Maple Sugar Fun

Today, we traveled to a Maple Sugar Festival. While it was too cold for the sap to run, it wasn't too cold to see the tap lines.

We went on a tour of the farm, seeing how they use a system of tap lines. They also showed us the boiling center, where they condense the sap into maple syrup.

There was a wonderful exhibit of how pioneers and native american collected and "processed" the maple tree sap. The Chippewa or Ojibwa Indians didn't use maple syrup. Instead, they made a very fine maple crystals or sugar. This sugar was added to meat for preservation and taste, plus other foods as well. Salt was hardly ever used. Ojibwa families often went to a sugar camp during the running season. We also saw an exhibit of Ojibwa life at the time.

Kitty & Jewel had a scavanger hunt. They had to collect items from around the farm and turned them in for a bag of maple sugar cotton candy. Both girls also got to dip their own candles and dress up like pioneers.

We really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to returning again next year.

Seeing Red

Jewel was pulled out of bed by Mom and Dad to see the eclipse. This was her first and we thought that since she was still awake, we would let her see it. Especially since she wouldn't be able to see one for another two years. She was very excited and even brought her telescope out so Mom could try to get a better look. Dad didn't really see a difference between the eclipse and a gibbon moon - he really couldn't distinguish the red on the full moon.

Unca had called us to remind us that the eclipse was occurring. Thanks, Unca!

Kitty was fast asleep and we chose not to wake her. I'm sure she'll enjoy it more the next time around.

Now, the only problem is getting Jewel to go to sleep!

[Aren't these pictures cool! I added them on Thursday, so you could see it in case you missed it.]

Holy Lunar Eclipse, Batman!

There will be a total lunar eclipse on February 20, 2008 over the Americas. The best time to see it is at 10:26 PM EST Hopefully, I can keep us all awake to see it!

We're Not in Kansas ....

Even tho you might think we are. There is a wind advisory in effect today - wind speed at 35 mph with gusts to 45. It's a lot like last Sunday, but much warmer. It was 57 today, rather than below freezing last week.

Jewel wanted us to keep track of the wind speed. She has been spoiled that at Papa's, she can see that on the in-home weather station. Papa is part of the weather alert system of hams in FW and also a pilot.

Unfortunately, we don't have any wind monitors. We do, however, have cable TV. When the wind blows strong enough, the signal goes out, as it did today. We're just glad we don't live downwind of a trailer park! We don't want to invite tornadoes to come around.

Tiny Pterodactyl Discovered!

It was announced on February 11, 2008 in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that a tiny Pterodactyl was discovered recently in China. It was just the size of a modern-day sparrow.

God's work surely is amazing!