Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.

I can't take credit for the title of today's post. My sister actually shared this link on Facebook the other day and I was intrigued. Gever Tully; 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.  Go ahead and click on that link and watch the video...it's short, only ten minutes long. (FYI - If you've never been on TED.com there are soooo many great videos you could watch for hours.)

I'll wait. 

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So, what did you think of Gever Tulley? 

(From TED.com) Gever Tulley writes the best Twitters: Just landed my paraglider in an empty field behind Santa 8arbara. ... Making amazing tshirts with a laser cutter at the maker faire in austin. ... Washing fruit, putting sheets on bunkbeds, and grinding up aluminum foil in a cheap blender ... Updating the school blog, trying to figure out how many cubic feet of air are in a 5 gallon cylinder at 200 PSI. ... Trying to figure out if the tinker kids are going to be able to get molten iron from magnetite sand ...

A software engineer, Gever Tulley is the co-founder of the Tinkering School, a weeklong camp where lucky kids get to play with their very own power tools. He's interested in helping kids learn how to build, solve problems, use new materials and hack old ones for new purposes. He's also a certified paragliding instructor.

I was pretty impressed by Mr. Tulley by his short video. Okay, if you didn't watch the video, here's the gist. Tulley says that our culture has gone went a bit crazy with the child safety regulations. Packaging warnings can get kind of absurd and our culture has gotten to the point where we have protected our children for so long that when they do come across something dangerous they will get hurt because they've not learned how to control their environment. Playing with dangerous things can help children become creative, confident and help them be in control of the world around them. 

As I was watching this video I got to thinking how these 5 dangerous things did or did not play a role in my childhood and also my boys. 

1. Play with Fire - I do admit I AM the Pyromaniac of my family. I grew up  in an old farmhouse with a wood burning stove that had to be checked multiple times during the day. Inevitably first thing in the morning the fire was usually dead. Being the oldest I became pretty darn good at building a fire. I bragged a lot during my teen and college years that I could build a fire better than most of the guys I knew (probably the reason I didn't date much either!) 

The boys and I have played with fire too. Occasionally when the weather is decent and the wind isn't blowing too hard we'll build a fire but I really haven't allowed Yip and Yap a lot of freedom around the fire pits. Not that I don't trust them, but the environment we live in now (Kansas) is so very different from home (Indiana) I don't feel confident building a fire here with the dry conditions and high winds. But I guess that's good fear I have from growing up with fire. I realize what my environment is like and I'm not going to be foolish enough to start a grass fire...they're pretty scary. 

2. Own a Pocket knife - I remember getting a pocket knife when I was a kid and then crying my eyes out when I lost it. I love to carve! Before I had kids I carved little figures and sticks off the ground, I have lots of scars on my hands where my knives have slipped...I survived. I've always wanted to try carving with a chainsaw....yep, just what I need a chainsaw bear in the front yard! (Not really, I just want to try it) Like Tully says a knife can be a powerful tool and with some guidance and rules it can be a great learning experience for kids. I hadn't really given it much thought until watching this video but Yip and Yap probably are ready for a pocket knife. When I mentioned it to my mom she promptly volunteered Grandpa and uncles to buy them their first pocket knives for Christmas morning. Wonder what kind of photos I'll have to share on Dec. 26? 

3. Throw a Spear - At first I kind of shrugged this one off. I've never thrown a spear but really this one isn't so much about throwing a spear as it is about throwing something. I grew up with a big woods that I would often go wander on my own or with my sisters as kids.  And I can remember a little ditch that occasionally had water running through, where we spent a lot of time. We'd throw rocks across the ditch and throw sticks. I don't ever remember throwing stuff in a manner of "playing war" like I see my boys do but I remember the joy of throwing stuff just to throw it and see where it would go. As Tully says, throwing builds a child's visual acuity and problem solving skills. My boys throw stuff ALL. THE. TIME. They are forever throwing ropes or sticks or green tomatoes! I think they've got this one covered. 

4. Deconstruct Appliances - I admit I've never done this. I think this is much more a boy thing. Really, I never even wanted to. I hadn't thought Yip and Yap had had this experience but then  DR reminded me that yeah, all three of them tore apart the VCR when it stopped working last year. Mostly because when they asked DR how it worked he answered, "Little men live inside and make it work." So of course they had a great time proving their dad wrong! I love when Tully says in this part of the video, "a sense of know ability, things are knowable. Might not understand all of it but they know they are capable of understanding it." As I was telling my mom about this video I told her that our OLD tv was just about to die and that I'll let the boys tear it apart when it's finally gone. Yip, who I didn't think was actually listening to me, whooped with joy at this revelation and wants to know exactly when the TV is his to examine! 

5. Drive a Car - When I was growing up I learned early to drive a truck, a stick thank you very much. Not so much because my dad thought I needed the experience but because he needed an extra driver. I was the oldest on a 40 acre farm remember. Mom had my younger brothers and sisters so as soon as my feet could work the pedals I was expected to drive the cattle feed to the barn or bring the corn seed to where Dad was in the fields. In this respect I wish my boys had a 40 acre farm to drive around on. Though when we lived in Illinois, and the boys were 4 or 5, DR would get home and the boys would meet him at the road and drive down the lane and behind the house on his lap, about 1/5 mile. Boy did they love that!! 

