We've got ducks.

I noticed something splashing around in the pond. Some thing bigger than our usual turtles and black birds.

Turns out it was a duck family. The babies are so..... cute. There were about seven. I think that is a lot for ducks.

I think our little lake is perfect for this type of duck, the red-billed whistling duck. They like shallow water and they eat aquatic vegetation. As you can see from the pictures our lake is full of vegetation. It looks like there is almost no lake left. They also eat insects, snails, larvae, rice, and seeds.

They are usually nocturnal so I was lucky to see them out during the day. The little ducklings were frolicking and playing in the shallow water at the edge of the lake. I guess they were enjoying this cooler weather as much as we were.
I've never heard any ducks quacking and that's because this type of duck, commonly called Wi Chi Chi or Oui Ki Ki, don't quack. They make a high pitched whistle that sounds like their name. Now that I know they are out there, I'm going to be listening for them.

Lazy weekend

This was a very lazy weekend indeed.

I did get the hedge next to the drive way trimmed. It's about six feet high so that's no small feet. VB helped. It's so wide across that I could not reach all the way to the other side of it so.... Our side looks nice and trimmed but the neighbors side is still all shaggy and looks bad. I don't know what the regulations are when it comes to hedges. Am I suppose to trim his side or does he do that? I don't know. But I didn't want to go on his property so that's why his side looks bad.

The green beans I planted out front are doing good. We've got some flowers on them so I expect we will have green beans for dinner in no time. Now I just have to get out there and weed. It's getting to be a little over grown.

Skadoosh

So... It turns out that in our city you are suppose to get a yard sale permit. Oops. So last blog post was all about an illegal yard sale and apparently yard sales are banned on Sundays. Which is why we had such a poor turn out on that day. Oh well. It was kind of fun and next time we will get that permit.

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day. We decided to stay home and have a fire in the back yard and we smoked a pork butt in our little smoker and had pulled pork sandwiches. MMM.... They were so good. Chris makes this dry rub with all these different spices and things then smokes it all day. But he wont tell anyone what it is in his rub that makes it so good. Later that night my Aunt came over and we sat around the fire and chit chatted for the rest of the night. It was a lot of fun.

Reese's was a little concerned about the fire.

Veronica's foot.

So last night we spent about five hours in the ER because, well mostly because I didn't want anyone saying I was a bad mom.

Veronica fell down the stairs at school the day before yesterday. She did the rest of the day at school and walked home. She looked fine, her foot hurt, but she was fine. I didn't see any reason to panic. But... when I got to work, a lady I work with's daughter also fell down the same stairs a couple of days ago. She rushed her to the hospital and they said something about a growth bone that if it gets injured the bones wont ever grow right so...

(when we got home) off to the hospital we went. Plus Veronica was complaining about the bottom of her foot, not her ankle so I thought well maybe... it was a broken bone. I've heard you can break a bone in your foot and you wont even know till years later when it gives you a problem.

As it turns out it was not a broken bone, or a sprain, she was just fine. Just a bruise on the bottom of her foot. Which is what I knew all along. So THththth...to all those people who thought I was a bad mom for not rushing her into a flu infested hospital full of germs and sickness. Thanks a lot.
Also is there really a bone that if you break it your bones wont grow right? My Aunt Patty said she heard it was in your wrist not your foot.

Never Forget 9/11/01

Yard sale

Sunday waiting at the yard sale.

This is what was left.

So we started out I've got some junk I think I'll have a yard sale because I'm so broke. I'm not a big yard saler but I know the general routine. Then..... my aunt who just moved said "I've got so much junk and stuff I've just got to eliminate. How about you sell it at your yard sale." She is a professional yard saler so I knew I would get some good stuff. So OK Now I've got some real stuff to sell. A race car bed, a computer table, some glass things. I'm thinking I'm going to clean up. I almost sold the bed to a lady at work and another wants to come by Friday to preview my junk.

So Friday I sold $5 worth of stuff to my friend. I thought "Wow I'm going to do great."

Saturday I woke up bright and early and started dragging all the stuff out into the drive way. Pretty soon my friend showed up with three big tubs of stuff and said "I was going to give this away do you want to sell it first." So OK now I've got an amazing amount of stuff to sell. Then my mom showed up and she brought me a van full of stuff to sell. Now I've got so much stuff. Before I knew it I had a yard full of people. One guy was kind of funny. He looked at all my stuff and as he was paying me for some of it he says "you've got nothing good here. I this looks like something but it's not. It's all junk." Then he starts rushing me and saying he has more yard sales to get to. Man it must be really stressful to drive around all day looking at peoples junk that they don't want anymore trying to find some thing that's not actually junk. Most of the people were really nice and I was surprised at all the junk that people did buy. We did all right at .05 for most of the items. .25 for cloths. .50 for shoes. We made almost $40. I was excited and no one even made an offer on the bed.

So Sunday We marked the bed down. We marked the computer stand down. I got got up bright and early again. Dragged stuff down. I expected most people would show up after church but I sat there just in case. And I sat there. One lady came by all day. We made three dollars. Now the computer table and the bed have a sign on them that say free. But no one will take them. Oh well. Guess you just have to do yard sales on Saturday. I didn't know that. But we had fun and plan on having another one in November.

Gardens and Hermit crabs.

Garden

We finally got some veggies planted. Not the main garden but some green beans and a tomato in our front planter. Some of our herbs died so we will be replacing them soon. While we were cleaning out the bed and getting it ready to plant this dragon fly kept landing on Veronica. She would shake him off but he kept coming back. Finally he decided to stay on her foot. You can see her toes are all crunched up in this picture because he tickled. I think maybe he liked the color of her toe nail polish.

Me and Veronica made the green bean fence and then Chris came by and said that it wasn't deep enough and pushed the poles down for us. I think it came out pretty good. I hope we get some tasty beans from it.

Hermit Crabs

Veronica's hermit crabs have out grown their shells again. So we had to make a trip to the crabage patch for some new one's. She's taken very good care of them so far. She's had them for about two years now. They live to be 20 to 30 years old. The expert at the crabbage patch told us we will be needing a new tank to keep them in soon because they are getting pretty big. You have to have three time the largest crabs shell size in the depth of the substrate (dirt) in their crabitat (cage). So we will be looking for a 29 inch fish tank soon. She also had to get new water dishes because they have to be able to get inside and fill up their shells. They like salt water and fresh so we had to buy two new dishes.
She loves holding these creepy little creatures and actually thinks they are cute. When her friends come over she enjoys having crab races. The crabs seem to love her just as much because they are thriving.
As soon as the new shells are introduced the crabs check them out. They roll them over and poke their heads inside for a look. Some times they take a test try and then go back to the original shell. It's truly an amazing thing to witness, the choosing process.

Not a lot is really known about these creatures and they have been unsuccessful at breading them in captivity so... I think the more we can learn about them the better and there is no better way to do that than by children observing them. As long as they are given the best possible care. They can not with stand cold temperatures for long and need constant vigilant attention. So that they don't run out of water, salt water, or food. You can learn more about them at the crab patch site. http://www.hermitcrabpatch.com/Keys-To-Hermit-Crab-Survival-a/139.htm

Well, Veronica loves them so I guess that's what matters.