28. The End of the Thirty Day Blogging Challenge

So, I didn't quite make my goal of 30 blog entries in April, but what difference does it really make?  At least I tried.  And 28 is pretty good, a 93% which is an A, in anyone's grade book.

But what have I learned from doing this 30 day challenge?  I've learned that I really do love blogging, and that it doesn't matter if the blogs are good or bad, it's fun to write and share out with pals.  Thanks  to Miscellaneous Missives and One-Woman Adventures and WordSavvy for joining in and to anyone who actually read this blog in April.

I've also learned that I'll probably wait for June for another 30 day challenge.  I don't feel like challenging myself during May.  Enough already with the challenges.

27. The Healthy Water? On it.

There are some surefire steps to find out if your backyard creek or stream is healthy.   I've galvanized into action to integrate these steps into our latest Costly Choices economics unit.    I'll now tell you how to judge your creek's health and then comment on how Thirdland is going to undertake these various ecological directives.

1. Check out the pH of the water?   Not going to be a problem because I have ordered pH measuring strips and they'll arrive tomorrow.

2.  Determine the level of nitrates in the water?  Come to find out, we're not going to do this one because I don't really care about the nitrates in the water.

3.  Calculate the rate of the flow?  I borrowed stopwatches from our gym teacher, so this shouldn't be a big deal.  All we have to do is divide the distance an object flows by the time it takes to travel that distance.  (Let's face it. That's probably going to be a flop).

4. Examine the clarity of the water?  Obviously, easy to do.  Doesn't even merit discussion.

5. Determine quantity of bacteria hanging out in the creek?  Hard pass.

6.  Identify the biodiversity around the creek?  We can look for bugs and birds as well as the next class. Not going to be an issue.

Going to throw in another test, which is 7. temperature.  I have borrowed the submersible thermometers and they're ready to go.  Not sure what the temperature of a creek should be, but is accuracy the point of this enterprise? Not necessarily.  We're out there to act like scientists and increase our appreciation for the world around us.

26. The Syndrome

I'm pretty sure I have Stockholm Syndrome.  That's where a hostage feels connected to their captor.

Case in point---Husbandman left for a week and I basically stayed right here at home, even though I had plenty of opportunities to escape.

Stockholm Syndrome isn't really a big problem for me, because I've developed such strong feelings for Husbandman over the years.  He captured my heart decades ago and it's all worked out great.

25. The Leafy Hair

Photo Credit:  @DailyRos

Woke up this Saturday morning after ten solid hours of sleep.  I ran my hand through my bedhead as I sat up, my feet searching for slippers down at floor level.  My hair felt weird, as if I were pulling my hand along a leafy hedge.  Sure enough, I looked in the mirror to discover my head covered with green waxy leaves, growing every which way.  I should have been startled, but come to find out, I thought I looked great. The leaves were actually a huge improvement.  I headed downstairs for coffee, feeling special and unique, perhaps even extraordinary. I mulled over Alice in Wonderland's words when she was swimming in her own tears, "....everything is queer today." Coffee at the ready, I opened my tablet to read some print journalism. My heart sank when I learned there was nothing special about my situation after all.  A lesser headline, toward the bottom of the screen, announced, "Treelike Tresses Bloom Atop Human Heads Across the Midwest."

"Damn it," I whispered.  My phone dinged suddenly.  Then it dinged again and again.  It was time to face the music and accept that I was just one person in a sea of people with leafy locks. I took a breath and decided to relax. I resigned myself to getting comfortable with being one of the peculiar plant-headed people of Peoria.

24. Inquiry into Incubation

We're watching the Cornell Lab Bird Cams again.  The Barred Owls have two babies.  They're feasting on snakes, bluejays, mice, chipmunks, shrews.  Every day new snacks arrives in the box. A living snake was in there earlier in the week.  Crazy.

We're waiting for the hawks to hatch.  Every day, a Thirdlander asks, "How long does it take for hawk eggs to hatch?"

I answer that I don't know.

And every day someone says, "You should look it up."

And I say, "You should look it up."

And then the whole cycle begins again.  Today I finally looked it up.  28 to 35 days.  But the Cornell Lab Hawks usually hang out on the eggs for 40 days.  No one knows why.

