Spring Delight

         

 

Dodger’s online!! The ducklings hatched this time!! I was able to go to 4-H states competition with the ducklings in my arms. Blue ribbons again and cute balls of down to cuddle! The fist one I saw I fell in love with, she is a Jumbo Pekin and I named her “Cheesecake”. Right now they’re about two weeks old and are GROWING. And when I say GROWING I mean it. I swear I can see Cheesecake getting bigger every second. Right now they’re in a big plastic storage container and are going to need an enclosure SOON! We’re designing the coop part to be made mostly out of pallets, and the running area out of some 6 foot fence we have left over from our chicken run. Today they were swimming in the paddling pool we gave them while we were working on the garden.

          My play went pretty well. It was The Little Mermaid and I was a sailor, a chef, and a stingray. As momasquash said in her last post, my stingray costume had a mind of its own, although in the end it was okay. Everyone says that my role as chef was perfection, “Great expression, love the straight fingers.” Sailor was practically ripping the stingray costume off of me as soon as the play was over to try it on! He wears it all the time now.

          We all are working on get our gardens in the ground. Last night I found out there was no need to have done the watering that I had just finished as a raging electric storm came through, “I hope the plants are OK.” Momasquash told me this morning. Well I guess that’s it, I’ll be back soon - Dodger

The Show Goes On and On and On...

"Le Poissons" Dodger posing for pics for The Little Mermaid play

Long experience has taught me that in England nobody goes to the theater unless he or she has bronchitis.

-James Agate

Stingray!

Despite swearing up and down that I would not paint another backdrop as long as I live I have spent my week in the throes of backstage theater work.  Surprisingly sunshiny May days have made my task list a victim of procrastination.  I found myself this morning sailor-mouthed and fighting what seemed like endless yards of a slippery black fabric for a stingray costume that did not want to succumb to my sewing machine.  And do I blame it?  Not in the least.  There’s not a straight row of stitches to be found on the wonky and cumbersome sea pancake.  Though I don’t have photographic evidence there was a point where I lay my head in my arms and Sailor and Kitten stood on either side rubbing my back and saying soothing words.  But it wasn’t until my husband presented me with tea and then took the kids outdoors to tackle home school in the cabin of our parked boat that some of my stress was released.  What a day…and that was 8am.

It was HOT!

Next on the theater task list was to paint a backdrop…no not for the elementary school…nor the middle school…for Kitten’s preschool play!  Now, that backdrop is almost complete but tomorrow I need to finish painting scenery for Dodger’s play and if that weren’t enough I have to come home and tackle the details of a stingray costume that may in fact be possessed…it has a mind of it’s own.  I can’t say no.   

The truth is I can’t say no to people I really like and people who are dedicated…the fantabulous folks involved fit both criteria. 

With the aforementioned wonderful weather have come all the spring adjustments and tasks in full effect.  Thankfully it hasn’t rained, so this has slowed some of the rainforest that usually springs up as our lawn….

“Hey, Szalinski, your lawn's beginning to look like the Amazon.”

 “Producing oxygen, Russ. We've all gotta do our part. Y'know, the forests are receeding everywhere.”

                       -Honey I Shrunk the Kids

 

Our Amazon

But the world is green, the list long, and the motivation to home school cut off at the knees.  Each sunny, hot, day the to-do list goes up on the chalkboard and each day we struggle to get half of it done.  I can see now that summer has to be obeyed and we’d better take advantage of EVERY rainy day if we plan to keep up with our self imposed curriculum.  Current drudgery (I am being flip) still includes Math Mammoth work.  Dodger is in multiplying and dividing fractions, Sailor is working on vertical sums and place value.  Spelling books are almost complete...blah...blah...blah

For a fun science project we are building our own human being…the boys have named him Keith T. Maxwell (based on a video game they play) but Kitten disagrees.  So far we’ve only built a skeleton so gender is up for debate.  This idea was my husbands and I think it’s a good one.  We get to discuss the body and how it works while we build and label the bones and then add systems.  I’m relying on the fact that supplying lots of information is a good foundation even if only some sinks in.  Just having the body books around us and talking facilitates so much learning for the kids.  

