Capitol Idea! - Part 2 - Lady Freedom and Exhibition Hall

We had about an hour before our scheduled tour, so we were instructed to view the plaster replica of Lady Freedom, which adorns the top of the Capitol Building and Exhibition Hall.

Lady Freedom was a design with much symbolism and design particulars. She was chosen after the narrowing selection of three designs and then voted upon by congress. She stands 19 1/2 feet tall creating the regulation that no other statues, except Lady Liberty who was already standing, can be taller than 19 feet because "nothing should be above Freedom".

Anton and Matthew were taking their buddy system to the extreme, but that is what this age is all about. Karl did stipulate at least one parent must accompany each of his cubbies because taking the den to a touristy place like the Capitol was above his comfort level. The children not wanting to be stuck to their parents when all their friends were around, chose to utilize the buddy system which made keeping track of the groups of two a little easier. Here Karl and Mike are watching their boys while getting a little history in the process. I, on the other hand, had the girls, Isabella and Mary Claire, in my eye sight. While reading the history behind the design was less on their list of priorities, they just simply admired the detail and grandeur of the replica.

I do not have any picture of the Exhibition Hall as cameras were forbidden in this area. Since I had the girls in my charge, I ended up spending the majority of the time watching the girls admire the detail of the dome replica on display, about the size of a doll house, with all of the details present. It was a cutaway, so we had to spend a long time viewing both sides. The girls and I then wandered through the Senate display section reading placards and finally sitting down to short video of the historical expansion of their spaces. Before we knew it, time had passed, and we missed the entire House of Representatives side because it was time for our tour through the building.

Capitol Idea! - Part 1 - Metro and Lobby

This past Saturday, we took a trip to see the Capitol and new visitor's center. It was a planned trip with Karl's Cub Scout Den to cover the Historical Places achievement. Living so close to the DC meant an endless options list to choose from. Karl chose not to attend a more local location since many of the children had already seen these sites even if Anton had not. Interestingly, this was also the first time for many of the children to take a ride the metro into the DC area, along with a subway transfer. After all the excitement of purchasing tickets and finding our way to the front car of the metro, Karl nearly proposed canceling the Capitol for just taking a loop around the metro.

However, we continued on and arrived together at the visitor's center and security station. Everyone one of our scouts set off the alarm with their belt loops and had to be scanned with the wands. After the first two, they waved all the boys, five bears and one weeblo, to one side and scanned them at once. We were glad to find a coat check so we did not have to walk around with our them. The crew was anxious to get moving to see the real part of the trip, so we wandered our way down to the ticket area where Karl had 30 tickets reserved for the tour. The boys and girls had fun looking at the very large bronze sautes of King Kamehameha I and Sachawa near the ticket counter.

Anton and Isabella were very excited to be able to tell their friends how to pronounce Kamehameha. Incidentally, we discovered later, this statue is the heaviest of all the bronze statues and must stay in this location because it is resting over a massive support structure for the building. It is the only spot they were not worried about it crashing through the floor. The statuary was part of a program with the Capitol in which each state contributed two statues of either bronze or marble for decorating the spaces. Our tour guide had a map of the locations of each state's contributions so she could point them out the visitor's home state's contribution. She also explained the statues were being swapped out all the time as state's changed or updated their representative statues.

Prepping Temporary Beds

This past Saturday, we had the goal of cleaning up the garage so Karl could get his car back in before the snow came. My accumulation of straw and compost had been sitting in his spot as a staging area till we had the chance to make some temporary beds for spring planting. With snow in the forecast for the afternoon, we had to get moving.


The children and I headed to the south side of the house to mark out the temporary vegetable garden beds. We decided to use this space because it will eventually become the soft fruit area for blueberries and other things I can come up with that will live harmoniously with the acidic needs of the blueberries. We need to have a temporary space because we are no where near ready to create the final vegetable garden plots in the main area of the lower land. We have a very wet spot in the lower land we have marked out as the duck pond and intend to run drainage to the pond. The digging of the pond is most likely going to require a backhoe and then we need to have a place to put all the excavated soil. We have plans for these but they all mean waiting to put anything in the lower land at this time.


