Wolf Spider

A couple weeks ago, I was walking along in the field and there on the ground was a little hole. I stopped, got a little stick, and poked it down the little hole to see what would come out. I poked for a little while, but nothing would come out. I was about to give up, then a big wolf-spider popped out for one second and darted back into his hole. I poked around in his hole a little harder and the spider came out again, but before it had time to go back into his hole, I blocked it up and caught it.

Wolf spiders have especially good eyesight.  They have eight eyes. They have two big eyes and six little ones. Because of their six eyes, wolf spiders are excellent hunters.  Wolf spiders also have a very good sense of touch.  They can feel when something is coming because they sense vibrations.

A wolf spider mom carries its babies on its back. There can be as many as 200 spiderlings riding on their mother’s back. I think it is amazing that all the spiderlings can hang on and not fall off. Wolf spiders are the only spiders known to carry their babies on their back.

spiders live in all kinds of places and are all different sizes. Did you know that they can be as big as the palm of your hand, or as little as the head of a nail? People once thought that wolf spiders hunted in packs as wolves do. That is how they got their name. I don’t think that is true, but they do hunt at night.

Wolf spiders are one of my top favorite spiders. They are very cool to watch and are amazing hunters.

~Jonah

Ushering In the Autumn Equinox

Wednesday, September 22, 2021, at promptly 2:21pm, the sun crossed the celestial equator and we welcomed autumn to Southern Illinois!  Fall time is always an exciting time here at Providence Prairie!  We've been planning all year and working hard "putting by" for the winter.  We've frozen, canned, dried and stored a plethora of harvested provisions for colder weather. The fall equinox confirms that cooler weather is coming, and winter is on its way.

Our day had a delightful crispness in the air- ideal for welcoming the change of season.  Summer attire was not called for! After cleaning and decorating the house for fall time, we enjoyed a pleasant fire in the evening coolness. 

Ever wonder why some years the autumnal equinox is on one day and another year finds it a day later?  It's due to the difference between our Gregorian calendar year of 365 days and the actual time it takes the sun to circuit the earth of 365 ¼ days.  Each subsequent autumnal equinox falls about six hours later than the one before it. That means we should mark our calendars for 8:21pm for 2022.  It seems like I remember it always falling on the 21st when I was growing up, but after a little research, I was surprised to find that it hasn't happened on the 21st for several millennia.  Since Noah wasn't my contemporary, I don't think it has happened in my lifetime!  But we can look forward to 2092 and 2096 where it will fall on the 21st once again!  I don't think I will see those either!

“Equinox” actually comes from the Latin for equal and night.  It is one of two times each year when day and night are very close to twelve hours each.  The second time each year is of course, the vernal or spring equinox.

It is said that the aurora borealis is more often seen during the equinoxes.  This is due to the geomagnetic activity being twice as likely to take place during these periods.  We're certainly going to be on the lookout.  We've seen the northern lights once before here at Providence Prairie, and it was such a breathtaking experience!  We're certainly going to be scrutinizing the evening skies again!

As Fall time is officially here now, it’s time to pull out those cozy sweaters and comfy fall time clothes to meet the autumn.  The leaves are changing, the goldenrod is in full bloom, the birds are gathering to migrate, and we are ready for whatever God has in store.

~Rhonda

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

We recently had the privilege of going to the St. Louis Cardinals ballgame, and the best part was that they were playing the Cincinnati Reds! 

Being a Reds fan in my youth and since moving to Cardinal country, I've never really been quite sure who to root for. So this game was the best of both worlds.

We went with Ryan and Amanda and children, who are diehard Cards fans. (Ryan has switched Amanda over.) Going together made for interesting interaction, as our group was cheering no matter who made the play or who scored! 

It was also the 20th  anniversary of the bombing of the Twin Towers, which had special meaning for Ryan as St. Louis Christian college was to perform the national anthem on the first game back in Bush Stadium after 9/11. That was twenty years ago that he stood down on the field! The pregame show that we hustled to see was both encouraging and exciting. It was topped off by a flyover from the air force! Right over the top of the stadium, the four jets zoomed, flying in special formation. 

This was the first major league ball game our children still at home have been to and they were all very excited! Everyone dressed the part with red, supporting either side. Isaac was able to wear my old t shirt  sporting my favorite Cincinnati player from the Big Red Machine in the 1970s. He was proud to wear Tony Perez emblazoned across his chest and unabashedly rooted for the Reds.

The Reds and the Cardinals are both vying for the wild card spot and the Reds came out swinging early in the game hitting two home runs and securing a four run lead.  The cardinals battled back, however,  and in the eighth inning they took the lead and went on to win the game. 

It was an exciting and enjoyable game filled with normal baseball park hype and fun.

~Mark

Seeds of Change

We hired our neighbor to plant our fields in corn this year. It was unusual to see the soil turned as the land has been in hay for the past many years. The furrows turning beneath the plow turned a new page here at Providence Prairie.

It has been a joy to watch the seedlings sprout, grow, and flourish. Early summer saw the tassels form and brought the excitement of a helicopter spraying the crop. The ears soon followed. 

