Today was Hannah's first orthodontic appointment. They needed to get records, so she had x-rays, photographs, and finally molds of her teeth. She was cheerful through all of it until the molds. The tech surprised her with the cold mucky putty. Hannah immediately teared up. She did NOT like it. Fortunately it didn't take long for the mold to set, so she had some time to recover before they did the upper teeth.

I think she didn't like it because it had a minty scent/taste. She can't stand mint at all. (I get to eat all the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies!)

She cried through the upper teeth mold too, but settled down with a little distraction with a Rainbow Fairies book.

Here's the finished product:

She goes back in a few weeks to get braces on her upper teeth. They'll add the lower braces in a few months.

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We've been raising some caterpillars from our garden. I had been waiting and waiting for them to show up on our parsley, but I never saw them. I figured that the butterflies just missed us this year. Then I decided to clear out the carrot patch, and midway through I discovered a couple dozen caterpillars on the carrot tops! I never grew carrots in the summer before (and won't again--too bitter from the heat), so it didn't occur to me that they were also good nursery for black swallowtail butterflies.

We gave some to friends, and the rest we brought in to grow and transform in an aquarium.

Here is a picture of three chrysalides on a stick. It's interesting that two of them turned brown to match the stick, but the lower one remained green.

Today we had three butterflies emerge! It's so much fun to set them free!

Listen carefully--Hannah whispers to the butterfly, "You're beautiful."

And today I found tiny baby caterpillars on my parsley!! So we'll have another round of caterpillar daycare. (Any locals who would like to have some bugs, just let me know!)

Paradise? I think, yes.

Oak Island, North Carolina

We're having a great time at our beach house!   We've been coming to this same beach town for 14 years, and this particular house for six.  It has everything we need (which mostly is: beach, fridge and beds).    Five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and something like 57 seating options (really!  We counted chairs a couple years ago and it's pure craziness here!).  We are happily lazy with books, good food, sunshine and a nice breeze.

Our excellent friends, Bill, Roxanne, Greer and Shea share the house with us.   We met through La Leche League, when Kate was a toddler and Chris was embryonic...about 19 years ago.  Greer fits right in between Chris and Kate, agewise.   The threesome have had many adventures while growing up.  Shea is 9 and a good friend to Hannah.  

So far the week has gone well.  Chris is up to his usual biologic discoveries...finding the first crab and spotting a skate in a tide pool (a skate is similar to a stingray, but no stinger).  Hannah and Kate have been riding the waves, while James and I tend to anchor in our beach chairs reading.

We had this corn snake visitor on our shuffleboard court, devouring a sparrow!

We have already checked off most of our ritual activities on our beach must-do list:  Putt-Putt (yes, I am the gloating champion), Dairy Queen, puzzle completion, watching The Princess Bride,  board games, lunch on the porch for dripping little girls, and late night walks on the beach.   

I hope it's summertime for you too...

Two Turtle Dogs

Today was a day for creatures. (Above picture is typical of Hannah first thing in the morning. She is a collector and a packer. Note trophy in her bathrobe pocket. For no reason. Ball cap? Why not? Don't forget the doll's ball cap too! Broken necklace? A must have, apparently. A new day, a new combination of junk treasures to bring downstairs.)

Where was I? Oh yes. Creatures.

Our usually barren back yard has come to life.

Hannah found this in the sandbox:



The poor girl! Her only phobia is spiders (and their webs), and she manages to find a Black Widow!


There were three skinks by the door.

And Chris found this colorful box turtle.


At first Hazel didn't care at all...


But then the turtle started running...


And before I knew it, there were two turtle dogs. Sorry no pear tree.

How cool is this? (unless you don't like critters...)

Chris the Nature Boy strikes again! Remember that Praying Mantis a while ago? Well, we left it in the garden and didn't see it again. But last week Hannah and I were clearing out the old plants to ready the soil for the winter. She was yanking out old marigolds and shaking the soil off the roots. The praying mantis fluttered out and sat in the grass.

So we caught it in a critter cage to keep for a day or two, so Chris could see it again. We're pretty sure it's the same one since it was practically on the same plant we put it on in October! But the weather turned cold over the weekend,and we didn't know where to set it free. So we fed it some meal worms. Over the weekend Chris did a little research on mantids, and decided to try to keep her a while. So he set up a terrarium, complete with crickets and meal worms. We were concerned because we didn't see her eat much (we knew she was a she because she has six segments to her abdomen). We misted water near her, and she drank the droplets off the glass walls. It's really cool to see her drink. Her little mandibles just pull the water to her mouth.

But this morning he came to get me to see this:


She was laying an egg case! No wonder she seemed so fat and juicy!


A case can hold 200-800 eggs!! Some mantises die after laying an egg case, but we don't know if this one will. She was so hungry and thirsty this afternoon. That's exactly how I felt after giving birth too! But she is so trim... that's not how it worked for me!

Here she is devouring a meal worm. Ahh...


As Hannah says, "Those are tasty!"

Long Day

Well I suppose is wasn't any longer than the previous 24 hours, but it sure felt like it! There is a long post to be written at some point, covering the salient topics of apnea, hip subluxation, neurology, AAI, AFOs and bad attitude. But this isn't the time! No emergencies. You'll have to be satisfied for now that, for the most part, Hannah is healthy enough. No big surprises, no new medical discoveries after a full 4.5 hours of waiting rooms, examination rooms (ours was cool--hand painted space theme, complete with glow-in-the-dark paint PLUS a black light to see it at maximum glowage!), imaging centers and invoices.

Instead of posting about today's events, I'm going back in time, back to the day of the mushrooms...it ended up being The Day of the Creatures. (Was that just yesterday???)

We have bemoaning the lack of wild life in our yard and neighborhood (aside from invisible deer that eat watermelon). Chris, our resident naturalist, has always had a gift of finding or noticing animals and interesting plants. A walk on a beach might include a casual glance down, with Chris finding a live sand dollar. Or sea turtles hatching. Or a toadfish in the muck. A stroll through the woods will bring a tree frog or an anole. Tadpoles, frogs, insects, reptiles, they all seem to appear when Chris is outside! Even when he was on a Sierra Club trip doing environmental work removing invasive plants in a Florida State Park. The entire team of volunteers canvassed the forest to find an endangered flower specimen. Chris was the one who finally found it.

So, a few weeks ago, he decided he'd go out and Find a Creature. But, apparently our neighborhood is barren. He's always on the lookout, but I think someone tipped off the wildlife. He wanted to find something interesting to show Hannah. He came in without even a bug.

However, the spell has been broken--there really is life in the yard, besides the Japanese Beetles that ate the basil!

This Eastern Fence Lizard was sunning himself on a rock. We kept him overnight with a tasty little grasshopper (who, eluding the lizard, was also happily released this afternoon). He was a young lizard, only about 2 inches long.

Then there was this praying mantis in the garden. He was about six inches long!

So now the animalia have made themselves apparent. We'll see what else comes Chris's way.