Milkweed Visitors

When we left for vacation, my milkweed was pretty much overrun by aphids and I wondered if it would survive. We returned to find fewer aphids but many of the leaves are covered in sticky aphid secretions. I also found several of these:

This is a ladybug larva. I've read that they sometimes eat monarch eggs and/or the first instar caterpillars, which is a con, but they also eat aphids, which is a big pro. I don't know if they just did a remarkable job cleaning up the aphids or if some of the aphids died off on their own. Either way, I'm glad to see the ladybugs. (As you can see in the background, they still have work to do!)

We also found 4 monarch caterpillars! And they are probably in their 4th or 5th instar already. That means we must have had eggs or 1st instar caterpillars before we left. I have a lot of milkweed and a lot of milkweed pests, so I guess I just didn't notice them. I noticed a couple holey leaves before we left but attributed it to the other visitors. Interestingly, almost all of the milkweed I have this year sprouted from seeds that must have dropped from my plant last year. The seeds survived the winter and sprouted where they landed. This stuff has the pink flowers, which is not my favorite. The stalks are thinner and more fragile than the kind with the orange flowers. My milkweed with the orange flowers did not go to seed before the frost last year. I ordered some seeds online and did plant a little of that this spring. If the aphids don't ruin the seed pods, I should get some before it frosts this year.

This guy still has a couple drops of water on him from our brief downpour this afternoon.

A Little Crabby

Tonight we enjoyed fresh, local seafood for dinner. Ron loves the royal reds (shrimp) and has been talking about making some for as long as we've talked about coming back here for vacation. The kids really wanted to try some crab. So we drove away from the touristy areas to the area along the bay where the shrimpers, crabbers, & fishermen bring in their catches. We bought some live blue crabs and some royal reds. We also stopped by a local southern BBQ carryout for me since I don't care much for seafood.

The drive was a little longer than we had anticipated, and we didn't bring a cooler with us for the crabs. They double bagged the crabs in lots of ice, but we kept watching for movement all the way home. We made it without incident, though. In fact, the crabs were cold enough that they didn't move much before meeting their fateful demise in a pot of boiling water. I think the kids were hoping for a little more action.

The kids really liked the crabs. Danielle especially liked them and went back for seconds. She didn't even need her backup hotdog. Even I liked the taste (but I was still glad for the BBQ). Since the kids had just learned all about these crabs on our nature cruise earlier in the week, they felt the need to identify the sex of each crab. I was ok until Tyler said, "This one is a girl. See where she keeps her eggs." The insides of the crab were rather gross, too. I think I would have enjoyed the crab more if it was already shelled and served to me on a plate. Tyler tried the shrimp and said it was pretty good, too. Danielle and I declined, which was fine with Ron. It was a good experience overall. The kids were really excited about finding the food, cooking it, and trying it. We had a nice time together.

Our Nature Cruise

I wanted to go on a dolphin cruise or something similiar for my birthday. When I started looking for tours, I found someone who offered a nature cruise instead. Since we have all seen dolphin before (we even swam with them once), I thought the nature cruise might be more interesting for the kids. It was suprisingly affordable, even including the little extra we paid so it would just be our family. The 2 hour cruise included oyster collecting, crabbing, and shrimping. At the captain's recommendation, we went on a weekday to avoid the heavier weekend boat traffic in the backwaters.

We had a really nice time. The charter was offered by an older man who has been doing this for 12 years. Prior to that he lived on his 48' sailboat for 10 years! He was very knowledgeable and kind to the kids. And of course he was friendly....he was from the south! The cruise was on his covered pontoon boat, so there was enough room to move around and a little bit of relief from the relentless sun.











We pulled up oysters and learned a little about them. We checked a crab trap and learned a little about the blue crab that was in the trap. The part we all enjoyed the most, though, was the shrimping.


They are only allowed to drag their shrimp nets for 18 minutes. While we were dragging the net, the captain's regular dolphin friend started following the boat. Feeding the dolphins is illegal, but the dolphins know the extras from the shrimp nets get scraped right back into the water. It was fun to watch the dolphin surface closer and closer to us. Eventually the dolphin was right next to the boat, which is much closer than we would have gotten on a dolphin cruise.




The catch from the net was dumped into the aquarium and from there the captain dropped net fulls on the trough for us to sort through and identify. We weren't allowed to keep any oysters or crabs but we could have kept the shrimp. We chose not to, but the captain kept several of the larger shrimp. We saw lots of neat little things - lizard fish, catfish, croaker, moon snails, jellyfish, 3 different types of shrimp, and various other little fish. My favorite was the squid. The dolphin waited at the bottom of the trough and ate some of the stuff we tossed back. He wouldn't go near the catfish, but his favorite also seemed to be the squid.
























