Today was "FARBLUNGET" -- a Yiddish word for running around like a headless chicken. I recently bought a first edition of a book called The Flablunget Chronicles (I'm told by one of my friends that "farblunget" is more correct) at my UU church from one of our members, Zisa Moglen. Zisa shares a birthday with Laura, but she will be 70 on 11-11-11 (her Golden Birthday,) while Laura will only be 14. My "farblunget" day consisted of taking Laura and Emma into the Springs for a vocal techniques class and then fetching them (two one-hour round trips,) rushing back to get Paige to harp, taking Laura and Emma to the grocery store while Paige was at harp, fetching Paige, doing the paperwork to get Laura into Colorado Calvert Academy (she's in as an eighth grader) by 4 p.m., and taking Laura down to orchestra in the Springs and reading in the car for the 1.5 hours she was practicing. I came home and made dinner and am now doing some schoolwork with Emma (who is reading beside me.) I suppose it's important to remember that "Farblunget" does contain the letters F, U, and N ...
I've been reading some good books lately by the Finnish author Johanna Sinisalo -- Birdbrain and Troll -- A Love Story. They're both rather dark, but fascinating and unusual. Then I've just finished the most appalling novel by Robert Goddard, Name to a Face. Goddard is apparently very popular in the UK, but not so much out here. The number of surprising coincidences in the plot really stretched credulity.
I'm looking forward to the Calvert curriculum arriving for Laura. I've been going through the training for "learning guides," and it looks simple to use. I'm happy with the Waldorf materials Laura has been using, but I think this curriculum will keep her on track and prepare her better for high school.
Yesterday we had a wonderful experience at Serenity Springs Wildlife Center. Only Paige and Emma accompanied me, so I want to make another trip out there in a couple of weeks with Daniel and Laura. I'll post more about it tomorrow (which should be a less farblunget sort of day.)
Monday, September 26, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Leafs and Rocks
So today we all went up to Broomfield to test drive a Nissan Leaf. It's a wonderful car -- zero emissions, low maintenance (no oil changes or pumps to break,) very safe (low center of gravity due to heavy battery under the seats, no gas tank to burst into flames,) quiet and responsive to drive, and all sorts of neat gadgets like a rear view video that comes on when you go into reverse. The one we liked was electric blue, like this one:
They generally have a range of about 100 miles, so are great for running around town or taking kids to classes in the Springs (about a 40 to 50 mile round trip.) They're already available in twenty states, but we won't be able to get them in Colorado for another three to four months.
After testing the Leaf, we went to Cinzetti's, one of our favorite restaurants, for lunch.
Thereafter we went into Golden to visit the Geology Museum at the Colorado School of Mines. The museum was great! We appreciated the opportunity to take a look around the school, which is one the kids are considering. Being a state school, tuition is about a third that of private schools like Colorado College. Mines and Colorado College are both very appealing. Mines is a research school that goes up to PhD level, so there are likely more opportunities in Mines' specialty areas such as robotics and all types of engineering (environmental, biomedical, electrical, etc.). There are programs at Mines that allow students to take both a master's and a bachelor's degree in 5.5 years (our kids could perhaps knock off two years by going to community college first.) Students from Mines, with their training in engineering and applied sciences, are in high demand after graduation. Colorado College is smaller, perhaps more nurturing, and offers the block system. I spoke to a student at the museum who said a friend of his is at Colorado College. They're both doing geology, and the core classes are apparently identical. He did say that Colorado College has more money, so the students can do "outrageous field trips" -- even to other continents. Well, we'll see ... both look like good options.
Here are some pics from the Geology Museum:
They generally have a range of about 100 miles, so are great for running around town or taking kids to classes in the Springs (about a 40 to 50 mile round trip.) They're already available in twenty states, but we won't be able to get them in Colorado for another three to four months.
After testing the Leaf, we went to Cinzetti's, one of our favorite restaurants, for lunch.
Thereafter we went into Golden to visit the Geology Museum at the Colorado School of Mines. The museum was great! We appreciated the opportunity to take a look around the school, which is one the kids are considering. Being a state school, tuition is about a third that of private schools like Colorado College. Mines and Colorado College are both very appealing. Mines is a research school that goes up to PhD level, so there are likely more opportunities in Mines' specialty areas such as robotics and all types of engineering (environmental, biomedical, electrical, etc.). There are programs at Mines that allow students to take both a master's and a bachelor's degree in 5.5 years (our kids could perhaps knock off two years by going to community college first.) Students from Mines, with their training in engineering and applied sciences, are in high demand after graduation. Colorado College is smaller, perhaps more nurturing, and offers the block system. I spoke to a student at the museum who said a friend of his is at Colorado College. They're both doing geology, and the core classes are apparently identical. He did say that Colorado College has more money, so the students can do "outrageous field trips" -- even to other continents. Well, we'll see ... both look like good options.
Here are some pics from the Geology Museum:
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| Emma and Paige standing between two halves of a large geode |
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| Statue of a burro, once used to carry vast quantities of equipment, including sticks of dynamite! |
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| Piece of aquamarine |
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| Rhodochrosite: Colorado's state mineral |
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| Ancient piece of Apatosaurus bone |
Friday, September 23, 2011
Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts
This evening (Friday), Paige, Emma, and I visited an opening reception at Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts of Reven Marie Swanson's "Under the Water" exhibit, which featured five giant statues of figures that appear to be swimming. The figures were made from wire, clad in some sort of fabric swimsuits, and suspended from the ceiling.
