Paying Attention in Class

Today I was in training most of the day for the new school year. Just thought I would share.

Jason

Summer Break is Over

That's right, my Summer Break is officially over. Tomorrow will be my first day back to school. Of course the rest of this week and next will be spent getting my room ready for the new year. The kids do not return until the day after Labor Day. It has been a great summer from Bermuda to Texas, and every where in between. Well, it is already past my bedtime for a school night, so I better be going.

Jason

Camp Copass 2008

This past week, Jennifer and I had an awesome time with great friends at a children's camp in Denton, TX, which is near Dallas. We went to spend some time on the road with the Tacketts and their ministry. The camp hosted around 700 3rd-6th graders at Camp Copass...It was crazy! Craig, Brittany, Tyler, Ben, Topher, Daniel, Will, and Thomas...We love you guys! Enjoy the photos.

Jason

Cones on an evergreen?

Not quite...Lately, we noticed that one out of our seven Thuja Green Giant Arborvitaes was beginning to turn brown. We simply could not figure out why only one of the seven would be dying. The rest looked 100% healthy. However, after calling around to a few local nurseries, we discovered the reason. As most of you know evergreens or conifers typically have cones. I thought this was the case with the Thuja trees that we planted two years ago in my yard as well. However, I was extremely mistaken. Instead of my evergreen having cones, it has bagworms. That's right worms! The cone-like objects hanging in my tree for the past months were in fact a colony of plant destroying larva.

So what is a bagworm, and why does it look like that? The bagworm is a form of caterpillar that spins silk and combines it with the materials from mostly evergreen trees and shrubs, creating a cocoon. Because it uses large materials from the plant, it doesn't look like the traditional cocoons of most caterpillars. Instead, it resembles the shape and material of a cone. This of course benefits the worm, but makes it very difficult to for predators, including humans who do not want their trees to die, to find or see them. After feeding on the tree, and suffocating its branches from the tightly spun silk, the bagworms will eventually turn into a type of moth, as the tree dies. The entire life process takes one year.

So, how big are the bagworms or cocoons? They range from about 1/4th of an inch to 2" long, as you can see in the photos that I took above. And lastly, what are we going to do with them? I plucked them off my tree. That's right I stood around my tree for about three hours today, plucking and cutting at least two hundred cocoons. Jennifer did help me get started. Then I placed them in a bucket, and drowned them with water. Later this week, I will continue to destroy them by spraying any remaining larva, cocoons, or eggs on the tree with an insecticide.

Although I had to spend a portion of my Saturday afternoon removing many cocoons from my tree that may still die, I now have a cool adaptation that I can share with my science class next year.

Jason

Photos of Bermuda...

Finally, I have uploaded photos from our cruise to Bermuda. Enjoy!

Pathological Fear of Thunderstorms

"Do you know what a pathological fear is? No, sir. It is a fear that goes way beyond normal fears. It's a fear that you can't be talked out of, you can't be reasoned out of. And I think Winn-Dixie has a pathological fear of thunderstorms. We get an awful lot of thunderstorms in the summer. Well, I 'm gonna have to make sure he doesn't get out during a storm. Might run away."

I couldn't keep this scene from the book, "Because of Winn-Dixie", out of my head tonight as I wandered hopelessly through the pouring rain with only the glow of the lightning strikes helping me to see. As I yelled for Molly over and over the event became more and more surreal to me. As you all know, Jennifer and I love our dogs like children. Tonight, someone drove through the back of our fence, allowing Molly to get out. Unfortunately, it happened during a bad thunderstorm, and Molly truly does have a pathological fear of thunderstorms. Jennifer was at work, so I called my parents to help me search for her. As they drove around in the car, I paced and yelled at the back of our property in the pouring rain. After about an hour, my mom and dad found her about a 1/4 of a mile from the house.

I guess you are wondering where Sandi, our other dog, was during this entire event? She didn't leave the yard because she was too busy waiting for her dinner on the back porch. Too funny! As for the person who hit the fence, they didn't bother to stop. Anyway, everyone is safe here, dry, or at least drying, and ready for a good night's rest.

Jason

Back from Bermuda...

We just returned with my family from our cruise to Bermuda. It was really nice, and we all had a great time. Once I get time, I will get the photos up online.

Jason