Mean Puppies, Inc.: March 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Already!

It was only last Friday we planted our butterfly garden:

And we ALREADY have caterpillars! Well at least one caterpillar :)

It's a monarch.

We went out to see it again later, but couldn't find it. We also have ants on the milkweed, so there is definitely going to be some egg loss to them. But I figure that's why butterflies lay so many eggs - when Rob was doing his PhD research he called it "fecundity" - that is butterflies (and bait fish) have "high fecundity" because most of their offspring never live to be adults.

I think this particular caterpillar might be native to Home Depot since we've only had our garden for 4 1/2 days.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

New Growth

I guess it's spring. I never really feel like we have a spring - it's already summer hot, but still the dry season. But something springlike I've noticed is all the buds budding on my growing number of plants.

My friend Nina gave me this Philodendron Burl Marx, which she has growing in heaps around her house (her lawn is beautifully landscaped). She grew it all from a cutting she got at Fairchild Tropical Garden when she worked there. She gave me a lot of pieces which I planted in the ground. Basically all of it turned yellow and dried up, but now it's sprouting all over...you can also see my weeds sprouting nearby!

Our starfruit tree which we got free from the county at the same time we got the jackfruit tree has started BLOOMING! I noticed it has a huge amount of new growth and then found these tiny flowers unfolding. I don't know if starfruit is next or not.

The jackfruit tree is also sprouting new leaves like crazy. That's the one that grew 8 feet last year and I cut back by 5 feet so it didn't look crazy.

Baby bromeliads! One, two! Love 'em!

This is the Mimosa sprout I posted a picture of before - it's the one that my dad gave me as a seed in Arkansas.

And some re-growth on my poinciana tree.

That's right! My poinciana tree! I have wanted one of these for a long time, they are beautiful and shady and brilliantly red! This one had a little branch on it when I got it, but it lost it while we were at Disney (even though we had a friend watering it). You might be wondering where I got this tree...well I found it!

Hmm, I guess that sounds suspicious. I found it growing on public land in a place where it had no chance of survival.

Ok, I found it growing on a playground UNDERNEATH the playground equipment. It was right under a step and had grown right up to the bottom of the step. I saw it a couple of times before I decided to rescue it. It turned out to have really deep roots and actually there were two, but the other one doesn't seem to be re-growing anything. I think it is pretty curious that it was growing there in the first place.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Stickers and Markers

Today, being the brilliant parenting genius that I am, I let my children play with stickers while I busied myself with other things. They were so quiet and happy playing together that I didn't realize they were sticking all the stickers (multicolored ladybugs and tiny American flags) to the front of the fish aquarium. I ended up having to scrap that off with a drywall knife.

A couple of days ago, while I was cooking supper I let the kids draw with some washable markers. I noticed Caleb run off to the bathroom and when he came out, he looked like this:

When Rob came down for dinner, he asked, "Caleb! What's on your face!?!" "Glasses!" Caleb said proudly. Rob and I exchanged looks and muffled laughs. It hadn't even struck me that it looked like glasses (goggles maybe!) but I thought it was pretty neat how he had made glasses for himself.

It did wash off pretty easily, which is good because he had also decorated both arms and hands and had taught Annalise to do the same.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Discovery Launch

Just some pictures and thoughts from seeing the shuttle launch on Sunday...

Before we went to Orlando, Rob was hoping that they launch would be delayed enough to coincide with our trip to Disney. It was and he contacted our senator's office asking for passes to see the launch from a NASA viewing area rather than a regular public access area - which we could have seen it from Orlando. You can even see it from Miami if they launch is at night. We were put on a list and had to meet up at a mall on Merritt Island.

They put us on buses, which was a real treat for out kids - who were excited not to be in carseats - and especially for Caleb who had been wanting to ride the Disney buses all week.

