Little Brother joins the army

So today I got to see my little brother off to the army.  To say I'm proud of him is an understatement.  Not in the normal way of being proud of him for serving our country (I am), but proud of him for following his dreams.  He has wanted to be a soldier since he was little boy.  As a middle schooler he would sit and watch hours of military history shows.  He has given this much thought and consideration.  I'm so proud that he has cone through many struggles on top and is off to follow his dreams.  May god keep him safe and sound.  I love you little brother.

New Title

So I am back.  I know...I know you missed me.  Well I've decided to start up again with a new name so that I can think about everything I love to think about and not just my nature addiction (although it is still going strong).  So my new focus is everything in my life....yeaaaaa!!!!!  So to explain the new name, let's break it down.  Thoughts ....these are the things inside my head that keep me amused.  Marsh Farm...the name of my new home that is charming and a favorite part of my life.  Please enjoy the musing of my thoughts of a variety of things.

Happy Birthday

In honor of the National Park Service's 96th Birthday this Saturday I thought I would feature a few of my many favorites.  Here is a shot of Catoctin Mountain Park's Brown Farm trail.  It is a nice little trail that gives a good feel of the forest and history of the people that lived there.  Catoctin is such a beautiful place with so many places to truly feel like you are in nature.  It is a good place to get away and find your own nature addiction.

Bad hair day

This is what happens when being a nature addict goes wrong.  To be honest I was hacking down thistle in my pasture when one of them attacked.  It took me about 20 minutes to get them out of my hair.  My family helped me out by laughing at me.   Let's count this as a lesson learned.

Mama wolf spider

I caught this mama wolf spider in the act...of carrying her eggs.  I had heard about this but had never seen it, till now.  What a good mama she is.

The webworm wiggle

This is the webworm wiggle and this is how its done.....no its not the latest dance craze ( although I wish it was).  These are fall webworms found at the National Conservation Training Center on Saturday during my Master Naturalists training.  They were fascinating to watch.  Every few moments they would start vibrating collectively.  I couldn't figure out if there was a reason but it was so addicting to watch.  I wanted to make all passersby stop and stare with me (I didn't, but I wanted to).

Off to work on my wiggle.

Wheel bugs first day at College

Tonight I was at Hood College to do ice breakers with the freshmen on their first day at college.  I get out of the car and look down and here is this awesome creature.  It's a wheel bug!  So of course being the nature addict I am I had to take a closer look.  That's the beautiful thing about being a nature addict, its so easy to find nature anywhere and get a thrill out of it.  It's a beautiful thing.

Fairy town

Giant mushrooms, run for your lives!!!!  Okay perhaps a bit dramatic, but these are still big mushrooms.  I imagine that these are big enough mushrooms to house a fairy town.  If fairies exist this is where I imagine they would hang out.  Okay off to dream of fairy town.

Good Morning Spider

Just an update to the spider and what it looked like this morning :)  Still need to ID it, but what a glorious morning sight.  I'm so addicted to bugs.

Beautiful Web

Can you find it in there?

Owl Prowl at My House

Tonight I went out to my car and hear this beautiful noise coming from what I thought was one of our front trees.  I stood for a few moments and listened.  The call of, what I think was, a barred owl was so clear, that I almost thought it was a person making the call.  It was beautiful.  So I texted my family to come out for an owl prowl and to be silent.  They complied and snuck outside.  It was so great being outside together, listening and looking at this tree.  Then out of a pine tree across the road flew two large shadowy shapes that no one was able to identify.  It felt like a total night time at camp....a wonderfully addicting experience.

So while looking for these owls we found this huge spider.  It's web filled the space between ground and a lower branch of the tree.  It was about 5ft tall and 2.5 feet wide.  It was fantastic.  I also got some good photos for Halloween decorating. What a bootiful night!

Praying Mantis Plays Ball

 Last night while sitting at the ball field watching softball playoffs, one of my team mates found a praying mantis and it totally reminded me that I had these pictures I had taken at my old house.  I watched this praying mantis totally munch on the grasshopper.  It was so epic.  It ate the grasshopper corncob style.  Amazing to watch.

It's moments like these that I absolutely love.  I'm such a bug addict and feel like I've won the lottery when I come on a bug scene that you don't
see everyday.  I can loose myself for hours just watching them do their bug thing.  I've been know to lay in my yard with my camera trained on a bug doing something I find fascinating.  I don't remember being this bug obsessed with bugs as a child but am happy to report that as an adult I am a total bug addict.

Cornelius

Today, I met Cornelius, an albino corn snake that the Great Falls Park rangers use for programs.  He's a very nice snake.  Easy to handle, friendly.  He gives snakes a good name!  Since I didn't get a picture of him a link about corn snakes will have to do.  I'm not a snake addict but I do totally appreciate seeing them and really appreciate friendly ones.  Thanks to Ranger Cheryl for being so enthusiastic about Cornelius and sharing him with us.