Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Backyard Fun

I was able to spend some time with the boys today, after they came home from school. We found this big skink, about 8"-9". This isn't the first one we've found, or the first one that I've blogged about--I guess the backyard is a welcoming skink habitat. Here's a pretty good shot.





I came in a little closer, trying not to scare it away.





A little closer still.


This guy's had a tough go of it--notice the scars on his head and back, and it looks like a fairly new tail. Moving in for the big-time closeup, and . . .



Yeah, he split pretty fast, made me jump. Up the tree he went. You can just make him out, center of the picture, left side of the trunk.



I saw a lot of other wildlife. Here's two of the boys, digging in the ground for bugs. They get that honestly, I suppose.



2 comments:

  1. the most I come across outside lately is the crazy (all to big) bees. almost makes me want to forfeit my trek outside and return in doors. I hope the boys were able to dig up some fun bugs....I think I prefer my niece's idea; she had me helping her pick budding flowers, petals and leaf to press in a book. I'm not sure that would have worked well with bugs.

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    1. Pressing flowers and leaves is a fine pastime. I don't know if I should confess to this, since it is pretty cruel, but when I was in school (3rd grade, I think), I would take a rubber band, snip it to make a straight piece of rubber, then use it as a kind of zapper to kill flies in the classroom. Then (this is the pertinent part) I would take the dead flies and tape them underneath a strip of Scotch tape in the inside front cover of my grammar book. I even drew little tombstones with inscriptions for each fallen fly. It was good for grossing out the girls, if for nothing else. So, I guess you CAN press bugs!

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