So we rode the bus onto the NASA grounds and the engineer who was our bus guide was answering questions and one guy way in the back asked, "Isn't this a wildlife preserve?" And the guide said yes it is...and at that exact second a large pink bird rose from the trees on my side of the bus and flew out toward the bus, the guy in the back yelled, "It's a FLAMINGO!" But it was not a flamingo - after all of Rob's wading bird research for his PhD I knew what it was and like some crazy bird lady I shouted out, "IT'S A ROSEATE SPOONBILL!" And it was!

Anyway, back at NASA - we were taken to the Banana Creek viewing site, which is 3-4 miles away from the actual launch site - basically 3 miles is the absolute closest you can get to the launch and see it outside. Even still there were 2 or 3 safety warnings about clouds of hydrochloric acid or debris in the unlikely event of an accident. Everything went off without a hitch.

Annalistronaut

9 minutes and holding

Lift off...

You may be wondering, as I was, if it is so dangerous to be near the shuttle when it launches, are the astronauts the only people actually within 3 miles of the shuttle.

A man sitting behind us answered this question - he said that there are people actually working on the launch pad until near the time of the launch. They wear special suits and ride a zip line down to a tank to get away just in time.

The launch was right at dusk, which made the line of clouds turn all sorts of colors in the sunset.

Pretty cool!

SRB separation. The SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters) are the two narrower white rockets, the big red one is the external fuel tank. The SRBs were visible for several minutes.

Right after the launch they herded everyone back on to all the buses (several hundred people) and back to the mall!

Friday, March 20, 2009

A Little More Disney

We are home recoving from our vacation with Rob's family to Disney World. I say recovering because Rob ended up with a painful case of swimmer's ear and I caught and am still dealing with the worst cold I have had since I the first year I taught first grade...and that's saying something.

Still it was fun, the weather was extremely pleasant, the crowds (until the last two days) were not overwhelming, and the kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins.

One of my not-exactly favorite parts was riding the tram. I do like our tandem stroller, but it did not fit easily into the Disney parking trams. I dreaded having to share a seat with anyone! On one ride the people in front actually offered to hold it for us! I don't know who they are, but they are saints in my book.

We went to Epcot twice - actually the kids and I went twice, Rob had to work the first time.

I was very glad to get to ride the roller coasters this time. (I couldn't last time because I was pregnant with Annalise.) I guess the test track was not exactly a roller coaster, but it was thrilling none-the-less - that's me in the green shirt.

This picture illustrates how difficult it was to take pictures of the kids.

Caleb really liked the Kidcot stops, he likes to color a lot.

Both of the kids liked the fountains!

Caleb meeting some "celebrities".

We went one whole day to Disney Studios and one part of the late afternoon. The kids liked the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. And the Playhouse Disney show. Caleb didn't like the Little Mermaid show very much because it was dark and the Ursula character was kind of frightening.

I rode the Great Movie Ride with the kids by myself which was difficult. But I thought it was a pretty interesting set up. I liked how they included live performers with the audio animatronics.

In New York...ha!

We spent 1 day at Animal Kingdom.

"Tree of Life" - the bug movie where you get stung is under the tree. Sorry if I ruined that for anyone - I wish someone had ruined it for me the first time I saw it.

They had a petting zoo at Animal Kingdom, but I didn't think it was that impressive of a petting zoo - pretty much just sheeps and goats, the other animals you couldn't really pet.

I love this picture of Annalise at the mastedon digging area. It's like - she just has to get all that stuff off of her hands! She likes to clean things.

After a safari ride seeing all sorts of wild African animals and seeing all sorts of other impressive things - at the end of the day Caleb said his favorite thing here was seeing these fish. Nevermind that the fish were sort of live decoration for an otter habitat. The kid likes fish!

I think we did 4 days of the Magic Kingdom. I've already posted a picture of Annalise riding this carousel. This is the one ride we had absolutely 0 wait time.

Caleb at the Toontown play area - I don't know why he suddenly needed to wear his hat backwards.

Swiss Family Treehouse - hi!!!

Annalise really liked the rides - everything. After we rode the Astro Orbiters (which is very high in the air) she signed "more" emphatically, but we couldn't get back on.