Festival of Trees

Kennedy Kreiger hosts an annual Festival of Trees in Baltimore at the State Fairgrounds every year.  Kennedy Krieger is an institution which focuses on the education of children who have severe disabilities.

This was the first year our family had ever been.  The Cow Palace was filled with trees and gingerbread houses decorated by members of the community, and then donated to Kennedy Kreiger.  The items were then sold, and the money goes to benefit the children of Kennedy Kreiger. 

Pictures of the trees are below.  I still haven't figured out how to add text to the pictures from my phone, but at least I know how to add the pictures from my phone!

Enjoy!

From the Cats

Happy day, it's Friday.  This is Tiger and Luna, and we've taken over the keyboard this morning in order to bring you the feline view of the week.

Tiger here- The boys have been working up at the camp.  They were home for the day earlier this week to do laundry, swing strings, feed us catnip, and dangle the magic shiny feather thing around for us to chase.  Luna got her ears cleaned out! (not funny, tiger)  And we both crawled up on the boys and took turns sleeping on top of them when we got the chance.

The girl has been fun to chase around this summer.  Luna does a very good job at waking her up each morning.  (thank you for noticing my hard work)  She likes to sit on the pillow and lick the girls' nose until she wakes up.  It's funny to watch her try and flick Luna away and put stuffed animals over her head.  Luna will bat the animal away and go back to work on her nose.

Luna here- in my defense, if she'd get up before 10, I wouldn't have to lick her nose.  Mom has already called her a couple of times before I go in and finish the job!

It's rained a lot here the last couple of days.  Thunderstorms mostly, but we'll take any kind of water we can get.  We're a couple of inches short for the month and the flowers are very dry.  I like butterfly watching in the garden... we've got to keep those flowers happy!

Tiger here- I caught a mouse this week.  I was so proud of myself, I brought it inside for Mom.  It was still mostly alive. She needs to learn how to mouse.  She's spend less time at the grocery store if she could just catch a few mice in the back yard and fry them up for dinner. 

She wasn't happy with the mouse.  I dropped it at her feet, and it ran for a paper bag.  Mom screamed, and I kept trapping the mouse and dropping it back at her feet again.  I wish I could have told her that if she'd stopped screaming long enough, she'd actually be able to catch the mouse and kill it herself.

Don't you hate when you have to finish a job for somebody?

(Luna's note- it was really, really funny the third time Tiger brought the mouse back to Mom's feet!)

When the Brakes Fail

I wish this was just an imaginative title for a post.  The brakes on our car failed last week while my husband was driving our daughter home from camp in the city.

He went to take an off ramp from the Beltway, and the brakes were not working as he entered the deceleration ramp and went into the curve.

Fortunately, this was not the tight, inside edge of a clover leaf ramp.  this was a long, curvy, but mostly straight ramp with grass on the left side, and woods on the right.  The ramp is an uphill ramp, with a stop light at the top of the ramp.

My husband mentioned that he noticed the brakes were having problems before he entered the exit ramp, and his foot had been off of the gas pedal and on (and on and on) the brake pedal for quite some time before he hit the C/D ramp, and he had his emergency flashers on.  His car had slowed to 40 mph, and was continuing to slow, but not fast enough to stop at the light.  He lowered the car down to 3rd gear, and then to 2nd, hoping the weight of the engine would slow the car down more.

As they entered onto the exit ramp itself, he pulled on the emergency brake, and lowered the gear down to 1st as they went up the hill. 

Miracle of miracles, the car slowed as it went farther up the hill, and he was able to pull safely into the grass on the left side of the ramp.  The car stopped about 10 feet into the grass.

I got a rather shaky call from my daughter, explaining what had happened.

My husband just shrugged it all off and said "It really wasn't that big of a deal."

We towed the car to a garage.  They showed us the remains of the brakes. 

Today, I am thankful.  Very thankful.  Very, very thankful, that this story had a happy ending.

Travel safely!

Super Hero Summer

As far as movies go, this summer we've had a plethora of Superhero movies based on Comic Books.  The Avengers and Spider Man come quickly to mind.

I saw The Avengers with my middle child over Mother's Day weekend.  What an amazing movie!  I am so in awe of that movie.  I was especially touched that the directors seem to have gone to great lengths to find an actor who is very reminiscent of Bill Bixby, who originated the role of Bruce Banner on the television series back in the late 70's, early 80's.  Iron Man was new to me.  I've never been a big fan of Robert Downey, Jr, but his portrayal of Iron Man sold me on his acting abilities.  And Thor... *sigh*... what's not to love about Thor?

Today I went with the boys to see Spiderman.  Another excellent movie.  It's not the version I originally saw back in the day, but I really enjoyed the special effects and the acting.  Seeing Martin Sheen and Sally Field in the role of Peter's Aunt and Uncle was an unexpected pleasure. Oh, and the special effects.  It goes without saying that the CG special effects were off the charts, blow your mind fantastic!

One big thing I noticed today is that the authors are no longer writing wimpy, helpless roles for women.  No longer are they just sitting by helpless, and hapless, waiting to be rescued.

In Spiderman, when Gwen faces down the giant lizard man - not once, but twice - I was impressed.  When she used her brains to help solve a very large problem (and looked smoking hot while engaging in science related activities!) I was in awe of the genius who wrote the plot.

In the Avengers, the Black Widow is a gorgeous, beautiful, smart, intelligent, kick ass woman who can take care of herself.  My personal favorite scene in the movie is at the beginning.  She is being held captive by an evil criminal overlord.  And she's wearing her classic little black dress. When it is time for her to exit the scene, she breaks free of her bonds- by herself, and gets rid of the bad guys- by herself, then picks up her stacked black high heeled pumps, straightens her dress, and sashays out of the room.

Stan Lee, thank you for writing strong roles for women!  No longer are we relegated to be beautiful but stupid, or smart but ugly.  You are writing roles that show women in all of their glory- strong, smart, beautiful, and capable of solving any problem that comes their way in a well thought out, well reasoned manner that doesn't make them look hapless and hopeless.

You are truly showing the beauty and power of women.  We are amazing, we are powerful, we are smart.  We have the power to change the world.  Thank you for capturing this!

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Derecho Wind Storms

Last week, we had a pretty phenomenal weather event roll through the Mid-Atlantic:  A Derecho Wind Storm.

Winds of 70 mph destroyed homes, trees, and our power grid.

I'm sure that by now, you've seen pictures of the damage around the Mid-Atlantic region, and seen the close up pictures of how bad the damage was in and around the DC Metro area.

Our power is up and running now, and I have a few observations I'd like to share:

1) Gas runs out quickly.  If you are fortunate enough to have a generator and a garage or shed to store gas in, keep the tanks full.  Fill a new can as soon as you use it up. 