The center offers some great art classes, including wheel throwing, acrylic painting, and digital photography.
The center offers some great art classes, including wheel throwing, acrylic painting, and digital photography.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Yahoo, We're Going to the Zoo!
Tuesday was just too nice to stay home. It was one of those gorgeous Colorado autumn mornings -- clear, sunny, and crisp. We ditched school and went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We joined as members and had such a good time that we'll definitely go much more often! It's such a beautiful zoo and is built up against the mountain, so one gets quite a workout climbing up from one exhibit to the next.
Some pics ...
The last picture was not actually taken at the zoo. It was taken last night (Wednesday) at an Aiken Audubon Society meeting at the Division of Wildlife building in Colorado Springs. Two falconers (cadets from the Air Force Academy) brought over a 19-year-old gyrfalcon. Apparently gyrs rarely live beyond 12 years in the wild. At the AFA, they're fed, protected from predators, and given veterinary care at Fort Carson, so they can live two to three times the normal lifespan. They eat quails that are defrosted and then cut open; beak, legs, and wings are removed. 13 falcons live at the AFA, including three pure white gyrs, some peregrine falcons, and a few mixes of different breeds. The cadets went to Abu Dhabi to learn about falconry, where they were offered $250K for one of the white birds. However, they don't buy or sell birds. All birds they have are given to them. Apparently only 1% of gyrfalcons are white, and gyrs are the most rare of all falcons. The cadets handle the birds at AFA sporting events and display the birds before the games and at half-time. On one occasion, one bird, Ace, didn't return to his handler. He wasn't hungry, so he didn't bother and took off. It was dark and gyrs' main predators are owls, so the cadets were getting anxious. A couple of cadets searched for him for three hours using a tracking device and were eventually able to lure him back (by that time Ace was getting hungry, so he deigned to return for food.) In the history of falconry at AFA, which started in 1959 -- the same year the academy opened -- only one bird has been lost (it returned to the wild.) The gyr was fairly small. Apparently hawks are larger, and eagles are larger again than hawks. One of the cadets told us that if an eagle were on a jess and leash, it could dislocate one's shoulder by trying to take off. They've had limited success breeding falcons at the AFA. They artificially inseminate some of them once a year, but it's rare for a hatchling to survive. However, one of their peregrine falcons, Aurora, recently had a daughter, Athena. Both like to nip, apparently, and frequently draw blood. The cadets complained that "Athena has turned into her mother." We'll have to go to an AFA football game some time to see the falcons in flight.
Some pics ...
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| Giraffe with baby |
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| Grey crowned crane |
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| Meerkat |
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| Zebra |
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| Paige and Laura looking at some monkeys |
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| Mountain lion |
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| Grizzly bear |
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| Amur tiger |
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| Amur tiger again |
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| Laura with a cockatiel |
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| Paige feeding a cockatiel |
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| Emma holding a cockatiel on a seed stick |
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| Alligators |
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| Gyrfalcon |
The last picture was not actually taken at the zoo. It was taken last night (Wednesday) at an Aiken Audubon Society meeting at the Division of Wildlife building in Colorado Springs. Two falconers (cadets from the Air Force Academy) brought over a 19-year-old gyrfalcon. Apparently gyrs rarely live beyond 12 years in the wild. At the AFA, they're fed, protected from predators, and given veterinary care at Fort Carson, so they can live two to three times the normal lifespan. They eat quails that are defrosted and then cut open; beak, legs, and wings are removed. 13 falcons live at the AFA, including three pure white gyrs, some peregrine falcons, and a few mixes of different breeds. The cadets went to Abu Dhabi to learn about falconry, where they were offered $250K for one of the white birds. However, they don't buy or sell birds. All birds they have are given to them. Apparently only 1% of gyrfalcons are white, and gyrs are the most rare of all falcons. The cadets handle the birds at AFA sporting events and display the birds before the games and at half-time. On one occasion, one bird, Ace, didn't return to his handler. He wasn't hungry, so he didn't bother and took off. It was dark and gyrs' main predators are owls, so the cadets were getting anxious. A couple of cadets searched for him for three hours using a tracking device and were eventually able to lure him back (by that time Ace was getting hungry, so he deigned to return for food.) In the history of falconry at AFA, which started in 1959 -- the same year the academy opened -- only one bird has been lost (it returned to the wild.) The gyr was fairly small. Apparently hawks are larger, and eagles are larger again than hawks. One of the cadets told us that if an eagle were on a jess and leash, it could dislocate one's shoulder by trying to take off. They've had limited success breeding falcons at the AFA. They artificially inseminate some of them once a year, but it's rare for a hatchling to survive. However, one of their peregrine falcons, Aurora, recently had a daughter, Athena. Both like to nip, apparently, and frequently draw blood. The cadets complained that "Athena has turned into her mother." We'll have to go to an AFA football game some time to see the falcons in flight.
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