One Thousand Nine Hundred Seventy-Two

I started working through the Spanish language CDs right alongside my girls, but, as with everything else around here, I couldn't spend as much time on it as I'd like, and now I'm behind. Way behind. Like completely dropped out, and no one's even pretending that I might learn Spanish before the Lord comes back.

When you grow up in Texas, you start learning Spanish just about the time you finish learning the pledge of allegiance. In spite of several years' instruction, I have forgotten every bit of it, except for one terrific little phrase: "mil novecientos setenta y dos." It rolls off my tongue quite easily, sort of like a Spanish version of "Super-cali-fragilistic-expiali-docious." Only it's not some silly, made-up, useless little babbling. Not at all! Mil novecientos setenta y dos is a REAL Spanish expression that could come in quite handy in today's globalized world.

It means "1972", and if that's not a pertinent thing to know in a foreign tongue, I don't know what is. This bit could prove invauable if I ever cross the border and need to convey some vital information, like, say, how many calories are in a Mexican Big Mac, or how much a draft horse weighs. Or maybe I'm in on a big discussion about Watergate----where would a big Mexican discussion about Watergate be if no one could say 1972?????

And I know it so well, I think I could say it in my sleep. That's because, at the beginning of junior high Spanish every day, we had to greet the teacher and recite the date. Most of what we said changed often---the day of the week, the date, the month--- and none of this took permanent root in the ol' cerebrum. But no matter the day or month, the classroom chorus always ended with "mil novecientos setenta y dos". 1972.

Back in junior high Spanish days, it was always 1972. And as far as my understanding of the language goes, it always will be. All I have to do, to slow down my fast-paced world, is speak a little Spanish.

On the other hand, we don't really want to go backwards, now do we?

Audrey's Great Job

Last week found Audrey face to face with this critter as he peered up at her out of a cardboard box.




A hush fell over the vet clinic as the box was opened. For just a moment, time froze, stilled by the majesty of God's creation.




Then it was time for vet business.
Someone had shot the bald eagle, leaving him to die. Someone else found him and took pity.


Before he could undergo the orthopedic surgery needed to put him back together, he had to breathe a little sleeping gas. "Just relax, and count slowly backward from ten," the vet is coaching.








This is Dr. Steph, one of Audrey's bosses. She's feeling the bones in the shoulder and wing, some of which have been shattered by the gunshot.


Audrey's standing by, ready to do whatever Dr. Steph asks. That's her bare hand at the bottom of the photo. Does this girl have a great job, or what!!!???

(Of course, some days she does clean cat cages.)









Dr. Steph has put four pins through the bones, to hold them together. The next step is to cut these pins off short, then affix an external stabilizer through all four of them, to hold them in place.

The bird will live with Raptor Recovery people for a few weeks while his bones heal. Then he'll be back to the vet, to have his hardware removed.

I hope Audrey is working on the day of his return visit.

Everyone needs a little awe now and then.

I wish I'd been there to take these photos, but I wasn't.

Zebra Farm

Why Grow Alfalfa?

Everyone should grow some alfalfa.

If you load your alfalfa onto a truck and sell it to someone else, you can convert it into cash.

Horses convert alfalfa into an afternoon of relaxation for their owners,

and cattle know how to convert alfalfa into a glass of milk or a T-bone steak!

What's not to love about alfalfa? Don't you need some of this very versatile crop?

It smells really good in the barn, too.

Barn and draft horse photos by Merrill

Long Shadows -- Early Morning Winter

Thank you to Merrill for pointing out colors and contrasts at the breakfast table.

Postcards

On the way home from church, we passed two bald eagles out in a soybean field, tearing at a deer carcass. When I returned with my camera, the shy birds fled. Not wanting to waste the trip, I took a roundabout way home, hoping to find something lovely or interesting to photograph. It worked:

If John ever gets tired of farming, I think I might have a future in postcards.