2) Generators make life bearable.  Keeping the refrigerator running and the fans moving the air made life not quite as miserable.

3) Sleeping outside in tents or screened in porches can get downright chilly.  That's right.  When it's miserable in the house, it gets downright cold overnight in a tent.  We live in the outer suburbs, and felt quite safe sleeping in a tent.  Many of our neighbors spent the night outdoors, also.  It was a great bonding experience!

4) Solar Powered LED lights are a thing of beauty.  I have solar powered garden lights.  Put them out in the morning, they charge in the sunlight.  Bring them in at night, and they lit the house without danger of fire.  The only problem we had was that we couldn't shut them off! 

5) Hot showers are a wonderful thing.

6) Cooking can get tricky when the power is out.  We used our grill.  I experimented with our solar oven.  We have a propane camp stove that we used.  We also have a fire pit and cast iron cookware that we used.  The best thing about this is that we used it outdoors.  Yes, we have a gas stove, but we didn't really want to heat up a hot house by using a gas stove. 

7) Food at the store runs out quickly.  Since I am a home canner, we have a lot of food that was safely stored in the basement, ready to be heated and eaten.  I heard that the lines at the grocery store were long, and that they'd had to throw out everything from the freezer and refrigerated sections due to the power outage.  I stopped by the grocery store this afternoon, and a lot of the aisles are still very low.  According to the store manager, they've been wiped out.  They just can't stock the shelves fast enough.

8) This was an awesome time to meet the neighbors.  Spending time out of doors, trying to stay cool, heading down to the lake to fish, we ran into a lot of people we've only ever had a waving acquaintance with.  Nice to actually learn their names and talk with them for a while!

9) Solar Powered cell phone charges have moved to the top of my "must have" list.  My birthday is at the end of the month, and that's now the ONE thing I want.  Yes, we could charge it with the generator, but we had to pull a fan out in order to charge the phones.  Next time, we'll have a solar charger.

10) A hand cranked emergency weather radio is a very nice luxury.  Ours came from L.L. Bean.  It has an LED flashlight on the end, and gets bulletins from the NWS, as well as all AM and FM stations.  Just a few cranks would power the radio for quite some time!

I hope everyone who reads this is safe and sound.  It's been an interesting week in the Mid-Atlantic. Stay safe!

Taking the Boys to Camp

Both of the boys are working at a Boy Scout camp.  From our house, it's a two hour drive up there and then a two hour drive back down.  Since one chooses not to drive, and the other one isn't old enough yet to drive on Boy Scout properties, I get to drive them.  You need to understand, the boys live outdoors in a canvas tent all summer.  They each have a cot, and they are up off of the ground on 4 old wooden pallets.  The flaps are open all summer long, and they each have mosquito netting over their beds, but all matter of creepy crawlies roam through their tents.

Anyway, yesterday I got set to take them back to camp.  We took our daughter off to Girl Scout Day Camp first.  As we pulled out of the parking lot, I had the windows rolled down and I saw something big fly into the back seat of the car.  I almost drove off the road as oldest child - a very calm, unexcitable 20 year old, screamed like a little girl over this big fat beetle, flying around the back of the car.  I pulled over while he tried to flick it out of the back seat, stretched across the car so it wouldn't get him.  Finally, the 17 year old got out of the car, opened the back door, and flicked the beetle out.

I should have taken that as a sign.

We headed up 95, pulled off our exit, and were within 5 miles of camp when the road was closed.  Detour, back down the way we'd come and then up route 1.  It took us 40 minutes to make that detour. 

I got the boys into camp and turned around to head out.

Herd of mini-goats standing in the road, refusing to move.  The owner eventually came out and moved them off the road.

Continue on, make the left turn onto the big road that leads back to highway 1, go 500 yards, and end up behind a line painting truck.  Spent the next 45 minutes behind that truck, traveling the 2 miles down the road to highway 1.

Go down highway 1, work my way over to 95, and traffic comes to a dead standstill.  2 lanes are closed for construction.

I finally made it home many more hours later than I had planned on.  I took an unscheduled detour through a Target because I needed to get out and stretch after sitting still for so long... and I still had an hour to go to get home. 

Argh!

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

A Day With Mr. Murphy

I went with the robotics team earlier this week to the kick-off of the Summer Reading Program at our local library. 

Mr. Murphy (of Murphy's Law) decided to spend the day with us.

We were supposed to show up at 9:30. 

So, 9:30 rolls around, and I'm sitting in front of the library with my daughter and a 150 pound robot in the back of the van. 

No kids.

9:40 rolls around, and one other member of the team shows up.  There's still no way the three of us are strong enough to lift the robot out of the van, so we begin calling kids and rousting them out of bed.  Two of them are on a cross country road trip with their dad.  Two others are enrolled at music camp for the week, and are unavailable, others are at work.. well, you get the idea.  We finally tracked down the four kids who said they'd be there.

10:00 all kids are present and accounted for.  Robot is in the library, and the little kids are coming in.

10:05 robot is working, picking up balls and shooting them.

10:10 robot stops working.  The kids, in a panic, attempt to find out why it's not working.

10:10-11:30, I and the two young ladies with me, explain to all who come to stop that they are watching engineering in action.  Just look at the way those engineers are looking for the problem.  See?  They are going through each and every possible problem and testing it to make certain that it works.

10:30 - a mother starts to argue with me that that's not what engineers do.  They solve problems!  They don't get their hands dirty!  A long discussion ensues with an older gentleman who is a retired Civil Engineer of 30 years experience, hanging out for the day with his grandchildren.  Mother ends up leaving in a snit, because "Engineers have clean jobs!  They don't take things apart!  They solve math problems!"

10:45, in desperation, we pull one of the smaller FTC robots out of the trunk of another car.  We bring it in and realize that NONE of the kids present know how to work one of the FTC bots. 

11:15 - we isolate the problem.  We need one specific tool and it will be fixed in a jiffy.  I have a van full of tools, but the tool we need is in the warehouse.  We don't have the key to the warehouse.  We track down the parent who does have the key to the warehouse.  He answers his phone, would love to help us, but at that particular moment, he's in San Diego, getting ready to go into a meeting.

11:30 - Summer Reading Kick Off Ends.  Oh, and we manage to fix the wiring without the missing tool, robot now runs fine.

What a wonderful example of the thrills of technology! 

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

The Neighbors

Since we've moved into this house, we've had a pretty nice neighbors.  We stay out of each other's business, but we look out for each other, and keep an eye on the house when no one is home.