Mr. Maxwell chillin' on the grass

Tomorrow is the first day in the brooder for “ducklings round 2”.  We candled them at 7 days and all looked good…we’ll know in three days if we were successful!  For 4H Dodger made a poster about incubating ducks and entered the “illustrated talk” category as well.  He made a great poster and we expected he’d have a duckling to take to Regionals with him for his talk.  No joy.  The last attempt failed and we were left with no little ducklings, they never hatched.  So his story was a sad one, but he won a couple of blue ribbons and was invited to the State 4H competition nonetheless to enter his poster and illustrated talk.  Dodger was so thrilled to win ribbons on his first try at 4H.  I thought the whole event was awesome; the girls putting on a fashion show in dresses they had sewn, the singing and dancing, the posters and exhibits.  It was very wholesome and confidence-building and just a positive force of youth in the world.  Now the big question is; will Dodger have a sweet baby duckling to take to States next week?!

Spring projects are underway!  A.k.a. Why I home school (just kidding!)

Ye olde compost "mess"

Child at work

The new and improved compost plan!

As in the past we have joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for the winter/spring season.  All the veggies and "localvore" foods we get such as cheeses, breads, miso, beans and frozen produce from last summer are grown/made locally.  Sometimes the veg gets piled up, especially if they are odd characters, so the easiest and most delicious way to eat them up quickly is to drizzle with olive oil and roast at about 420 degrees for 20-40 mins or until done.  Even if at times I am overwhelmed by cabbages, parsnips and bok choy we would not consume as many healthy foods during the cold months if it weren't for our lovely farm share!! 

Farm share foods :) So pretty

This year the kids and my husband went sugaring at a friend's house and Dodger made us some maple cream.  I was strongly prohibited from eating it all...I've become notorious for gobbling it all up in the past.  Sugaring is the easiest way to fill up mud season here with sweetness and outdoor fun.  I dream of a sugar bush, and we may plant some sugar maples but it will be our great-grandchildren who get to make the syrup!  We did have 10 sugar maples at our last house and we did sugar once, the fire department was called numerous times as we boiled down the sap over a woodstove in our urban backyard (by the frightened neighbors not us!)...lucky for us as long as you're cooking something edible over a fire in the city it's fair game ;) 

Dodger cooking up maple cream

Testing for perfect maple cream temperature 250 degrees

The finished project, great on toast

 The seedlings are sprouting and I can't wait to plant, but the trick in our climate is to wait.  It doesn't usually pay to start early, there's a danger of frost until after Memorial Day (May 27th).  And any ground you gain planting early can be lost by stressing plants in the early cooler days of late spring.  On advice from our local extension program I've been waiting later and later to plant in the effort to avoid stress and disease for our beloved veggies!  I've also been told you can miss the first round of potato beetles as well as early blight.  I worry I may have a sociopathic tendency when it comes to Potato Beetles, I get a real sense of satisfaction from squishing them...:(

Black-Eyed Susans sprouting

Time to harden off our seedlings!

My arch nemesis, the Colorado Potato Beetle

Skipping Through Spring

Fun to make, though Sailor ended up with a 2nd degree burn in the process :(

Indoor cheer

These are from an animal tracking event at the library

Yay!  First signs of spring in our yard

Building a force field

As a person always a little homesick, having split my life between countries, I love to think of this poem by Robert Browning about spring in England...while I'm wrestling mud season in New England...

Home Thoughts, from Abroad

O, to be in England
Now that April 's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now! And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossom'd pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edge—
That 's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Hot tubbing it in a snowstorm

But, it's with mixed emotion that I greet spring this year.  The kids, having finally reached an age where we feel there's a possibility of fun when snowboarding (as opposed to much complaining of cold and wasted lift tickets), enjoyed a major treat in the form of a vacation to a ski resort.  There I found that despite the "elitism" of snow sports I've referred to before, I am smitten.  And so it is with a certain amount of sadness we say goodbye to winter, and somehow I'm not embracing spring with my usual enthusiasm...it's very weird.

Kitten going Norwegian :)

Resort experiences ;)

Being a camping sort of family, staying at a resort (complete with a kitchen in our suite), was blissfully easy and I can fully understand friends with kids who go on all-inclusive holidays!  The icing on the cake is that this was a "Staycation".  In other words it took us 1.5 hours to drive to the resort, so barely any travel to wipe us out.  Dodger really picked up snowboarding and Sailor is close behind...Kitten and I will be bringing up the rear ;)  My husband, in another chapter in his life, got his credentials while working as a "liftie" at a resort in Lake Tahoe and he is our patient teacher.