It's Not Baseball

"There are only two seasons - winter and baseball." ---Bill Veeck

Bill Veeck was a lifelong baseball fan. Starting as a concession vendor and ticket seller for the Chicago Cubs, Veeck eventually purchased and sold several major league teams. Veeck is credited with planting, in 1937, the ivy that still grows on the outfield wall at Chicago's Wrigley Field.

It's definitely not baseball season, so that leaves us with.................

For the Anne Girl

Someone has "tagged" me via cyberspace. Computer tag rules are:

*Post the rules on your blog
*Share six non-important/habits/quirks about yourself
*Link to the person who tagged you
*Tag six random people by linking their blogs at the end of your post
*Let each random person know she has been tagged by leaving a comment on her blog.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    This is who tagged me. Thanks to Erica for the photo.

I remember the last time I played a game of real tag, not in the computer realm. It was on a big piece of playground equipment. The other contestants were lots younger, and lots faster, and their enthusiasm ran longer than mine. I frolicked and chased and tagged for a time, but after a bit my attention wandered. The rules and the boundaries faded; I strayed off in search of my camera or a bit of conversation.

Same for the cyber world. You may tag me, but I might just make a faltering attempt and then wander away, looking for a cup of tea.

In that vein:

1) I can do a funny "lip trick" that no one I've ever met could duplicate.
2) I used to wish I were a boy, when my mother would call me in to set the table while leaving my brother outside playing swords with my male cousin. I'm so glad we don't always get what we wish for.
3) I'm not very good at anything after 9 p.m., but I can fall asleep in less than ten seconds.
4) I've met Garrison Keillor. I've been in the same room with Ronald Reagan and, later, Mikhail Gorbachev.
5) I lived in Germany for three years, beginning when I was six.
6) Once I rode my bicycle all the way across Nebraska.

Whew. I'm out of breath. No tag backs.

Nerds and Geeks

Did you realize that Tim Tebow, winner of the 2007 Heisman Trophy, was homeschooled until he went to college?

I know of homeschooled people who are good at lots of different things, both in my locale and around the country. Things like building computers, filmmaking, constructing houses, writing and publishing books. They are privately and successfully running homes and businesses with little notice from the rest of the world. But it's also nice for homeschooling to occasionally put on a big, successful public face like Tim Tebow's. These people are public banners, proclaiming that the quiet universe of homeschooling actually works, and proving that we're really not just an assortment of nerds and geeks.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Internet photo

Groundhog Day

No posts for nearly a month! I must have, like the famous groundhog living in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, seen my shadow on Feb. 2 and retreated to my hidey hole for another six weeks of hibernation. Sometimes that doesn't sound like TOO bad of an idea, but it's not the truth.

The truth is that I've been learning physics and selling a software program that my dad wrote for farmers and teaching geometry and designing a horse barn and visiting relatives out of state and preparing for the nuclear or economic collapse of the world and......deep breath........taking just a few moments to see if I could get a good photograph of the fire that chases away winter's bleakness around here.

This morning the Lord reminded me that His yoke is easy and His burden light. Today I am coming to Him, learning of Him, warming my soul at his hearth.

It is a good place to be.

Significant Figures

Audrey and I are taking physics together. Neither one of us has ever taken physics before, so this could get interesting. The home school instructor is definitely not the teacher this time around, but maybe we can learn together.

Of course, Audrey and I took chemistry together last year, which means I kept up with her for the first three or four units. I had a pretty good grade until I quit reading the chapters and quit doing the assignments. Nonetheless, I had to drop out. Incomplete. Withdrawn due to lack of time.

I also started Spanish when the girls began studying foreign language. That lasted about two weeks. My daughters are beginning to speak to each other, just a little, in this foreign tongue, but I still only know one Spanish phrase.

I love learning new things, but learning takes time. Too often I have too many other responsibilities and joys calling my name, so I wind up leaving the bulk of academic studies to my children.

And now it's physics. Audrey and I sat down last night for a review of the mathematical concepts used in physics. One of the topics was significant figures.