Once the narrow beds, 30 inches wide and varying lengths to accommodate current difficulties, were laid out with stakes and twine, we began the no till method of preparation. This method for prepping the soil is simply a modified compost pile. I say modified because no current kitchen waste in the stage of breaking down is used. First one must lay a thin layer of straw on the grass, then composted manure (the post smelly kind found in bags at Lowes), a layer of crushed leaves, more composted manure, followed by a very thick layer of straw. The idea is the materials will break down over winter due to the constant freeze/thaw cycle into wonderful top soil. In the spring, if I want, I can till down a few inches to loosen the original ground, but the heat action of composting should have already killed off the grass and weeds beneath the pile.


It took the better part of the day to lay out and cover four 30 inch by 15 feet beds and one 30 inch by 35 feet bed. The 30 inch span is a comfortable straddle across the beds to facilitate early weeding and thinning of the beds. It also allows enough space for two rows of most crops and room to construct a climbing structure for vining plants. I did not invent this myself, it comes directly from one of John Seymour's Self Sustaining books I read last year. We will see how well it works, but any organic material added to the soil left by the builder will help anything that wants to grow there.


A few weeks prior I was able to plant some garlic for summer harvest. Again, I was lacking a great space for this, so I caved and planted the cloves in the flower beds near the soon to be erected orchard fence. The ground has been staked and marked with florescent twine so nearly everyone can see to not walk there. It has been mulched over with 4-6 inches of crushed leaves I was able to retrieve from local friends with established oak and maple trees, and a thin layer of straw to hold the leaves down until a good soaking rain or snow can matte them into place. I had read somewhere planting garlic with roses helpes to make the roses stronger. I wonder what it will do with the transplanted daisies located near them.


Between the new vegetable plots, and flower beds, I began running down the bales of straw and bags of crushed leaves. In no time, Karl was sweeping out the garage and straightening the tools. We kept the children busy by paying them $2 per full bucket of rocks they found in the orchard area. Since Isabella as she puts it "is coming up a little short on the money for Anton's Christmas gift" she was eager to make some money. I thought Karl was very generous to offer $2 but then again it was a 4 quart garden bucket. The rocks are being used to line the ditch I dug to facilitate a poor drainage spot during heavy rains. Since the beginning of the new rock ditch, we have not had any standing water on this spot of the driveway and it looks pretty too with all the shapes and colors of the found rocks.


Eventually our bodies gave out to the work load of the day. Our tummies were arguing with our drive and we had to call it a day. We had managed to reach the goal of the day to pull Karl's car into the garage. I walked slowly upstairs for my much needed hot shower then drove to Papa Johns to pick up the pizza we would eat by the fire while watching a children's choice movie. As I was driving and reflecting upon our accomplishments of the day, the snow began to fall. It was as if it had held off just long enough for us to reach our goal. The drainage ditch will be one of the long range projects to be chipped at as time allows but the evidence of our work is beginning to show. For now, I will rest and admire the beauty of the soft falling snow.

Talkin' Turkey!

This month, we were able to meet with our friends to talk about turkeys!

The presenter was very informative for the children and many of the parents. I, however, had already been doing some research on turkeys and only wanted to talk care specifics with the farmer. She began with discussions of what we need to survive, our habitat. This led into the discovers of what the wild turkeys look for when establishing their homes. Interestingly enough, on our way to Carolyn's house, two wild hens (female turkeys) ran across the road when we had been driving through a particularly wooded area. She explained the bravery on the hens in their job to hatch out turkeys and how the males, called gobblers or toms, just like to prance all day long.

