Plaster Paw Print

Today I decided to make a plaster print of my dog's paw.

 

My Akita

 I used homemade playdoh to make the mold

 because we didn't have any clay.

 

playdoh mold

 

 

 

finished print 

Wood Borer and some Water Creatures

Yesterday I went to a park with a creek and a lake.

I saw this insect on a tree. I tried to look it up on the Virginia list of Insect Identification. I did not find it but it looked similar to a Spotted Tree Borer or a White Oak Tree Borer.  I looked up Borers and found it also looks similar to the Sculpted Pine Borer.  I will have to keep researching.  I should have taken a picture of the tree it was on. 

We had some nets and some containers.  We filled the containers with some water and then dragged the nets along the still areas of the creek.  We found mainly tadpole and a few types of water insects.  I also found something that looked like a fairy shrimp!

 All the tadpoles were less than an inch and had back legs.  Except one was about 1 1/2" and didn't have legs yet.  Maybe it was a Bull Frog that was made from the water monster by Koluscap in the Micmac legend.

I hope to go to play in the creek again and I will bring my fishing pole.

Tadpole in a Vernal Pool

A vernal pool is a pool of water that forms from rain & snow melting and is mainly there in spring.  They usually dry up in the summer.  

Today "Bob" and I saw a tadpole with front and back legs in a vernal pool on a nature trail.

Eastern Worm Snake

While we were at archery we discovered a tiny snake.

 My mother thought it was a baby but I think it was an Eastern Worm Snake.

It was black with a pink belly. 

My sisters had fun shooting the zombie.

Fowler's Toad

Yesterday my neighbors found a toad in their yard.

Their wading pools were already filled up so we put the toad in the pools.

 We think it is a Fowler's Toad.

 The scientific name is Anaxyrus fowleri.  

Anaxyrus comes from the Greek ἄναξ which means king or leader.

Papier-mâché Shark, Part 3

I finished painting my shark. In real sharks the gills are closer to the eyes.

I am not very happy about the way it turned out.

So I rescued three more cans from the recycling.

I used PicMonkey for the top photo.

It is fun and free!

Triops, Fairy Shrimp, and Snails

Instead of three triops, we had one triops and two fairy shrimp, but the smallest fairy shrimp died.  

Fairy Shrimp swimming

On Friday my mom brought home some free 'nuisance snails' from Petsmart.

They told her that the snails would breed and the Triops would eat the eggs.

But when I put the snails in the Triops started to attack one of the snails.

Triops eating a snail

The Triops shed its carapace at least twice now. 

Triops swimming