I guess I can answer that one.

We’ve had a great summer, so far. I know it’s almost over, but we have high hopes that we will be back to Costa Rica by sometime after Christmas and will be enjoying the warm sunny weather again.

We’ve been:

• Attending my sister’s wedding
• Still trying to sell this darn house
• Going on a wonderful camping trip to the old campgrounds that I visited annually as a child. Here’s some pictures…

We borrowed a canoe from some neighboring campers who were using our little beach area to park their canoe. Arp and BIL John decided to take the kids for a ride. I asked them both if they felt confident on how to use a canoe, and whether they knew how to get into a canoe. At first they claimed that they did. But then my sister and I watched them attempt to get in and get the kids in, and it looked like the whole darn thing might tip over. Boy Scouts they are not! So I gave them some pointers and took over the part where I give safety instructions to the kids. The whole thing was pretty funny. Once they shoved off, they were fine.

M loved climbing on big rocks, and we learned how they got to the Adirondacks when we went to The Wild Center museum in Tupper Lake on the way home. It was a truly fantastic museum that I would recommend to anyone who is going to the Adirondack area. We could have spent the whole day there.

Arp chills out on the way up to the top of Bear Mountain. He was nice enough to volunteer to carry J in the Ergo carrier all the way up the mountain and most of the way down. At the top of the mountain, a hiker took a look at his shirt and asked if we were from Detroit. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I said “No,” as I don’t think they would have had a clue about the meaning of the shirt.

M and J walk the last bit together on the way to the summit.

Here we are at the top. This is M’s first summit. I think that’s pretty neat because this is the same mountain where I had my first summit. M walked the whole way on his own two feet, just as I did when I was approximately 7 or 8 years old. M is 5. I feel drawn to this particular place. The lake, I mean. I camped there when I was pregnant with M and I have always felt that he, too, had a connection to it. M’s middle name is Forest, which I chose because I did I lot of communing with the trees when I was pregnant with him.

During this trip, Arp and I had also been planning to bury J’s placenta near the lake. It’s been sitting in my freezer for 3 years now. I’ve been threatening my annoying cousin with secretly serving placenta stew at Thanksgiving, but in truth, I’ve just been waiting to find the right place to bury it. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring it! All the craziness of planning what to bring and how to shove it all in the car caused me to totally forget the placenta in the cooler. I’m very sad about that, because we will be leaving this house, and the country very soon, and I don’t have another place that I feel strongly about burying it. I keep thinking about burying it under my favorite tree here at the house, but I don’t want it to be disturbed. I think the thought of the new owners being near my placenta might bother me. So I’ve got to find a new place before the ground freezes. Maybe J might have a place in mind? I’ll have to ask her!  It’s hard to let go of a placenta.

Sliver

Originally uploaded by Alyoshka

Today we took a hike up our mountain to eat some wild blueberries we found last week and ran into an awesome surprise – a timber rattler! We’ve known about them ever since we moved here but never saw one until now. Trish caught some movement out of the corner of her eye, right along a log. She thought it was a chipmunk and had trouble seeing it until it moved again 5 seconds later.

It was absolutely brilliant and looked exactly like the one in this picture. Mustardy and striped for about 3/4 of its body before becoming dark for the last quarter. Perhaps that’s the adolescent coloring? The one in the Bronx Zoo is darker overall, though the one at the Bear Mountain Zoo is more similarly colored.

The rattle was easily visible too. We stayed about 6 feet away from it and watched its magnificence as it crossed the trail. J was freaked out a bit, probably from Trish’s initial shock (warranted – she was about 3 feet away from it at the time). M was fascinated and had to watch it as it slithered away.

I suppose we should get used to it, considering we’re moving to land of venomous snakes This is #2 for me – about 7-8 years ago I saw a diamondback in Kakiat State Park. I’m prepared to give much respect to the tercipelo and American bushmaster now.

Partial eclipse begins: 1:43 Universal Time (UT) Feb. 21.
For continental U.S. time zones, the partial ecilpse begins the evening of Feb. 20.
8:43 p.m. EST
7:43 p.m. CST
6:43 p.m. MST
5:43 p.m. PST

Total eclipse (totality) begins: 3:01 UT on Feb. 21.
For continental U.S. time zones, totality begins on the evening of Feb. 20.
10:01 p.m. EST
9:01 p.m. CST
8:01 p.m. MST
7:01 p.m. PST

Greatest eclipse: 3:26 UT on Feb. 21.
For continental U.S. time zones, greatest eclipse occurs the evening of Feb. 20.
10:26 p.m. EST
9:26 p.m. CST
8:26 MST
7:26 PST

Total eclipse ends: 3:51 UT on Feb. 21.
For continental U.S. time zones, the total eclipse ends the evening of Feb. 20.
10:51 p.m. EST
9:51 p.m. CST
8:51 p.m. MST
7:51 p.m. PST

from EarthySky.org/kids

I get the feeling we’ll never document our whole Costa Rican trip here, but I’m pretty happy with the memories and feelings that are still so vivid in my mind. We do have a lot of pictures I’d like to share, so here are a selection of all the neat creatures we saw on the Caribbean coast.

Missing are the two fishes I saw in the ocean (a needlefish and some sort of a light blue grouper), lots of humingbirds and two awesome brown pelicans that we saw at Punta Uva, quite possibly the most stunning beach I’ve ever been to. It totally sucked that I forgot the camera that day. Just imagine a perfect crescent beach with mild waves that were perfect for the kiddies. It was beyond perfect. We found some nice seashells too and the coup de grace – nude women on the beach. WOOT.

This is a golden orb spider that hung out in the tree in front of the crab house. It had a friend at the cabin next door that was actually twice as big. I think I have some video of it repairing its web after a rainstorm. The web is big, about 2×2 feet.

I’m guessing this was one of the loudest howlers, judging by the size of his kahunies.

The crab house also featured crabs outside, all of whom hid in their holes the second they heard footsteps. Poor J kept wanting to get a look at them and they kept hiding!

Interesting bug, no?

I doctored this pic to show all the howlers hanging out in the tree. They did this quite frequently at the crab house, and it’s one of the things I miss the most.

I’m glad this one didn’t throw poop at me.

This was our third sloth within 5 days. Truly a sight to see – especially all the bugs living in the fur.

I like beetles a lot more than I ever thought I would. I was disappointed I didn’t get to see one the giant 5″ ones.

This is a beautiful grasshopper, about 3-4″ long.

The day we left Cahuita we had the joy of the closest encounters with the howlers. The troop was travelling through smaller trees, and at times they were only 10 feet away. I’d be happy to live around monkeys.