I am tying up a few loose ends around here as I prepare to get back to work. And that includes this blog’s time with Insect Lore. Yep, that’s right, my time with Insect Lore is over for now.
But we have obviously loved all the goodies and creepy crawlies we’ve gotten to know along the way.
Speaking of creepy crawlies, you might remember our window sill full of caterpillars who wound themselves into quiet cocoons. Well, awhile back they did hatch over a flutter filled Sunday afternoon. The next day my family decided to release them all. And we, of course, video taped our fun.
It was truly bittersweet, we had grown used to having them around and watching them change. But, of course, butterflies must fly and a warm Florida Spring offers them the perfect opportunity to do just that.
And in the words of those wonderful Dixie Chicks, “there’s beauty in just letting go.”
Enjoy.
(Oh and p.s. Gotta love my husband’s first comments. “Don’t whack it, it’s not a bug.” Well, I guess not the kind of bug someone would actually want to whack at least… Such a fun family afternoon.)
When I picked my kids up from school a little over a week ago and hollered, “WOOO HOOO Spring Break!!!”, I never expected the turmoil, the insanity, the unexpected turn of events we experienced in the many days following. No way.
So while adrenaline continues to fuel my days and the unexpected has become almost expected, I actually found myself a little spring zen in my backyard yesterday.
This butterfly seemed so taken by my un-mowed clover. And that’s not the sky in the background but the sky’s reflection on our backyard pond. Kind of cool.
Anyway. It seemed the perfect first day of Spring picture to post.
Breathe. Focus. Don’t mind me. Just finding my zen here on my blog.
(My son is doing fantastic, by the way. He was released from the hospital the day after my last post. And while he tackles his brother in the other room, it’s hard to believe he was as sick as he was. So, back to school tomorrow for him…)
Well folks, our babies are growing up! I can’t BELIEVE the difference 2 weeks can make in a caterpillar’s life. They must be 6 or 7 times the size they were when they arrived. And I am also happy to report that we’ve had no caterpillar casualties – all 30 are healthy and viable in their dixie cups.
(Note: These cups are on a window sill that never gets direct sunlight. The Insect Lore directions explain that direct sunlight could kill your caterpillars. So far so good here.)
In fact, as you can see from the caterpillar hanging upside down, some of them are already in position to start crafting their chrysalises!
We’re so proud. I’ll post again once we have an actual chrysalis.
Oh and after winter froze and killed all my butterfly friendly shrubs, I need to get cracking and replant my garden. These guys are going to need a new home soon!
EXCITED.
And nothing yet from our Praying Mantis egg sack. It’s due to hatch soon though so I’ll post once they emerge and chaos ensues as I try and round up and release most of them before they eat each other.
Well, more creatures have come to our home. While our praying mantis egg sack sits quietly waiting to hatch and our few remaining ant hill ants keep burrowing away, we got this Insect Lore package in the mail.
We opened up our package to find well over 30 painted lady caterpillars collected into a small jar. However, the directions noted that we should separate them into small dixie cups right away. Ok then, we had some work to do. So we pulled the folding table out of the garage and into the driveway, invited over the neighbors kids and spent our after school hours gently rehousing caterpillars.
But before I did, I jumped onto the Insect Lore Facebook page. Why? Well, the caterpillar food we had to transfer into the cups too looked suspiciously like peanut butter. And with one kid allergic, I had to ask – so I did. They responded right away and said:
“All butterflies’ larvae eat from unique host plants, so the diet is a ‘smoothie’ of malva, hollyhock and thistle plants – no goober peas involved at all.”
Phew. Good to know. And we were off. My 7 year old did great as he carefully spooned and smooshed the food into the bottom of the cups as instructed. I spent my time carefully picking up caterpillars using an included paintbrush. Before we knew it, we had them all put safely into their new homes.
And I have to say. Those little caterpillars were pretty darn cute.
We passed a handful over to the neighbors who took them home to watch. And then brought the rest of ours indoors and set them up on a ledge which gets no direct sunlight.
