Backyard Science

Have I ever mentioned the amount of wild life we can find without leaving our property?  Since moving here we have shared the property at various times with a lonely cat (previous owners abandoned the poor thing, I do not care for cats but that is just wrong), deer, fox, rabbits, various birds, a hedgehog looking thing (Alan's knows exactly what it is but I have no clue), a raccoon with a taste for chicken blood, our chickens, a skunk, snakes, mice, rats and toads. There are also of course lots of butterflies, bees, wasps and other assorted insects.

For the most part I enjoy being able to catch glimpses of these animals out the windows but lately the kids have been bringing the creatures even closer to me.  They are catching snakes and toads.  The last toad caught was left terrified after Kieran carried it and ran quickly all over the yard.  Poor thing was making the most pitiful noises before we insisted it was set free.

And the kids seem to be very talented at catching snakes.  Only garter snakes as they have been warned to stay the heck away from the others.  But they don't seem to understand why I am not as excited as they are over the snakes in the jar.  Guess I'm just not as much fun as I used to be.