Our left hand neighbor is a really nice guy.  He, like my husband, is the child of the original owners.  He's a single father of a daughter who is now grown and got married in the back yard last year.  I like him a lot, he's a character, and I love unusual characters.  He will sit in his boat in the back yard and drink beer while listening to his radio.  No, we're not on the water, he just likes to be on his boat.  I asked him why once, and he told me that he didn't want to drink and drive.  If he had a beer out on the water, he'd still have to drive the boat back to the shore, and then he'd have to drive it home.  It's the responsible choice he's making... but it does always make me smile on Saturday afternoons when I see him sitting in his boat, beer in hand, listening to an Orioles game.

Things changed and got a little odd over there this past year.

His parents, who have been divorced for 20 years moved back in together.  With HIM.  Yep, his little house is now home to his divorced parents. 

The house is literally not big enough for the both of them.  If one of them is inside, the other one is outside.  We came home a couple of weeks ago and saw the father outside, making up his bed for the night in the hammock, and heard him muttering under his breath while trying to tie up some mosquito netting over the hammock.

I've seen her outside in the early afternoons, listening to Sinatra and pulling weeds.  She usually has a big pitcher of Sun Tea brewing on the porch while she's working.  When she finishes pulling weeds, she sits outside watching birds and drinking iced tea.  If he comes outside for anything, she immediately stops what she's doing and heads back into the house.

We do hear the parents arguing about things.  We never hear what they're arguing about, but we can hear their voices coming from inside of the house, followed by the slam of a door.

Recently, I saw the son (who's a couple of years older than me) standing outside, under the trees next to our driveway.   He was drinking from a bottle.

"Is that only a beer?"  I asked him.

"Yep."  He looked at me oddly.  "What do you mean?"

"All I know, is that if my divorced parents had decided to move back in together with me, I'd need something stronger than a beer to see me through that event."

It was the first time I've seen him laugh in a couple of months.  He pointed to the treehouse in the back yard that he had built for his daughter.  "I've been thinking of moving out there for a while now".  He sighed.  "I still don't know how this happened.  We sent out the wedding invitations for my daughter, and the next thing I know, both of them have moved in with me.  My daughter says better me than her.  I've been thinking my only recourse might be to move in with her, and let Mom and Dad fight this battle out on their own."

He shook his head and walked back towards his house.

Last night, I noticed a light gleaming inside of the treehouse.  Not sure who took up residence, but it looks like they've moved in for a while.  I took a closer look this morning, and screens have been placed over the windows, and a screen door has been added.

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Simple Rules for Being My Friend

I had an odd experience today.

I went with our high school robotics team to demonstrate our robot.  The place we went is a place where I used to work over 5 years ago.  I thought we had departed on good terms.  And I thought I was friends with many of the people there.  Several of those people are my facebook friends.

I want to clarify one thing.  This particular employer is one of our sponsors.  They donate time and money, and resources to our team, and they invited us to come in and share the robot, our trophies, and our pictures during their lunch hours, in their cafeteria.
So, I showed up with the kids and robot today and we set up our display and set to work, showing off the robot and talking to visitors about who we are, what we do, and how we go about doing this. 

I saw people that I recognized, and waved to them in passing.  I didn't speak to them.  I didn't interrupt their work.  All I did was the equivalent of a chin raise and a "sup" as they passed by.

They looked at me.  I KNOW they recognized me.  I saw the recognition in their faces.  And then, they hastily looked the other way.

I saw other people that I didn't know well, who I never thought of as friends who took the time to stop by, say hello, and ask how I was doing.  They talked to the kids about the robot.  They thanked me for coming out and followed up with an "It was so good to see you again!"

Strange.

I thought about it for a while.  Friendship requires a certain level of acknowledgement of the existence of the other person.  I understand that you may be working, but a head nod, a smile of recognition, or even a quick wave, just to say "HEY" is what is required to let the other sojourner in the world know that someone else out there knows you, recognizes you, and claims you as someone they know.

What I saw today baffled me.

It's odd, since many of them are my facebook friends, and I had posted on my page last night "We're going to be there tomorrow during lunch time!", and several of them had posted back "Great! Can't wait to see you and the robot." 

Now, the root issue here is that they are my facebook friends.  I have very strict guidelines on my facebook family.  I have my page locked down very, very tight.  If you are one of my facebook friends, you are either family or you are a friend who talks to me.  You are someone I'd go get a couple of beers at Chili's with some Friday night and shoot the breeze.  You acknowledge me, I acknowledge you, and we care about each other's lives and families. 

I don't have random friends on facebook.  I don't friend people just to up my friend count.  My facebook friends are my real life friends. 

This behavior bothered me more than I care to admit. 

I called one of the ladies involved tonight and said "Hey!  I missed seeing you today at lunch!"  (Even though I saw her walk by and avert her gaze as she walked past.)  "Oh, you know how it is", she replied "I'm just so busy I never even got down to the cafeteria.  I got a promotion, you know, and it keeps me hopping.  I really didn't know what busy was before.  Well, I've got to go now.  It was good talking to you.  We'll have to do this again sometime."

Long story short, I unfriended the parties involved on facebook.  Not to be mean, not to be spiteful. But because I realized a truth about our friendship.

You know what they say.  With a real friend, you can go years without seeing each other.  The first time you then get together, it's like nothing has changed.  You sit down and start talking as if it was yesterday. 

Friendship does take nurturing.  It does need to be watered with love and care. 

I'm off to go nurture a friendship now.

I believe I see a Chili's gathering in my very near future....

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Jelly and Jam

I love making jelly and jam this time of year!  The fruit comes in so fast, I can barely keep up with it.

I tend to dedicate one day a week to jelly making.  And I really only make it at this time of the year.  My family only likes one kind of jam: triple berry.  A delicious concotion of Strawberry, Blueberry, and Raspberry, it is irresistible.  I stumbled upon the recipe not long after we moved into this house.  I had planted a stawberry bed, and we had an unbelievable number of blue- and rasp- berry bushes growing in the back yard. I found a recipe for triple berry jam in the Sure-Jel box when I was looking to make some strawberry jelly.  I figured I had nothing to lose, and an instant family favorite was born!

Jam really doesn't take much time to make.  It's an investment of a morning, or an entire day if you're really into it and making huge batches all at once.  You do need sugar, and you do need hours of uninterrupted time.  You aren't going to be able to leave to go to the store in the middle of the process, because once you lose your momentum, you just won't be able to get back into the jelly making.

We use our jelly all year long.  It goes onto our toast.  I buy only vanilla yogurt at the store, and we add a couple of Tablespoons of jam to the yogurt, stir, and I swear to you, it truly is the best yogurt you've ever had!  You know exactly what went into that jam, and you were the quality control agent, cooking and canning it on the same day - or the day after you picked it.  I don't care what you say, store bought jelly just can't hold a candle to home canned jelly.