So now we wait.
In the meantime, another rather large beast has decided to upstage all of my new creatures. A total diva. Laying there, thinking he’s all that.
Yes, this new addition is sunning himself on a bank off my backyard. But really, this pic is zoomed in. He’s not that big, only three feet or so. Still big or small, we love all beasites around here.
So we got our next Insect Lore item in the mail. I had no idea what it was going to be either. All I saw when I looked down on my front door stoop was a box with this on it.
Come to find out, in 3-6 weeks, we will be hatching a nest of Chinese praying mantises in our home. Yep. You heard me right. When we opened the package, we had an egg sack and a pagoda to house our new creatures.
After some careful construction (and a little McGyvering, I added some small paper edges to keep it from slipping out), our egg sack is resting carefully on it’s hanging platform in the pagoda.
So 3-6 weeks, and we have babies. Of course, the directions said we should release all but one or two or else they will eat each other. This is good news for my garden since they eat pest bugs. However that begs the question, what will our praying mantis eat? And then I read:
“Be prepared to find very small insects such as aphids, fruit flies, small caterpillars, moths, or other soft-bodied insects for them to eat. Your mantis will eat almost any live bug.”
Um. Soft-bodied?
*shiver*
Ok.
But then I also read you can pick up pin-head crickets at a pet store and they like those too. So perfect. I can handle that. I think.
(…visions of escaped crickets all over the back seat of my car and screaming, swatting children and hungry mantises waiting patiently at home…)
In the meantime, our mantis has already been named by my 4 year old. Copernicus. I swear. He picked it. I couldn’t even make that one up.
Until then, the egg sack is quiet in its new home.
A few days ago I took my kids downtown to see the circus parade through the city. The kids were bored, we needed to get out of the house, it was something free to do, so we went.
But I’ll be honest with you. My feelings about the circus are very ambivalent. For obvious reasons, I go back and forth about the benefits of animals being in captivity. And my concerns were there that day at the fringes, much like the small handful of animal protesters scattered here and there during the parade.
However, this post isn’t about getting political about animal captivity. (I think.) It’s really just about elephant love. Because I totally fell back in love with those beasts that day. Oh my heart. I had forgotten how amazing they really are.
With sky scrapers at their rear, we watched them come down Morgan street – all three of us were excited and amazed. It’s really not something you see very often. And suddenly they were right there, rounding the corner in front of us. So massive and lumbering, they were like a dream – slow-motion, mind-blowing, enormous. But I had forgotten how quiet elephants are when they want to be. Because despite their size, their feet only whispered across the pavement. Had I closed my eyes, I’m not sure I would have been convinced they were there at all. A dream.
My boys and I squealed and turned and ran up the sidewalk to meet them in front of the Forum. We rounded the bend, and there they were again – plodding along, quiet. Were they unhappy? I didn’t get that feeling. They seemed passive, going about their business, holding the tail in front of them, hardly concerned it seemed really.
But once they were lead into their secured area, unharnessed, hosed down and then left with a pile of sand, some hay, a few tires and logs – that’s when I saw their joy. They were silent no more. Trumpeting, grumbling their contentment, tossing sand, rubbing their bodies on one another, wrapping their trunks together, rocking, flapping their ears, wet eyes glistening, watching, mouths agape. And that pile of sand, tossed joyfully, it went absolutely everywhere.
So how could I claim to know they were content? I’m no expert but I’ve seen very happy elephants in the wild do all of these things plenty of times. That said, a parking lot in downtown Tampa certainly is NOT the wild. The street sounds, the unfamiliar smells, and pavement, and metal trucks, and various caged animals, and strange humans clicking cameras all around them is nothing at ALL like the wild. But I suppose I took a small bit of comfort knowing that these were domesticated Asian elephants, rather than wild African elephants. And I also reminded myself that these elephants were teaching people to love them. Because how often do any of us get to the wild? So how would we know to care anyway without close encounters like these? For free? In downtown Tampa?
