Bullfrogs and Butterflies

For those of you who were wondering, our little family is still having fun with our collection of wild animals. We don't have quite as many as we used to, but it's the circle of life, right? Sort of.

Rodie the Spiny Lizard is still as feisty as ever. I think he's figured out that I take the lid off the cage to throw insects in there for him to eat. When he sees me coming, he scurries up onto his branch and gets close to the top. Any day now there may be an escape attempt. About a week ago I had a dream that our darling pet had grown to the size of a baby crocodile, gotten out of his cage, and was attacking me and biting my arm. I still haven't worked up the courage to try cleaning the cage. 

There have been no recent sightings of either of the frogs, or of the gecko we caught last week. Oh well.

Croagie the Toad spends his days completely buried in the wood chips. Is that normal for a toad? At night he crawls into the water dish.

Cannibal the Tadpole is doing well. Now that he's run out of siblings to eat, he nibbles on bits of turkey we feed him. This week he sprouted legs!

We have a 50% success rate on caterpillars. Caterpillar #1, as previously mentioned, turned black and died. Caterpillar #2 recently hatched from his cocoon! We contemplated feeding him to Rodie, but Madi wouldn't have that. We set him free out the front door. Caterpillar #3 hung upside down from the lid of the jar and gave up on life. Caterpillar #4 is currently incubating in a pretty green-with-gold-specks cocoon, so hopefully we'll have another butterfly in a few days.

Anybody remember this song?  ;-)

Madiquotes

Just some things Madi's said lately...

"My Daddy knows EVERYTHING!"

"Wow! You look like YOU'RE about to get married!" 

(when i got dressed up to go to a friend's wedding)

*disgustedly* "He looks like a girl. He has long hair like Belle." 

(when the Beast turned into the Prince)

*nose wrinkled up* "It smells like the nail polish place in here." 

(walking into Al's Formal Wear)

"Um...Ruth? Do you know HOW to drive Daddy's truck?"

(yes, I do know how to drive the truck!)

"I never knew caterpillar poop was so...nasty."

"Daddy, you wanna snuggle on the couch?"

(now, who can say no to that?)

Pixie in the Bluebonnets

It happens every spring. You can see it on the sides of highways and in fields and pastures everywhere. Parents all over Central Texas dress their children in white, drag them to meadows of bluebonnets, and coax angelic smiles from them for the cameras.

This year, I joined the ranks. Of course, Madi was more than willing to get dolled up and have a photo shoot. And somewhere in the midst of all those flowers, she happened upon a patch of faerie dust and sprouted wings! ;-)

Recent Additions

We were married for almost two weeks before our family started growing.

One evening about a week and a half ago, my darling husband burst through the front door when he got home from work. He was so excited he was almost jumping up and down. “Honey! Get me some cups or something. There’s a huge horny toad outside – I’m gonna catch it!” A second later he was gone again, taking two plastic cups with him and leaving me scratching my head. Before long he returned with a six-inch lizard caught in the cups. We transferred the feisty little guy to a glass bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and proudly carried him with us to Bible study where we showed him off to our friends.

I thought perhaps we would keep the lizard for a day or two, then release him back into the wild. But after four days we’d grown rather fond of the little reptile. He was still in the bowl, having had nothing to eat or drink, so I went to a pet store, bought him a more appropriate home, and we made a family decision to give him to Madi as a pet. After some preliminary research on Google and Wikipedia, I discovered that the lizard was not, in fact, the famous Texas Horned Lizard (aka “Horny Toad”), but a Texas Spiny Lizard. I know, I know…I was homeschooled. I might also have gone to the library and checked out some books about lizards and frogs.

Madi was ecstatic. She dubbed our new addition “Rodie,” and happily helped set up a terrarium for him in her room, complete with basking lights and wood chips. That night we went on a family excursion down to the trail near our apartments, to find rocks and branches for Rodie to climb on. While exploring, the three of us ended up down by a creek bank, catching frogs and crickets and having a lovely muddy time. The next day Madi and I went back to the creek after school and caught a caterpillar and some tadpoles. We soon had a menagerie in Madi’s room, containing one Texas Spiny Lizard, one American Toad, two frogs, seven tadpoles, and a caterpillar.

I’m not sure if we still have the frogs…I haven’t seen them in a couple of days. The caterpillar turned black and died, so we got two more to replace him. One of them has since made his cocoon, so hopefully we’ll have a butterfly soon. Six of the tadpoles have disappeared. I’ve named the remaining tadpole “Cannibal.” The toad and lizard are hanging in there, munching away on June bugs, moths, and crickets that we feed them.

Now I have to figure out a way to clean the cage without everyone escaping. Any suggestions?

The Adventures Begin

Once upon a chilly December evening, a plane landed at the airport in Austin, Texas. It bore a weary, somewhat grubby and crumpled but very excited Traveler who had not set foot on American soil in nearly half a year. Upon disembarking the plane, this Traveler went straight to the ladies’ room, to freshen up as well as could be reasonably expected after sitting in crowded airplanes and busy airports for 48 hours. After changing her clothes and brushing her teeth, and wondering to herself, “will he still love me as much as he did before I left?” the Traveler hurried downstairs to baggage claim, to find out the answer to her question. Silly girl, to wonder such a thing! A few minutes later she was running into the arms of a Wonderful Man who had waited patiently and faithfully for her for six months.

One month and an extensive, day-long scavenger hunt later, the Traveler found herself at the edge of a creek, surrounded by candlelight and music. She was smiling down at that Wonderful Man, who was on one knee and holding up a beautiful ring. Of course she said yes!

After three more months, invitations had been sent, dresses had been bought, and food had been prepared. On a perfectly beautiful spring afternoon, groomsmen cut lightening bolts into their beards and strapped buck-knives to their belts, bridesmaids carried bouquets of daisies and wore black dresses, and the Wonderful Man’s daughter meticulously dropped rose petals down a brick path leading to a gazebo. Then the Traveler’s father walked her to that gazebo where the Wonderful Man was waiting, and she made one of the best decisions of her entire life.

And so begin the adventures of the Smith Family!