You do have to make a one time investment in canning jars.  And you have to invest in lids.  But, considering I've been using some of these jars of ten years now, it was an investment well worth making!

If you've never made jam before, give it a whirl!  I'm posting my link from last year's jam post here.  As always- you MUST use a pectin agent of some kind.  Sure Jell, or Ball, or whatever you can find in your local store- the pectin makes the jam set.  Also - you MUST follow all directions and measurements exactly.  No short cuts, and no substitutions.  Canning food for long term storage is a science, and keeping the food safe and healthy to eat months later requires exact attention to detail.

So, go grab some fruit and enjoy your own home-made jelly!

(Just in case the link above doesn't work, here it is again)
http://librarynut-momsview.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-jelly.html

An Investment in Your Future

We've been touring college campuses up and down the East Coast since Saturday. While the campuses have begun to blur together in my mind, there is one thing that stood out: every college touted how important it was to make an investment in your child's education, and went to great lengths to tell us just how easy it is to get student loans. They brushed off annual tuitions of $40,000 (at state run, public universities) as trivial in comparison to the gains they would have through life, beginning as soon as they graduate. I'm not sure what most kids earn starting fresh out of college, but I'm pretty sure it's not enough to pay that debt off in a timely manner and start their lives out on the right foot.

I paid my own way through college. No debt when I graduated. Yes, I had to work while I took classes, but I have forever been able to say that I paid for my own education. I went in state, and I went to a nationally recognized school. My husband also worked his way through college in the co-op program - a decision that earned him a higher starting salary upon graduation.

So, we've been looking at schools with an eye on tuition and expenses. We want our kids to have an excellent education, but we don't want them saddled with debt, either. Graduating with $160,000 or more in debt is out of the question.

We've found absolute gems. Hidden within the maze of public universities, we are finding amazing campuses with fantastic programs at reasonable prices. (We found one today for $15,000 annually.). We've found great scholarship programs at some of these schools, and we've found amazing business partnerships. It's been an eye opening experience.

The true investment for our kids is going to be the investment in time, the time to make certain that they find an excellent, affordable education so that they can begin their journey into adulthood debt free.

We had some wicked, wicked weather in the Mid-Atlantic Region over Friday night.  Tornadoes tore up and down the area, but fortunately, no one was killed.   I watched the storm clouds roll in from our hilltop.  I was poised to run, but stayed outside,  fascinated by the interplay of the clouds.  

Funny story here.  The kids were at school in lock down.  The storm rolled in at 2, and the tornado warnings were announced at 2:15, prompting the high schools to hold dismissal (at 2:20) until after the storms rolled through.  This was the last day of school for the Seniors.

Just how much extra time did the Seniors get to spend in school on their very last day?  3 HOURS.  You read that right - THREE EXTRA HOURS.

You know, that's just not right.

The storm clouds gather.

The sky is looking ominous.

More clouds.  I watched these little clouds form into a funnel, break apart, and form up again.
They finally broke up, but it was a sight to behold!

Random Pictures

Some random pictures from my camera phone from the past few weeks:

We had an empty bowls fundraiser at the high school.
The art classes made the bowls, and had a soup lunch.
Diners paid for a bowl of soup, and got to keep a bowl.
All proceeds went to our local food bank.
Here, you can see our many bowls!

This cute little mousey was a desert at a teacher's lunch last week.
Isn't he cute?
Chocolate covered cherry on an open Oreo cookie,
Hershey kiss and almonds.
Someone is amazing patient and detail oriented!
These guys were so cute!

Mango Salsa.   We found the recipe on Pinterest, and had it for dinner.
Isn't it beautiful?

The pinata for the robotics end of year dinner.  The kids named him Alfred.

Alfred and Tiger make friends!

Taking the Cats to the Vet

I took the cats to the vet today.  It was a traumatic experience for everyone involved.

The cats like to go outside early in the morning, so I took the precaution of locking each of them into a separate room overnight with a bowl of food, a bowl, of water, and a litterbox.  I was hoping to get a stool sample from each of them overnight.  I should have known better...

A half hour before it was time to go to the vet, I tracked down the animal carriers and went after Luna (the more agreeable one) and put her in her box.  No fights with that little girl, she's always ready for an adventure.  I scoped out her litterbox, but she had made absolutely no deposits over night.

I went after Tiger next.  One huge catfight later, I had two bloody gashes on my hand and a cat that had buried himself under the middle of the bed.  I finally dislodged him from the bed, only to turn around and find that Luna had let herself out of her carrier and was firmly lodged in Tiger's carrier.

Actually, this turned out to be a very good thing!  Once Tiger saw Luna in his carrier, he immediately lunged from my arms, and started squabbling with Luna, until she left the carrier and he could get in.

I locked his carrier and attempted to get Luna into hers.  No sooner did I shut her door than she began prizing open the weak edge at the top.  Desperate, I found a length of blue ribbon and tied her cage together so she couldn't open it again.

5 short minutes later, we were in the waiting room at the vet's office.

When we were called back, the tech decided to go with Luna first.  (Remember, she's the agreeable one.)  She purred through her initial exam, preened herself, and generally had a great time.  When the tech told Luna "OK, I'm done with you, I need to see Tiger next", Luna hopped right off of the table, walked over to one of the chairs, and assumed her sphinx pose while watching Tiger.

It took both of us to dislodge Tiger from the carrier.  We had to turn it upside down to get him out.  He hissed, he fussed, and he made snarly noises the entire time the tech looked at him.

Then came the fun part:  The vet came in!

Remember, Luna is still sitting on the chair, purring away and swishing her tail.  She was enjoying the spectacle!

The vet felt Tiger's abdomen.  Tiger growled.  She checked his teeth.  He hissed.  She gave him his shots.  Tiger made snarly noises at her.  The minute she finshed and said "OK Tiger, I'm done with you, you can go now" he jumped down off of the table and ran into his carrier.

The vet looked at Luna and said "OK Luna - you're next!"  (I swear I am not making this up!)  Luna hopped off of the chair and sauntered over to the table.  The vet picked her up and put her on the table, attempting to feel Luna's abdomen.  Luna immediately rolled over onto her back, squiremed around, and got her head under the vet's hand.  The vet tried to check Luna's teeth.  Luna immediately rolled over onto her back, squirmed around, and put her back under the vet's hand.  While the vet was trying to keep Luna still long enough to give her the shots, she asked me "Did you manage to get a stool sample from her?"

"No", I answered.  "She hasn't done anything at all in the last 12 hours.  I had her locked in a room overnight with the litter box, and she didn't even pee."

