Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year!

As I type these words, the sun is setting on 2009. May 2010 bring you much happiness and joy!
My old stomping grounds are in Southwest Colorado. Daughter Kim took these photos there this week when she and Jon and Greg and Sara accompanied Colleen on a business trip there. The scenery is among the most spectacular in Colorado. Unfortunately, you can't eat the scenery.

The town of Telluride has spectacular views.
One place you must visit in Southwest Colorado is Mesa Verde National Park, once home to the Anasazi Indians many hundreds of years ago.
This National Park official keeps an eye on Sara, who no doubt sees lots of climbing opportunities.
God bless our troops and all who are working to keep us safe from those who wish to kill us in the name of Allah!
Greg and Jon wish you a Happy New Year, and in honor of the resting Rush Limbaugh, I say Ditto!

Friday, December 25, 2009

We can relate!

If you are enjoying the peace and beauty of a white Christmas....
If you love your animals....
If you have a little boy who knows how to love and live....Please click on his card to read it clearly
If you have a litle girl with an unending imagination, who can play for hours with little toys....
If you have boys who love Lego....
Jon and Greg play for hours happily and quietly building and sharing Lego pieces.
If you are missing a loved one who is away from home....


If you have teens....
(cartoons by Jerry Scott and Jim Vorgman)

If you shed some tears this Christmas.... We lost Kim's puppy, Holly, on Christmas Eve. Parvo, we think, and a weak heart.
Merry Christmas from our house to yours, and thank you for being such good friends in the blogosphere!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

A hand print and a poem



This hand print poem was obviously written by Sara's teacher. We have never been concerned about handprints anywhere. Moreover, you can see by the size of this handprint that she is not small. She is at least one full head taller than any other child in her class. The pediatrician informed us that she is in the 97th percentile in both height and weight. She has not an ounce of fat on her. We think Shaquille O'Neil may be her birthfather.

She also can hold her own against her brothers and me in games of Connect Four. Like Shaquille, she knows how to block the other player's moves!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Holly


Kim has purchased a new puppy named Holly. She is a Burnese Mountain Dog. I think they like each other!

Christmas at the O.K. Corral

Tonight was the K-3 Christmas play, so Greg and Sara got to dress as they normally would, in western attire, because the play was entitled Christmas at the O.K. Corral.


After the play I browsed in Greg's classroom and saw this poem he had written (be sure to click on the poem to read it), and this photo of him in a shoe-shaped frame.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Jon's (Fourth Grade) Science Experiment: "Music and Milk"


The Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that we would get the best production of milk with Christmas carols. The three types of music I used were Christmas, country, and rock. I got this hypothesis from research I did, in which I learned that cows hate anger. The author of the research was Temple Grandin of Colorado State University, who wrote a book entitled Animals Make Us Human.

The Experiment
We wanted to find out which type of music inspired the cow to produce the most milk. First, I rounded up our cow. Then I put her in the milking stand. I plugged a radio in next to the milking stand. For each of three milkings , Mom and I fed her one-half pounds of grain. First we listened to rock. The cow gave us ten cups of milk in the first five minutes of milking. Next we listened to country. The cow gave nineteen cups of milk in the first five minutes. Lastly, we played Christmas, and got seven cups of milk in five minutes.

Each time we finished milking we poured the milk from the steel bucket into a filter, which got all non-milk substances out of the milk. We then poured the milk into a half-gallon mason jar, and we measured the milk.

I took notes through the whole experiment. The diet of the cow stayed the same throughout the three milking experiments.

Conclusion
My results were not at all what I had expected. My hypothesis was proven wrong. The cow produced the least amount of milk with Christmas music. I know the results are accurate, because my mom and I measured the milk “letdown” with mason jars. I used two books to do the research. They were Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin and Keeping a Family Cow by Joan S. Grohman.

(Now if only the Global Warming "Scientists" jetting to Copenhagen would just emulate Jon's integrity in their research!)