My brain has never been really good at comprehending scientific definitions. I want scientific definitions to explain what I have seen and experienced, but the steps between the definitions and the observable world are often long and seem convoluted. Take significant figures, for example. The scientific community defines significant figures as "the digits of the decimal form of a number beginning with the leftmost nonzero digit and extending to the right to include all digits warranted by the accuracy of measuring devices used to obtain the numbers."

But to me, when you say "significant figures," I think of these:

I am thankful for so very many significant figures in my life. I could never put them all up here. This is merely a random sampling, a representative grouping, a collection of specimens, a subset of a larger set.

Note for family members: You are conspicuous by your absence. But don't feel badly - if even my own children are missing from the "sig figs" list, you know I just decided that posting the people I love in my family was too big of a task. Isn't that a great problem to have?

I love you all.

Help for Homeschoolers

Someone recently asked me to explain the difference between "affect" and "effect."

Part of my job description is to teach my children how to comunicate effectively (that's correct usage), since clear and correct writing can affect (right-O!) who gets the job or scholarship, and who is left paging through the grammar book, wondering why. So I dug around the internet until I found a cute way to remember which word to use when.

Most of the time, affect is a verb. It means to influence. Effect is a usually a noun that means a result.

This cartoon can help you remember, since the arrow (starts with a) did a verb-job ("affected"-starts with a) the aardvark (you get the idea). Affect is an action - a verb.

If you remember that the effect (noun beginning with e) was eye-popping (yes, another e), then you'll know that effect with an e is usually a noun.

That'll do for most situations--upwards of 90% of the time. However, since English is not science, the rule doesn't always apply. You can get by with thinking that "affect" is a verb and "effect" is a noun, or graduate to the next grammar level by mastering the following quirks:

1. Affect is occasionally used as a noun when you're talking about psychology. It means the mood someone appears to have. The psychologist on the witness stand noted the alleged murderer’s disturbing affect during the confession.

2. Effect can be used as a verb, when it means to cause to come into being; to bring about. If you want to use effect as a verb, ask yourself if you can replace it with "to bring about." The trade embargo effected a rise in oil prices. Notice that you could have written, The trade embargo brought about a rise in oil prices. (Or, you could just go back to the 90% usage, and write that The trade embargo affected oil prices. In this case, you don't mean that the trade embargo brought about or brought into being oil prices, just that it influenced them.)

Refer back to this post often--whenever you teeter on the brink of misusing "affect" or "effect." If this sort of thing really trips your trigger, or if you can't remember the cartoon that's supposed to help you remember the rule, you can wear your grammar on your sleeve, so to speak, until it is cemented in your mind.

A New Kind of Goodbye

After two years of tearful goodbyes, bidding farewell to Rachel has suddenly gotten easy again.

Omaha is a stone's throw away, especially compared to anywhere in Georgia.

See you next weekend.

Do you want to meet for lunch on Thursday?

No tears, no rent heart, no bittersweet. Just a hug, and a prayer as the tail lights diminish.

"Au revoir" is so much nicer when the next meeting doesn't involve plane tickets and suitcases.

Ciao, Rachel. See you later sooner.

The Way to a Man's Heart

A friend of John's is home tonight with his three nearly-grown sons. Mama is out of town for three weeks, so the guys are on their own for supper, and several more suppers after that. John called the man to talk about some farm business, and stumbled onto a desperate dad. "I'm trying to teach these boys how to make spaghetti," the man said. "One of them is ruining the pasta, one of them is ruining the sauce, and the third one is eating chips and salsa because he sees the handwriting on the wall."

I think it's going to be a long three weeks. I think Mama is going to be mighty welcome when she gets back home.

Breakfast

Welcome to breakfast in my happy winter world.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Back to School

This gal's been around. Two years ago, she hopped into this car and rode halfway across the continent with a college freshman who'd never been to school a day in her life.

They checked into a bare dorm room together, met the roommates, and settled into a good life and lots of adventures.

Last week found the bear back in her car seat between the towels and laundry soap, headed for adventure's next stop: Omaha.