It's like that was the cue that cat had been waiting for.  With an insane gleam in her green eyes, she let loose at both ends, giving the vet both kinds of samples.  Luna hopped down off the table and hopped back into her box. 

We all stood there, too stunned to speak for a few minutes.

"Well", said the tech, "At least we have our samples!"

Those cats!  I guess we know who's really in charge!

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Several Comedies of Error

I've been subbing a lot the past few weeks.  Jobs have been plentiful... and the motivation that says "You won't get a paycheck for June, July, or August" has kept me moving pretty quickly on taking up the jobs.  Today is a rare day off, so I thought I would share my comedy of errors over the last few weeks.

I normally only substitute in K-3rd grade, because that is my area of certification, and it is the age group I am best at teaching.  Unfortunately, several of the jobs I took over the past couple of weeks were "supplementary", which is the grab bag of the substitute world.  I didn't know what I was getting into until I walked in the door of the building that morning.  Surprise!!

I spent one particularly memorable afternoon in 5th grade.  The teacher had left us with a DVD to watch, and had trained the kids how to turn it on and get it to go.  Her final words to me before she left "You don't touch anything.  Only she does." (pointing to a child in the class)  Okie Dokie!  We finished up the lessons she had left, and then we attempted to start the movie.  Nothing happened.  The girl tried again, and nothing happened.  The kids became very, very helpful.  (overly helpful) Yet still, nothing happened.  I called down to the main office, and they sent an Assistant Principal down to "show us" how to fix it.  He ended up calling the media specialist, who then ended up calling the technology guy from the county who was in the building working on the network. So, while all of the great minds were working on getting the DVD to run, what were the kids doing?  We started playing "Simon Says".  Twenty minutes later, the crew of four adults looked at me and said "It's not working."  (Insert evil teacher/mom glare here.)  I asked, "so what do I do?"  "Oh, said the AP, you follow the plans she left you."  I handed him the plans that said in clear letters: "Watch movie.  The kids know how to turn it on.  Dismissal begins at 3:15".  Thank heavens, the teacher next door poked her head around the corner at that moment and said "We're just getting ready to start the movie.  Why don't you bring them in here?" 

I spent one day with an assistant teacher who couldn't remember my last name.  She kept calling me Mrs. Jones, no matter how many times I corrected her.  Finally, I gave up and let her call me Mrs. Jones for the rest of the day.  I found out yesterday that she calls every sub in her room Mrs. Jones. 

I was reading a book aloud to a group of students, sitting in the rocking chair when *CRASH* the entire rocking chair broke apart underneath me!  There I was, one shocked woman, sitting amidst the remains of a rocking chair!  (Once I finally caught my breath and figured out how I ended up on the floor, we called the story finished and went outside for a quick extra recess.)

On my way out of the building yesterday, I was accosted by a teacher that I subbed for last week.
"Did you hear the news?"  she asked.  "No, what?"  I replied.
"Seven kids in my class have lice.  They found them the day after you subbed for me.  You need to get checked before you leave today."

What a wonderful, wonderful couple of weeks it's been!

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

I subbed in first grade this week.  One of the little boys, J., is already a die-hard jock at the tender age of six.

On Monday, he burst into tears at lunchtime because it was raining.  Stupid me, I thought it was because we were going to have indoor recess.  (Believe me, the thought of indoor recess made me want to cry!) Nope.  It was because his t-ball game was going to be cancelled.  "You don't understand!"  He told me.  "We're undefeated!  Now we're not!" No amount of explaining would convince him that the game would be rescheduled and that they were still undefeated.

Fast forward to Thursday.  We're reading a book about Lance Armstrong in reading group.  He found out that Lance had cancer, and J. burst into tears.  "Oh no!  How can Lance have cancer?  What kind of cancer does he have?"

"It's okay, J., let's turn the page and find out more!" 
"No, no, no" he said.  "Is he going to be okay? What kind of cancer does he have?"
"J., he's fine. He had cancer, but it was several years ago.  He's fine now."
J. looked up at me, "IF Lance Armstrong can get cancer, anybody can get cancer."

I took a deep breath, and we turned the page and read the rest of the story and found out that Lance did get better.

However, it kept me thinking about Lance Armstrong and cancer for a while.

It is true.  Lance is an amazing athelete.  He has accomplished more in his life than most of us could ever hope to in a lifetime.  And yet, his battle with cancer could have easily been the end of the story for him.  Fortunately, he was screened, caught the cancer early, and was determined enough to follow through with medical treatment and beat the cancer.  His story is a reminder to all of us.

J. was right.  If Lance Armstrong can get cancer, anybody can get cancer.

But it doesn't need to be the end of our story.

Get yourself checked now for cancer. Early detection is the key to survival.

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Cemeteries

I was out walking today, and stumbled across a 200 year old cemetery.  It was an interesting trip through history. 

I began in the new section, with people from this century.  I went a little farther back and found people from the last century, and then I began looking closer at the tombstones.

The tombstones from more than 50 years ago have a lot of information on them. 

I found veterans from WWII, WWI, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the War of Mexico, the war of 1812, and the Union Army.

I found the graves of babies who left this earth entirely too early, with life dates marked in days, not years.

I found young men who had died in accidents at the old flour mill, leaving behind wives who were buried decades after they passed away. 

I found the graves of young women who died at the age of 19 or 20, while giving birth.

It all left me wondering about the nature of things.

The veteran's graves were all neatly cleaned, and adorned with U.S. Flags.

Some person had recently come through and planted pinwheels on the graves of all the small children.  Anyone who had passed away under ten years of age had a brightly colored pinwheel marking their grave.  Many of the graves had fresh flowers.  Several had brightly colored Easter Eggs dangling from "trees" (large sticks) that had been weighted down with rocks and placed by the headstones.

I wondered about the wives who lost husbands when they were 24 or 25 years old.  I can only assume they had children, and struggled to live in a world where women could not work to support themselves.  What did they do to survive?  How did they feed their families and keep a roof over their heads?  It made me appreciate the efforts our sisters went through in the women's liberation movement of the 1970's, fighting for ALL women to have the ability to work in a job outside of the home, after marriage, and at a living wage. 

I wondered what kind of grief some person has that they would go through a graveyard and plant pinwheels on the graves of little children.  I hope it brings them comfort.  I hope they find the peace they so richly deserve.

It made me so thankful for the life I live today.  For the freedoms our service men and women have fought for both here and abroad.  For the sleepless nights they have endured, so that I can sleep soundly in my own bed and watch my children grow and thrive.

It made me thankful for medical advances over the last century, that has tamed fearsome diseases that would strike fear into the hearts of parents everywhere, and take the lives of young children well before their time.  It made me especially grateful that childbirth, which can be a life or death situation,  is now a relatively routine procedure.

