Some Discoveries!!

On our little Japanese Maple we found a bag worm and a Praying Mantis egg sack!
The Praying Mantis egg sack can stay, but the bag worm is definitely going away!
I will blog more about the egg sack through the winter until the lil' Manties finally come out! You see, they will only hatch in warm weather.

The Newspaper Came!

"Newspaper" Paper News! :-)

These are pictures of me making my paper
out of hand-ripped newspaper. Making this
kind of paper was easier than making the lint
paper.

You've Got Mail!! :-)

Got Paper?

Here are directions to make paper out of lint:

You will need:
Container, Lint, Water, Blender, Screen, Basin, Sponge, Sturdy, Cardboard, 2 Towels, Something heavy (I used books)

1. Put the lint in a container with enough warm water to completely cover the lint. Soak the lint for at least 30 minutes.
You can soak it overnight.
We used hot water instead of warm water.
2. Pour the lint and water mixture into a blender. Puree.
3. While the mixture is blending, set up your screen and basin by putting the screen on top of the basin.
4. Pour the blended mixture onto the screen.
5. Spread the lint around. Try to make it as thin as you can.
6. Use your hand to press out some of the excess water.
7. Lay the towel and then cardboard over the lint, and carefully flip the screen over.
8. Remove the screen and press the lint firmly with a dry sponge to remove more excess water.
9. Put the other towel over the lint and set heavy item on top.
10. Leave until dried.
Have fun writing on your lint paper!!!

More ink, less mushroom

Wow! There's not much of the mushrooms left!! Mostly just stem! I have been saving lint in a plastic bag for a long time. When the mushrooms are all ink, I will make paper out of the lint, and write on the paper with a feather that I have! I can't wait!

Mushrooms

Here are some pictures of some mushrooms that Mom found growing in our front and back yard.

These are called Shaggy Ink Mushrooms or Lawyer's Wig. I cut some and put them in a jar to make ink. On the bottom of the jar (bottom picture) you can see the ink that they have made already. Mom is pointing to it. I cut them at around 5:00 p.m. and it made that much ink by 8:40 this morning!
In the top picture, you can see the gills are starting to turn black. Soon, they will turn to ink. Also, look inside the stem. You can see the tiny, thin strings.

This is a picture of two Ink mushrooms that I left in the yard. If you look closely, you can see some black grass around it. It is black from the ink on the mushroom. They say these are edible, but I'm not about to eat one!!! The whole mushroom will turn to ink, stem and all!!! It is said George Washington used ink from this kind of mushroom to sign the constitution.

This is another kind of mushroom we think is called Collybia Butyracea, Butter Top, or Tough Shank. This is edible as well. But we aren't eating these either!

Here are directions and pictures to an experiment I did with mushrooms.

You will need:
A small glass
A kinda flat mushroom
A piece of white paper

1. Place the mushroom gill-side down on the piece of paper.
2. Place the glass over the mushroom.
3. Let the mushroom sit for a few hours. (I let mine sit over night)
4. Remove the glass and mushroom.
5. Lightly spray your print with hair-spray

What it does:
While the mushroom is sitting under the glass, the spores inside of the gills fall off on to the paper. You put the glass over it to block out air. I put a cocktail dish over it instead of a glass because it is smaller. You use the hair-spray to keep the spores from moving.

Here is a picture of how one of mine turned out:

You can use the same mushroom multiple times. I have used mine about 5 times.

I am going to make another post soon. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Perler Bead Mania!!!

Hello! Wow, it's been awhile! Here are some pictures of some crafts I did while not blogging
:-P :-)



This is a travel Checkers game that I made.


My friend Lisa gave me her two fish before she moved, and this is a likeness of my favorite one, Violet.
It glows in the dark!

This is actually an airplane, but I use it as a spinning top. It doesn't glow in the dark.

This is a likeness of the other fish, Watermelon. It also glows in the dark.

This is a snake. The white and pink beads glow in the dark.




Also, here is a poem about leaves that I wrote a few weeks ago:

Leaves

Leaves are very pretty
'Specially in the fall.
When they come down to the ground,
Calling, Calling to all.

"I'm pretty! Pick me up!" They say
"I want to be picked up today!"
So you gather all the pretty ones,
And say "Now what to do for fun?"

You want to make a leaf museum,
And gather all the leaves you can.
You arrange them neatly on a table,
And onlookers look, when they are able.

The leaves turn brown,
It's the end of fall,
They fall to the ground,
But no more do they call.

The trees are bare,
The weather turns cold
Winter has come,
And Fall is of old.
-Ada, Age 12

Catching up

Sorry I haven't been online in a long time.

I gave my two twin beds to Cloppers and I got one of their bunk-bed sets.
:-) I sleep on the top, and I made the bottom into a hide-out. So I have
been reading or doing perler beads, or trying to figure out how to do the
latch-hook Laura gave me on the top bunk, and playing in my hide-out. Or I
play out-side. Plus I have school. So I don't get on the computer that
much. I will probably get on more during the winter, since there won't be
any mushrooms to pick, and pretend to make mushroom casserole or mushroom
soup.