I really enjoyed Tully's talk and it gave me a kind of parental shove and helped me re-examine what kind of things DR and I have done or are doing with the boys. Yip and Yap are 8 and that begins a neat age for boys. I think that allowing them some freedoms to test their limits, without being encased in bubble wrap, will help them become creative and confident. 

After watching this video I went over to Amazon and searched Gever Tully and he has a book called 

50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do that I'm going to order. 

Because I never want to be this mom

  

Thank You Veterans.

To those who've served...

...and to those who are serving still. 

We thank you! 

We Are Truly Blessed.

I was substitute teaching down the road this week at an elementary with 52 children. That is, 52 students in the whole elementary, and that included a preschool class. As I was standing in the noon sun on a gorgeous November day, I was struck anew by just how blessed my family and I are to live in Southwest Kansas. 

Of course living in the middle of no where isn't without it's annoyances. It's too dray and too warm. I'm too far from family. I miss trees and leaves and humidity (a little humidity anyway). But these things seem like trivial complaints when I look around and really appreciate the fantastic community my family and I live in. 

We live in a town of 900 people. Maybe my kids and I don't personally know all 900 of them but there are a large chunk of faces we recognize and who recognize us. One of my boys' best friends lives right across the street from us, the main street of town by the way, and he's often found playing at our house. The other day he crossed the street without looking for cars. Granted traffic is rarely busy in town and most people are VERY good at watching out for darting kids. But a truck was coming and the driver, who knew the neighbor boy, stopped in the middle of the street and warmed him about not looking before he crossed the road. It's nice to know people here not only look out for children who aren't their own, but will discipline them as well; I appreciate that. 

Just a few evenings ago I was doing some work on the computer in the living room. It was well past 9:00 and DR had already gone to bed when there was a knock at the door. I was rather surprised considering our town "rolls up the sidewalks" at dark. Of course, I wasn't nervous about answering the door either. I just can't imagine anyone wishing to cause me harm would bother knocking first. I answered the door to find another of my neighbors, a woman about my age, crying on my doorstep. She's a single mother and had some bad family news that day. All day she'd been upset, she couldn't calm down and had seen my light on and had come over to ask me to pray with and for her. I was a bit flustered, no one has ever asked me to pray for or with them before. My neighbor doesn't attend church but know I do...it's a small town after all. So we sat and talked and prayed. It warms my heart that this woman felt comfortable enough to come over and ask for help though we've known one another less than a year. I can name at least 5 people who live only a block away from me that I wouldn't hesitate asking for help, day or night, if I needed it. I've lived in other towns where I barely knew my neighbors even after more than a year of living beside one another. 

But really the thing I appreciate the most about living in rural Kansas are the SMALL schools. In 1994 I graduated from an Indiana high school in a class of about 130. While in college, still in Indiana, I did my student teaching at a school of a thousand students. While in Kentucky I substitute taught with police officers and racial fights in the hallways. A small school is a nice change of pace. That's not to say a super small school is perfect; we still deal with a lot of the same issues as big schools (behavior, bullies, cliques). But for the most part there isn't much of that kind of stuff to deal with and rarely any major issue. The teachers in Yip and Yap's school knows every one's names, not just in their classroom...everyone. The 5th grade teacher knows all the elementary students though they haven't bee in his class yet. In our small school we are lucky with the individual attention students receive. The staff isn't stretched thing meeting the needs of 30 plus students, rather the largest class I've see in the elementary is 19. A little school might not have the tax base or resources for lots of computers or the most modern facilities, but I'd much rather have the time and attention of their teachers over a fancy school any day. 

I asked my mom recently if the fact that DR and I have moved so often really bothered her and my dad. But she said , no id didn't. Of course they'd like it if their grand kids lived closer. (I'm hoping she'd like to have DR and I live closer as well but you can never be too sure about the priorities of grandparents) but if we couldn't live back home in Indiana she and Dad are awfully happy their grand kids are growing up in such a wonderful little community. I'd have to agree. 

Of all the states and communities that DR and I have moved into in the last 9 years, this community has by far been the most welcoming, the most like home and family and for that I am very, VERY thankful! 

Foody Friday -Sesame Pumpkin Bread

I was craving some pumpkin bread this week and though Google found thousands of recipes none of them sounded quite right. I didn't want anything too cake like or too sweet. Finally I dusted off some cookbooks in the upper cabinets of my kitchen. 

Is it just me or does everyone else find that with the internet using actual cookbooks has gone by the wayside. Maybe it's just me but since my computer is in my kitchen I tend to search Google rather than Betty Crocker. 

I pulled this cookbook out;

Homemade - How To Make Hundreds Of Everyday Products You Would Otherwise Buy

and found a recipe for Sesame Pumpkin Bread. It was totally different than I expected a pumpkin bread recipe to be. It wasn't sweet or cake like. It wasn't a yeast bread but not a quick bread either. And there were no spices!