I left the cemetery feeling strangely contented.  I realized how much I had to be thankful for.  How many things the people who have come before us have done, and how far we have come over the last 200 years. 

Nobody Ever Told Me

We visited another college campus this past weekend.  Beautiful campus, set in the mountains of the Mid-Atlantic.  It was a glorious spring day when we began our tour, so the tour guides were wearing their fleece jackets with the name of the school discreetely emroidered on the front.

As we began our tour, one of the admissions officers said to our tour guide "There she goes!  Girl on fire!"  and everyone laughed.

"Everyone is being so mean to me," she lamented.  "We are given these nice fleece jackets to wear as tour guides.  and we even get to keep them! I love my fleece, it's so nice and warm, I wear it all the time.

The other day, I got out of the shower and put my fleece on to warm up quick.  I got warm, but my jacket got wet.  I didn't want to go outside with a wet coat, so I popped it into the microwave for a minute to dry it off.

Nobody ever told me that fleece was flammable!  After like, 5 seconds in the microwave, my jacket burst into flames and melted into this weird little pool of something that I can't get off of the bottom of the microwave."

We all stared at her for a moment, stunned into silence.

"When I went to housing to report my destroyed university owned microwave, they were speechless.  They told me I was the only person ever to have set fire to a fleece jacket in my microwave."

One of the fathers in our group looked up and said in a very deep voice: "I certainly hope you're not the standard  representative of this school."

"Why does everyone keep asking me that question?"  She wondered aloud.

Why, indeed.  A fleece jacket in the microwave....

Lessons From the Kindergarten

've spent the past few days subbing in kindergarten, and have a few stories that I'd like to share:

It was 90* here on Monday.  We brought the kids back from PE, and the sweat was dripping off of one little guy.  We had the kids pack up their backpacks to go home and then lined them up to go out for a quick 10 minute recess before it was time to go home.  The little guy who was dripping sweat proceeded to put his hooded sweat shirt on.  "Honey, you don't need your coat outside, it's 90* today.  It's hot."
"Yes I do!  I'm all sweaty and I don't want to catch a chill!"

We were working on glyphs in Math.  If you've been out of school for a while, you might not remember glyphs.  It's a picture that you color in with coded colors, and it reads like a map.  Our glyph was a duck in a raincoat.  The children were to put three circle buttons on if they were 5 years old, or 3 triangle buttons if they were 6 years old.  They were to color the coat yellow if they like to watch tv on rainy days, or orange if they like to jump in puddles on rainy days.  The hat was supposed to be blue if they were a boy, and red if they were a girl, and the boots were supposed to be colored black if they had a pet at home, or green if they didn't have any pets at all.
I had gotten through the directions on the hat when I looked over at G., and she was coloring the hat yellow. 
"You're supposed to color the hat red since you're a girl." I said.
"No.  I won't."  She replied.
"But those are the directions,"  I stupidly said.  "Color the hat red if you're a girl.  You are a girl, so the hat is supposed to be red."
"No.  You do not wear red hats with yellow rain coats.  You wear yellow hats with yellow rain coats.  And yellow boots.  Would you wear a red hat with a yellow coat to school?  I don't think so...."

We were attempting to introduce the kids to ABC order today.  We had sentence strips, and I was to give them four adjacent letters of the alphabet.  (E, F, H, G) and have them place the letters in order.  I covered up all the letters on the sentence strip except those 4 letters, and asked P.
"Which letter comes first?"
"A"
"No, of these four letters, which one comes first?"
"A always comes first.  Then B, Then C, then D.  E comes fifth."

Love those kids!!

Pink Hair

The middle child now has pink hair.   You read that right - PINK hair! 

He has been in the middle of his competition season- Physics Olympics, Destination Imagination, and the Robotics Tournaments.  He wanted to do something that would make him stand out and be memorable.

I've got to admit, the pink hair does stand out! 

He and his friends got together before Easter week and decided to dye their hair.  Since his hair is so dark, he decided to go whole hog and bleach it first, then dye it pink.

I had no advance warning before this happened.  He came home, walked into the room, said he was going to take a shower, and walked back out again.  I looked at his sister and said, in a rather stunned voice "Was his hair pink?"

Okie Dokie.  Pink Hair. 

I've actually gotten used to it.  It's easy to find him in a crowd.  Bright pink hair in a sea of heads- easy to spot. He brought a nice touch of Easter joy to our table- he looks like a giant Easter Egg now.

I've had several people ask me my thoughts about his hair color.  So, I'll share them with you:

1) He doesn't smoke, do drugs, and isn't out having sex.  Pink Hair is not a battle worth fighting.

2) He needs to enjoy his hair while he still has it.

One last thought to leave you with....  While we were at the University of Maryland last week, we stopped at the statue of Jim Henson with Kermit in front of the student union.  Jim and Kermie are sitting on the statue, talking to each other.  I took middle child's picture on the bench with Jim and Kermie.

As people were walking by, they stopped and stared at him, with his pink hair, turned towards Jim and Kermie as if he was talking to them.

"Oh My God..." said one father to me... "Your son looks just like Beaker!"

Yep... my son Beaker, who hopes to be a Terrapin, class of 2017. 

Enjoy that hair while you still have it!!!!

University of Maryland

The middle child is looking at colleges.  Last week, we visited the University of Maryland.

Maryland is known for many things- an awesome school of business, high academic standards, and their basketball and football teams, as well as the home-made ice cream served in the lower level of the Student Union.  (The Creamery)

Many famous alumni have graduated from Maryland: Connie Chung, Larry David, Robert Basham, Sergey Brin, and Carl Bernstein.  Perhaps the best known of all the graduates is Jim Henson: the creator of The Muppets.

On campus, just outside of the student union is a statue of Jim Henson and Kermit.  They are sitting together on a bench, facing each other.

While on the tour of Maryland, I heard a couple of stories about Jim Henson that I'd never heard before.  The character of Animal was based on one of Henson's Fraternity brothers.  Miss Piggy's character was based on one of Henson's former girlfriends.  Even better--the dorm where the girl lived has been immortalized and now contains her profile in the lobby. 

I wonder how often that woman has cringed over the years as we have watched the popularity of Miss Piggy, and her continuing infatuation with Kermie over the years.

Random Thoughts

It is never a good idea to travel long distances on Easter Sunday.  You can't stop for food when nothing is open.  I've never been so glad to see home.

I went to an Easter Vigil at the Catholic Church down the street from our hotel on Saturday night.  I'm not Catholic, but nobody can put the meaning into Easter like the Catholics.  We began with a bonfire, had a candlelight procession, and the first half hour of the service was lit entirely by candles. 

