Boreal Witch

Sometime last week, I found a small frog in the yard. I showed it to Arthur. He looked at it pretty intently but decided he didn't want to touch it.

Just today, I found another frog under our rhubarb. It was as small as the other one, and may have been the same one. I brought it back to Arthur. He didn't seem all that impressed. I asked him if he wanted to put it in his new bug house that we had built that morning and he said that he did.

It took some quick maneuvering trying to get the frog into the bug house, but in the end, I managed to get him in. Once the frog was in the bug house, Arthur became a bit braver. He held the house and even carried it back to the rhubarb when he was ready to let it go.

He opened the door. The frog hopped furiously to the opening. He leaped through the door and bounced off toward a large rock. Arthur watched him go, laughing with wonder.

Later, I looked up the type of frog: it's called a wood frog. It's only one of two species of frog that lives in Alaska. I certainly didn't know that we even had frogs in Alaska up until a few years ago when Robinson nearly ran one over with the lawn mower. Ever since then, we see them every now and then. They must love our place because we have a big pond in the front yard and everything is always so wet.

It makes me happy to know that Arthur loves being outside and that he loves nature. He gets so excited interacting with the outdoors. I can't wait until he's old enough to really enjoy nature. I hope your family takes advantage of the rest of the summer.

Blessed be.

I've been wanting to use my bike more, but it's difficult because I don't have a way to transport Arthur. I've been trying to decide whether or not I wanted a seat that sits behind mine or if I wanted a trailer to pull behind the bike. I finally decided a trailer because I don't always feel like I'm completely stable on my bike.

I found a bike trailer on Craigslist two weeks ago and bought it. It's not in the best of conditions, but I think it will last for the next few years. It has quite a bit of storage space and it's pretty roomy inside, too.

We had to find a helmet small enough for Arthur and he was not pleased. He did not like wearing the helmet. Contrary to what all parenting books say, Robinson bribed him with a bike horn and told Arthur that he could only use it while he was in the bike trailer. That seemed to convince him that the helmet might be worth wearing after all.

A few days later we went to Pioneer Park by bike. I wanted to see how long it would take me to get there. It took me about a half hour to get to town and another half hour to get to the park. Arthur enjoyed the ride so much that he fell asleep on the way to the park and then again on the way to Robinson's office.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to take the bike out once a week, especially now that Arthur knows what to expect. It's great being able to have a little more freedom and be able to get into town if we really want to.

Blessed be.

Last night as Robinson and I snuggled into bed, he told me that he hoped Arthur would sleep in tomorrow. This boy rarely sleeps in, so I told him that it would be highly unlikely; however, I was pretty certain that I could convince Arthur to let Robinson sleep...by telling him that we were going to pick strawberries.

Sure enough, the next morning, Arthur woke up around 6:30. When I told him that we were going out to pick strawberries, he got excited and didn't put up a fuss when I got his socks and shoes on. We went up the hill, found a nice clump of berries and began picking.

I think he thought that berry picking was going to be easier than it actually was because he kept asking me to help him. I think he had trouble holding his bowl and grabbing onto one of the berry plants at the same time.

It was a good thing we went picking when we did...a few of the strawberries were starting to get mushy. Even though, we were able to pick a fair amount. We'll be using them in a rhubarb and strawberry topping that we'll enjoy tomorrow along with some shortcake and ice cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

I hope you are enjoying the berry season - looks like it might be a good one this year!

Blessed be.

Aunt Joyce is coming to visit in about a month and a half and I am not ready. Well, I'm ready, but the house and yard are not. I'd like to have the place looking somewhat presentable when she comes. Joyce expressed an interest in helping me with yard work, but honestly, I'm a little afraid she'll walk into a patch of weeds and never come out.

Seriously, though, there's nothing like family to get you moving on all those projects you think you don't have time for.

Like, for instance, I've been thinking about building a bird feeder forever. This has been a project about two years in the making. I was tired of hanging milk jugs and mesh bags in my trees (don't get me wrong, I support recycling, but it looks like garbage hanging from the trees), so I decided that I would build an actual bird feeder.

We have tons of scrap wood that the previous owners left behind as well as exterior paint and shingles left over from the mudroom roofing project from last summer, so I figured I wouldn't have a problem with the supply end of the bird feeder. I came up with the design in my head and started to build.

The above picture is the end result. I think it looks great! It's pretty sturdy and looks so much better than the stuff hung in the trees.

This is the first big summertime project that I've finished. I've also got some tire planters I'm working on. Then there's getting gravel for the driveway and weeding. And the firepit. That's the really big project that will hopefully get done before the fall.

Most of all, I'm just happy to be out in the sunshine.

Yesterday morning, Robinson looked out the window and said the one thing we dread all summer long:

"Looks like a moose went through the garden."

And boy, did it ever. It ate all of the cabbage, cauliflower, and kohlrabi. The kohlrabi was the saddest for us because it's such a wonderful summertime treat.

I suppose now we'll be designing some moose-proof garden boxes over the winter and putting them together next summer. We really have been tempting fate (well, tempting the moose) by leaving our boxes unguarded.

After the moose ate most of the garden, I thought about how we humans put all sorts of arbitrary boundaries on things. We kill animals that cross certain lines - lines that they can't even see or begin to understand. It's that way with the garden, too. The moose assumed that it was there for the picking, that like the trees and flowers that it eats already, that it was just another thing Mother Nature had provided it. That moose didn't know that those vegetables were spoken for or that it wasn't "allowed" to eat them. When I put it in perspective, I could digest what had happened a little easier.

We're not going to replace the vegetables that we lost. I planted some spinach today and I replanted Arthur's beans. I don't know if we'll actually be able to harvest beans or spinach, but we'll see.

Keep your garden moose-free!

Blessed be.

For the 4th of July, we went to Chitina to try our hands at dip-netting. Arthur's "Uncle Johnny" came along, too. It was - at times - an exhausting trip, but I think overall we had a good time.

Arthur was pretty excited to be at the Copper River. He had a blast at the camp site throwing rocks into the water, climbing a huge rock pile (so we climbed the big rock pile and held him in our arms), and digging in the silt. I think it was fun for him to be in a different place with different scenery. He didn't want to go to bed...and we probably shouldn't have made him go to bed so early. He wasn't ready to sleep.

When we finally did get him in the tent, he babbled for a bit before he said, "Let me out..." We tried hard not to laugh out loud. Robinson checked on him and it turned out it was a ruse! He completely tricked us! It took him a while to get to bed...we sang so many songs...and then I went to sleep in the car because he kept playing with Blue Doggie. (Apparently, Blue Doggie kept pooping in the tent...bad dog!)

We didn't catch anything, so we went home early. As it turns out, Robinson's boss also went to Chitina this weekend. He caught over 20 fish. We were definitely fishing in the wrong place!

I hope everyone enjoyed their day of independence.

Blessed be.