The babies have arrived!

Earlier this week, Nathan was expressing some frustration that there was no indication of the wren eggs hatching. But, then as the days went by, I noticed both parental wrens out and about. They are running to and fro with food in their beaks. Twice, I even noticed one of them carrying away something that might have been part of an egg shell (it would be interesting to research this since I don't know if birds dispose of their chick's eggs).



At any rate, I did two things today. I checked the House Sparrow nest for eggs. Sure enough, there were four speckled eggs. Since House Sparrows are invasive species, I didn't have a problem with removing the eggs. Nathan would like to keep them in a collection (drained, of course). I didn't keep or photo the nest, but it was an interesting conglomeration of grass, feathers, hair and even plastic, all in the square shape of the nesting box. That was the morbid part of my day.



The wonderful part was checking the wren's nest. The Carolina Wrens took up a home in our Purple Martin hotel--which has yet to attract Purple Martins. At my first look, I could see two beaks poking up. The chicks are very silent, at least when I was there. I'm pretty sure there are at least three chicks in there, but it's hard to tell. There were four eggs to start with. Then, because none of the kids are tall enough to check inside to see, I took the camera out and took a few photos:




The wren's nest is a lot prettier than the sparrow nest. Wrens like moss. An interesting thing that Nathan taught us about wrens this year is that the male will begin building several nests (up to six). He will then take the female on a tour of his nesting sites and she will pick the one she likes best. Then, she helps the male finish building. Our funny male wren started nests in five of the six holes of the hotel and the female picked the bottom middle. We feel really lucky!

The Cat Concerto

For my kids.

Lang Lang says that he saw this cartoon when he was two or three years old and that it provided him with inspiration throughout his childhood. He would often imagine Tom and Jerry with him as he played the piano. Here it is, Tom and Jerry in "The Cat Concerto":

Henri Maillardet's Automaton

I just finished reading a book with my kids called "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," by Brian Selznick. It was fascinating and took me into a world I had never entered before. I never even knew it existed. It was the world of the automaton. Never heard of it? Here's an explanation from The Franklin Institute's website:

During the 18th century, people were in a state of wonder over mechanism. The first complex machines produced by man were called "automata." The greatest and most fascinating mechanisms were those that could do things in imitation of living creatures. This Automaton, known as the "Draughtsman-Writer," is one such machine.

So basically, these automata were the first robots. In the case of Henri Maillardet's automaton, it had been ruined in a fire. The people who had it thought it had been made by another man. The true history of this automaton was only learned after it was fixed and wound up for the first time. The automaton signed Maillardet's name at the end of one of the poems that it wrote!

Here are a couple of videos that demonstrate what the automaton can do (the second video is a little long, but it includes the author of the above-mentioned book at a presentation demonstrating Maillardet's Automaton), but you really should visit this website where you can see copies of the pictures and poems that he draws. From there, you can also read the story of this particular automaton and see pictures of the complexity of the machine. If you are as amazed as I was, there is also a link at the top of the page that allows you to vote for the automaton to be inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.

Mystery Light

A few months ago, when I first began planning our trip to the Upper Peninsula (hereafter referred to as U.P.), I discovered a website that helped me immensely. The website was created from a book that lists hundreds and hundreds of attractions of all kinds in the U.P. with in-depth descriptions including history. Places to stay, restaurants, hikes in the woods, waterfalls, museums, unique shops...they're all in there.

I really want to buy this book, but as you can imagine, they have to update it from time to time. Businesses close and new ones open, things change. A new edition of the book was due this year, but it was delayed. It will be out in Spring 2009. While I'm waiting, I bought a fold out map created by the same authors that lists much of what is in the book in an abbreviated form. I pore over this fold out much like I imagine people from a century ago may have pored over a mail-order catalog. Where can I go? What can I see?

Today, when I picked it up, I saw a site I hadn't noticed before.

196. Paulding Mystery Light. Paranormal mecca with eerie nighttime glow.
4 mi. N of Watersmeet, just N of Time Zone sign, turn W onto Old 45. In 1/2 mi. turn onto Robbins Pond Rd. At top of 2nd hill, pull over.

I wondered what in the world it could mean, so I did a little internet research. What I found is here, here, and here. Very interesting and a little spooky too.

I asked Joseph what he thought of it and he just shrugged and said that he was sure there was a very logical explanation. I tend to buy into the (play a little spooky Halloween music in the background) supernatural a little more than he does. Still, though, there are some strange lights in Paulding, Michigan. They have been documented for over 40 years and the oral tales extend back about a hundred years. Many people have tried to figure out what's going on there and there isn't a concise conclusion. Whether it's something natural like glowing gases escaping from beneath the crust of the earth, something eerie like the ghost of a brakeman, or something explainable like a prank that has gone on night-after-night-all-night-long for a hundred years (not too explainable, eh?), it's pretty amazing. It makes me think of those intricate patterns found in corn fields. They probably have a logical explanation too, but they are still really cool.

