Kevin spots baby birds!

Kevin spotted 3 baby birds in a nest in the crook of this tree during a break at the Weatherby Rest Area on our way to Baker City! It was really neat to look at the baby birds.

 

 

 

 

 

Look close! Can you spot the birds?

OK. Kevin just admitted that he noticed someone else pointing at the birds, so he went to look after they left. Maybe I missed that yesterday in all the excitement of our first photo op of the trip.

Weeping Willow

The first casualty of our remodeling project was the crabapple tree in the front yard. It wasn’t until the week before it had to come down that I realized how nice it was to have shade in the front yard.

Last fall we spent a learned a lot about trees for science. We had a lot of fun identifying trees in our neighborhood. I really learned to love trees and have been really wanting to get a new tree in our front yard. It has been over 2 years since we started our remodeling project and we have had to spend a lot of time finishing up our landscaping. We now have a sprinkler system and grass in the front yard, not very good grass, but grass none the less. The next step was to get a new tree.

When Grandpa Mackley died in April my Mom’s school offered to either send flowers to the funeral, or give her a gift certificate so she could plant something in his honor. My Mom said she wanted to plant a tree at our house, where Grandma could see it, and when we asked Grandma Mackley what kind of a tree she would like she chose a weeping willow. She said Grandpa would have liked a weeping willow. The kids and I were very excited, we also like weeping willows.

My Dad arranged for the tree to be delivered and planted for us. I’m so glad, because I wouldn’t have known the best way to plant a tree.

I’m looking forward to comparing the pictures of the tree and kids now to ones that we will take in the future.

Scavenger Hunt

Today we went on a small nature scavenger hunt. We had to feel somthing smooth, rough and wet, I found a rock for smooth, a pinecone for rough and a walnut that had been in water for wet. I also had to find a seed, the green ball with spikes on has lots of seeds inside

I also had to find a red leaf ,a yellow leaf, a orange leaf, a green leaf, a leaf that had two colors and a leaf falling. I also found a leaf with three colors on it.

Sycamore Tree

We were at the hospital and we were visiting our grandpa at West Valley Hospital. We found this tree. It's a sycamore tree. I thought it was a sweetgum tree because it had a seedball. - Isaac


When we picked a seedball we decided that it wasn't exactly the same as a sweetgum tree, so we had to identify it when we got to a computer. It is most likely a california sycamore or at least some member of the sycamore family.

Mysterious Fruit

We went on a nature study walk and found an interesting tree. We found the prickly balls lying on the ground and had to identify which tree they fell off of. Since it is Fall the leaves had turned yellow and fallen to the ground. We also found a few dried out seed capsules. We didn't take notes to identify the tree by it's leaves, so we identified it by it's fruit. It is a sweetgum tree.

Snowball Bush

It is hard to identify a tree - when it is really a bush. We started our Seasonal Tree Study today with Autumn and each of the kids picked a tree in our yard to observe for a year. Rebecca chose the snowball tree in the yard. It is so beautiful in the spring when it blossoms, unfortunately it is delicate and the blossoms seem to get lost in a rainstorm. Rebecca studied the tree like we have been practicing and came in the house to identify it using the internet. She kept coming up with some sort of a maple, but that didn't seem right. Finally, I said, let's search for snowball tree.

We found out that bush is basically a tree that has many smaller stems rather than a main trunk. We think that it is a Viburnum opulus as described here or here or here, however, we will have to continue observing this bush over the course of the year to be sure. It is a beautiful bush any time of year.

The other kids enjoyed spending time with their trees as well.

Emily and the walnut tree.

Kevin in the walnut tree.

Isaac in the Northern Catalpa

Pine Tree

We have a pine tree in our yard that is giving us difficulties identying it. It has needles in bunches of 3 that are 6 inches in length, but we can't find pine cones. How can you have a pine tree without pine cones? The closest match that I could find was the Loblolly Pine. However, it would make more since that it is a Ponderosa Pine since they are common in Idaho. The ponderosa pines don't produce pinecones until they are 7 years old, and our tree is still a young tree.

We will have to observe the tree year round to observe its flowers before making a conclusive decision.

Challenge 3

Using Our Words - Challenge #2

We started out today's nature study by looking at the research I had done last week on walnuts, and then running outside to check our walnut tree - and to harvest our walnuts. The kids cracked them open and I tasted them. Not great, but ok, more like, not quite ready to eat. They are supposed to dry for two weeks, and then I bet they will be better tasting. This is the first time in 3 years at this house that we have harvested walnuts.

It was a bit chilly outside - and we didn't take the time to dress for the weather so our time outside today was in about 5 minutes intervals, but after we sat wrapped up in blankets we came up with some great words.


R- wind rustling leaves
M - whistling wind
K - tall trees
M - chill in the air
R- soft, green prickly grass
I - hard nuts
R - brown, crunchy weeds
E - Yellow swaying leaves
E - Birds chirping, cold wind
E - leaves swaying
E - cold wind
K - wind, green grass

I'm glad that this is a challenge, and we can keep plugging away at it each week.

Green Challenge #1 Research

We have a large walnut tree in the back yard, we discovered today that the walnuts are falling out of the husks. We picked up a few and I decided I had better find out how to harvest them so that we(I) can enjoy eating them.

I'm just listing the helpful links that I found - that way my kids can explore and learn on their own later this week.

Black or English Walnut?
Black Walnut Tree

Harvesting Walnuts - Harvesting Walnuts


We have another huge tree - it has very long seed pod and gigantic leaves. Grandma Mackley just came in and when I told her what I was doing she asked if I could find out what kind of tree that huge one was with the white blossoms. I don't remember the blossoms, so its a good thing that Grandma does. I found these three great websites for identifying trees. I'm sure that the kids will have fun identifying them later this week.

Identifying Trees #1

Identifying Trees # 2 at Arbor Day Foundation

Identifying Trees # 3

I'm so glad that we have decided to participate in this challenge, I've learned a lot already!

Green Hour Challenges - #1

I found this blog called Handbook Of Nature Study where they host a weekly outdoor hour challenge. I thought that it sounded like fun, I love to be outside, but I often get so wrapped up in cleaning house, taking care of the baby, trying to get stuff done on the computer, etc, etc, that I forget to go OUTSIDE!

I introduced this idea to the kids today, and they thought it was a great idea. I haven't finished the assigned reading (the Mom gets homework, the kids get to have fun) but it was Wednesday (we do science on Wednesday) so we went outside. I didn't get to explore much, I was sitting on the lawn with MaryAnn though. We also can't find the camera, so no pictures today, although the kids really wanted me to take pictures of them in the walnut tree.

Challenge #1

Today's discoveries:
MaryAnn rolled over and discovered the grass.
Rebecca gathered several parts of a walnut tree - a twig, a leaf, a hull, a walnut shell, and broken walnut shells.
Emily found a seed pod off a huge tree in our yard.
Isaac decided that our grapes aren't ripe yet.

To Investigate
Walnut Trees and how to harvest walnuts
Grapes - what kind do we have, when will they be ripe, what to do with them when they are?