As September has arrived, the crop has turned its golden hue in preparation for the harvest. Somehow, it's exciting, yet melancholy. Those two feelings aren't typical bedfellows, it would seem. Yet, I find myself experiencing both.

Summer is quickly coming to a close. That gives me pause. I love the autumn months, but inevitably, time past is never retrieved. John Wooden once said, "Without proper self-evaluation, failure is inevitable." As each season comes to a close, we take the time to reflect, reorient and move forward. The possibilities that the future holds are always exciting, yet the door closed on recent time feels somewhat nostalgic.

Nevertheless, whether it's actual seeds or seeds of change, it's amazing to think that tiny little seedlings took root, grew, and are now ready to harvest a crop of a hundredfold!

~Rhonda

Horses Make Me Glad

We used to have a horse named Dolly. I would ride her everywhere.  That made me happy. But last winter she died. That was very sad.

We have more horses, but they are actually miniature mules, and they buck.

We have big horses too. One is a girl. Her name is Lady. She can’t see out of one eye very well. I can’t ride Lady because her saddle is broken.

The other big mule is named Spanky. He is a boy. I like to ride him, but I always ride him with someone, because his buck can really throw me off. When I rode Spanky I was excited. He was MUCH bigger than a miniature horse, and he took way bigger steps. One time Jayla and I went on a ride through the woods with Spanky. We both got scratched up!

Our horses like to play fight. They run all around the pen. I like to watch them play.

Jayla taught the horses some tricks, like bow, shake, and smile. I can make Spanky smile with a little bit of grain. They love grain a bunch. That makes me smile.

~Unique

 

Critter Corner

We have a place on our porch called Critter Corner. Critter Corner is where we keep all kinds of snakes, mice, frogs, toads, fish, water bugs, insects, lizards, turtles, and salamanders! Just a few weeks ago, I caught a big rat snake that was in our old apple tree stump! I took the snake to Critter Corner, and he lived there for two weeks! Then after two weeks, I let him go.

We like to catch and keep animals on Critter Corner, because it is fun to watch them eat and grow. Right now, we have on Critter Corner two salamanders, three full grown mice, four baby mice, two Monarch caterpillars, and a few big wolf spiders.

 We first started Critter Corner, a few years ago when we started catching toads, frogs, and small insects. After we caught the insects or frogs, we kept them in a small container on the porch for a few days, feeding them until we were ready to let them go. But when we started to catch snakes, turtles, and lizards, we began to have problems. These reptiles were a lot bigger than the small frogs and toads we had been keeping, and if we were going keep them, we needed bigger containers. We looked everywhere for bigger containers, in the milking parlor, in the barn, and in the shop.

Finally, we looked under the porch, and there with a few other things was a terrarium! We carefully pulled out the terrarium and cleaned it up. After cleaning up the terrarium, Dad said we could have some old plastic shelves! We put the shelves on the porch and put the containers with the animals on them, and Critter Corner was created!

After that, we filled up Critter Corner with all kinds of mammals, insects, and reptiles. We all like Critter Corner and are very sad when fall comes and we must let all the animals go. Critter Corner always looks so sad with no animals on it, but every summer it is filled back up with the wild animals of Providence Prairie.

GENESIS 1:24 says: Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: Cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

I am so thankful that God created land creatures, the fish, and the birds. I am also thankful God created man to enjoy his wonderful creation. I sure do, do you?

~Samuel

Stick and Leaf Houses

Last summer, Jonah, Samuel, Unique, and I each made our own stick and leaf house that we could go into. We started building them behind the house, but Dad said to build them in the playground because it would be more fun. We had to gather lots of leaves and lots of sticks. We needed lots of branches and string. I built mine like a tent. I was excited! I made the structure out of sticks and then I put leaves on it.

We got a garbage bag and stuffed them with leaves. Then that night we got to sleep on them. The beds were poky and not that comfortable, but it was exciting to sleep in it.

We made mail boxes out of rocks for our house. I was the mailman. I like to be the mailman. It was fun when everyone came over and played in them.

About a month later it collapsed. It was sad. Later I built another one. I was happy to build another one. I built this one a lot stronger. Our stick and leaf houses were fun to build.

~ Isaac

I “Spotted” a Salamander

Yesterday, I was moving some old logs, looking for something I could catch. Under one big, old, wet log I found a spotted salamander and caught it. The salamander was very hard to capture because it was covered with slime. Salamanders have mucous glands in their skin. The mucous keeps the skin moist and slick. Because they are slick, predators may have a hard time catching them. I sure did. Did you know salamanders can breathe through their skin?

Salamanders are carnivores. They eat insects and spiders. I feed my salamander worms; it is very cool to watch him eat. Salamanders lay their eggs in water, and a couple of weeks later the eggs hatch. Baby salamanders have gills so they can breathe under water like fish. As they get bigger, the salamanders get legs, and their gills start to get smaller. A couple of months later and the salamanders’ gills are gone, and the salamander climbs out of the water and finds a spot to live under an old wet log. That’s where I found my salamander.