I am so there next summer!

How's that for an inspirational Sunday post?

What's Wordle??

My brother posted the answer to that here. Since it's late, I won't go into it myself.

It allows you to enter your own words or enter the blog address of your choice and then tweak the colors, fonts, and orientation of your text. The only bad thing is that it only analyzes only the last few posts of a blog.

Still, it's fun. Give it a try! Wordle.

The picture below is a link to my actual Wordle!

Ann Arbor: Zingerman's Deli and the Fairy Doors

First off, I have to say that our whole family outing was a copy cat venture.

I had read about Zingerman's Deli in my AAA magazine. I'm surprised that I haven't heard of it before because I do have some friends in the Ann Arbor area. The article strongly suggested that it was a "you gotta try it" kind of place and so I put it on my to do list. Then my friend from Ohio came up to Michigan for her anniversary and she and her husband enjoyed Zingerman's on their visit. Finally, another friend blogged about her family adventure in Ann Arbor and included cute pictures of the fairy doors that you can find around town. (Click on the fairy door link for a real treat!)

Needless to say, I quickly planned a trip to Ann Arbor to see what everyone has been talking about. As we waited in line at Zingerman's, a greeter at the door asked what brought us to Ann Arbor. When she heard it was Zingerman's itself, she was happily surprised!



There was a long line that snaked outside the deli where we excitedly waited. Once inside, I felt like I had stepped into the downtown New York deli of my mind's imagination. It was packed with a bread line, a cheese and meat line, and a sandwich line, a lively wonderful experience all it's own.



We ordered sandwiches and brownies (both apparently internationally known) and then stepped outside to a table. The food didn't let us down at all. It was excellent!

After lunching we moved on to explore the fairy doors. These doors have been showing up in Ann Arbor since about 2005. Anyone who has visited Ann Arbor or understands the mentality there would understand why fairies would choose that city over any other. A print I saw while walking down Main Street showed the skyline of Ann Arbor and a flat rendition of the rest of the world with a caption, "Ann Arbor and the rest of the world." There is a certain air about the place.

Fairy windows inside "Peaceable Kingdom." The fairies also have a fully stocked store!

Is this a goblin door?

The kids were totally charmed by the fairy doors. There were some doors we couldn't find (they are known to sometimes vanish) and others we came upon unexpected. The picture below has nothing to do with fairy doors. It was a key shop and we were all amazed with the huge pile of keys.

A key shop

Brigham continued that night at home to imagine his own fairy doors. He has the cutest way of saying fairy. He can't make an "f" sound and mixes the consonants "str" to try to make the sound. Listen close!

Who knows, the fairies might decide to build a little dwelling right here in our home if we invite them properly!


Ohhhh! I almost forgot to mention the chocolate bar Joseph bought for me. It's called "Parlez Pistache: dark chocolate bar filled with pistachio praline." Neither Joseph nor I could think of anything better we'd tasted in a looong while!

Petroglyphs

On our first full day of vacation, we decided to visit the Petroglyphs in Sanilac State Forest. Carved into very soft sandstone by people 300-1000 years ago, they were discovered in the late 1800s after a forest fire uncovered them. Now they are covered by a large shelter. (I can see why this is necessary because as we hiked through the woods later, that same sandstone was in our pathway. There were large divets carved out by drips of rainwater.)





In some ways they were disappointing since there were few of the carvings that were really defined. Also, no one has deciphered the meaning of the carvings (though May said one of the characters looked like a man shooting an arrow). The state park employee stationed there was less than helpful, giving us one word answers to our questions.

But, it was cool to think about how these rock writings were discovered and to wonder what other wonders might be covered by forest elsewhere.

After we looked at the petroglyphs, we went on a little hike. Here's a picture to show how Sariah felt about that:



There was a low part of the pathway that was full of mud. I had just put my hand into stinging nettle when Sariah had her flip-flops (yes, you read that right; we were not prepared for a hike) sucked off by the mud and started wailing. I was less than patient with that. I tried to make up for it on the rest of the hike by saying how beautiful it was and how glad I was that we had come etc. My dad had to carry Brigham's stroller through large parts of the hike. What a sight we must have been!

There were lots of colorful mushrooms in the forest and as we went across the final bridge, my dad spied some crayfish. I think the kids would have stayed there for hours to watch the crayfish!