I don’t know.
I’m clearly trying to make myself feel better about enjoying my visit with these beasts. And I was thinking about all of this while my heart swelled with every grumble. They were fantastic. So gentle and loving and funny and silly. These animals are brilliant. And everyone around us laughed and ooohed and clicked their cameras too. We were all desperately, hopelessly in love.
Except for my four year old. Sure, sure, he thought they were “so cool” and “awesome” at first but their grumbles and sand tossing were quickly overwhelmed by hot sun and a little unexpected winter humidity. The whining started and eventually drove me to pack up my camera and lead my boys back to the car.
Oh but they were wonderful. Really. I know, I know, I know they are part of a circus. I know, I read “Water for Elephants”. I know all the bad stuff. And I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey. My guess is, being a high profile circus with lots of attention, that they care for their animals as best as anyone could – under the circumstances. But that is just a guess.
Regardless of all that worry, my heart was with those beasts that day. They are fantastic. Utterly breath-taking. Beautiful. Wonderful. Wise. Kind.
A couple years ago, my oldest son was given an Insect Lore Ant Hill for his birthday. And do you know what I did with it? I immediately gave it away.
You see, ants and I have never been friends. We get fire ants here in Florida. Lots of them. And they bite and leave big welts. And I had some run-ins with some over-sized scary mean ants in Africa as a child. So ants, in abundance, were not something I wanted in my home particularly.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I learned we were getting the same Insect Lore Ant Hill to review here. Being “professional” and all, I sucked it up. I can handle it. I assured myself there was a way to “enjoy” ants while educating my children. Plus, what kind of animal, wildlife lover was I if I couldn’t handle a few ants? Sheesh. So I awaited their arrival. …I was excited! Swear.
We got the Ant Hill first. But then I learned that the ants come separately. In fact if you purchase an Ant Hill, be prepared to send away for your ants with an additional $4.00. In the meantime, you are instructed to set up your Ant Hill and have it ready to go as soon as they arrive.
A week or so later, my ants arrived safely in my mailbox tucked into a puffy envelope. I ignored the heebie jeebies running up and down my spine and ripped it open while my son cowered behind me (I’ve done a nice job protecting him from my ant issues it seems). Luckily, the ants were carefully secured in two tubes. We still had to transfer them into their new digs, however (which we translated as “setting them loose”). Thank goodness for instructions because Insect Lore suggested that we refrigerate the ants for five minutes which will “calm” them. Because these ants bite too. So into my frig they went. Once they were good and “calm”, I popped open the Ant Hill lid, slid the ants inside, and shut it. No ant escapees and we were in business.
To my astonishment, these ants have become my family’s most recent obsession. We are utterly fascinated with their daily progress. They are always busy. We’ve found new tunnels, ants carrying and depositing sand, ants eating and carrying food, interacting, job sharing – it’s all pretty amazing. After school, my son rushes through the door and into the kitchen to see what they’ve done while he’s been gone. I think we all have a new appreciation for ants and all that they do. I never thought I would say this but our Ant Hill is one of the most interesting and educational products we’ve had in our household in a very long time.
One bit of advice, however? Read the instructions carefully. They are very thorough and will help you understand and care for your ants best. The instructions also include some fun activities and facts for your kids so that you can continue to make this project as educational and interesting as possible.
Oh and I almost forgot! As I do with every item I review for Insect Lore, I get to give some away. Insect Lore will send one winner two Ant Hills – one for you and one for your child’s school. Yep, you too can suck up the courage to bring some ants into your home. Because, take it from me, you and your kids will find yourselves more mezmerised by their comings and goings than any all day The Santa Clause movie marathon. As will your child’s class.
Giveaway Rules
What do you need to do? Between now and Monday, December 20th, leave a comment below telling me about how excited you are to share an Ant Hill with your kids. OR you can comment about how fearful you are to bring a bunch of ants into your home but are willing to come to terms with those heebie jeebies for the sake of your children’s educational development. Of course. (I promise, as an ant fearing parent myself, they aren’t so bad!)
