Exploring

The boys have been exploring the back pastures, which is really fun because there are lots of big stumps and holes and logs to climb on, over and under. It is so fun to watch them because it reminds me of all the fun I had exploring the woods, creeks, and banks of the lake when I was growing up. Such a fun time of adventure and imagination. Of course as an adult and a homeschool mom I see so much learning out there! We lift up bark and see what critters are causing it to decomposing, find how they entered the bark, follow their trails, and see their different life stages. We investigate holes and look for tracks and hypothesize about who or what lives where. We collect rocks, leaves, and other debris to view under the microscope. But enough about all of this through my eyes, the boys just see it as fun.

Base Camp

Their big finds are a cave and a fort. The fort is an old burn pile, but not everything burned. So there are logs (bridges) to walk out on and pockets (rooms) where things did burn completely. It provides hours of fun.

The cave has also been a big hit. Originally I have to admit that I thought they had probably found a badger or snake hole, but after investigating it really is a sizable crevice opening up in the rocks. Right now the hole on top of the ground is only about 6 inches wide. I'm hopeful this is too small to encourage deeper exploration by the boys. And after we investigated it I covered it with a log and some large rocks to prevent the boys or a small goat from falling in.

After dropping some rocks into the hole we could tell it dropped down quite a ways and we could hear a splash at the bottom. It's not a straight down fall, like a well, there are rocks sticking out here and there so it's difficult to see to the bottom, plus it's dark in there!  We lowered in a flashlight and a video camera. The camera didn't see much because the light wasn't shining in the same direction as the camera, but we did determine that right now the crevice is about 15' deep to the water. The water at the bottom is about two feet deep. We have had a lot of rain so we don't know yet if the water is always there or not. It is dripping in and sounds just like Mammoth Cave with the dripping echo call of a cave.