As a bonus, we drove through Bad Axe, MI on our way back to the cottage. Isn't that a great name?

A Memory Game

I found this on Elaine's blog, and it sounded fun!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Since this is our family blog, feel free to leave a memory about any of the seven of us.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Two Documentaries to Recommend

Lately Joseph and I have watched two several hour long documentaries. We have been so intrigued by these that it's been similar to watching a BBC mini-series where we can't wait to watch the next installment!

They were interesting to watch together as they tied into each other. The first is a PBS documentary with seven parts called "Evolution (2001)." The second was also a PBS series, this one with six parts called, "The Secret Life of the Brain (1999)." My library had the second, but I had to buy the first.





I've written before that I love the subject of evolution. This documentary reminded me of things I had learned while in college and also new discoveries not taught in my courses. The last segment is particularly intriguing after watching the first six. It is called, "What about God?" I loved it because it took on a subject that has long been an interest for me in a pretty unbiased way. I loved watching religious students of biology and geology battle through different ideas to figure out where they stood. Equally interesting was the first segment called, "Darwin's Dangerous Idea." It was pretty true to what I had heard and read of him. It portrays Charles Darwin's own personal struggles in a very real way. Great stuff!

When I was a freshman at BYU, I took my first honors class. While I can't remember the title of the class I know that it tied together classical literature, art and the sciences. At one point the professors of my class invited a biology professor to speak to us. He told us that he was a Stake President (leader of several congregations in my church) and that he believed in evolution. At that time, it was interesting to hear him talk, but I didn't fully appreciate the gift he had given to us. Coming from a Christian background, many of us were taught to shun even the word evolution. What a relief to find out that you could be a Christian AND believe in evolution. Even after watching all those hours of program, I still have many questions. Many of them haven't been answered by science or religion.

There is a whole hour within the Evolution series called, "The Mind's Big Bang." This is where the two documentaries overlapped. "The Secret Life of the Brain" was so interesting. By studying people whose brains don't fully function, science has answered a lot of questions concerning development of the brain, learning, and disability within the brain. Since I have struggled with depression, it was good to have some in depth explanation there. I loved learning about babies and children's brains and also the aging brain (I think my brain is already breaking down!).

If your local library carries one or both of these, try to get them! I highly recommend them!

The Secret to Happiness

You may already believe you have the secret to happiness. Who knows, maybe you do. This video is a veeerry interesting watch. I have to warn you that it is 22 minutes long. I didn't think I would watch the whole thing, but it was worth it (and the guy is even funny). Of course, if you don't have time now, you can always come back and watch it later! Or you can go straight to the TED website and watch it and other "Ideas worth spreading."



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTO_dZUvbJA

The Magic Treehouse

Joseph is amazing! I had this idea that we (he) should build a tree house this year, because who wouldn't want to give the kiddos a magical place of their own (OUTSIDE the house)?

He made some plans and then began his work. The only thing is that his plans didn't work out. Who needs them? He reworked them as he went along (Have I ever mentioned how brilliant he is?). He even finished it in the dark and then stayed up half the night planning his modifications. Here are the photos I took to show the progress:





The kids are loving it out there. They climb up there and just stay. It's magical! Can you see me smiling from where you are?

Bugs and Butterflies

It is very exciting around here right now. We have had lady bugs for a few days now and just a few minutes ago, I noticed a butterfly drying its wings. Even more exciting, a few of us witnessed a butterfly sliding out of its chrysalis and begin to dry its wings.

When the lady bugs first come out of their pupae, they are a very light pink with no spots. It's hard to believe that they fit into that tiny pupa (in the photo below the shell of the pupa is larger than it looks before the bugs hatch out).



After a little while, they get their spots. They're eating raisins as we don't have any aphids to give them.



Butterflies come out of their chrysalis with very wrinkled wings and then eventually they stretch out and start to open and close them to dry them completely. I put some sweet william flowers sprinkled with sugar water into the butterfly pavilion. We also bought some oranges for them to snack on.




After a few days we'll let these creatures out into our garden. The last time we did this with butterflies, we opened up the butterfly pavilion and off they flew. Despite having plenty of flowers and orange slices available, we never saw them again. It would be so cool if they stayed around a little bit this time!

The video below is of our second butterfly just after it emerged. I'm not getting much done today as I keep running over to check the progress.

Google Earth

We are loving Google Earth around here!

On Sunday, Elijah traveled around the world. He went right down into the volcano on Hawaii's biggest island. (Did you know that there are cottages built right on the edge of that thing?) I saw him coming out of Indonesia telling me he couldn't find Utah. We went to visit his cousin's houses. I asked him if he'd like to see Houston where we'll be going next spring, he and I. We saw where Grandpa lives. We decided to check out Sea World in San Antonio since we'd like to go there. I had no idea of the death defying roller coasters they have there. Elijah says he wants to go on them. What do you think, Dad, are you game?