23. Shades of Blue

We pass my house when we go on field trips, because, come to find out, I live and work on the exact same street.  I always point out my house to the kids sitting near me on the bus. Recently we painted our house blue, but as we drove past on the way to the museum, the Thirdlanders asked, "The purple one?" I ignored it because The Thirdlanders are often off base with their commentary.  Then on the way home, I sat with a different crew of Thirdlanders.  Pointed out my house again.  Again, comments about the purpleness. I started to wonder about this.  Is my house actually purple and not blue? 

If you're a local reader,  drive by sometime, give it a gander.  I'm curious to learn what you think. If you're reading from afar, look at the pictures of my house and comment on the color if you want to.

22. The Importance of Gloves

Have you seen the documentary Free Solo?  You definitely should if you feel like it.

It's about Alex Honnold's climb to the top of El Capitan, using no ropes at all.

Come to find out,  Alex's mom just published a memoir.  She's the oldest woman to climb El Capitan.  She climbed it at age 66, which is pretty good, but let's not forget that she used ropes.

Over 30 people have died trying to climb El Capitan, so if I were you, I'd think twice before you give it a try.

Rock climbing is good fun, but use ropes.  Also spend a few extra bucks and buy your belayer some gloves.  Many climbing accidents occur because belayers without gloves let the rope slip through their hands.

21. The Wrong Side

I woke up on that wrong side today, so while I'm drinking my coffee, I've been searching on the internets for "what to do when I'm in a really really really bad mood."

The advice sucks of course.

Investigate your bad mood?  No.  Leave me alone.

Help someone in need?  Are you freaking kidding me?

Dance around to a favorite song?  Looking like an imbecile is going to solve all my problems. Sure thing.

One site just said, "Let the bad mood be."  So that's what I'm going to do.  It'll probably go away once we began the standardized testing (Math Performance Tasks) around 9:05.

20. Museum of Common Sense Physics

This is one of those days where I wonder why I thought a 30 day blogging challenge in April was a good idea. But I'm here, getting it done, and soon I'll be in bed asleep.

I was reading the NYT yesterday and came upon one of their 36 Hours in Such and Such a Place pieces.  This week it was Mendocino.  I thought of 20 Something right away.  Mendocino is only 90 minutes from where she lives, so why wouldn't she just drive up there and spend 36 hours poking around?

There's a museum there called The Museum of Common Sense Physics.  I spent time reading all about the gentleman who made this little museum.  He's dead now, but he seemed like a great guy, full of curiosity.  He was interested in physics, so he opened up a TV store, where he sold and repaired TVs.  Most of the time, he was just working on physics experiments, using various television remnants and spare parts.

When I was reading the NYT article, I miscued and thought the museum was called The Museum of Common Sense.  What an awesome idea, I thought, and clicked on the link with vim.  I was disappointed that the museum is really just about physics, which is not one of my major interest areas.  But that's neither here nor there.  Larry Spring turned his job into a front for his real passion, which is pretty sensible thing to do if you can swing it.

19. The Duck ID

Photo Credit:  Judith

I've been learning a ton of stuff today.  I've been at my computer for about 3 hours, just looking at things and texting with people and ordering stuff online and drinking five cups of coffee.  It's been a lot of fun.  20 Something and I have spent a lot of this time sending duck links back and forth.  She sees ducks at Lake Merritt and sometimes she asks me to work with her to identify some of them.  That's when we both roll up our sleeves and get to work. Today we believe we've identified the Swedish Black Duck.  During our search, 20 Something turned me on to the Magpie Ducks.  Sweet birds.

Magpie Ducks, FOTO uncredited.  Sorry, Magpie Duck Photographer

18. The Locals

We're learning about going local in our economics unit.  One of the benefits of spending time and money at local businesses and institutions is that you help promote the uniqueness of your town.

As part of this lesson, the Thirdlanders were searching for images on the Visit Bloomington page in order to plan a weekend for their families, where they would frequent some new local spots.  After planning the schedule, they used their images to make cool collages.

I could tell I didn't do a great job with my lesson on what going local means when they started working on their collages.  I kept hearing questions like:

Is Denny's local?
Is Brown County State Park local?
Is the IU Art Museum Local?
Is Chipotle local?

  I guess there's no reason for them to know that there are millions of Denny's and only one IU Art Museum, but it still seemed strange to me. I had given many examples of local businesses and had displayed photos on my power point and I had also shared some fascinating anecdotes of my personal interactions with local entrepreneurs.  Sometimes I think The Thirdlanders are ignoring the heck out of me.