A tweet can count as an entry too (maybe something like: “I entered the @MorningsideMom @insectlore Ant Hill #giveaway here because she swears that ants are a good time. http://wp.me/ptpXZ-10N “). Just leave a comment here saying you tweeted.
UPDATE:
Congratulations to Jen and her six year old son! They have won the ant hill giveaway. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have! And thanks to everyone else for your entries. This contest is now closed.
And in the meantime, are you curious to hear what my seven year old thinks of this Ant Hill? Here is a quiet conversation between the two of us while we watch our ants. It’s a little blurry but you can see them hard at work, carrying sand and moving through tunnels. Also, I called this product a “toy” in this video. Upon later review, my son corrected me. “Mom, it’s NOT a toy. It’s ants living in their house.” Right.
Full Disclosure, as always: I am a paid Blog Ambassador for Insect Lore since they do advertise on my site. That being said, my reviews for their products are entirely my own unbiased opinion.
You’ve been searching high and low for the perfect gift. I know you have. Malls, miracle miles, cutesy shops and mega chain stores. Where is the perfect thing I can get my so and so. It’s not easy. It’s infuriating at times. It’s exhausting.
People. You’ve been doing it all wrong.
You’ve been looking to give things. Things! Plastic things and metal things and wind up things and things you throw away and things you pour water on and suddenly cha-cha-cha-CHIA, it’s the pottery that grows!
You have been sighing wistfully at those car commercials – you know, the ones where a car with a red bow is somehow parked in a person’s living room. Oh! What joy!
Things. Things are not the answer. THINGS won’t tell someone how much you really adore their eyebrow wax job and that certain way they eat their Reese’s peanut butter cups by gnawing the edges first.
That is too special.
You need to give something this year that is REAL. Real, people. Something that breaths. And walks. And bahs. And poops. Something that will forever anchor their trust and faith in you as a person, as a socialite, as a humanitarian and as a true super awesome giver person .
For reals.
So forget the car. SUCH a dumb idea. It’s time to tie a big old red ribbon around the most thoughtful, trend-setting, fashion forward gift you could possibly give this year. Ever.
A goat.
Yep, I said a goat.
As in BAAAAHHHHH….
*chews grass*
And not ONLY is a goat a real thing that walks and bahs and poops and would totally impress your kids and freak out your dog BUT according to The Hildago, goats are so crazy hot right now – especially with rock-star extensions. Totally fashion forward. From runway to backyard, a goat would put you on the trend-setting edge of it all. Don’t believe me? Oh but you totally will when you click here…
As Minnie Driver said here, “The Hildago saw it coming. Probably the only one that did.”
Ok, so what is the deal with the goat, really?
I am so very lucky to have the opportunity to offer this unique give-away thanks to Oxfam just in time for the holiday season. You see, if YOU win, you get this goat to give to someone you love. And because we love you and know that shipping and especially handling a goat can be kind of a… well… hassle, we’ll bypass you and your loved one all together and send that goat along to someone who could take care of it the best way possible.
In case you skipped the video (for shame), here is what would happen to your gifted goat. Oxfam distributes goats in countries with need. Why goats? Well, they are fantabulous for so many reasons: they provide milk, food and fertilizer. They also reproduce quickly and work best in countries prone to drought. Also this program specifically donates the goats to women in needy communities since they are the ones raising families and running households with immediate food and resource demands.
Pretty amazing right?
And totally something you have to give that special someone. Like now. You HAVE to get this goat. YOU HAVE TO!
Let’s take a moment to catch our breath. It’s kind of over-whelming. I know.
So here are the give-away contest rules.
