For the Birds!

On Friday morning, I thought I was transported into a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". They were everywhere and thousands of them! All Black Birds on their way south for the winter.

This was taken from the office window. I emailed Karl a note to let him know it was a good thing we had not put the grass seed down, yet, or it would have all been gone! I also knew this meant I needed to get some hay bales to throw over the seed when I put it down.

As you can see, there is a defining line between our yard and the neighbor's. Apparently our builder put an annual grass seed down. Due to the hard frost a few nights ago, it has all died. Had we known about the grass before now, we would have taken more steps to reduce it's damaging effects before winter. After spending some time with friends and bats, the children and I raked, laid seed and hay before dark. Not a small task for about 3/4 of an acre surrounding the house.

When Karl returned home from work, I asked him to order and pick up our pizza as the children had earned it for their hard work. I also had not been able to make dinner because of the rush to seed. The next day we were expecting a soft drizzle for the whole day, perfect for grass seed. The pizza is Papa Johns, Anton has discovered the secret of the garlic butter dipping sauce for the crust. Unfortunately, Papa Johns does not yet deliver to our more rural location, only Dominoes delivers to us. A small price to pay for far superior pizza.

Those Lovely Creature of the Night!

Bats!

This time of year people are thinking of spooky things that cause fear in us. But what is fear? Fear is not understanding or being improperly taught about something; a prejudice towards the unknown. With one of our parent groups, we got together at her house for a presentation on one such creatures of mystery, bats! Do not worry, no bats were harmed in this presentation, they were already dead and had been preserved in formaldehyde.

Bats, at least the local ones, are bug eaters. They can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour. Since we live near a nature preserve and a swamp, you can guess what I was thinking, "I need a bat house!" There are some very large bats that eat fruit, but these are located in tropical rain forests. They are being an active part of their ecosystem, by helping to seed the ground for more trees . (Anton is studying ecosystems in science right now.) The feared Vampire Bats only live in Mexico and South America. These bats are the only ones which are highly feared for carrying rabies, hence the blood issue. One bright child asked what purpose do they serve in our environment? Great question! Well, scientists are trying to isolate the chemical in their saliva which causes the wound from the cut to not coagulate. This chemical compound is then used in heart patients to thin their blood. By the way, Vampire Bats do not suck blood, they lap it much the same way as a dog, and they prey on cattle. The cattle are usually alright as long as they are not fed on several times within a short period.

All the children got a chance to get a closer look. Isabella was pretending to be afraid. Why do I know this, she has been to exhibits with live bats much less dead ones.

Once the animal presentation was over, one of the moms had a small bat craft ready for them to work on.



Isabella finished hers, but Anton opted to finish his at home so he could run around with the other boys. Interestingly, all the boys over the age of 5 either did not complete the craft or did it very haphazardly. All the girls took their time and made sure the bows were on right if they wanted it to be a girl bat. A nice way to spend a Friday afternoon with friends.

Palaeontologist at Work!

The other day, I took the children to the craft store to pick up some much needed supplies. Both were allowed to pick a few things of interest to them. While Isabella was veering towards the clay, paint, and stitchery, Anton went straight for the models and rock kits. One find was a block of coarse sand which contains plastic bones of a miniature T-Rex. Anton took the metal pick and small metal mallet and began to slowly chip away the sand.

This proved to be much more difficult than the clay block he did a few years ago. The sand is held pretty firmly with a very hard glue. Plus, you have to be careful to not dent the bones. This is much more realistic than the clay version and more age appropriate.

After 20 minutes of a constant metal tapping noise, Isabella pried herself from her clay to see what Anton was doing. Immediately she wanted a turn. I explained to her beginning whines, the Dino kit was Anton's and it was up to him to share. I made a side comment of the importance of being nice and sharing but not being a bully or manipulative. Anton got the hint and told Isabella she could have 10 taps of the hammer.

They were very good about this request and then Anton returned to tapping. Isabella is very intuitive and knew it was just a matter of time before Anton would let her have another go at it. It took them about an hour to see some progress. However, they discovered with a little team work, their work was more effective at reaching their goal.

