what Ronan found

the other day Tim and I were talking about the poor little creatures that have entered our yard only to meet their untimely demise... however, not all of them die and not all of them were going to live long anyway.
but the conversation did bring us to the conclusion that we were both very happy that we live on the edge of wilderness and civilization because of the experiences with natural life that our children get to have. they certainly wouldn't have as many or wouldn't get to gain the knowledge by watching and gain experience by helping these animals if they lived in the middle of the city. (ugh, what a thought. I don't think I could survive that)

Two days ago Ronan discovered a rarity in our yard. She is so beautiful and at the same time a little bit scary. I'm sure the scary part is just me. I'm not afraid of her, but there's just something about her that stirs some thoughts in my mind.... perhaps a childhood trauma?

Ronan found her in the grass and Erica is always ready to catch any interesting bug. I don't know that they get much more interesting than her.
Every time Erica and I look at her we can't help ourselves but start making whispering sounds. Lord of the Rings just has that kind of impact on us :D



The Eagles are coming!

nearly a month has gone by

and I've been very quiet on the blog front. well, not 100% quiet. I have blogged on my crochet blog.

our every day has been pretty ho-hum. I guess you could say that. but this week has had some excitement, though I haven't got any pictures documenting most of it and I guess that's probably for the best.

1. getting ready for church on Sunday Ronan mentioned that his mouth hurt. upon inspection we found he had many sores in his mouth. I checked the other kids and Connor and Emma also had the same sores! so instead of church for one of the first Sundays we could make it in MONTHS, I took three little kids to the doctor while my poor husband was miserable at home with a migraine. :(


2. we discovered a poor little bunny in our yard that had been severely injured and there was no hope for the poor animal. I couldn't stand it's suffering and I was the only grown up around. I'm not about to give that awful task to my children and I didn't want them to see what I had to do so I took the poor thing away in the car, far enough so the kids wouldn't have to see.
my heart still breaks

3. my nephews were over goofing around with Timothy near the lake. soon they came in and I hear "Abby, come and see what Matthew caught". it was a young wood duck. she didn't have her adult wing feathers yet. but she was not doing well. she wasn't even trying to struggle away.
she had swallowed something that was too hard and too big and it was caught in her throat.
I didn't expect her to recover. but I think that maybe God knew that after that baby rabbit I needed something happy.
she did get better and I'm so happy she did. what ever it was that was ailing her passed enough for her to realize what was going on around her and she started flapping and struggling to get away from us giants. :D
now she is back at the lake living how she was intended to live.

4. Yesterday morning Erica came to get me because Artemis was sick. I went out and checked him. he didn't want to get up and he was kind of drooling. he had something caught in his throat. What in the world! the side of his face was also swollen. I went in and talked with my sister about possible treatments and after I was decided on a course of action I went to get him and he had vanished. I spent the rest of the day worried about him. (odd since I railed against keeping him in the first place - but not odd because I tend to be compassionate)
I worried and worried and wondered about him the rest of the day. I tried to figure what he might have eaten. I thought maybe he was stung by a bee or wasp. I thought maybe he was chasing fireflies the night before.
this morning I went to check on him and feed him. he was back to normal. but I had noticed that there was something quite gross on the sidewalk. upon further inspection I realized that my theory about the fireflies was correct.
his face is still a bit puffy, but he is behaving normally and that is a relief.


what a week!