Owl Prowl

Last weekend Jack and I went to the "owl prowl" at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.  This was supposed to happen two weeks ago, but was postponed due to too cold temps.  Dad had plans to go snowboarding on the rescheduled date, so Jack and I learned all about different types of owls, did a variety of owl-related crafts, practiced different owl calls, and then went for a hike to practice outside and listen for return calls from actual owls which we did get to hear.  We also got to dissect and owl pellet, which I had to wait until 8th grade to do, so Jack is way ahead of the game.  

Dissection of the owl pellet.

Bone discovery.  This seems to be a pelvis/hip bone.

 We got this handy-dandy chart to help figure out 

what animal skeleton we were finding in the pellet.

Our best guess was that we had a vole skeleton.  

 Jack's owl mask.

- S.

The Year So Far

This year has been pretty stinky so far.  It has been rife with things such as stopped up sewer pipes, various illnesses, a broken furnace, snowstorms and extreme cold, and the piece de resistance was having to make the decision to put Pewter to sleep.  So, it has been a pretty tough month.  Jack is managing okay and already has plans for a new kitty (see below), but I think we'll be taking a break from pets for a while.

Jack and Pewter in the playroom the morning of the day we took her to the hospital.

Jack brought this picture home from school last week.  Apparently that is me and this is what our new cat will look like.  Please note the new cat is wearing a jet pack, so if anyone knows where to get cat-sized jet packs, let me know.  Or a purple and orange cat with green ears, for that matter.

So, we are trying to regroup and decided to take on a project we've been talking about for a long time, removing the last of the paneling in the house.  Jack was a big help and was pretty good at removing trim with a crowbar.  Maybe next we will see how good he is at scraping the wallpaper which is under the paneling.

Here's hoping things improve going forward and there will be a lot of good things to post!

- S.