Sesame Pumpkin Bread 

4 c. all purpose flour

1/4 c. sugar

4 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 c. plus 2 T milk

1 egg

1 c. pumpkin puree

1/3 c. butter, melted

1 T sesame seed (I omitted this) 

Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly grease and flour a baking sheet. IN a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

In a medium bowl, combine 1 c. milk and the egg; beat until well blended. Stir in teh pumpkin puree and butter. Make a well in the centr of the dry ingredients; pour the pumpkin mixture and, using a fork, stir until all the ingredients are well blended. 

Lightly flour a work surface. Turn out the dough onto the work surface and knead lightly until the dough is smooth, 4-5 minutes. Shape the dough into a round loaf and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut a cross over the top of the loaf. Brush lightly with the remaining 2 T. milk. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds. 

Bake the loaf 25 minutes; reduce the heat to 375 and bake until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped, about 15 minutes longer. Remove the loaf to a wire rack to cool. 

Makes 1 loaf. 

Yum! I just love that golden yellow color! The loaf turned out huge with a hard crust on the outside but soft on the inside. I liked the flavor, just subtle pumpkin. Though I was craving just a touch of cinnamon. 

So I whipped up some honey butter with a dash of pumpkin pie spice and slathered that on. Ah...heaven!! 

This weekend, if I have any of this bread left I plan on making french toast from it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! 

Do you have a favorite pumpkin recipe?? I'd love to try something new with pumpkin. 

Mountain Man is moving...again.

I swear, if Mountain Man's not careful he'll beat DR and I in the battle of the moves. Last summer he moved from Kansas to Oklahoma and this week he moved back to Kansas. He was coming through our town on his way to his new place and was only able to stop for a few hours since he was hauling a bunch of critters on this trip. 

There isn't any place in my little town for a couple horses to take a break so Mountain Man and I drove a few miles out of town to my friend's house (thanks Connie!!) and let the horses out for a well deserved stretch. They'd been traveling for 4 hours and still had 3 to go. That's a long ride standing up!

And of course there's Flash. I love Flash, somehow she's related to our dog Knothead. I just can't ever remember how. 

As I was helping my brother unload the back of his horse trailer to get to the horses in the front we unloaded this baby!! 

This is a seven strand rope maker that was custom made for our Uncle about 5 or 6 years ago before he passed away. As I was telling Mountain Man how much fun I thought it would be to try it out, he offered to leave it at my house for a while so I could try it out. Rope making takes at least 3 people and he wasn't going to get the chance to try it out any time soon. 

But dang!! If I didn't forget to get it out of the trailer once we got back to my house....ggggrrr!

I guess this is his way of getting me to come visit huh? 

Speaking of custom made, Mountain Man was showing off his custom spurs to me. 

He had his spurs made into 4-H clovers...how cool is that?? 

I and all my siblings were ten year 4-H members.

And he even got his initials onto his spurs. Can you find the E, A, and W? 

When I told Yahoo that Mountain Man was coming to visit she was so excited because, as she puts it, "Mountain Man SPINS ME!!!" That's his most redeeming quality to a 3 year old! 

Come on Uncle!! Get to work! 

Flash was looking on in fascination. 

Flash!! You idiot! 

Just to let you know, Flash didn't bit Yahoo and I was never afraid he would. But Flash is a cow dog and that little body was moving and Flash is born to keep critters a moving along. 

It sure was nice to see Mountain Man even if it were only a couple hours. He's the closest family I have out here and I'd be lying if I said he wasn't special. Good luck in the new job bud! 

Sugar, Sugar ...Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Yap came home from school the other day and asked if he could play a game on the computer that his teacher had shared with him at school. It's called Sugar, Sugar and now I'M addicted to it! It's a fun physics problem solving game for kids, suggested ages 3rd to 5th grade,  but, really, I have wasted sooo much time on this game. But I can use the excuse that it's making me smarter than a 5th grader! 

The premise of the game is this; as sugar falls out of the comma, you use your mouse to draw lines to funnel the sugar to fill up various cups on the screen. The first few levels are fairly straight forward. 

The higher up the levels you get the more difficult it becomes by adding color filters the sugar has to pass through before it gets to the cup and an anti gravity button that when pressed allows all the sugar particles to rise up. 

It took me a couple weeks before I finally mastered all 30 levels.
Some of them took quite a few tries and lots of thinking before I finally figured out the solutions. This game also teaches you a lot about the force of gravity too. 

Yesterday afternoon Yap and I were chilling on the couch, he had a fever, DR, Yip and Yahoo went for a drive. We spent a lot of time on Sugar, Sugar. It was a great way to spend a sick day. 

Spooky - Week 43

This week's photo theme was Spooky. We had a great moon the other night. I din't have time to drive around for a good view; I was just able to take a shot out my front door. I didn't even have time to set up my tripod. I knew it was going to be grainy and probably out of focus but I was hoping I'd get something to work with at least. 

Here's the shot straight from the camera. 

ISO 1600, f 5.6, 1/5 sec.

And then I did a lot of editing. Burning, playing with curves, increasing contrast, desaturating, adding a border. 

Nothing great, gut I'm happy with it. 

Next week's theme is Abstract.