The Msgr. at the church mentioned that he'd had a call on Saturday, asking about the Easter Vigil.  The caller wanted to know what time the service began.  "It begins at 8:30" he answered.
"How long does it run?"  the caller asked.
"It runs until it's done.  Usually, it's 2-1/2 to 3 hours long."
"Oh...." the caller replied.  "Do you have the phone number for the Methodist Church?"

There's nothing like warm, furry cats climbing on top of you first thing in the morning.

Skyline Chili is really good.  It's even better on top of a Coney Dog on Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds. 

People in Ohio don't have any idea what Old Bay Spice is....

There's no better way to get to know a group of people than to pull out a frisbee.

No matter where you go, most people are very nice people. 

Teenagers need to bottle that energy and enthusiasm!

Robotics Tournament

I'm writing this from the stands at Xavier University.

Our team has been competing in the regional tournament this weekend. We didn't make it to the final rounds,but we have had an amazing experience!

I'm going to post some pictures from this weekend. Unfortunately, I can't post captions on my phone. So, I'll post pictures and add captions tomorrow when I get home.

Congratulations to the finalists!

A team mascot makes certain his safety goggles are in place while back in the pits!

Between rounds... the robots from the previous round are removed,
and the next robots are placed on the field.

Love this battery charging station!  This is actually a wagon on wheels!
Set it on end, and voila!  A compact battery charging station!
(I'll bet it's really easy to pack, too!)

The all girls robotics team from Pittsburgh.
They were even dressed like Rosie the Riveter.
I loved their enthusiasm!  So happy and upbeat through the entire event!

A view down into the pits from the stands.  The pits are an exhilerating place to be!
Lots of energy and enthusiasm down there!

Thursday - A Trip to Indianapolis

Since we are in Ohio anyway, I took a trip over to Indianapolis on Thursday to see my Aunt. She's the last remaining member of my Dad's generation. At 72, she's also lived longer than her siblings.

We had a great time! We talked about everything, and we went out to lunch together and talked some more!

I ended up with two more boxes of my grandmother's china to bring home. You know that when you are traveling 8 hours to get back home with 4 teenagers, their luggage, and a mascot costume, there's nothing you want to do more than shove two boxes of hundred year old china into the mix!

Seriously, I am thrilled beyond words to have the last of the china. I'm to split this batch with my sister. I remember Sunday Dinners at Granny's house served inside of those dishes!

My cousin came out to visit while I was there. He's two years older than me. And at 48 years old, he's already had 4 heart attacks and 2 bypass operations. It was a stark reminder of just how much I have to be thankful for. You can never take good health for granted. Our family health history is littered with stories of early heart disease and the loss of good people who are in their 40's and 50's.

I'd like to say I had a great time in Indianapolis. What I had instead was a stark reminder.

Anyway, I'll be posting later on today from the Regional Robotics competition. Yesterday was Day 1. Today is the final day-and we had big , big happenings yesterday!

A Blast From the Past

We traveled from Maryland to Cincinnati yesterday for a robotics tournament.

I grew up just a little north of here. The trip down yesterday afternoon was full of memories for me!

We drove past King's Island - an amusement park that I have some very fond memories of. I remember they used to have this wonderful ride called "the Wonderful World of Hannah Barbers", where Shaggy and Scooby and Yogi all came to life.

We passed by the road that used to take you to Camp Green - a Girl Scout property that was our favorite. I loved tent camping there, and I remember the raccoons eating through our coolers and taking out our food that we had stored in styrofoam coolers.

We drove by the entrance to Lewis and Clark State Park. A nifty little park that surrounds a river. Our family used to go hiking there once a month.

I could go on for hours, but you get the idea. I have this crazy hope that I'll run into friends I grew up with this weekend. But, it's been 30 years since I've seen any of them. I am positive that even if I do see them, I'll never recognize them!

Good luck to all of the teams competing this weekend!

Basketball

Tonight, the State Police took on the faculty of the High School in a rather heated basketball
game.  After watching this game, I am thinking that the teachers need to watch their speed over the next few days as they travel the roads!   One of our teachers fouled out!

Seriously, the police officers are no slouches where basketball playing is concerned.  After watching them play an effortless game, I am more impressed than ever by them.  They had just come off a twelve hour shift, and were "winding down" with a game of basketball.  They were polite, they joked with each other, and they teased the teachers.  Several of the officers had been taught by some of the teachers in the building.  The respect between the staff and the police was evident throughout the game.  The students sitting in the stands engaged in good natured banter with each other, and with the staff.  You've got to admit, when you're watching Math Teachers make 3 point shots from half court, and you're watching a social studies teacher outrun a 6'5" officer, and then pass the ball back to another player through the legs of said officer, you have to respect their athleticism.  Of course, the Officers won.  They beat the staff by seven points.  Handshakes, hugs, and high fives ruled the court at the end of the game.

I am a little curious, though.  I know the officers have tomorrow off.  I really want to know how many of the teachers end up calling in too sore to come in to work tomorrow?  You could tell that some of them were definitely feeling it when the game was over. 

Thanks to all of the staff and officers for showing the kids such great sportsmanship, and coming out to have fun with each other on a Thursday night.  You set a great example for our kids!

Eating Locally, Shopping Locally

My oldest child is home from college for his Spring Break.  It's been great having him home for a week.  Since his two siblings are still in school, he and I have been enjoying some quiet time together. 

Today, we went out to lunch.

We don't live in the city, but we don't live in the country, either.  We are the outer, outer suburbs- more rural than suburban.  Our county is 90% agricultural.  Once growing season starts, we have an abundance of local produce in the area.  But what about now?  It's March.  Our growing season hasn't started yet.

Well, oldest child's favorite restaurant is located about half an hour from our house.  It was started about 70 years ago, on the edge of the orchards and farms owned by this one family.  The restaurant has remained in the same family for 70 years.  Many of the waitresses have been working there for more than 30 years.  Up until she passed away 5 years ago, the matriarch of the family still made the pie crusts, by hand and from scratch, every morning.  She made her last pie crust two days before she passed away.

This restaurant is smack dab in the middle of farm country.  Like many of the restaurants in this part of the world, they don't advertise that they're "locally grown" and then raise the price.  They call it good business sense to buy food from local farmers and then use that in their restaurant.

I had a hamburger today.  A delicious, 100% pure beef hamburger.  That hamburger was born and raised within 10 miles of the restaurant.  It was slaughtered 10 miles down the road the other way at our butcher shop.  I once asked the owner of the butcher shop if he finished his beef on corn.  He laughed at me and told me "That's for them rich folks.  A farmer brings his cow in here, and it's ready to go.  We pay him for it.  I don't want my money sittin' out there in the feed lot gettin' fat.  I'm gonna have to pay for that feed it eats."  That's an refreshing twist on the meat industry!