After about another hour, I told them they needed to work on it another time. The day's progress was finding the tips of three bones.

The next day, they spent another couple hours working on the block. This time they had found out each person's strengths. Isabella is better at the small precise chipping near the bones while Anton is more skilled at removing the larger chips. The majority of the bones are now visible but not all excavated. Once all the parts are removed and washed, these palaeontologists will assemble and paint the creation. This project was well worth $20. The children learned the patience and focus of the working on a dig. It was very realistic.

Sorry no picture of the finished project yet. The two have not had the time to complete it!

The First Burn Pile or Bonfire?

On Sunday, we decided to enjoy our efforts of the day before. With the help of a little lighter fluid and some wind from mother nature, we had a good burn pile going. Karl and I manned a shovel and broom with a couple buckets of water should things get a little scary. We only had a few places to pat out and they were not that bad. Once everything was dying down, I looked at Karl and said with a smile, "no point in wasting a good fire!" So off to the house I went to retrieve the marshmallows and Graham crackers.

The children still need to learn the best way to roast, not burn or drop, a marshmallow. Somethings just come with experience. Karl tried to give a few pointers while I took a moment to relax a little.

However, it really just comes down to eating them anyway!

What a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon and we only had to go in the back yard.

Children and the Freedom of the Country

Shortly after receiving our house hold goods, we had a conversation with the children as follows:

Children: "Can we go outside and ride our bikes?"

Karl and I: "Yes, you may!"

Children: "Are you going to come with us?"

Karl and I: "No, we have a lot of unpacking to do."

Children: "But someone might try to kidnap us!"

Karl: "Who?? You are pretty far from the street (our driveway is about 600 ft long) and not many cars come down the street anyway!"

The children were dumbfounded but quickly ran outside to enjoy the fresh air!

This is why we feel our new location is best for our family. The children are more free to be, well, free. Yes, we have the added challenge of animal pests, but the dogs will take care of this in no time.

On Saturday, after our battle with the tree line, the children were caught red handed playing in the fields. Their imagination play was coming forth in the long grass and open land.

Not wanting the puppies to feel left out and a little curious to their reactions, I let them free of their leashes to run amok. After the initial run off of energy due to being freed, they quickly found their place in the family. Their purpose in the family is to be companions and protectors of the children. With this much land, it will be difficult to be close enough to the children at all times to protect them from snakes or other creatures. However, the dogs will be with them.

Together, they can explore and play within the fields. I have been teaching the puppies the names of certain animals (fox, chipmunk, squirrel) through toys they tear apart. They are continually praised for attacking their toy foxes with comments of "Get the Fox!" Katie immediately grabs her fox and Blossom will grab the free end. The fox is one enemy we will have to deal with when the poultry comes to the farm. I want them to see a fox and immediately go on attack. I have also been careful to not give the puppies any ducks, geese, or chickens to play with as these will not be seen as toys or victims. But for now, they are enjoying romping through the tall grass and sneaking up on each other. Katie is quicker to come when called because Blossom is still following a scent trail. We will be working on this and have received some good advice from the Puppy School teacher.

I had to include this picture as I find it so adorable, a girl and her dogs. You can not see Blossom, she is on the grass in front of Isabella and next to Katie. They are all watching the geese flying by as they return south for the winter. Since the swamp is about two miles from the north west side of our land, we see many wild life coming and going.

Later in the evening, I spotted 7 deer on the edge of the nature preserve and the soy fields about a mile away. This was very unusual since black powder deer season has begun. As a matter of fact, Doug shot an eight point buck that day. Not bad for his first buck ever and only 12 years old. You can really tell we are becoming assimilated when Karl and I are excited for our neighbor's child's success. We will be attending a deer barbecue soon to celebrate. For those of you who do not understand the above comments, points are the antler tips, deer season is divided into three sections, bow, black power, and rifle with limits of 2 bucks and 10 does in each season. This is something we have picked up in recent weeks by listening to the locals.