1. Enter here by leaving a comment about what this goat could do for your look this 2011. (Or why you like goats. Or just that you like entering. Anything really…)
2. Enter again by commenting that you tweeted this: I entered the trendiest giveaway ever for the gift that keeps on shedding. And bah-ing. http://wp.me/ptpXZ-10e #OxfamHidalgo @morningsidemom
3. Enter again by commenting that you posted a link to this contest on Facebook.
3. Enter as many times as you would like.
4. Winners must be located in the U.S.
5. While this contest is occurring on multiple sites, you may only win once.
The contest begins December 6th and a winner will be selected at random on December 13th.
(Also, for a good time you can follow The Hildago on Twitter here.)
‘Tis the season folks. Charity is cool. Goats are cool. It’s so obvious. So get on board.
Sheesh.
UPDATE! WE HAVE A WINNER!
Congratulations Susan. Enjoy your goat. I hope it is a gift like no other.
Happy Holidays and thanks to everyone for entering this giveaway. Consider checking out everything else they offer at Oxfam. I already have some manure and school books in my Oxfam cart…
(Full disclosure, as always: I have not been paid in any way to create or promote this give-away. I just think goats are cool.)
If you’ve been a reader here awhile you already know I happen to have my own slice of the wild kingdom in my backyard. But if you think this is some kind of complaint, it’s not. Because I love my backyard beasties. I truly do. I consider it value added to my property. Some like a two car garage and vaulted ceilings, well I love watching a heron light on my back pond or a butterfly make its way through my yard.
And while, sure, we even get the big stuff that should make me gather up my children, lock the doors and spray some sort of repellent haphazardly – I don’t. I try to teach my children about what we see and hope they learn what to do when they see it again. Because, no matter how much repellent we could buy or how often we have to call the gator hotline, these beasties live here as much as we do.
Lizards to ladybugs, bring them on.
Now, if you’ve been here awhile you also probably know that I am fairly picky about the sorts of reviews I do. But when they make sense for my blog, and I am supportive of the company behind the product, well, then I’m game.
The company Insect Lore approached me this summer and asked if I would be interested in working for them over the next year. What is Insect Lore? Simply put, they are in the business of bug and animal education. They sell educational toys aimed at teaching kids about insects and outdoor wildlife.
Which is kind of perfect for this beastie loving blog.
So what will I be doing with them? Once a month, Insect Lore will send me and my boys an educational item to review. And once a month, I will post my review here. While I do receive a small compensation as a brand ambassador of sorts, I promise that each review will be 100% honest. So stay tuned for upcoming Insect Lore reviews about cool stuff that we can haul outside and try on our backyard.
Because I heart wildlife. And I heart educational toys that teach kids more about wildlife.
These bug glasses with flip-on compound eyes are pretty fun to play with. And I caught my boys super cute reactions in the vlog posted below, so check it out. Apparently hornets can play some decent baseball.
But quickly, here are my pros and cons:
Pros:
Fun and creative. They are great for make-believe. The kids loved zooming around the yard pretending to be bugs.
Durable. Yes, even though we had three pairs for two boys, we still had a couple skirmishes over who got to wear which pair when. Twice a pair was smashed to the ground and both times they survived unscathed and ready to be buggy for another day.
Optional compound eye piece. I’m glad the compound eyes are something you can try but then flip back for long term wear.
Life like. I think they do a pretty good job of looking like the real things and educating my kids about the faces of each bug type.
Biodegradable Packing Peanuts. I really appreciate this extra eco-friendly addition. And? The kids loved dissolving the packing peanuts in water almost as much as wearing the Buzzerks themselves. Almost.
Cons:
Optional compound eye piece. The kids were iffy on the compound eyes. My 7 year old got the idea and even thought it was cool, but he kept reminding me how “blurry” everything was. My 4 year old did not like the compound eyes at all and still won’t flip them down. I don’t think he believes any bug could see through compound eyes – which is probably an odd concept for him to grasp anyway.
Giveaway Alert!
So, you’ve seen what I have to say and seen what my kids think (watch below), and now you would love a pair for your little beastie. Well, you can have some. And so can your child’s school. Insect Lore will send you two sets of Buzzerks (each set includes the Fire Ant, the Hornet and the Mantis) – one for your family and one for your child’s school.