My pickle was canned this past summer in the big barn just at the edge of the orchard.  The cucumbers it was made from were grown in the big fields behind the barn.  The applesauce was also canned in the barn.  The apples were picked in the orchard back in Sept. and Oct. while they were in season.  Gosh, that apple sauce was so very, very good.  No sugar added, and it tasted like sunshine.

My french fries were hand cut by the staff this morning.  The potatoes were grown five miles down the road last year.  Today, the mix was made from Yukon Gold and Red Russets.  OMG.  Those fries were to die for.  My son and I split a basket of fries that was bigger than my dinner plate.

The pie crusts were made from scratch, by hand this morning.  They were apple pies.. .made with apple pie filling that had been canned over the summer in the big barn on the edge of the orchard.

The service was amazing.  Friendly staff, they watched over us all like a pack of mother hens.  We were sitting at a table next to a Candidate who's running for the U.S. Senate.  He was eating lunch with his Grandma.  It was funny- the staff kept calling him Justin.  They've known him since he was a kid, and they think it's great that he's running for Senate, but he's still Justin.  He never made the rounds of the tables, didn't engage in any politicking, and didn't do any glad handing.  Instead, he was focused soley on his Grandma and answering her questions, telling stories, and joking.  We had one main waitress, but every waitress on staff took care of everyone.  It's just the nice thing to do.

I tell you, every time I go there, I feel like I've stepped back into the 1950's.  The service is from another era.  People take the time to listen.  They stop and treat one another like individual people.  I always run across friends while I'm there, and we'll end up table hopping after we pay our bills, talking to people we haven't seen in a while. 

It's amazing when I think about it.  Old fashioned service.  Locally grown food.  (All within a 100 mile radius.) And at a reasonable price.  ($12 for two people.)

I love supporting our locally owned businesses.  We never would have gotten that kind of service at one of the big chain restaurants down the street!

Have you helped your local businesses lately?

Chesapeake Regional

Yesterday we finished the robotics tournament. The qualifying rounds were over at noon, and the finalists were announced and the alliances were chosen. Our team was chosen to be in one of the final alliances. We lost in the quarter finals, but the kids had an amazing time. We got home late last night- around -11. The team stopped on the way home for pizza. The kids took over two booths and pushed two tables up next to them. The exhausted parents sat at a separate table and talked about how proud we are of all of our amazing kids. To have done so much, been professional throughout, and to continue to be gracious even after losing.... it speaks very high of the quality of their character.

And so, I present some more photos from the last day of competition.

I know this is hard to see, but the kids are dancing.  During a break between matches, the kids were getting down on the floor and line dancing.  I couldn't catch the width of the action on my camera- but it's about 500 kids, dancing the electric slide.

Information on FIRST robotics.  This display board explained the levels of competition, from elementary-high school, and explains the resources necessary to start a team of your own.

The drivers from one of the alliances confer before a match, planning out their team strategy.

Packing up all the "stuff" to go home.

FIRST Robotics

I spent the last two days subbing in first grade.  They were interesting days, but I'm glad they are over. 

Today, I'm chaperoning our High School Robotics team at the Chesapeake Regional Qualifier, held in Baltimore.

If you aren't familiar with FIRST robotics, I'm going to get sidetracked here for a while and tell you everything you need to know in a few quick sentences.

1) The program was begun 20 years ago by Dean Kamen. (If you've seen a Segway, you've seen his work.  He's an inventor.)  His goal was to stimulate critical and creative thinking in the Sciences and Engineering with students by giving them the opportunity to have hands on, creative, real-life problem solving skills that relate to a real-life challenge.

2) FIRST robotics has programs avaialable for children in upper elementary (grades 4-6), middle school, and high school.  Schools do not offer FIRST robotics as part of their curriculum.  It is an after school activity.  Several community organizations offer robotics programs, including the Girl Scouts, 4-H, and several Boys and Girls Clubs.

3) FIRST robotics is an international program.  Regional qualifiers are held all over the world, and the winning teams then compete at the Global Finals held in  May.

4) All of the robotics programs come with a central challenge.  I am most familiar with the high school  FRC program, so I'll outline it here:

• In January, kick off is held.  The new game is announced.  This year, your robot must be able to move around the field and shoot baskets into basketball hoops.
• Every team is given the same box of parts and the same rule book to follow.
• The kids have six weeks to build and program a working robot that meets the mandatory weight guidelines.
• After six weeks, the robots are tagged and bagged and sent off to FIRST for weighing in preparation for the tournaments.

It sounds so simple, doesn't it?  And yet, if you are familiar with the engineering field at all, you know that this challenge is not as simple as it sounds.  The kids are still in school, and they must keep their grades up at the same time that they are working on this robot.  Homework must still be turned in, and tests must still be passed.  The challenges get to the kids after a while.  Tempers fray during the last week of build season.

But then comes the magic of competition.  The kids get to put their finished product out on the field and see if it works.  They form alliances with other teams, so that there are three robots on a team, and two teams compete against each other at the same time.  Gracious professionalism rules the day.  I've seen robots catch fire during competition.  Suddenly, you'll see kids from 4 or 5 other teams out on the field, helping that poor robot, fixing the wiring, and getting it working again.  I've seen robots stop working, and other teams will give up their time-outs to make certain that the afflicted team has time to repair their robot and get it up and running again.

I tell you, you go to any robotics event anywhere in this country, and you will be struck by how wonderful, smart, kind, giving, and absolutely amazing our young people are. 

I wish these kids would get more press.  They are the quiet, unsung heroes of the next generation.

And I am so proud of ALL of them.  Not just my team- all of the teams.  These kids are simply unbelievable.

Good luck to all of the participants in all of the qualifiers around the country this weekend!

*I will be posting pictures from the Convention Center over the next few days.*

Random Pictures

Some random thoughts from around my world this week:

I found these purple beauties while out walking this week.
Honestly, it was the 28th of Feb. and 70* outside.  Is this weather crazy, or what?

I finally managed to get a picture of a train engine as it steamed by!

Getting ready for Robotics tournaments.
One of the big "things" at FRC Robotics Tournaments is button collecting.
Each team gives away buttons every year.  Here, you see the button backs.
The kids have already made 2,000 buttons in anticipation of our two regional tournaments.

The State House in Annapolis, Maryland.
I know it's not your normal view,
 but I love the play of light across the carpet!

And finally, a sweetie from the animal shelter.
This little beauty was a month old when this picture was taken.
This same night, we met a professional football player who was adopting
an animal from the shelter to take home.
How can you not love a guy who adopts from the shelter?