We had a very nice time. I think it would be fun to do an all shrimping trip the next time.

Turtles!

Tonight we had the privilege of watching the sea turtle hatchlings emerge from their nest and scurry down to the ocean. It was so neat!

The kids spent a lot of time this afternoon/evening talking to one of the turtle volunteers. She was so patient and answered all kinds of questions from all the kids (and adults). They listened to more waterfall sounds of the sand shifting as the turtles hatched under the sand, and we knew it would be soon. Reluctantly we came in for a late dinner around 9. While we were eating, one of the volunteers called to let us know they were seeing movement in the nest.

We hurried back down and got there in time for the kids to see the first couple turtles poke their heads through the sand, then several others followed. I was standing a little further down, so I first saw them when they paused on top of the nest. After a minute or so, the scout headed out and then they all started scurrying down the path and into the trench the volunteers had dug to help guide the hatchlings to the water. They were so little (2 could easily fit in the palm of your hand) and their little flipper feet kept moving the whole time. They were easily distracted by any light, including cell phones, so we weren't allowed to have any flashlights on or take any pictures. The volunteers had red lights they used that allowed us to see the cute little turtles hustle down the trench. When they headed the wrong direction, one of the volunteers turned them around and set them back on track. It was amazing how quickly they moved. Once they got down to the water they fought to get out past the waves. Even in the dark we could see their little bodies floating back and forth with the waves.

It was such a neat experience. The kids loved it. Danielle gave several of them names as they hurried by. Tyler kept exclaiming about how precious they were. We felt so lucky to be a part of this.

There were 110 eggs in this particular nest. I didn't hear a final count as to how many hatched tonight. The volunteers knew how many eggs there were because they had to move the eggs from the original nest location. The female laid her eggs too close to the water, so the volunteers moved them back further where they would be safe. Loggerhead seaturtle eggs hatch in 55-75 days. (These were laid 55 days ago.) A female turtle doesn't usually lay eggs until she's at least 25 years old. They can lay eggs 2 or 3 times a nesting season (which is May - August, I think).

The volunteers return to excavate the nest 3 days after the first turtle emerges. We were told they usually find live turtles when they excavate the nest and were encouraged to return then to get decent pictures in the daylight. Since it's just a few houses down from where we're staying, hopefully we'll be able to catch them excavating the nest. I'd like to get a picture of all the little flipper tracks in the sand, too.

Here is a picture of the barrier and the nest before it hatched. That's one of the volunteer's towels and it was removed before the babies came out. There is also a slightly out of focus picture of the top of the nest. You can see where the sand had started to sink. (Tyler took both these pictures earlier this evening.) It will be difficult to top this vacation memory!!

A Great Start to Vacation!

We arrived at the beach yesterday late afternoon. As soon as we finished bringing in the luggage, the kids had their suits on and were eager to get down to the business of vacationing!

We stayed out for quite awhile and finally went back to the house for a late dinner. As we were finishing our dinner, we noticed a crowd of people gathering near the stuff we left down on the beach. When we looked closer, we saw a sea turtle crawling up the beach! It was right behind the house next to us. It must have came out of the ocean right around where we had been playing.

As you can imagine, it was rather amazing to see the huge turtle crawl up the beach and start digging in the sand. (You can see her kickin up the sand in the last pic.) I don't think the pictures do justice to her size. We felt so lucky to get to see it. There were crowds of people on our section of the beach the rest of the night. The "turtle police" (as we like to call them) made sure no one made any loud noises or shined flashlights on her. When she was done and turned around to return to the ocean, they trapped her in an open top box and tagged her. They also did some bloodwork and other tests to check for any effects last year's oil spill may have had on her. They had her contained for a couple hours while they did their tests and allowed the epoxy on the tracker to dry. This morning more volunteers checked to be sure there were actually eggs in the nest (there were) and then roped off the nest area to keep it safe.

A couple houses further down on the beach is a turtle nest that is ready to hatch. Tonight the "turtle police" let the kids listen to the special instrument that detects the "waterfall" sound the sand makes as the turtles hatch and the sand shifts around them. There were several waterfalls, and we could see an indentation on the top of the sand in the middle of the nest. It could take several hours or even days for them all to hatch and begin to emerge from the sand. The "police" asked for our phone # and promised to call when the hatchlings begin to emerge so the kids can come watch.