Attacking the Tree Line

It was the first Saturday in quite awhile in which we had no pre-planned activities to attend. Anton's soccer team had a this weekend off and no other obligated social commitments. It was a day to play and work on the farm.

I had originally thought it would be a good day to work on Anton's desk, his request for his birthday from Karl and I. Anton asked for the wood to build a desk for his room, something we have been working on as time permits. I will go into it in greater detail once it is completed. Karl thought it would be a good day to finally "play" with his new outside power tools. What started as just wanting to try them out, a new gas powered weed/brush whacker and a chain saw, turned into our work for the day.

He initially started trimming the grass around the house, and moved over to the oak near the back of the house. This area is impossible to get with the mower due to uneven ground and a couple of sharp drops. As I saw the progression, I knew I needed to suit up for the obvious brewing battle, the tree line. On came the hat, leather gloves, old sweatshirt (it reached a chilling high of 58), and work boots with two sizes of clippers in hand. "Here we go", I said to myself. We began whacking and pulling the grape vines and wild brambles about a quarter in of the left hand side of the tree line. This is the location of where the tree had snapped, already vines had begun to grow over top of the broken tree that lay upside down on the ground. After about 4 hours we had accumulated a nice dent in the over growth.

We had created a nice size pile. Now what do we do with this woody vine and deadwood? In the country, we burn it! Karl looked at me like I was a crazy woman when I told him we needed to move the pile further towards the house away from the tree line. I was very fearful of the pile setting all the trees on fire and then spreading to the unharvested 100+ acres of soy. The children joined in with pleas because they began to be fearful of a spread to the house. Karl saw his defeat as he knew a battle with the three of us left him undermanned. We actually rolled the pile about 20 feet from it's original location and it is located quite a distance from the house.

The children and I started to collect the tools as Karl finished some prep work for a good size burn pile. He cut the grass down to the dirt in a 10 foot ring around the pile to reduce the chances of spreading flames.

Now we are all set for our first burn pile on the farm!

Metro, Monument, and Historical Moments

Since Karl had an extra day off thanks to Federal Holidays, we decided to take a break from everything and take a trip into DC. I had to get my Metro Smart Card so I could get through the system, then it was off to our first excursion. The children were too excited for words especially since we were able to ride in the first car and they could see everything. Anton did decide he did not like going underground though. It just seemed unnatural to him and he was more relaxed when we were back in the sunshine.



We tried to get a picture of them pushing the sides of the monument up, but what can one expect from two little ones? They did pretty good following directions but their arms were getting tired.

We were lucky enough to get tickets for the Washington Monument but we had to wait in line to go in. Then Karl got a brilliant idea, he told the children to try to push the monument over.

Pretty soon, lots of other little kids were joining them as their parents realized it was providing some distraction and with that much marble, there was nothing they could do but release energy. Finally our turn came and Isabella informed the security that Karl had a nail file in his pocket. She is such a stinker sometimes. All was well, and we ascended up to the lookout platform. It was very interesting to see all the sites from this vantage point. Then we returned to the ground and were off to find something to eat before heading back home before Anton's soccer practise.

One section really stood out for Karl and I. It was the quotes from or about George Washington on the floor below the the lookout level. Much was said about his integrity and his lack of interest in becoming such a powerful person. These are ideals that seem to have become lost in our country today; most people want to have all the power and control. They could care less about their words, actions, or how they achieve that goal.

These are some of the reasons we are so glad to have found our little piece of heaven. In the country, a person's word and hand shake still mean something. People are willing to inconvenience themselves to help one another because it is the neighborly and right thing to do. These are God fearing, honest, hard working people who just want a good life for their family and friends; very similar to what one section listed as the original view for running this fledgling country. A government that stayed out of your affairs, let the family run it's land, and came together to decide things of importance like dealing with foreign nations.

The questions for Americans today are:

How far from the ideal do you think we have strayed?

Our Forefathers fought hard for us to have the freedom to pursue "the good life",

How would they view our world today?