She and her college junior checked into a bare dorm room together, where they wait to meet the roommates, and settle into a good life and lots of adventures.

Have a good semester, little bear! I'm looking forward to seeing you more often!

On Tour

We twirled our way through the Nebraska panhandle last week, a road trip coming home from our visit with the relatives. All six of us were packed into John's big black pickup, pillows and coats piled in laps, backpacks under our feet. When it was time to eat, we kept rolling, passing around water bottles and crackers and salmon on bagels. When it was time to sleep, we kept rolling, sharing pillows and blankets and shoulders.

Our panhandle tour took us through the hills and bluffs of Western Nebraska. Did you know there were hills and bluffs in our state?

These internet photos were taken near Scottsbluff.

Travelers on the Oregon Trail used to pass this area on their way west. Their most famous landmark in these parts was Chimney Rock, a lone tower in the bluffs that often had covered wagons parked in its shade.

Times have changed, but travelers still park their vehicles by Chimney Rock, this time to review history, rather than to make it.

We laughed hardest when we got to Carhenge, a structure reminscent of England's Stonehenge. Perhaps you are familiar with Stonehenge, the ancient momument in England, constructed from monolithic boulders, probably around 4200 years ago.

STONEHENGE, Wiltshire County, England                      CARHENGE, Alliance, Nebraska, USA

There's something quite cozy about traveling together, packed into truck with no DVD player. Passing the miles is not all bad, and can be peppered with sweet treasures.

Like listening, really listening, to a daughter pour out her joys and fears about moving to a new place.

Like listening, really listening, to the solo mandolin lick in a bluegrass song, and then singing together when the chorus comes around.

Like listening and laughing together as someone reads out loud several chapters from a Jeeves and Wooster tale. Or having the back seat put up a blanket screen to shield them from the front, and then hearing laughter creep around the screen.

And sometimes, after staying up late and getting up early every day of vacation, and after taking in a few of Nebraska's tourist attractions, even catching up on sleep is not a bad idea as the miles bring you closer to home.

Woods Carry Wood from the Woods

I read in the paper that some people in the city are paying up to $2500 for a "farm" weekend - gather eggs, make bread, toss hay to the cows and horses.

That whole scenario sounds to me a lot like Tom Sawyer charging his friends to whitewash the fence.

If we ever do farm weekends for pay, should we charge extra to gather firewood?

Winter Wonderland

Because you people were so kind yesterday, making many complimentary comments about my photography, I feel that I must once again point to the truth: I am not a great photographer. I am a sorta medium maybe sometimes OK photographer who knows how to use Photoshop Elements.

I know, deep down in my heart of hearts, that my picture editing is much better than my picture taking. I shoot lots and lots and lots of pictures, and throw most of them away. I edit a fourth or a third of the ones I put up on this blog. And, about every hundredth time I click the shutter, I take what I think is a really good picture before editing.

I also know I have an eye that can at least see the shot I want, even if I don't very often capture it with my camera. So then I come to the computer and try to make the image match up to what was in my head in the first place.

When you see the two photos below, both straight out of the camera with no editing, I think you will have to agree that my photography often needs major help. These were both pretty mediocre pictures to begin with. But with a little cyber editing, they capture what is recorded above -- which is what I saw when I ventured into our winter wonderland yesterday morning. Or what I thought I saw. Or what I wished I had seen. Isn't that what art is all about?

If it makes you feel any better, it really was blowing snow in front of the bicycle when I first walked out. I tried to catch the snow drifting sideways past the bike, but if I held the shutter open long enough to record the drift, the photo was overexposed. Before I'd figured out how to deal with that, it stopped snowing. So, when I got inside, I kicked up another little snow flurry, to make it reflect what I saw in the first place.

Thank you for all your kind comments. In all fairness, yesterday's blog photos were not edited, except to crop and lighten. I also intensified the sunset colors in the third one, which the vast expanses of white light washed out when the scene got translated to pixels. Even film photographers crop, and edit, and apply color filters, so I don't really consider that cheating.