She had brought her pet turkey Ron to show the children. Ron had been raised by hand since birth and at three years of age, was quite docile and accepted the children inspecting him. Ron is a Spanish Black or sometimes just called Black turkey. This breed is considered very critical, only 200 alive. Black Turkeys, along with Bourbon Reds and Narragansetts are heritage breeds which means closer to native wild turkeys, will breed naturally, and hatch out their eggs. When the presenter found out I was interested in keeping some turkeys, she began trying to convince me to go with the Blacks because of their closeness to extinction. She tried to persuade me by the numbers, there are 500 Bourbon Reds, but when I simply said, "I am from Kentucky." She smiled and said "That is why and you understand."

The children could touch all the feathers, three kinds for warmth and show, neck, head, beak. They could not touch his snood as it is very ticklish for him. After all the children had a chance to warm their fingers in the soft down, Ron was able to get down and strut in his pen. Since he had been such a good sport, Isabella was able to give him a cereal snack, raw wheat, cracked corn, oats, and split soybeans.

After the snack, the children tried hard to get Ron to gobble and show off his grand feathers. The is a small problem when he is so docile. But after some persistence of the children, his face turned to blue and he let out a few gobbles.

Why did Thomas Jefferson think the turkey should be the country's bird? Turkeys can see black, white, and red. The red allows toms to spot other toms in a distance. Turkeys are native to the US and Thomas Jefferson had turkeys on his farm when the British, Red Coats, came to his house. The toms, seeing the red, saw the British as other gobblers that were invading their territory and attacked the soldiers. Mr. Jefferson said this was proof the British were not welcome on this land and the birds had some fight in them. Ultimately he lost his request to the majestic Bald Eagles.

When I relayed the events to Karl, he now is also trying to get me to cave on the Bourbon Reds verses the Blacks. It is going have to be more convincing because I have too much KY blood still running through my veins. Also, the meat of the Bourbon Red is suppose to be far superior to all but the midget whites which I am not considering at all. As a Kentucky native, I feel as if it is my duty to keep some of my heritage alive. I think this acknowledgement is why the presenter backed off as soon as she knew my home of origin.

Welcoming the Christmas Season!

With the remains of Thanksgiving now reduced to unique turkey dishes, it was time to prepare for Christmas, usually referred to as Advent. Since many people travel for this weekend, Karl and I were free of our Sunday School obligations. The church hosted a Pancake Breakfast with Santa as a fundraiser for seminary student expenses.

Since we tend to be early risers, I though it might be less crowded to see Santa before our church service. Our hunch was correct as the room was mostly empty tables. The children, Isabella mostly, was not going to focus on her breakfast until she had a chance to see Santa. While I believe Anton is waning in his belief in Santa from a purely logical reasoning (what stops Karl and I from going out to get presents once he is asleep since Santa always comes while he is sleeping?), Isabella is still holding on. Or maybe she is just covering her bases. Anton requested a telescope and more Lego's (shocker there?!). Isabella was good to her previous statements of a Bow and arrow but also threw in a new pair of slippers as the puppies think hers being all fuzzy and pink are play things. Not sure about the slippers but Intel is very good for the bow and arrow set.

After church, Anton was invited over to a cub scout friend's house for Lego constructing. He had fun and so did Karl and I.

Isabella was all tuckered out from a long night the night before. We had been to visit one of the families from our church who have children the same age as ours and then some. We were over much later than anticipated because we were all having such a good time. Karl and I spend the couple of hours catching up on other activities. I had been behind in practising for the Christmas Concert. I am still working on the confidence for my part. Karl was putting together activities for his cub scout den meetings for the next few weeks.

After my choir rehearsal and a little non-turkey dinner, we set up the tree. With three weeks left till Christmas, time was ticking away. I love having the house decorated, it makes everything feel more special this time of the year.

It did not take long for the children to find their favorite ornaments and began asking us where they all came from. Karl and I have been working on our ornament collection since our marriage. We wanted to create a memory type of tree with an ornament to represent places and events in our lives. Once the stories began, Karl and I become more sentimental to the tree trimming tradition. It becomes a recap of how we arrived here today.

