Field Trip: Police Station

A lady from our co-op arranged for a tour of a local police station. I am not a big fan of police shows, not since the original "21 Jump Street" with Johnny Depp anyway, so I had lots of questions.  I learned about beats and police chases and the rigors of being a police officer.  I was curious about mounted police (horses) and police dogs -- both of which they have.  They also have enough diversity among the 400 offers of the police force that their are officers who speak most of the languages needed locally - including Korean, Russian, French, Chinese, etc. They have officers on bikes in parks, on motorcycles, on electric bikes, and helicopters.  Both our tour guides were retired military officers.

 Jail cells. Apparently they hardly ever bring juvenile offenders in here -- unless it is a really serious crime.  Mostly they take them to meet with their parents.

 Scary. "Definitely never want to be in there for real" says brother M.  I was totally claustrophobic by the time we finished the tour.  No windows. No sunlight. That would be terribly depressing.

 Shooting range.  They get tested regularly and have rigorous moving targets, with both day and night time shots that they have to make.

 New police truck. The officers seemed pretty excited to have a truck.  I asked what its purpose was - pulling people out of ditches in snow?  They said that that is a liability and they let towing companies handle all such business.  They have a special rack on the front of the truck and many squad cars to allow them to push stopped or wrecked cars off the road.

Farm Fresh: Signs of Spring

First goose egg of the the season! Found it a few days before they left to go to their new orchard home. Big sister A is decorating it in her pysanky class at co-op school. 

The chicks have reached their awkward tween age. My favorite is this grey fuzz ball (half silkie). 

 Tulips on the dining room table.

 Plants by the front door... Usually the front stoop is my ideal hardening off place for plants -- morning sun only.

But then this happened...

Here is the before shot. I put two trays of Chinese cabbages out there this morning to harden off and the birds (chickens or guineas?) had a feast of spring greens... A little thought came to me that I should not put ALL the trays out today. So glad that I listened!  The birds have not done that in the past. But now they know that I am putting out a salad bar, I expect that they will be back.  I need to think of a creative solution, but not too ugly for the front yard. 

All my ice skating shots are blurry. This is from last week.  She is so speedy by herself now.  Maybe I will have her start lessons in the fall. They all love skating.  A is doing super in her lessons and she and M are probably going to do a performance at the end of the summer. 

Field Trip: Rawlings Conservatory and Gardens

My friend A was in town this weekend for brief visit before a work assignment. On Saturday we got out to do some fun touring around. 

 I think winter is the perfect time to visit indoor gardens. The smells and sights of so many plants made my heart happy. Rawlings conservatory is a beautiful victorian era building. 

 They have an orchid room.  I never realized a). how wonderful orchids smell and b). the variations in their smells.

 We spend a long time there sniffing each one.

 Wouldn't it be magical to have a greenhouse big enough to grow huge trees? I could have stayed there all day.  That is a kumquat tree in the background.

 The lemons on this tree were the size of grapefruits.

 Bananas

 Little brother S was so excited to see these giant goldfish.  Hands down his favorite part of the garden.

 Wall of ferns and air plants.

 The desert room did a great job showcasing large and small cacti and succulents. 

 They had some huge cacti - the biggest I've ever seen in person

 I liked these fuzzy fraggle ones, but was afraid to touch them.

 The kids thought this looked like a giant version of our pineapple plants.

 We went downtown to see the Peabody library, but it was closed for a wedding.  We tried to go into this cool looking cathedral, but the doors were locked.

We looked at the George Washington monument, but did not go up. 

Cub Scouts: Blue and Gold Banquet

 They each received a couple awards.

  Then they put on some skits...  From what I heard when they got home the skits were hilarious.

Family Schooling: Hapkido, Preschool classes, Master Builders, and Snow days

Big sister A and brother M heard from FW that hapkido was tons of fun.  They are glad they decided to try it this session. They have already learned some fun moves and I think it is helping M's coordination a lot. 

 I am one of the assistant teachers in the class so I get to stay for the whole lesson and even help out with sparing.  I love that it teaches them self-defense moves -- like what to do if someone grabs them from behind or grabs their shirt sleeve.

 Miss L's preschool class was out on the parking lot this week making chalk drawings since the weather was so warm. Of course she wanted me to help her draw rainbows and unicorns.  The boys and I drew a dragon and a sword.

 The master builders teacher emailed me these pictures so they are a bit blurry.  Their first week's challenge was to see which team could build the tallest structure with pipe cleaners.

We had a quick and pretty type snow on Wednesday.  It melted the next day.  The chickens usually don't march out into the snow like this... still a mystery why they ventured so far from home in the white stuff. 

 On the other hand, the parka wearing furry buddies are so happy when it snows.  They run around tackling each other and leaping about with wolfish grins. I can just hear them in my mind, "Best day ever!!" they say.   It is hard to get a clear picture of them because they immediately run to greet me.  I as trying to get a picture of them relaxing out there on the snow like it was a nice comfy pile of hay.

 These kids are pretty happy to roll around in the snow too.