Progress posts

Critter of the Month: Archaeopteryx

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Tango. This bird likes to party, and loves being the center of attention even more!

We’ve been working on my big boy’s reading skills, and he’s been struggling to focus on some of the stories in his workbook. To be perfectly frank, they’re not really stories so much as exposition on a particular topic. What’s exposition, you ask? In a word…boring! So I thought I’d write a few silly stories of my own for him to read!

Here’s the first little section. I’ll have it finished and post the complete story with the next critter of the month. Keep in mind this is for a beginning reader, so some sight words and words that he can sound out lol šŸ˜€

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Critter of the Month: Stegosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Steggy.  She might not have very much of a brain, but she makes up for that with the softness of her heart.  There’s not a whole lot that’ll surprise her (thanks to Pete’s training), and she’ll let just about anybody clamber on her back. šŸ™‚

I say “just about” anybody, because there was that one time some kids wanted her to be their fortress in a water balloon battle.  That was a bit too much for Steggy.  But that class of preschoolers who came to visit were adorable.  Steggy just sat there and let them climb all over her (Pete stuck a few tennis balls on her spikes, so they wouldn’t be so sharp).  The kids had a great time painting stars and hearts on her big plates.

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Critter of the Month: Dilophosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Picasso. Ā This quiet softie loves spending time with his special person. Ā Snuggling under the tree to hear a good story? Ā That sounds like a lovely way to spend a warm afternoon. šŸ™‚

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Picasso continued his routine patrol of the fence with all the decorum of a peacock. Each step deliberate so that not a single scrubby twig shifted, his fur-like feathers barely brushing against the wire grid too high to jump. Dry ferns and prickly scrub grew through the mesh at the foot of the fence, but ahead there was an emptiness in the dense line of browning vegetation. And the fenceā€¦the fence was gone!

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Critter of the Month: Ornitholestes

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Opie. Heā€™s aĀ happy little fella who loves to curl up in your lap, so itā€™s a good thing heā€™s about the size of a big dog!

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Sunlight streamed through the tangled layers of conifer branches and palm fronds to pierce the eternal twilight of the undergrowth. A cloud of tiny, reflective wings coiled like mist in the shaft of light, the thin whine of their hanging flight almost drowned by the whirring, buzzing, drumming, chirping of countless other unseen insects. Alien cries from leather-winged creatures called from above, answered and challenged by a cacophony of voices that clicked, whooped, hollered, whistledā€¦any and every sound fighting to be heard through air so dense with foliage and humidity, constant moisture clung to the leaves and dripped to the black forest floor.

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Critter of the Month: Dryosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Rosie.Ā Sheā€™s a bit shy, and might needĀ a little encouragement to come closer. Ā A few treats should do the trick. Ā Before you know it sheā€™ll be perfectly content to snuggle close and put her head on your lap. šŸ™‚

 

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Patricia shut the gate behind her and scanned the paddock, but the small shed in the corner was empty, and nothing stirred in the grove of thick palms surrounding it. She pulled her supply wagon closer to the plastic feed bucket hanging on the fence line, and reached into a large canvas bag for a heaping scoopful of pellets. She dumped them into the bucket and tapped the plastic sides with the scoop.

ā€œRosie!ā€ She tapped the bucket a few more times before jabbing the scoop into the feed bag.

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Critter of the Month: Apatosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Ajax.Ā Heā€™s a gentle giant with a big heart and a big appetite. Ā Heā€™ll do anything for food and a belly rub. Ā And when I say anything, I mean anythingā€¦

 

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Ajax is big, heavy, and always hungry. Ā Heā€™s got a knack for sniffing out treats and getting into places he shouldnā€™t. Ā He really didnā€™t think things through when he squeezed into the shedĀ that one timeā€¦ Continue reading →

Critter of the Month: Juramaia

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Maya.Ā  Sheā€™s a sweet little fuzzball who loves nothing more than to curl up in your lap.Ā  At least during the day.Ā  When the sun goes down, thatā€™s when the party starts!

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I have a confession to make. I always assumed that Juramaia was tiny. The reconstructions make it look a bit like a rat, and the modern-day comparisons are always to shrews. So she’s basically a prehistoric squirrel-rat-thing right?

I was wrong!

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