72

They have grown and changed slowly but surely over the last month or so. We keep the tank freshened up with water from a local stream and a fresh lettuce leaf once in a while and they happily wriggle around munching and dozing and growing and.... pooping! They poop constantly. We keep checking each day for signs of erupting back legs but nope.... just more poop. Legs should not be far off though (we hope!). It's great to finally be able to see their mouths opening and closing as they munch down on bits of lettuce.


I've given a couple of batches of the taddies to a couple of other home learning families and we still have far more than we will be able to manage when they start developing legs and needing to be fed a carnivorous diet, so soon we'll be releasing a good number of them back to their origins, keeping a dozen or so at home to raise into full-fledged froglets.