Misc Nature Pics

More Milkweed Visitors

I've had a couple other visitors since I posted the other day.

Don't know what this is. It looked like a bee when it was flying but it doesn't look like one when it's sitting still.










A Japanese beetle, so interesting looking but so destructive

Another bumble bee, going about his bee business











Milkweed bugs - Suddenly I have a ton of them! See the vicious sucking "tube"?! Also very destructive.

Finally, a lone ladybug. Sadly, I think she's in over her head. Hopefully she'll invite some friends over for an aphid tasting party.

Vacation Prep

We are eagerly anticipating our upcoming beach vacation. While looking for some beach craft ideas, I ran across Family Fun's duct tape beach bag craft. I thought the kids would enjoy the craft (who doesn't love duct tape crafts?!), and they could use their bags not only at the beach but to hold their special travel items for the long car ride.

If we hadn't used up all our duct tape for crafts awhile ago, this would have been a pretty cheap craft. Since I had to replenish our stock, I let them each pick out a unique duct tape color and I picked a neutral color to match. We started with a 16"x30" rectangle measured out on a kitchen trash bag that had been cut open & taped to the table. Tyler chose to make his stripes run parallel to the short side. Danielle made hers follow the long side. I can see how younger kids might have a hard time putting the tape on by themselves, but Tyler & Danielle did great. After all the tape was down, we cut the rectangle out and added (2) 2' lengths of cord to each short side, folding a small section over and taping it down to make a sleeve for the cord. We folded the rectangle in half and taped up the sides. Then we tied a cord from one side to a cord from the other side and repeated it with the other cords to create a drawstring. The drawstring is long enough the kids can wear the bags on their backs or over a shoulder.

The bags are really cute and feel like they could take a beating and still hold up.

Milkweed Visitors

I've had lots of milkweed visitors lately...


Different varieties of flies










WAAAAAAY too many aphids (I just can't keep up with them. Was hoping that alien shaped bug on the left is a lady bug larvae, but I don't think it's the right shape/color.)









Bees and wasps

Even a young hummingbird












But still no monarchs!

We had eggs around this time last year, but didn't have any until early August the year before. Hopefully they're still coming. (And hopefully the aphids won't suck my milkweed dry before they get here!!)

Uneventful Update

I have thought about blogging several times this week, I just haven't had anything to blog about! It has been extremely hot this week. With the heat index, the temps have been over 100* every day. It's just too hot to do anything outside, so we really haven't done much of anything worth writing about.

On Monday Mamaw took us to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. It's nothing like the book, but it's a very cute movie. (The book was really cute, too.) We didn't leave the house during the day on Tuesday or Wednesday. That's extremely rare for us. I actually managed to get my house clean, but it didn't last long. On Thursday we went to Donatos for lunch. The kids redeemed their summer reading program coupons for free pizzas, so lunch cost <$1.50 for their drinks. We saw Rio at the $1 theater. Although the movie has been playing there for several weeks, everyone else must have had the same idea. The theater was packed. That movie was really cute, too. I have to confess that I brought snacks from home. I did buy a pop for the 3 of us to share. It was the most expensive part of our day - $4.25 for 1 pop!! Believe me, if I could have smuggled that in in my pockets, I would have! After the movie we used some coupons we had to get free ice cream sandwiches at the ice cream stand in town. I got groceries on Friday. See how exciting our week has been?!

The kids attended VBS at Mamaw's church in the evenings this week. They really enjoyed it. Our church is charging $25 PER KID for VBS this year, so we've ruled that one out. They have gone with Mamaw the last 2 years and loved it, so we were going to go there anyway. By the time VBS was over and we got home each night, it was pretty late, so there was a lot of sleeping in this week, too. The VBS theme was Pandamania. That seems to be one of the popular themes this year. It looks like it was vaguely based off Kung Fu Panda's popularity. Although the mask is cute, I think Danielle looks kind of creepy with a panda face. And I wish someone would outlaw kazoos as VBS crafts or birthday party prizes. (Sorry, Mamaw. ;) The pandas on them were cute, though.)

This coming week we plan to go to the library, go swimming, possibly fit in an ice skating trip with one of Tyler's friends, and get ready for vacation. It would be nice if the heat would let up just a little. The kids are dying to ride their new bikes, and the near-by fishing pond was recently restocked. There's still so much to do before summer is over.