Take a hike

Pat, Mr. Bojangles and I took a hike in the Mark Twain National Forest, entering from the Pine Ridge Campground, seven miles east of Ashland. The sky was clear, the air crisp and the trail was hidden under a blanket of leaves. Below, with one mighty push, Pat cracked a tree-sized wishbone.

In this neck of the woods, black bears have evolved, sporting opposable thumbs and the ability to create language. Pictured here is the beginning of a bear village. Near the campfire is evidence of bears using stone tools and freshly painted petroglyphs of humans walking dogs.

"I am a lucky dog."

This giant Sycamore's trunk is about 15 feet in diameter. A small plaque at its base says it played an important, supporting role in the movie Fern Gully.

March Lion

Yesterday, a truckload of gardening supplies arrived from Gardener's Supply Company. Even though it was raining, Pat was so giddy excited about spring that she spent the afternoon sharpening her garden trowels and dreaming of blossoms, beans and trellises. This morning, we awoke to the return of winter white and chilling temperatures.

The magnolia tree is sadnolia this morning.

And I found this bunny frozen stiff.

Scarf up

Pat knitted this scarf for me. Ain't it awesome! And just in time for winter, too.

Spring sprung

3 bowls

As some of you know, I am a bowl turner. It's a good excuse to buy wood working tools. Plus turning bowls is so easy. Even I can do it. I turn about six bowls a year. Is that all? Yup. I don't want to flood the market :-)

This bowl is turned from Missourian Cherry. I made this bowl for Claire's first host family in Belgium. The wood was air dried by a small, specialty sawmill for five years until their inventory had to be auctioned off. Then it aged to perfection while sitting in a pile of lumber in my garage for four years. The bowl measures 4" X 11" and features a thin, singe-blackened rim.

I made this bowl from the trunk of a silver maple tree that stood proudly in our front yard until the hot, dry summer of 2006 took its fatal toll. This bowl is 3.5" X 10" and the wood shows signs of a weather stressed life and disease. I turned this bowl for Claire's second host family in Belgium.

Under the weight of branches full of last summer's apples, my parents' 30-year old apple tree blew down during a storm. Seven months later, when I began turning this bowl from the tree trunk, the wood was still so green that water dripped from the open fibers. The bowl was turned in three different phases spaced over five weeks to prevent the wood from cracking. I filled old age pocks and a split with turquoise inlace, and finished it with three coats of walnut oil. The bowl is about 4" X 10.5". I finished the bowl just in time to send it to my mom for her birthday. Considering the grain and moisture content and how out of round it already is, this bowl will continue to warp until it is shaped like a gravy boat.

Desperados

Last night, there were some new kids in town. The Eagles! As you can see from the picture below, Pat and I soaked up the sounds from our Mizzou Arena sky box. Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Timothy B. Smith and  Joe Walsh were at their finest, mixing their classic hits with songs from their new album Long Road Out of Eden. This show was even better than their 1994 reunion tour. Pat and I give it a four thumbs up.

Blast off!

Last night, Dr. Dana Baker, good friend and former blendedschools.net board member, and I drove from the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando to Titusville for a front row seat of the space shuttle Discovery blast off. From the veranda of a Cuban cafe and pub, we enjoyed orchestra seating. Lift off produced a fireball as large and bright as a sunrise on a clear morning. 15 seconds later, a mighty sonic boom rumbled across the sky. Prior to lift off, we received a play-by-play preview of what we were about to see from Mike and his wife. Both are Penn State graduates and Mike is an aerospace engineer who helped solve the gas leak that delayed the launch by three days. In the morning, Dana and I were among the several thousand educators who listened to NASA astronaut Eileen Collins share her thoughts about transcending space through leadership. It is a good thing it was such a NASA rich day, because the 73 mile drive back to our hotels kept us on the road until 2:00 AM. Who would have thought everyone in Florida drives to the cape for shuttle launches?

Goldie

Every since the debut of  the TV show Laugh In in 1968, I wanted to meet Goldie Hawn. I was 11 then, but what's my excuse now? 

Well, it happened yesterday. At the ASCD convention in Orlando, Goldie Hawn (black suit) and Dr. Judy Willis gave a presentation about the emotional components of learning. I found their presentation to be particularly fascinating, because, well, Goldie was presenting, and ... oh, yes, because Dr. Willis explained the neurological science behind emotional intelligence, which in turn, evidenced arguments I have been making about using social networking technologies to foster social intelligences in presentations for the past couple years. Social intelligence and emotional intelligence are two critical domains of whole child education. For more information about Dr. Willis's work, please visit Reach and Discover. For more information about Golide Hawn's effort to create a more mindful society, please visit The Hawn Foundation. 

BB Bo

My wonderful, trusty sidekick, Mr. Bojangles, gracefully tripped while jumping out of the back seat of my Pathfinder, crashing hard on his right front shoulder. He yelped a razor sharp, "Yiiipppeeee." Lying on the ground, holding his leg stiff and high, Bojangles pleaded, "Vet, vet." So I picked him  up, and Pat and I took Bo to the vet, where he got a thorough check-up. 

The only anomaly on the x-ray was a small bright spot. "What's that small bright spot?" I asked. 

"Why, that's a BB," said the vet. 

"A BB? Someone shot my dog?!?" 

"It happened a long time ago. We see dogs with BB's in them all of the time," chuckled the vet. Pat and I looked at each other, both too shocked  by the vet's flippancy to consider the exorbitance of the vet fee and the forthcoming BB Rebozo jokes.

Pack your nuts and scram

I don't care if you can climb trees and remember the locations of where you buried hundreds and hundreds of acorns and hickory nuts. You are rascally rodents, and there's no room at the inn. Remember last spring when you built that eight story condo inside the screened in porch wall? What do you have to show for all of that work? Remember last month when I caught you chewing wicker furniture? How did that turn out, Numb Gums? Now you're trying to chew through the side of my house. That's not gonna happen. If you want in our house, just ring the door bell. I have a special treat waiting for you ;-)