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

On the Road to Charleston

Yep, that's my brother in the back seat of my car as we head to Charleston for our cruise. And no, the A/C was not broken.

I wish people would keep their blogs updated...

Okay, so we have seriously neglected our blog. We know...sorry. So, if we still have any readers out there, here's an update...A boring list of what's been going on. Nothing too exciting.

Jason and I are coaching a 3rd and 4th grade Odyssey of the Mind team. Our team won at the regional, and state levels, and now we will move on to World Finals. We will travel with the team to the University of Maryland to compete May 31-June 3. So, if any of you had any doubts about how dorky we are, now it's confirmed.

Jason has been super busy at school this year. He was voted Teacher of the Year at Crystal Spring by his peers. For those of you that know Jason, this is probably not a surprise to you. He is a bit of an overachiever in all that he does.

We recently had some house guests, which was fun. First, Ben came to visit while he was working The EDGE in Roanoke. We had a great time helping with The EDGE as well. Then, Lauren and Christina came up from NC for the last Rhythm of the semester. Drew was also here for The EDGE and Rhythm. Fun times in Roanoke. Thanks to everyone for coming to visit.



Congrats to all our friends who are having babies! Tammy and Ryan are expecting a little boy soon. John and Tracie are also expecting, but they want the sex to be a surprise. So, within our circle of friends, that only leaves us without kids...hmm? Oh well, no pressure right? It's not like we're getting old or anything.

Our friend Emily is getting ready for another mission trip to Guatemala. My prayers go with her. Guatemala holds a special place in her heart, and I'm excited for her to be able to serve there again. We will also be keeping Phil in our thoughts as he plays Mr. Mom, while she's gone.

I can't wait for summer! We opened the pool Monday, and I can't wait till it's ready. We will be going on a cruise in June with Jason's family. We are also hoping to be able to visit our friend Michele in Texas this summer.

Useless information:
Dinner: Chinese
Watching: Grey's Anatomy
Listening: Hillsong's I Heart Revolution
Reading: unChristian(Still...it's a slow read!)
Spending too much time on: Facebook

Well, that's all I have. Hopefully Jason will be back to blogging soon, because he's much better at it than I am.

Jennifer