All of my butterflies are headed for or are in Mexico :-)

Weather here is sometimes cold, and sometimes beautiful. It's not cold
enough to turn the heat on, but it probably will be pretty soon.

School is going good, I do most of it in books. Bible: Creation. Math:
Really difficult division. English: The art of listening for details,
History: The earth, Science: Nutrition and the human body.

Maybe I will post some pictures of my room when I get some. :-)

-Ada

All 4 Butterflies!!!

Goliath***************************** Tiny



Monica***********************King George

Now I would like to share with you some of the observations I recorded during my monarch research time.

I had four caterpillars. 1 turned into a chrysalis at night, and the other 3 made their chrysalises in the morning. Goliath was the caterpillar that went into the chrysalis at night, while Tiny, Monica, and King George were the ones that made their chrysalises in the morning. I was able to see Tiny and Monica make their chrysalises, but Goliath was the only butterfly that I saw come out of the chrysalis, in it's entirety. I was able to see Goliath and King George hanging from the lid of the jar before they made their chrysalises. I suppose they are going to head south very soon. I read that they migrate about October to February. The Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains are said to migrate in Florida, Texas, or Mexico. The Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains tend to migrate to California.

Did you know: Not all butterflies that look like Monarch Butterflies are Monarch Butterflies? The Monarch Butterfly advertises that it is poisonous by it's colors. The Viceroy Butterfly has the same colors that say it is poisonous, but it is actually not poisonous. In contrast to the Monarch in the caterpillar and chrysalis stage, the Viceroy is quite... different. When the Viceroy is a caterpillar, it feeds on the leaves of Oak, Poplar, and Willow trees. The caterpillar looks more or less like a twig, brown and worm-like. When it makes the chrysalis, it will wrap a leaf around itself. The chrysalis is also brown, and it will get and fungus-like growth on it that looks like a wart. Yet the result of the process inside of the chrysalis will be as beautiful as the result on the Monarch. The Monarch get's it's poison from feeding on the milkweed plant, but the Viceroy gets no poison at all. The enemies of the Monarch will not eat it, as it knows it is poison, nor will it eat the Viceroy, for, it says it is poison in the same way the Monarch does, though it is not.

Video of "Thing 2"

This is a video of "Thing 2" emerging from his chrysalis.
We decided to change his name to King George. He was a caterpillar for 17 days, in the chrysalis 1o days, and he emerged on the 27th day, which was September 15th. For 7 days his chrysalis remained lime green. Then on the eighth day (24th day of my experiment) , it started turning blue. 65.5 hours later, it was completely clear.

Monica, Our Only Female Monarch Butterfly

Meet Thing #1 as a butterfly, who we now call "Monica".
I raised "Monica" from an egg here in Cumberland County.
She emerged on the 14th of September, just before we went to church. She is 26 days old total. She was 16 days a caterpillar, 10 days a chrysalis, and today... Voila!! Monica the Monarch Butterfly!!! :-) We put some sugar water in a jar lid since we had to leave before she was ready to fly, and we wouldn't be home when her wings were hard and strong enough to take her first flight. When we came home, she was trying to fly through the screen in the sun-room.

Did you know: The expression "Voila!" means "See there!" or "Look there!" There are 2 ways to pronounce it: \wä-ˈlä\, and \vwä-ˈlä\.

Tiny has emerged!!!

Tiny emerged on September 12th.He is a male. Look closely at the pictures to see the dots that show he is a male.He was at least 24 days old when he emerged. Tiny was in the chrysalis stage for 9 days.

This is a picture of Tiny on his first flight. He flew off my finger and landed in the sand when we tried to put him on a flower. We then picked him up and tried again to put him on the flower.

Success! He stayed on the flower this time :-) He stayed there for a few hours. I guess he was drinking lots of nectar so he would have plenty of energy for his long journey to Mexico :-)

Another butterfly should emerge soon!!

This is the left side of Tiny's chrysalis. Notice it is still a little green on top, like Goliath's was.

This is the back of Tiny's chrysalis. He is 23 days old since we found him, and 9 days old in his chrysalis.

This is the right side of Tiny's chrysalis.

This is the front of Tiny's chrysalis.

Tiny is turning blue!

This is Tiny. He is 8 days old in the chrysalis stage. He is 22 days old from when we found him.

In this picture you can see that the chrysalis is turning blue, but he will probably take longer to turn blue then Goliath did, because of the weather.
T

Goliath has Emerged!! :-)

This is Goliath, beginning to emerge from the chrysalis.

He will come out of the chrysalis, up side down, then he will flip right side up.

When he first comes out, his wings are small, soft, and wet. He will pump blood into them, and they will get bigger, but will still be soft. In the sunlight, they will harden and dry.

Now his wings are bigger, and are almost dry. He will hang onto his chrysalis case for about 3 hours. While he is hanging, he coils and uncoils his 2 long proboscises, until they join, and he has only 1. If he does not do this he will not be able to drink. Then he will climb on top of the lid of the jar, and fly.

Did you know: A male has a black dot on each of his back wings, where the female does not?

Did you know: The name chrysalis comes from the Greek word chrysos, which means "gold".