Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Riding Lessons


This week we had the last of our riding lessons, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. Leaving the barn yesterday, I felt so sad leaving all the horses behind. We've come to know several of the personalities at the barn, and the thought of not having any horses in our lif made me feel very melancholy.



Our plan is to go back for another round of lessons in January when we'll have a little more free time. The lessons are expensive enough (paying anything four times can get expensive!) that we don't want to pay for another session when we'll be gone much of December. In the meantime, we'll enjoy some time off and continue to read and learn about horses as we get our barn and property ready.



The long-term goal is to purchase a family horse of our own, and we've really received loads of help on that front. We have our eyes out, waiting for just the right beast to come into our lives. This spring, I'll be taking a horse ownership class down at a rescue organization called the Ranger Foundation, and we'll open a space in our hearts for a new old horse.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Lifecycle of Black Swallowtail

One of our favorite things to do in the summertime is to bring a caterpillar into the house to observe. We used to make butterfly houses out of tulle, but now, we just let them free within the house. The larva is happy to stay where the food is!





When it's ready, it simply crawls around a little bit until it finds a suitable place to attach and begin forming the chrysallis.










When the butterfly emerges, it needs some time to dry its wings, which is usually long enough for us to find it for release.