The Logic of a Four Year Old

A conversation with Theodore when he was four years old.

Theodore contemplating the mysteries of life.

Mammals have hair, right? 

So, does that mean that bald people are reptiles?

Three Year Old Pickles

Are you familiar with Food Waste Friday, started by the FrugalGirl? It encourages people to post pictures of the food they let go to waste. The idea is to make you more aware of what happens to the food in your house. I was intrigued with the idea, so I thought Ward, the boys, and I would give it a try.

We started by looking in our refrigerator. As I had anticipated, we didn't find much spoiled food. However, we did find a lot of food that nobody had any intentions of eating. We found eight Clementines from Christmas that had dried up inside. Also, there were the three year old pickles that had turned rubbery. Next to them, was a jar of salsa with crusted sauce in the bottom. Unfortunately, the list goes on.

Hot sauce shelf in our newly organized refrigerator.

By the time we had almost filled up our kitchen trash can, I decided that it was too embarrassing to post our waste. When I had checked out other people's pictures, there was a person who found one apple that was starting to shrivel, so she made apple muffins. Theodore said she was just showing off. However, most entries were like that. So maybe, we'll start participating next week when we will have a relatively clean slate to start from—unless we decide to clean out the pantry.

I guess FrugalGirl might be onto something. I don't know if the embarrassment factor is going to get us to waste less food or just hide, but it did get us an organized, clean refrigerator. Thanks to her for that.

Hat Tip: A Place to Reside

A Second Look at Irises 5-26-11

A Second Look around the yard this week found me focusing on the different irises that were in bloom. Because I don't know much about them, I did a bit of reading. I found out that no matter what they're called, most iris are some form of the bearded iris. After that, I got confused with the details. Therefore, I'm naming them by color as you will see. The one thing I do know, is that the word "iris" is used a lot in crossword puzzles (in my experience, anyway) because all of the letters used to spell it are very common.

Pale yellow iris

Yellow-veined iris

Lavender iris

Salmon colored iris

Two-tone purple iris

White iris

Siberian iris

Our Fine Feathered Friends

Recently, for Ward's birthday, we put up a bird feeder, suet feeder, and bird bath. He wanted to become a bird watcher---at least from our windows. We put out expensive seed and suet and waited for the birds to come. Slowly, but surely, they have been finding their way to our gourmet offering.

However, did I mention the whole family is severely lacking in our understanding of birds? Until the new feeder, I was the advanced one because I could identify both a cardinal and a robin. Ward could spot a blue jay, and Wally and Theodore knew a crow when they saw one. That was about the sum total of it. One time, my sister, a long time birder, took me bird watching. While she was saying, "Look at the white on the tip of the bird's wing," I was saying, “Which tree?”

After a couple of weeks of watching, we're very proud of our new knowledge. We can now tell you that house finches are our most frequent visitors, the male cardinal doesn't like sharing, and the feeder REALLY swings when a crow lands on it. We can also tell you that we have both pileated and downy woodpeckers who are enjoying the suet; but neither one seems to resemble Woody Woodpecker. We're still a little confused about all of the little brown and gray birds, but we think we have been visited by a black capped chickadee, a white breasted nuthatch, and a house sparrow.

We've also had the ubiquitous visitor to every bird feeder—the squirrel. So far, the “squirrel proof” feeder is doing it's job, but we are enjoying the squirrel's antics as it tries to eat from the suet feeder in all positions. So far, upside down seems to be the favorite. Perhaps it's trying to copy the woodpeckers.

Who knows what we will see next? Maybe it will be something exotic. I just hope that we will be able to recognize it when it comes.

A Footnote: Special thanks to the boys' Aunt Martha—the bird expert who has been a tremendous help in getting us started.

A Second Look, 5-20-11

A Second Look  around the yard this week found these things.

  

Bearded iris

Honeysuckle--The smell is so sweet. Now if it just wouldn't engulf everything around it.

Sage

Bearded iris

Ground Hog Hole--Front door and back door that is always hidden.

An early blackberry bloom. Or is it black raspberry. I always get them mixed up.