I've been using it to look up locations in Michigan we'd like to visit this summer. It gives me some idea of the surroundings and the size of the beaches. Really cool.

You can see the same satellite views on Google maps, but I don't think it's quite the same as Google Earth. It is free to download. Check it out!

the speech accent archive

This accent archive is right up Joseph's alley. I recognize the phonetic symbols from his time spent editing a Mayan linguistic book. Basically, the site hosts recordings of a passage of English, read by people all over the world.

Got some time to spare? Go to this site and click on "browse," then on "atlas/regions." It's kind-of cool. My only beef is that it's hard to tell where each little flag is before you click, so when you want to hear specific regions, you have to do some guesswork.

Memory Capture

If I want to capture all or part of my screen, I can use a program called SnagIt by TechSmith. I used this to grab the Google Earth images of our vacation. I really like the program. It has lots of options, but I won't pay $39.95 in a several days when my 30 day trial is up (Plus, my brother can probably tell me how to do this for free)! I wish it were as easy to capture memories.

Even if I carried my camera everywhere (which I know some people do), or if I had a notebook to jot down the things that happen as they happen, I would still miss things. It's not realistic to catch everything or keep it in memory. Besides, I'm not very good at stopping to take pictures (I'm usually the only parent in the room--every time--who forgets their camera). I'm also not very good at getting a journal out and writing.

Obviously this is on my mind a lot and my blog is getting a lot of overkill on the subject. It's just so intriguing to me! Going through all this stuff is getting to me; I've already said that. Also, Brigham is our last baby and he's turning two which in some ways is the end of babyhood. When I was in the middle of lots of little kids and not knowing when the end of it would be, I didn't stop and appreciate it so much. Now that I'm entering a new phase of life, I'm realizing that it's my last time to enjoy some of these little moments within my family.

Sometimes I walk around in peak awareness of the specialness of each moment. I haven't figured out which ones to record and which ones to leave, knowing that they will be there if I need them. Every so often I have remembrances from yesterdays gone by. Joseph and I share them together or we share them as a family and in a way they serve to bind the family together. They are here one moment and gone the next. Lately, I want to grab them and hold them down.

We are getting rid of all the little plastic animals and dinosaurs. When Nathan was three or four he used to play upstairs for hours setting these toys up in designs and in the end he'd tell me, "Mama, I'm making a birthday cake." At the time I thought it was cute, but mostly I was just glad he was up and playing and out of trouble while I attended to his two young siblings.

I'll sometimes get a glimpse of my little girl when she was sick and undiagnosed with asthma. I told her to bring her two blankets upstairs so we could use them for her nap. Diligent as she was she struggled to drag them upstairs and as I laid her down for her nap I noticed how labored her breathing was, her nostrils flaring. More air! Joseph took her to urgent care and the doc there said it would be faster for Joseph to transport her to the ER than to wait for the ambulance while she turned white, then blue, struggling for her life. In the days before cell phones were so prevalent, I waited in fear.

At times I remember the walk I took one spring day five or six years ago where I watched the ice churning and melting in the little lake next to our home. I learned a lesson about myself in that ice. It was amazing to me that I "happened" to be there to witness the miracle.

Occasionally I think of the one and only blue bird I've seen and wonder when I'll see another one!

I remember the day Elijah was born. I looked down at him, the very image of Nathan when he was born. It's humorous now, but I waited a whole month to get a glimpse of Elijah that was something other than what I remembered of Nathan when he was that age. Did I really have a different little baby in my arms? They were so alike.

On the drive to and from Florida I marveled at springtime in Georgia. It was like a mini-autumn. The leaves and blossoms were coming out in so many colors. I've never seen anything like it. Astoundingly beautiful. I made a mental note to try to remember it.

And on and on. Most of these memories aren't recorded anywhere. I'm trying to decide whether or not to use my blog to record these memories. It seems fitting to me because my blog is my family journal.

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A couple of fun things from the past few days:

In Primary on Sunday, the presidency did the spotlight as usual. Sariah was standing next to her new friend Brooke. Although they've been in class with each other for the first time, they seem to just have noticed each other ("Hi Sariah!" Brooke called. "Hi!" "Do you like my dress?" queried Brooke. All girl, isn't it?). I started to hear things in the spotlight that indicated Sariah. Finally, she stopped her chatting and started to take note of what they were saying, "This person likes Halloween best because they like candy." "This person likes to go to singing and storytime." And finally, "This person's birthday is on January 17th." Even from my seat in the row behind Sariah, I saw her head jolt out and a smile spread on her face. She went proudly to the front of the room to get her prize and then spent the rest of singing/sharing time glowing. Everytime I looked at her, she beamed.