Learning to stand up!

Back at home, while we were buried under a March snowstorm bringing 16" of fresh powder to the ski resort, our duck eggs were quietly turning in the incubator.

Duck eggs

Our spring projects are under way.  The duck eggs began as a homeschool project but have quickly evolved into Dodger's 4H regional entry.  He has kept a journal about the incubation, created a poster based on his research, and is planning an illustrated talk.  The problem is...no ducks.  We lost quite a few early on, we checked again yesterday and we're down to two eggs with movement.  Today is day 29, they are supposed to start hatching on day 28.  I'm very sad.  I haven't given up yet...but I'm losing hope.  Why did we fail so miserably?  Right now our guess is humidity or possibly a bad batch of eggs.  My husband pointed out that we can try again but I'm feeling apprehensive.  There's something so incredibly sad about these little guys not making it.  Man, life is precarious.

Starting seeds

On a happier note Dodger finished setting up my grow lights for our seedlings.  We've planted the usual tomatos and peppers but we also added eggplants, white coneflowers, none-so-pretty, and perenial lupine to the batch to get a head start on flowers too.  This year the kids are designing their own gardens.  Sailor has made a garden to hide in and Kitten is all about flowers.  Dodger will be planting a garden but is also part of the 4H gardening program so his will be more veggies.  If they grow well he'll show them at the county fair in August.  I have confidence he'll have a good haul...I'm not a novice in this area-unlike ducks :(

Sailor's garden plan

Dodgers Sunday chore completed

Chickens prepping the garden for us

Along with spring comes the inevitability of summer which represents swimming, sunshine, late nights, ice cream, and composing a HOME-SCHOOL PORTFOLIO-gasp!  Our lovely state employees will peruse our work and decide whether we've met the curriculum goals we set for ourselves..I made my bed now I have to take a nap in it!

I wouldn't say I'm "stressed" about it, but the end of year growing closer is causing me to look carefully at what's been covered and unconsciously I find myself ticking off tasks and thinking, "Oh, that will work well in the portfolio".  Below I have added a link to my 2012/2013 curriculum (as promised months ago).  It's almost word for word what was submitted and approved by the state for Dodger's 5th grade.  Sailor's looks very similar.  And, as I've said before, the resources for the curriculum were another home schooling mom, the Common Core Standards, and my own imagination!  Shockingly, mainly to myself, we've hit on just about every goal save for a few that should be relatively easy to add in like boat safety and learning about a local artist...here it is...


https://docs.google.com/document/d/11RXvVj7tCekDPZX2rGQYxI4cyyqicsR5XrMdH1iMWYE/pub

Dodger art

Learning about our backyard birds-painted by Dodger

Painted by Kitten

Sailor art completed

To finish up I'll add the announcement that we have let our local school know that Kitten will be attending kindergarten in the fall and the boys will also return to school for 2013/14.  To the kids credit this information was met by much enthusiasm from the staff.  It's a small town and I feel as if we've barely severed any ties if you consider running after-school LEGO club, painting the backdrop for the K-4 play, being on the library board (our library and school are in a combined space), basketball, and now Dodger is in the 5-8 play and at practice a few days a week.  We spend a lot of time at the public school.  It's glue that holds our small community (of young families) together and it'll be nice to be back in the swing of things, though this time as a family is/has been so special.  It's been a great year so far, and I'll go into our choice in more detail later, but for now I am going to go and stand watch over our duck eggs and mutter prayers...I think I saw a wobble.

By a Whisker... or "Finally! A February Post with One Hour to Spare".. or "Ice, Ice, Babies...too cold!"

Kitten's potato-stamp valentines

I'm afraid this post is going to be somewhat like listening to a talk through a photo album, so grab a cup of tea and find a cozy spot.  The last weeks have been a blur of adjusting to work, juggling homeschooling and life in general. So, although I've tried to come up with witticisms, the best I can do is a running commentary on a few of the projects, events, and chores that have filled our winter this far.  

