O.K. peoples, I thought we had to send handwritten letters for Mom so we missed the blog last week. However, as I do want a copy for family history, I will be writing here from now on. I still want the details of WHY Emily was trying raw foods and WHAT the purpose was if just for 1 week. Charlotte your handiwork is beautiful - you should be proud (or at least well pleased!) of your efforts. We were sorry to hear of the passing of your fish. We did see pics of Joey and it inspired the kids to name our plants: fluffy, spike, stumpy III, and fang.
Ammon's Beta finally passed on to the Great Sea in the Sky last week. It had to have been a record for how long one lived - he got it years ago when he was 2? And its not as if it shouldn't have died from stress each time we changed the bowl - 100% water changes with no temp acclimation etc. We did give it a "real" burial out under the tree - no flushing down the toilet. I suggested to Ammon that we could bury him next to one of the corn plants (the Indians taught the Pilgrims to do that, at least in my history book) and after some thought, he said that it would be a good idea for his fish to help grow the corn we will eat but that the tractors next fall would probably dig his pet up when they plow so he declined and picked the tree instead.
Rachel's horse only has a slight limp now (twisted foot in mud last week) but is still in with the cows. We are trying hard to get the feedlot fenced but need Chris to finish it - and the mud to dry out enough to get a truck in to dispose of all the hazards (boards with nails, old wire etc.) before we can use it. Michael survived his week in the rain camping and finished 4 merit badges in one week. Now just an Eagle project to go on June 29... He is suppose to get his cast off in 2 weeks and the doctor says he can pull the pins out himself - should be fun. They are amazed that he has been able to keep the same cast - but it does have a split to allow for swelling after the surgery and we keep telling him to keep it clean enough that they don't redo it because it won't be near as comfortable if they put a solid one on. It hasn't slowed him down at all, except no milking the cow and Mom gets to do his writing for him. Even water wars with soaker hoses and rock climbing have been on his summer to do list. John and Michael attended a three day Wyoming Youth Leadership Education conference and seemed to enjoy it. They got to see a lot of different businesses and try new activities and learn how to get along with unwelcome roommates. John got samples from one business selling a special clay to alleviate many different ailments so if you are into that and want more info, email him. Mike got a t-shirt for helping at a retail store and they both won super soaker guns with their teams. They had the whole neighborhood over for water gun fun Fri. which went well I think.
All our spare time has been spent preparing for 4-H presentations. It seems to have paid off as John won senior champion with a power point on Genghis Khan, Michael intermediate champ. with a presentation all about venus fly traps (he knows the secrets to keeping them alive now), Rachel junior reserve champ with an easy ice cream demo (using Grandma's ice cream maker) and Ammon junior champ for his presentation on how an ear works. He was pretty happy to beat his sister but I think it could have gone either way. Lots of time preparing so it was great to see them place so well. This year we are actually going to compete at state (June 26) so wish them luck. This is the first time we will be able to do so. Rachel will miss though as she will be at a music camp. That's the news for now. Can't wait to hear what you've been up to. Christine
Congrats on the presentations! You'll have to let us know how state goes. :)
ReplyDeleteAmmon showed some good thinking about the whole fish burial--Seth appreciated his logic. I'm incredibly curious how Michael managed rock climbing with a broken arm, and also about Stumpy III. What happened to Stumpy I and II? :P
Char - Stumpy was a sea star (star fish to the rest of us), one of the original 3 that came with the tank. He "lost" a leg once when we were moving rock and stressed him out. The brittle stars are called that because they are prone to shedding legs like lizzards do tails. Unfortunately I killed all three stars (2 brittles and a serpent star) when we were changing filter set ups. We ordered 3 more and one of the brittles lost a leg during shipping. Hence stumpy II. Just so you know, this kind of star fish does grow new legs if water conditions are good (both stumpy's did), but not new star fish unless you cut through the central disk - but in a tank that would most likely kill them. The legs can live for weeks by themselves but have no way to "eat". We just discarded the leg from shipping. So, what does this have to do with venus fly traps you are now wondering... well the fly traps send out a long shoot that flowers in the spring but on fly traps less than 3 years old you want to pinch this off so the plant spends it energy growing - they grow VERY slowly. So Mikes younger fly trap he pinched off and so Stumpy III was named in honor of the short stalk left. Fang is his other fly trap and is suppose to be 10 years old. You might be able to tell them apart in the photo.
ReplyDeleteRock climbing was indoor with harnesses as part of the business leadership activity. Mike said when he grabbed a rock that hurt his thumb he would let go of that one and pick a different place to grab onto but that it was very hard. He does have use of his fingers - just can't move his thumb to grasp anything and the x-rays showed he didn't mess up the pins thankfully.