               ~Jonah

A Tale of Three Fishes

 Stepping back, I proudly surveyed our hard work. The two and a half gallon fish tank created circles of bright light which shimmered across the top of the small cupboard upon which it sat, as the water flowed in and out of the filter. The smiling purple octopus, with its many pink spotted tentacles held high a No fishing sign. The small statuette of a sunken old tree base, grown over with algae and small crustaceans, along with another sign bearing the words, Home Sweet Home were the only articles of décor in the tank for now. It had gone through quite a cleaning and looked very different from when Dad had pulled it out of the attic, soiled, dusty and with the remains of some spider’s former abode sticking in the corners. Everything was ready. All we children had to do was wait for the return of Dad and Mama from the pet shop….

A while later, I heard the unmistakable sound of a car rumbling down our gravel driveway. We all rushed outside, eager to see the new arrivals. Dad and Mama climbed out, carrying with them two small plastic bags. 

Inside of one, were tiny feeder goldfish, and in the other a slightly bigger Plecostomus. After oohing and aahing for a little bit, they were taken inside to acclimate to the temperature of the tank, and then introduced to their new home. So began our fish adventures. Our three new goldfish quickly grew and were loved by all our family. Fish are fascinating creatures to watch, as they glide beautifully through the clear water. Many times, have I lifted up a little niece or nephew to “feed the fishies” or “see the shark” the common name among them for the Plecostomus.

Time does pass, and before we knew it even the littlest goldfish was much too big for the tank. Goldfish excrete ammonia through their gills, and ammonia is toxic to them. So, the bigger the fish are the more ammonia they excrete. It keeps adding up until the goldfish can no longer breathe since the oxygen was replaced by ammonia. Other elements such as decaying matter etc., can also build up ammonia and with only a three-gallon tank, oxygen can get replaced very quickly. 

It was time to release our fishy friends, and all six of us kids went to watch. The whole way we talked about how we couldn’t wait for the little “fishies” to grow into big “fishies,” and how they would love their new home. Arriving at the pond, Jayla did the honors of letting the fish go, and after freeing themselves from the algae near the edge, we watched with pleasure as they swam side by side into the deep. Then suddenly one golden orange patch disappeared! The other two were swimming quickly back to the shore, and then we saw them. Three or four small, but giant bass compared to our own little fishies, were chasing them down! Another was gone. The last fish was frantically swimming, we girls were screaming by then, and with two big gulps, the bass ate the last fish. We stood there stunned for a moment, and then ran back to the house to tell the tragic tale to Dad and Mama. It was terrible and funny all at the same time.

Don’t worry, the story doesn’t end there. For at this moment, two little goldfish are happily once again swimming in our sweet little tank.

~Halayah

Double Fermented Kombucha

It’s got punch.  It’s got flavor.  It’s double fermented kombucha tea!

Our whole family loves kombucha, the good-for-you drink that can be made and flavored in many ways.  Some of us enjoy it diluted, sweetened and flavored, others straight from the first ferment, or, my new favorite, double fermented. It may take a little while to acquire a liking for double fermented kombucha.

In case you are not familiar with kombucha, it is black tea fermented for a week or so, by a SCOBY that sits on top.  S.C.O.B.Y -a Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast looks like a kind of mushroom.   The tea has many health benefits including being full of pro-biotics and antioxidants.  It is great for your hair, skin, and nails.  It is said that kombucha keeps your hair its natural color for much longer. In the case I have seen, it is very true!  A fellow from church is in his late fifties and doesn’t have a speck of grey in his jet-black hair!  He drinks straight kombucha every day.

I have been experimenting with new flavors lately.  Lemon- ginger explodes with flavor. Literally.  The first jar of it I tried blew up all over the kitchen!  WARNING! Do not double ferment a sealed half gallon mason jar of ginger flavored kombucha for over two days without letting off some pressure every whipstitch.  I had a huge mess to clean up.  After sealing down a lid, kombucha builds up an amazing amount of carbonation.

Spiced pear is a flavor that I really like, too.  It has fresh ginger, a diced pear, and four cloves, to a half gallon of kombucha.  You can use any type of fruit. Apple, strawberry, cherry, blueberry, elderberry, raspberry, anything.  I tried orange and it was definitely not a favorite.  Blackberry ginger with a sprig of fresh peppermint from the herb garden is really good, though.  Lemon-ginger is my favorite flavor so far. 

I love kombucha and have so much fun trying new flavors.   

~Jayla        

Thirty-seven Years and Going Strong

 

After a break from blogging for a few years, we are at it again.  We hope to have weekly posts, logging our adventures here on Providence Prairie.  

Rhonda and I celebrated thirty-seven years of marriage today by taking the kids to Rend Lake to ride bikes while we took a nice stroll on the bike trail.  As the trail twisted and turned, we found ourselves reminiscing about the twists and turns life has taken us along the way.  With six children still in the house, there is never a dull moment!  The past few years have been filled with loads of excitement and adventure and the future promises the same.  One thing we can count on. . . change.  Socrates said it well:

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy,

not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

One thing we can count on. . . change.  We are choosing to embrace the future we have before us, whatever tomorrow may hold.  Maybe 37 more years?

                                                                                                              ~Mark