Episode 105 - Grasshopper Cage

Today I made a grasshopper cage using ice lolly sticks.

There was no need for my family to eat a lot of ice lollies to get the sticks. These sticks were purchased from a stationery shop near my home. The price for one pack of sticks (50 sticks per pack) is HK$2.

I also purchased a pack of rubber bands (costs HK$4) from the shop. I used rubber bands to fix the positions of the sticks.

It is easy to make a grasshopper cage (see previous post for the procedures) and I finished one in 5 minutes' time. I made one for Chiu Yin's use.

Gogo also made one himself. He has written an article on it in Gogo's Blog.

The cage as shown in the photo above is for collecting grasshoppers caught in the field. It is inconvenient to bring along a big cage in an outing. A cage for keeping grasshoppers at home should be larger in size. This kind of cage is expandable. What you need to do is to add more layers of ice lolly sticks to it.

In the old days, we did not have many toys to play with. Children made their own toys from available resources. These toys, like the ice lolly stick grasshopper cage, were creative and interesting. I will try to recreate these toys and post photos of them here in the future.

I believe that the boys will have a wonderful time at the Lung Fu Shan Country Park, each with a grasshopper cage in hand!

Episode 104 - Clivia - bearing fruits

I took this photo of my clivia this morning.

I pollinated the plant during the flowering stage. Although the task was not totally successful, I will have at least 3 clivia berries. I am planning to use the seeds to grow more clivias and give them out as presents to my relatives and friends.

It takes about 8 to 10 months for the clivia berries to become mature.


Remember the leave bud of the clivia?

I have detached it from the mother plant. I was not able, as originally planned, to cut it out with some roots of the mother plant - this appeared to be an impossible task unless cutting it with an electric saw. I am not sure if the transfer was successful. It has been in the new pot for 2 weeks and appears to be stable.

Episode 103 - Shyly Grass (II)

This is the recent position of the "Shyly Grass" (or the Sensitive Plant). Lovely, isn't it?

Chiu Yin has learnt to water it occasionally (although I have to make up the balance to keep the plant in good health).

The plant is growing fast - its size has been doubled in one month. I add some diluted liquid fertilizer to it once every week. The plant seems to be happy with this. Judging from its developments, I believe that I will need to move it to a bigger pot soon.

I note from some material that the leaves fold-up ability of a sensitive plant will diminish or even disappear as it grows older. The plant will also not "sensitive" if the temperature drops below 10℃.

I recall that, many years ago, I read an interesting article on sensitive plant written by a famous local science fiction writer. The writer claimed that he had an extraordinary sensitve plant that would not fold up its leaves even if he touched them with force. He said that it was because his plant could recognise its master as time goes by and, therefore, would not react in the normal way. Probably only a man with such an extraordinary imagination could become a science fiction writer.

Episode 102 - Elephant Ride

This photo was taken at the Laguna Resort at Phuket of Thailand.

Chiu Yin and Judith were taking an elephant ride.

The riding site was at a park near the shopping arcade of the resort. There were 2 elephants and we chose the strongest one for the ride. The fee for a 15-minute ride was reasonable.

The seat on the elephant back did not appear to be safe. There was no security bar to prevent the passengers from dropping forward in the event that the elephant lost its balance. Chiu Yin had confident on the elephant and was not frightened. Chiu Yin said the elephant was naughty as it stopped on the way to drink water.

After the ride we treated the elephant with bananas.

Episode 101 - Grasshopper - a close encounter

"Different fields, different grasshoppers; different seas, different fish"

I caught this grasshopper in a recent visit to the Pinewood Battery at the Lung Fu Shan Country Park. The children were happy to see it and it was in fact the first time Chiu Yin saw and touched a grasshopper!

As you can see, the grasshopper was not frightened of me and stayed calmly on my thumb. I released it after taking the photo.

When I was small, grasshoppers were common insects. Where there were grasses, there were grasshoppers. Probably due to the use of insecticide, grasshoppers are not easily seen in the city nowadays .

In those lovely old days, we collected ice lolly sticks to build grasshopper cages.

The procedures for making such a grasshopper cage are as follows:

1. Stack the ice lolly sticks in an orderly manner so that they form a # shaped structure with about 20 to 30 layers.

2. Fix the position of the structure by rubber bands.

3. Add additional sticks to the first and the last layers of the structure to fill the gaps in the middle of the # shaped structure.

4. Pull one or two sticks in the first layer out as an opening - you can then put your grasshopper(s) into the cage.

5. Close the opening by fitting the stick(s) back to the original position - you can then lock up your grasshopper(s).

We can of course purchase beautiful grasshopper cages (mostly made of plastic) from the bird shops. However, a cage made from ice lolly sticks really brings back memories.

In the old days, it was very easy to bring home a cage full of grasshoppers after an hour's "hunting". We "kidnapped" the grasshoppers as pets and fed them with grasses (some unlucky ones became the snacks of caged birds.)

I am planning to build an ice lolly stick grasshopper cage again for the boys' use in their next visit to the Peak. What I need is the material!

P.S. I did one subsequently. Click here to see.