Then the children found their favorite ornaments. One from Karl's trip to Vancouver with the submarine and one of Pinocchio I purchased during my travels in Italy, where the story originates. It only seemed appropriate for the music at the moment to be the Russian Dancers in the Nutcracker Suite.

Once the box was empty, we had a quick tree lighting before bed time became a thing of Christmas Past.

A Quiet Stress-free Turkey Day!

For the first time in a very long time, Karl, the children, and I found ourselves home and alone for Thanksgiving. We chose to have a low key, low stress day to enjoy everything we are thankful for this year. While we did miss spending time with extended family, we did relish the quiet closeness of our time together. Since there was no guests to impress and I had a budding chef on my heels, we went with the flow.

Karl and Anton prepared breakfast while Isabella and I prepped the turkey for the oven. Isabella and I can work as a team, especially when she likes to do some of my least favorite chores. For instance, she likes buttering things wither it be a pan or a turkey. So once I had the turkey all cleaned up, she buttered, spiced (with my observation), and helped to stuff the turkey. Later she wanted to do all the basting. Nearly every 1/2 hour, she was there when I turned the turkey with the baster in her hand. It was definitely a juicy turkey!

Not wanting the boys to feel left out, I gave them the task of green bean casserole, straight from the can recipe. It also gave Anton a chance to inspect all the ingredients to make sure we were not sliding in something weird into the casserole. Karl and I were tickled when he exclaimed his surprise at seeing mushrooms in cream of mushroom soup.


Isabella and I began the pumpkin pie as soon as they vacated our work space. I have to explain this was very gracious of Isabella as she was pretty steadfast on pumpkin cheese cake instead of pie (the Moretti's would understand!) which is Anton's favorite.

Karl said he had to snap this picture because we looked too cute in our aprons. She thoroughly enjoyed having me only overseeing her make the pie. (Oh, how quickly they grow!)

Well, several hours later, and longer than we expected, the turkey was done! I whipped up some gravy from the drippings and handed Karl his knives. If at all possible, I avoid the carving.

A few dishes carried to the table and the feast began. While we only made a few items compared to spread we would have had if guests were coming, it was still a very filling meal with all food groups present.

It is a good thing a turkey has two drumsticks or we could have had an end to our quiet day!

Yes, they ate the whole thing!

My Thanksgiving Moment

I am thankful for all my friends, and family who have helped me become the person I am today. Each one of you have had a part in helping me to discover myself and find true happiness. While many still think I am crazy for going down this path, it is only because they have seen only a part of me or who they thought I was. This is most clear in the past week when my uncle passed. He was a very kind and quiet person but alone since my grandmother's passing. I had been unable to attend the funeral due to Anton having contracted a virus and double ear infection while Karl was away on business. Many asked about us and thought it comical for me to have chosen this direction in my life. They only remember the high tea sort of girl I was 10-15 years ago. They have not witnessed the gradual changing in my demeanor from proper wine etiquette to harmonious herb and vegetable placements in the garden. To those who have loved me from then and now, I thank you. Had it not been for your imprint on my life, I might not have been forced to make the hard choices to get me here today.

I am so blessed. I have a healthy family both mentally, physically, and spiritually. My wish is only the same for you as we journey into this Christmas Season.

Math and Science Review (well, sort of..)

Since the children and I were having a blah afternoon, I racked my brain for something interesting to fill up the time. Anton has been studying math concepts of 3 teaspoons is equal to a tablespoon, pints to gallons, along with his multiplication tables. Then it struck me, muffins! By making pumpkin muffins, we could review his math concepts and have something fun to show for it. Karl and Anton had picked up a few cans of pumpkin puree so we were all set, or so I thought. Part way into the project, I discovered we were out of baking powder, hence the science. I had baking soda and cream of tartar though, a substitution in a pinch. The conversion to make baking powder is located inside the Betty Crocker Cookbook, the bible of cooking.

So where does the math review come into play? We doubled the recipe! Anton did nearly all the conversions and Isabella helped to man the mixer!

It turned out to be a fun day after all! And a little icing on top just makes it all the sweeter!