Good morning my wonderful readers! As I was looking over the owl I received from my dear editors; informing me that the theme this month was the Forbidden Forest, my adoring nephews and nieces arrived. My once peaceful home was going to be upended into chaos for the next week as my sister's dragonlings were spending the holidays with yours truly. What was I thinking?
Kalista is 5, Maximus is 7, and Arabella is 11. These kids were into everything and all over the place and I have already found myself yelling, "Kalista stay out of the art supplies. Arabella come back inside and leave the Bowtruckles alone! and Max, Maximus! Stay out of my kitchen."
A moment later, a whine echoed around my cave. "Can we go to the Forbidden Forest for a hike, I'm bored!" asked Maximus "of course not Maximus, remember its too dangerous for little guys like you," exclaimed Arabella "I want to go collect things for a craft, not go to the scary forest, we will die there, Max" Kalista shrieked.
Rubbing my forehead, I thought that an outing sounded like an excellent idea. "OK, kids we will go out for a hike, however, we are not going to the Forbidden Forest. We will go to the forest not too far from here. Kalista, you can take a bag and collect some things and when we get back we will figure out a craft to do together."
Kalista scurried off to find a bag to take with a massive grin on her face. Maximus, was at the entrance to the cave pacing, ready to go and Arabella, just stood there trying to hide her excitement by appearing bored. She was at that age when it wasn't cool to go do things with your siblings. As we headed out, the dragonlings zipped and zoomed, flying circles around me. They were so excited. As we landed in a clearing a few yards from the forest, I reminded them firmly, "Now we are here to have fun but don't touch any of the animals, don't wander out of my sight, or we will head back to the cave."
Heading out on our hike, we could hear birds chirping and flying around, the rustle of the wind through the treetops, and the animals chittering back and forth with each other. Kalista immediately picked up a couple of pinecones to place in her bag. Maximus picked up some pebbles, and Arabella picked up a large stick to use as a walking stick. Maximus, pulled out a homemade slingshot and started to load a pebble into it and shoot it, unbeknownst to me, he aimed at a bird and shot it down. Kalista shrieked and ran over to the bird. "Max! that was not ok and now there is an injured bird, what have you to say for yourself?" I scolded. We went over and I inspected the little bird. "It looks as if you injured his wing, Max," I informed him with a stern glare.
"Can we take it home, I will be its nurse, Please?" Kalista begged. So that is how we ended up with a bird in Kalista's bag while we finished our hike. Once we returned home, Kalista made a nice little nest in a box for the bird. I noticed she still had the pine cones in her bag. So I asked her if she wanted to make a bird feeder so that the bird had some readily available food in his home. "Yes please," Kalista said, and we soon got to work.
Supplies:
1. 8-10 inches of twine
2. open pinecone
3. peanut butter
4. mixed birdseed
5. butter knife or spreader
Instructions:
1. Remove dirt and debris from the pinecone.
2. Tie the twine or string to the pinecone leaving enough to tie it up when the feeder is ready.
3. Coat the pinecone in peanut butter making sure to fill in all the gaps.
4. Roll the pinecone in birdseed.
5. Hang the bird feeder.
6. Watch the birds enjoy the bird feeder.
Once the bird feeder was finished, I watched Kalista put it in the corner of the box for her little bird patient. The little thing started chirping and hopped over to the feeder and started to dig in, Making Kalista pleased as punch. With her careful tending, you can be assured that the poor thing will soon be on the mend.
Until next time my dear reader please remember to enjoy the outdoors and have fun watching the birds. Signing off your friendly little dragon.