London Bridge Is Falling Down, Animal Habitat Frogs

One of the things I have really put off with Caitlin, as part of her kindgarten curriculum, is nursery rhymes. I really don't care for nursery rhymes, so I have been putting it off. All this week, since we are on vacation, I am compiling nursery rhyme videos for when we start again. The first one is London Bridge is Falling Down. Also, Caitlin has finished her animal book, so now she will start to learn about their habitats. The first one on the list is frogs. Of course frogs live in many habitats, and ecosystems, so watch the video below to learn some more about frogs, and their habitats. Have fun, and have a great Sunday.

Another Snake Story

Anyone who knows me, knows I am petrified of snakes. The snake pictured is an Eastern Indigo snake, and it was the snake that was on my porch last fall. I wanted my husband to kill it, but I am glad he did not because it is endangered. I will not lie when I say I was glad to see it move on to somewhere else, it was a really big snake. So I went the whole winter with no snakes, not a surprise since they hibernate. The other day, my husband, and I were standing on the front porch looking at all the water from the rain. I heard a strange noise. From watching tons of animal planet shows, the noise sounded kind of familiar. I said to my husband, do you hear that, it sounds like a baby alligator. Of course as soon as I said it, I was already thinking how fast can I put the house on the market. Well come to find out other creatures make that some distinctive noise, when they are in distress. As I was looking up at my garage, there is a very small hole, and trying to squeeze out of that small hole, was a very fat frog. I said to my husband, look at that crazy frog, trying to squeeze out of that little hole. Well it did squeeze out, and it was what was making that distinctive noise. Then it looked like its leg was stuck, and it was struggling to get free. I said OMG it is not stuck, a snake is trying to eat it. Now I can tell you my heart was racing, for sure, and my brain as I was thinking how I really hate snakes, and what am I going to do, another snake, and this one in the garage roof. Agh I wanted to run, what good would that do, right. So instead I watched. The poor frog did get away, and fell kerplunk right down into the bushes. I waited with my weapon of choice, my broom to see if the snake would let himself fall to get his very fat dinner. He did not, and I do not think it was an Indigo. It was real small, and appeared to be a garden snake, but why was he up on the roof? I really can not take it, I am constantly looking for them. When I went out to take out the garbage, I swear it was looking out of that hole at me, taunting me. LOL I know that is not possible, but I am just a tad paranoid now. I mean I grew up in rattlesnake country, in NY, and in all my 35 years there, I saw maybe two snakes. I have lived here in this house, two years, and I have seen two, with one on the neighbors porch. We live in town, and I find it strange for them to be here. Well there is my horror story for this month, and I hope the last. They really can just move on to somewhere else. I am sure there are snake lovers somewhere, but it is not me.

Lesson Plans for 5/18/09:

Reading: Read pages 160-180 Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
Math: Graphs, multiplication, division
Arts and crafts- drawing
Music- karaoke machine

Some Of The Critters You Can Find In Our Yard

Anyone, who has ever lived in Florida, or any tropical climate, knows the critters can be large and many. These are just some of the criiters we have photographed living in our yard. There is the really large frog, that was sitting right on my front door. Then the lizard, that is at least 4 inches long, which yes to me is large. He must be the big daddy, because I have not seen any larger than him. We have lots of these little lizards running around our yard. Did you see that huge grasshopper. That thing is at least 6-7 inches long, and was just hanging out on the back porch screen, like he owned the place. We have a pair of these, a male and female, and they have the prettiest pink wings. Then there is my crazy dog, Krypto, who thinks the yard is his domain, Ha I think all these critters would beg to differ. He barks and chases them, but they return. The last picture is of my front yard, after a heavy afternoon thunderstorm. It was taken from my front porch, and we are quite a ways back from the road. Welcome to summertime in Florida. I tried to get a picture of the snake, but he hasnt returned thank goodness, and the very large spiders that I scare away as much as possible. I honestly cant believe, how big the spiders are here. Where do you live? What kind of critters can you find in your yard?