Our Great House

"Mom, we have a great house for nature" declared Kurtis yesterday. Considering we live in "town", we almost have our own zoo!

First, we went to check out "our" bunny. He makes his home in our front garden, nestled in behind the bushes. He's quite a tame bunny - although he won't let us get right up to touch him, he does let us get quite close and will sometimes just stay on the front lawn while the kids play nearby. He has a little bunny friend who sometimes comes out and plays in the early evening too. It's quite amazing to see this two rabbits horsing around on the front lawn and then grazing on our weeds. We feed Mr. Bunny carrots, spinach and lettuce leaves to make sure he wants to stay!

Then we observed the birds on our bird feeder. The boys and I set up our birdfeeder together last fall. This spring I picked seeds designed to attract finches, doves and cardinals - and boy, was I successful! Bright yellow finches and beautiful red cardinals... and the occassional dove eating on the ground.

Next, we went to our backyard to check out Mrs. Dove. She has made a nest on the top of our awning (which is retracted right now). Kurtis looks everyday to see if there are babies yet. So far, Mrs. Dove is just demonstrating her devotion to her babies by not moving. Kurtis has placed bird seed and sticks nearby for their convenience but unfortunately Mr. or Mrs. Dove hasn't used either (perhaps I'll move some away today ;) ).

Finally, after playing on our tire swing in the front yard, Kurtis asked for a jar so he could collect the ants climbing all over the tree.. LOOK how many there are! OK, ants maybe don't qualify but to a 7 year old boy, they're fascinating!

Children are such a gift - they open your eyes to the everyday miracles that occur in your own yard!