We were happy to get 20/100 of rain yesterday. I think it was the first time this year we heard thunder, loud thunder anyway. The children and I were out checking the garden and eating peas when we noticed the black clouds in the SW. We got into the house before it got too close. I love thunderstorms as long as there is not hail in them.

My brother, Michael had called me from The Black Hills yesterday. He always likes to know what the weather is like when he is away. Farmers have so much stress! I had forgotten that this past weekend was the Corvette Rally. He and his wife, Laura go every year and race. He told me that Laura won "Queen of The Hill." That means she was the top woman racer. Then she had to race the top man and won! My brother has won "King of the Hill" for several years. This year he lost the top man spot by one race. It would have been really neat if Michael and Laura would have had to race each other! He didn't sound regretful at all in not winning since he was so proud that Laura did.

This past Sabbath morning as we were getting ready for church Tim told me that Mario, our cat, had killed a weasel right south of the garden. Tim noticed the cat dragging something and thought it looked bigger than a gopher. He was quite surprised to find a big male weasel! We all went out to admire it and tell him he is a good "putty tat." He didn't eat it. Last winter he had killed a smaller one and didn't eat that either. They mustn't taste very good. Here's Mario with the weasel under the trailer.


I'm so happy that my children are interested in nature. Part of what we do in our homeschool is a Nature Notebook. The curriculum we use, My Father's World, strongly encourages lots of outdoor play. As Daniel doesn't like to draw or write much yet it can be a struggle to get anything entered into the notebook. So we haven't done much with it. I think if I would let him take pictures he might get into it more. Now Leah is bubbling with enthusiasm and will draw more than she needs to. It helps me to know that God is the creator and makes each of us the way we are for a reason.

Recently I came across this blogspot, http://handbookofnaturestudy.blospot.com/ , which uses the book "Handbook of Nature Study" that I got at a used book sale years ago. I had always wanted to use the book but was too overwhelmed by it. The lady with the blog site has a new lesson each week. She tells you what pages to read in the book that corresponds with the lesson. I read it and then condense that knowledge for the kids. We then go out and try to find what we are studying about.

Last week we learned about clover. Clover is an amazingly good plant and is so easy to identify. Last night as we were taking our evening walk we saw a big plant. Daniel wondered what it was so I showed him the leaves. He said with a knowing look on his face, "Ohhhh, it's clover." It was a bigger plant than we had previously studied. I love those moments!

On Sabbath while I was doing the dinner dishes I noticed out the window that Daniel was chasing a fledgling. Being the boy that he is he caught it.