Spring Pt. II

We (re)visited Raccoon River Park Friday to present a geocaching class. Before we headed to the soccer side of the park, we went to the nature lodge to pick up our reserved "Life in a Pond" Park Pack. This is a backpack filled with picture books, identification books, games, magnifiers, etc. for different ages. The naturalist was very friendly and let us into the classroom to see all the animals living at the lodge.

My kids played in the nearby marsh, ready to collect anything that crossed their paths, clad in rubber boots and armed with seining nets and tubs. They came back with a chorus frog and a small snake. We have now come full circle -- hearing some frogs two and three weeks ago, seeing (bullfrog) tadpoles in various stages at the Reiman Gardens one week ago, and now catching a frog to view up close. We really like _The Salamanders and Frogs of Iowa_ and an audio cassette of frog calls from our Park Pack to help us learn more about the animals we're discovering.

The families who met us at the park for class added to our animal count: an owl, a red-sided garter snake, Canadian geese, and mallards. And Cole and Gabe loved that people had trouble finding the container (HS4) that they hid in the rocks.

Free Stuff

I am all about free. This entry is about free (educational) stuff. This morning, my youngest and I went to the Polk County ISU Extension Office to get our area's gps kit for Friday's geocaching class. (The class is over-full, but we like home school parties.) We are using this kit free of charge, and it includes (from the extension website):

The kit includes the following:

*10 Garmin eTrex GPS Systems

*10 Brunton Compass

*10 Bullseye Compass

*Video “The ABC’s of Compass & Map”

*CD of Brunton Navigation Curriculum

*MapTech Software (Topographic Maps)

*Overhead Teaching Compass

*Brunton Navigation & Mapping Activities

*CD that includes: GPS Activities, GPS References, and Compass Activities

Cost of the Ready to Navigate with GPS! Kit is $1700.

Pretty jazzed about it all. Except that our thumbs hurt from entering the coords in to all the units. And one of the units has a bad crack in the glass.

I also received two identical kits from the Heartland AEA 11 office. I love the envelope of extra batteries that Heartland supplied. I was wondering what I should do if any batteries wore out. That almost evens out the difficulty that I have in working with Heartland and their resources.

So I have 30 gps receivers (gps-r's) at my house. I thought that I would have 2 gps-r's from Heartland, not 2 kits with ten units apiece. I think the Heartland AEA contact thought the same thing. The gal there told me that if I needed more gps-r's that I should "call the Extension, because they have ten identical units to ours, and it sounds like you need more than the two that we can supply." Can you imagine anyone carrying a large suitcase for only one gps-r? (thinking now of bomb-toting bad guys) Can you picture me carrying ten of those suitcases around?

Anyway, while I was waiting to talk with the Extension gal, I happened to pick up a brochure entitled Teaching Kits, Check Them Out! The brochure lists many kits with a large variety of topics for different ages, containing equipment, curricula, games, etc., either free or $1/week. I learned that anyone can check these kits out -- you do not need to be a 4-H leader (my former misconception). At Heartland, usage is very restricted, so the Extension may become my new BFF for learning about non-nature topics. For nature, I like the city (love that West Des Moines has a two week check-out period) and County Conservation Board's Park Packs. Free and fun stuff!!!

Moral of the story: if you need many gps-r's, you do not need to beg your friends and run around town collecting all of them. Just call your local Extension office. The people at our office were friendly and they want to see us use all of their stuff. Free stuff.

Testing my photograph

The kids and I recently had my two nephews out exploring and geocaching with us. We saw this colony of cliff swallow nests, along with nests of other birds, under a bridge in Des Moines, near GC101RF, How Can That Be Magnetic? Cliff swallows are here during the summer. Their relative, the barn swallow, also makes a nest of mud, but it has a cup shape that is open on top and mixed with grass. You can see one here, and under the same bridge as these jug or gourd shaped nests. Barn swallow nests are not colonial and I think they look messier because of the grass. I have found barn swallow nests near each other, maybe two or three in one area and not nearly touching like these cliff swallow nests. Since the birds had not come back when I took this photo, we were able to explore a quiet and poop-less area. >snicker< Is it OK to say the word poop?

Spring arrives

How do I know that spring is here? Well, Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines is LOUD. That is, the call of chorus frogs is almost deafening.

The girls and I went to confirm our waypoints for an upcoming geocaching class -- we're presenting the class -- and in the parking lot, we hear constant, short creaking noises. The noise is pitched and paced somewhat like a cricket, and shorter than a bull frog croak. The closer you get to the marsh behind the parking lot, the louder the noise. A county naturalist explained it as running your thumb over a comb, and I would say that is pretty close.

After checking the waypoints (business first, of course), we explore the marsh. Without the right footwear, we give up. It was frustrating. If we were at Engeldinger Marsh, I would not hesitate to go barefoot. Here is photo from Engeldinger -- "the only marsh I [Cole] ever liked." However, the trash level at this park is rather high. I fear broken glass and metal. I've seen this marsh when it is dry. Now, to find some hip waders for rent....

On a high note, all three of us girls saw something odd on our way out of the marsh. Alex thought it looked like a strange, swollen brain. I thought it looked like a weird, yellow, plastic box. Only Ella was curious enough to call me to investigate. When she asked about it, I flipped it over with a stick. It was an old turtle shell! Later identified as an Eastern box turtle, Gabe affirmed his little sister, "That is a good find." It now resides on our front porch in our display area.

Why am I here?

I started this blog because my husband thought that I should have one. Evidently he has thought this for some time. Most recently, I was told that my life on the web seems to have untapped value, what with all the crafting and event production in my life. Where did that thought come from?

I had no idea how and when he started thinking about me having a blog. When Scotty and Fiddy, two cool Canadian guys, were here, Matt asked them what they used to keep their website up to date. "Blogger," Fiddy said. I thought maybe Matt wanted to have a blog. He said that he wasn't going to blog, but that I ought to have a blog. I had no desire at the time. I didn't even want to ask Scotty and Fiddy about their website.


Matt just mentioned again this month, March 2007, that I ought to have a blog. We'll see what happens. I may find a direction for this untapped potential (my life) as I grow up.