Localmotion!  The Bike path being restored to it's former glory

February has been full of stuffed noses, icy front steps that threaten long convalesces, and the very occasional 30 degree day with sunshine to bask in.  It’s the time of year when winter-haters are fed up to the eyes but there’s the word “spring” floating around and suddenly, on the eve of March, I’m not preparing dinner in the dark.  Chocolate Easter bunnies are sprouting and seed catalogs arriving.  It’s happening fast.

My grown-up world of back-to-work has been an adjustment.  The first week I thought I would die.  I was so tired, so rusty, and so overwhelmed that I felt the return to work was sheer misery.  Now I’m six weeks in and (maybe it’s the longer light-filled days) I feel like I’ve hit my stride again.  My job as a community nurse means a lot of driving and flux all day, one of my bosses describes it as a “dynamic work place” with a wry smile on her face.  I just never know what’s going to happen from day to day, or visit to visit.  I’ve been a nurse almost eight years and I feel pretty well prepared for whatever comes my way, I actually enjoy the variety.  One of the best parts is hanging out with other clinicians; I forgot how much I liked the feeling of shared misery (just kidding), it feels good to be identified as someone other than “mom” and occasionally “napkin”.

Enough said about my work life.  Back to home…

Dodger made some adjustments when the icing wasn't quite right

"Happy Half-Birthday to You!"

We've continued to follow the school year based on public school so the kids are off this week for winter break, which means a break for all but my husband who is mired deep in taxes-yuk.  Up 'til vacation I've been writing assignments on the chalkboard every evening and the kids have been dutifully completing them.  The text books are still a go-to for starting the day but (as predicted) my husband adds his own teaching style like "Decimal" a dominoes game he picked up in Panama, though the kids play it without the coconuts filled with liquor.  I came home the other day from work to find they had baked a cake for their half-birthdays (all summer babes).  Dodger had taken the kids heights, worked out the ratios, and then decorated the cake in a pie chart.  Yes, the kitchen was a mess.  A fun mess.

A break from rink-making

Ahhh, here we are enjoying ice.  Ice, ice, ice...not enough ice for my husband who once crossed the lake on foot.  But ice nonetheless.  As exercise, Dodger and Kitten and I headed down to the lake to make a skating rink.  Four hours later we had cleared a nice rectangle while loving the feeling of being out on the quiet ice, it's how I imagine walking on the moon must feel.  Every now and then a crack of the ice moving and the sun setting over all the white...I can go on.  Finally it was time to skate, but guess what?  The skates didn't fit, the kids outgrew them!  I promised a trip to town to get replacements planned for the next day, but I was saved from this fate since the wind whipped around the lake at 40 miles an hour while we slept and by morning our rink was no more. 

In the summer she'll be swimming here!

More rink-making

Other news...finally the local kids group trip to the mountain to snowboard went ahead, it had been postponed multiple times due to bad weather, not good bad like snow, just bad bad.  I consider the kids enthusiasm for the mountain sports with mixed emotion.  An elitist sport, an expensive sport, how many folks do I meet who have been born and breed in our snowy area and never strapped on skis?  A lot.  And yet it's so fun, and they make the tickets and deals so sweet for kids-hoping to hook them young I guess.  A few more days are planned and so in this respect I hope spring waits a little longer.

Our friend Lion on a foot of ice over 15 feet of water

A rare shot of me on ice, note the auger to check depth for safety

Adding to the general insanity of heading back to work I also realized I'd volunteered to paint the backdrop for the local school play a while back.  The deadline approached and I regretted with every fiber in my body this task.  When I opened the canvas on the first day and it stretched from here to the Great Lakes and kept on unrolling I swore under my breath and saw the hours piling up like pancakes that I would be slaving over it.  Well...it's over now.  So I can feel a sense of pride that we accomplished it.  I add this thought to our blog forever etched in cyberspace, it's something I never want to forget.  And that is, "Dodger has my back".  For every hour I spent slopping on paint Dodger was right there with me, never complaining, always helpful.  What a kid.

I'm going to end here though there's lots more to tell.  It's late.  I've added my February blog post by a hair, and now I can head to bed...lovely bed.

A Popasquash project...fixin' chairs

Tension ;)

Sailor art...priceless

Dodger's bird feeder

Kitten wearing the latest style...a hand made cardy from Grandma!!!  So impressive, and yet so warm and versatile!

Mud and ice formation aka Art in the North County

A Dodger dessert..another masterpiece.