[TUTORIAL] Preserving Seashells

Searching the surf for the perfect seashell - there it is glittering just under the surface. You grab it before the next wave rolls it away. It's colours are irridescent, vibrant and beautiful. You take it home to show off your new prized posession, only to find that it has dried to a dull grey, it's texture is gritty and dirty; and so like the shells that came before it, it gets shoved on the shelf, or in the bowl, with all the other beauties that were.

Well, no more my friends - let's learn how to bring these treasures back to their natural state.

STEP ONE Grab a bucket, head to the beach during a low tide, and collect EMPTY shells. Now some people have no problem taking shells that are occupied, but personally, it does not seem right to me. So, these instructions are for empty (or dead) shells.

STEP TWO Gently arrange your shells in a pot, cover with water (water should be about 2" higher than the shells) and bring to a boil. This is to kill any little creatures that may have made their way inside the shell (example: barnacles, sea lice). Boil for 5 - 10 minutes.

STEP THREE Carefully examine each shell (use tongs as they will be very hot to the touch) and give them a good rinse and shake (if snail shells) and set aside.

STEP FOUR Rince your pot and add a ratio of 1 part bleach to 5 parts water (this was my ratio...if you want less bleach go for it). Carefully place your shells in the bleach mixture and let sit for 5-7 hours or until you see the periostracum (leathery/flaky coating) coming off.

STEP FIVE Grab an old toothbrush (not your spouses...although, I was tempted) and gently give each shell a good scrub under fresh water and place on a sheet to dry. If there are any barnacles on the shell, they should just pop right off after the bleach bath.

STEP SIX Once the shells are completely dry, you'll have a moment of 'what the...why are they all grey again?!? ARGH!! That lady had no idea what she was talking about' - oh but I do!! Grab some mineral oil, or baby oil and a paint brush, and give a good coating to each shell. Leave them to sit for a couple hours and then gently wipe the excess oil off with a cloth.

Ahem....did she know what she was talking about?? Apology accepted!

[EXPLORE] The Creek

This little creek is our new favourite spot to stop and explore. We start by quietly searching the little stream that feeds into Terminal Creek for red legged frogs. We have been quite lucky, and have found several this past week. They are quite large in size (approximately 4 - 6" in length) and have beautiful red markings on the underside of their legs. We LOVE them!

We then continue down the trail to the creek itself - shoes off, pants rolled up, and in we go. We can easily spend an entire morning exploring this creek. There's logs to climb, a little waterfall to play in, a beaver dam, young salmon and fun waterbugs that glide across the surface.

Today, we headed down with our friends and off went the big kids, net in hand, and look what they came back with...

That's right, a CRAYFISH!! What an exciting discovery. This little guy is absolutely beautiful. When it's front legs are raised, you can see the beautiful irridiscent turquoise colouring on it's underside. GORGEOUS! The big kids disappeared again, and came back with ANOTHER CRAYFISH! This creek just keeps getting better and better!

Next, we strolled through the meadow and played at our favourite bridge that covers a somewhat marshy area, and creek (I'm guessing it's also Terminal Creek). Here we found teeny, tiny tree frogs, pretty snails and tadpoles.

Our kids have no idea how lucky they are - we are so incredibly blessed!

[LIVING LAB] The Original

I just finished a beautiful walk through the meadow with our friends, Ben and Sasha, who are fellow Bowen Islanders that have been living abroad in Bali for the past five years. Logan wanted to show his buddy, Sasha, our favourite spot for catching snakes - we found many snakes in the tall grass today, as well as, a beautiful snake that was in the midst of shedding it's skin when it met it's death (from the small puncture wounds, we're guessing it was a hawk or owl). We also found a loooonnngggg snake skin that was still intact, but far too delicate for me to collect (darn). Pretty exciting stuff!

I was telling Ben about the research labs we like to set up in our home with the creatures we find. I was just looking to send him a link of the first lab we did, only to find that I had never shared those pictures. So here's some pics of our first ever lab. It was quite something!

This is Wiggles. Wiggles was a very beautiful leaf insect that we were given on a whim one day on the ferry (one of the more odd things we've taken home from the boat, that's for sure). He/she ate blackberry leaves, and was so much fun to watch and hold. We only kept Wiggles for a couple weeks, then passed him/her along to the grade three class at the school. What a cool class pet!

These two frogs we found at Quarry Park near our house. Logan named them George and Harold. Little Harold was missing a leg - we're not sure if he was attacked or born that way. We fed these little guys teensy,tiny crickets. We kept them for a very short time, then returned them to the pond where we found them.

This beautiful salamander, I found on a walk around Kilarney Lake. I surprised Logan with it when I picked him up from school. He was so excited, and right away went home to set up a beautiful habitat for 'Sally'. We had a den for 'her' and a shallow water dish that she liked to curl up in. We kept her for a few weeks, as she was doing very well in our care and was so much fun to watch (I never realized how fast they can move when stocking their prey). Plus, she was a great way to get rid of the slugs in our garden, as that's one of their main staples...and we had a lot for her to dine on.

Last up is 'Slither' - a little baby snake we found in the meadow. We brought the terrarium with us and collected some of the dry dirt from the ditch where they live, along with, tall grasses, some plants and stones. We learned a lot about the different habitats needed for our creatures to survive when setting up this lab. Such a fun way to learn.

We have had a couple more labs since then (more pics here). In fact, there are still tadpoles living on my balcony. They're HUGE...like two inches in size!!!?? Remember these guys...yup those are the tadpoles I'm talking about!