What do you need to do? Between now and Wednesday, October 27 2010, leave a comment below telling me your favorite animal or bug story. A tweet can count as an entry too, just leave a comment here saying you tweeted.
UPDATE:
Congratulations to Tree who has won the Buzzerks giveaway! I hope your children enjoy them. This contest is now closed.
In the meantime, watch my kids open up and try out Buzzerks in my backyard.
I was sitting in my dining room this morning trying to negotiate a very busy summer schedule and another blogging trip. Deep in concentration, I was still a bit groggy but vaguely keeping one ear open for my four year old playing in the other room.
When something caught my eye.
My husband had just gone out the kitchen door through the garage and was getting something out of his car. So the door was kind of open. And I think that’s how it got in.
A snake.
A LONG snake.
Groggy or not, I could NOT believe my eyes. And I was suddenly very much wide awake.
With wide, slithering arcs, our new visitor was apparently trying to make his way across our kitchen floor. And quickly. And so like any calm, self-sufficient woman, I screamed for my husband to GET in here RIGHT NOW!! Confused, he rushed in – and jumped. I laughed at him jumping only to find myself standing on a dining room chair.
And the snake, even more concerned about being cornered by this new apparent predator jumping at his rear, streaked right for our oven. Under he went.
…What the hell was THAT? My husband and I stared at each other disbelieving.
But we knew we had to get him out. With what, we weren’t sure. But we had to find something, some way, to coax him out of there.
We took a look at him first. And there he was, curled up under our stove trying to get away from his potential predators and the overwhelming heat of the day. The bubble over his head clearly read:
Dude. Be cool. I just want to curl up back here awhile. I mean no harm. So as you were. Nothing to see here.
That wasn’t going to fly. Not with dinners to cook in that very stove and children about and bare feet and who knows WHERE he might wind up next.
I think it was the sudden visual of his slithery silent body making his way up through my sheets and into my bed at night that made me start shaking the oven. Violently.
So, with a fishing pole slashing around the back of the oven and my panicked careful shaking, he cautiously made his way forward. And yes, I laid on the floor with the camera to get a shot. My husband was aggravated. How I could prioritize camera angles over just getting him OUT already? Come on now. But blurry or not, I had to get some shots. HAD TO.
It felt like an hour later, after the trash truck had passed (and scared him back in) and more patient waiting, and calm whispering and much less coaxing, slashing and violent shaking in general. After some still and silence, he seemed ready to emerge.
(I should mention here that my four year old never emerged. He remained deeply engrossed in his play elsewhere. How? With all that noise and stressing and cussing? I have no idea. But he stayed put so phew to that.)
Anyway, so we sat there quietly. An inch at a time he moved forward.
And once he had come out entirely, we stood very slowly.
My husband gently reached out with the fishing pole and used the eyelet of the pole to pull the snake away from the shelving he was heading towards next.
Miraculously, the snake figured out what we were trying to do and saw his escape. He bolted with full arcing speed, and zipped back into the garage. Into a pile of boxes and toys and crap we haven’t organized.
Awesome.
No. I have no idea if he is still out of there.
But he’s not in my house. And in Florida, where snakes move through our lives more frequently than we’d like to admit, I’ll have to settle for a snake in our garage versus a snake in our kitchen.
In retrospect, that snake was cool as hell. No, not poisonous. And certainly not aggressive. Perhaps desperate for a bit of cool shade. As we all are right now. Because it’s damn HOT outside. So I certainly can’t blame a snake for trying. I’m just proud of us for getting him out unharmed and not flipping the frock out too badly.
My only regret? My kitchen floors. That poor guy sped out of here with a dust bunny attached to his head.
Because if unexpected wildlife wandering through my home wasn’t enough to put you off a visit sometime soon, my dirty floors may just be.
So. Cleaner floors. Fewer snakes. More friends. I’ll get right on that.
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