{Wild Kingdom...in my Backyard}

Here's a little bit of what we've been experiencing lately...and loving it.

We have about an acre and a half of property, with 150 acres of woods behind us. It's private, very country, and yet still somehow close to everything. You know what they say...location, location, location! But enough about that.

The best part is that it feels like Wild Kingdom! :)

We see 3 different coyotes at least a couple of times a week. Two are usually together, and then one that seems to travel alone.

This one is the loner and seems comfortable with us watching him/her. He just seems to enjoy snacking on walnuts and watching us watch him. We named it Wile E. :) The 2 that hang together are very skittish though, and I've yet to get a pic of them together.

There are tons of deer coming through the yard day and night, but we have a few regulars that we recognize. The sneaky ones:

 And 2 does...one with twins, and one with an only. Haven't been able to get a pic of the twins, but the 'only' has been left in our yard more than once while mom goes off to feed. Isn't she beautiful?

Then there are the sneaky squirrels, who we kid about but actually don't mind them stealing the birdseed. They are too fun to watch to care!

 One of the coolest things we've found in the yard was a big surprise and wonderful...if only for a few hours.

I stumbled upon a turtle nest while walking our dogs. Many eggs were crushed and mangled, so I assumed something had eaten them. Then I saw an eye, peeking out of a shell, just beginning life.

 He was the last and final egg, completely untouched I guess, and I happened to find the nest as he was pushing his way out! I spent the afternoon checking on him every 30-45 minutes, taking pics and video like crazy. It was pretty amazing! I nearly went to the school to bring my daughter home to witness the whole thing!

Unfortunately, he worked so hard to get out, and even made it completely out of the nest and facing the woods...but then went to the happy turtle grounds in the sky. :( I was so bummed! We're still researching to try to figure out what kind of turtle he was, if he needed mom, etc.

 My daughter made a burial place for him, and named him "Sam". (It seemed like a good unisex name.)

And then there are all the miscellaneous cool critters we see...HUGE, interesting insects like cowkillers , cicada killers , and this luna moth:

Little snakes and tiny cabbage loopers...

I saw a baby skunk one night as I was about to take the dogs for a walk. Of course we steered clear, but can we just say CUTE!! So small and waddling all over. I'm just glad we didn't run into Momma skunk.

I love living in the country! We are huge lovers of nature, and the surprise of what we might see outside every day is such a neat thing to experience.  I'm never sure what I might find or see on any given day, so the camera is always at the ready.

Ahhhh....country livin'....sitting on the deck eating dinner, waiting to see what will come out next.

If you want to join us for dinner, be sure to bring your camera!

Thanks for dropping by,

{Our First Container Garden!}

I'm just a bit too excited about growing food for the very first time, but I can't help it! My daughter has been begging me to grow tomatoes, and I love her enthusiasm. Keep in mind, she does not like tomatoes :), but she is determined that we will grow them and make homemade tomato soup (which she also doesn't like). I'm not sure there will be any soup made, but we ARE growing tomatoes and it's such a wonderful feeling I can't believe I've been missing out on it all these years!

Cherry Tomatoes

 I was initially motivated strictly by the learning opportunity that growing would provide, but now...it's just fun. (Yes, I'm giddy!)  I was super nervous though, and with other outside projects planned, I didn't want to section off a part of our land this year. We also have lots and lots of critters coming through our yard all the time...you name it, we see it. Even coyotes. I didn't want them to all be eaten for our first attempt. So...I opted for tomato plants with the magical words "Great for Containers!"  We bought 4 plants at Lowes, potted them, and they are sitting on our deck growing so very happily. I love looking at them! One is a cherry tomato plant, the rest are medium tomatoes.

To keep my kiddo involved and feed her passion for science, I came up with a recording sheet that she can use weekly. You can download it  here: Tomato Growth Recording Sheet  and change dates, number of plants, etc., to fit your own garden plan.

I've already got a garden plan for next year running through my mind!

Thanks for stopping by!

{Clubhouse Makeover}

I've been MIA lately, but have several projects I'm working on! The weather has FINALLY been beautiful and it FINALLY stopped raining, so we spent the holiday weekend getting multiple yard projects out of the way.  Do you love to work in the yard? I absolutely love it... the satisfaction of checking something off our to-do list and admiring the end result.

Our first project was to makeover this "clubhouse". We moved into our 3rd home a little less than a year ago, and inherited the clubhouse from owners several years ago. It had great bones and great structure, but needed a few repairs and some cuteness for my nearly 7-yr old daughter.

 

It's located at the back of our 1.5 acre property, near the woods.

I had a vision of making general repairs, adding some playset accessories, and a few cuties to make it work for us. We have a wooden playset, but it's smaller. In hindsight, we would have purchased a larger one, simply for a larger "clubhouse" feature. But...with only one child, nearly 7, it doesn't seem cost effective to purchase a new $1K set when we had this clubhouse we could re-work. :)

Here's the finished product. We're happy with it, and best of all, she loves it!

 

Whatcha think?

For a hair over $100, we made a few repairs,  replaced the flooring, relocated the ladder entrance, and added the safety handles, steering wheel, mulch, and telescope.

 I covered the bottom with a weed mat and filled it in with mulch that matches the rest of our landscaping. She wants to add a few pinwheels at the bottom as well. :)

 We've had these outgrown rainboots on hold for a donation for at least 2 months! I saw an idea recently to use them as planters and I fell in love with it. I have no idea where I saw it, but it's a great idea so we kept the boots just for this purpose.

Now it's a safe clubhouse to play in, which is currently acting as one of the following:

1. a lookout for poachers in Africa

2. an animal rescue truck on the African savannah

or

3. an animal science lab.  :)

Can you tell she wants to be a biologist?

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope your weekend was as productive as ours!

I'm linking up over at:

I Heart Naptime