Yesterday, we took cupcakes to Elijah's classroom. On the way out of the school, Brigham spied the buses waiting for the lines of kids to come. He started running, "Look, bus. Look, bus." (I want to look at the bus.) We went over and walked by the buses until he got his fill and then headed for the van.

Readability Update

Since the website that provides the readability scores doesn't give any links so that we can figure out what equation they are using, I decided to research a little on my own. Side note: Megan got a genius level grade for her blog! Super blogging Megan. None of us little people can understand your blog though, you might have to dumb it down for us.

Here's a blog post that talks more about the score. He provides a link here that explains how to get a reading score from Microsoft Word. This blogger thinks that the criticsrant.com website only looks at your most recent blog post. Interestingly, I entered a few different posts into Microsoft's test and found that they were elementary level and not the junior high level that the website gave me.

These tests usually use lists of words as comparison. They also look at sentence length and syllables per word. With this further information, I'm still hoping that Joseph can make a comment (hint, hint Joseph) There is more than one test out there and they all have their pros and cons.

The Blog Readability Test

Have you ever wondered what level you write at? I really haven't. I'm still running off the fumes from the time my cousin's girlfriend tested my reading when I was in second grade. She told me that I read at a sixth grade plus reading level. I got a big head from that and spent my grades 2-9 thinking I was sooo smart. Then I went to school in Massachusetts. All I can say is "Whew!" BYU was actually easier than my high school!

However, Steph posted about this readability test for your blog. It's really easy. You just go to the website, plug in your blog address and click the button.

Movie Reviews

I really like to see my kids stretching their vocabulary which is usually done while they do their free reading. Since my kids do like to read my blog, when I remember, I add in words they might not be familiar with. Nathan, is especially good at stopping his reading to ask the meanings of words. If we aren't familiar enough with the word to give a concise definition, we tell him to go get the dictionary. He used to get really riled up about that, but recently, he just goes and gets it. It's so exciting for me to see that!

Click here for this readability test. Try it out, it's kind-of fun. Maybe we can all stretch our own vocabularies a little bit.

(Joseph, please leave a comment to let us all know how these tests are performed and what kind of reliability you think this test might have.) Joseph has worked extensively with a well-known reading researcher. He has above average knowledge of this type of test.

United Fruits and Vegetables of America

Isn't this picture great? I cut it out of a health food store ad. I taped it up in my kitchen and my kids have taken it down several times. I keep retrieving it, but decided I better scan it so I won't lose it fo-ev-a.

Michigan is so great! Despite my recent doting on Florida, Michigan really is tops. I know that Heidi also agrees! Four of the five Great Lakes border on Michigan. It's the state made of onions surrounded by blue flowers. This summer, the kids and I (and Joseph when he can make it) are going to frequent the lovely beaches of this state. ALL...SUMMER...LONG!

Sit Back From the Edge of Your Seat

Well, first off, I get to say that everyone was wrong! But, if you guessed a pomegranate, you were at least in the ballpark, because it is a fruit. I had never seen the insides of this fruit. I wonder how many people have. It's part of the inside of a papaya. If you had seen this photo with color, would you have known?


Now for the juicy part. It comes from parasitology lab, so if you're squeamish, you might want to skip this.

I've never seen a bloated tick, alive. I once saw one skittering across a walkway at Cascade Springs in Utah. I think my cat had them regularly in Massachusetts. We lived in a heavily wooded area. But, I spent my time around ticks in the Parasitology Lab at BYU, I first took the class while doubling up as a teaching assistant and then TA'ed the class two more times. We had loads of ticks as they look when they've loaded up on blood. These papaya seeds made me take a double take when I looked down and "saw" rows of bloated ticks (sans the heads, but you wouldn't see those anyway, if they were buried in their hosts). Then I remembered the papaya Joseph had cut up for dinner. So, I grabbed it out for a photo. I had planned on writing about how we all see things in a different way blah, blah, blah!

Bloated ticks are usually larger than these seeds and also some have a somewhat wrinkly look about them. It was the seeds with the wrinkly look that I saw first.

Take a Guess!

I found this in the garbage the other night. My first impression of it was very different from what it actually was. What do you think? After other people guess or give their best impression, I'll tell you what it is and what my first impression was (I figured out right away what it was, but because of my past experiences, the first thing that came to mind was a little bizarre). I zapped the color out of it, just to make it more challenging.