Getting our hands dirty

Yesterday we planted seeds to keep inside and give them a head start

 This is the Teaching tank, in it we planted some carrots so we can watch them grow and a pumpkin and tomato seed as well.

 We also planeted some broccoli, pumpkin, green beans, sunflowers, and tomatoes to get them started sooner.

         

One blessing said, "This is more fun than just playing!" I liked that one!

And then today we went to the Institute of Arctic Biology Research Greenhouse at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  We saw some interesting tropical plants that they study and keep data on but the most interesting were the carnivorous plants seen here:

This one is commonly called cobra lily

                    

                                                                                                                   This is the famous venus flytrap

This one is an Alaskan carnivorous plant, it is very small and red, grows in boggy areas:

Well, that was our past two days with plants and seeds, Oh, yeah, they transplanted marigolds as well,

                     

There, that was our day!! All done, we came home with take and bake pizza and are watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

May the Lord find us faithful.

Our walk and what I have been waiting for

This afternoon the blessings and I went for a walk, I need to walk daily for exercise but do not make it every day, we walked to the mail box, which is a trek. Then made the loop back toward home and decided to go see if the pond was ice free yet (it is ice free close to shore but still has some ice in the middle). The pond is the product of an old gravel pit so there is a lot of high mounds of gravel piled up, the blessings had a blast climbing the rock piles and walking from pile to pile. The also had fun coming down! I wish I would have taken the camera, while I was standing there that is all I could think! Then we headed home and found a moose head laying off the road, yuck is all I can say, I did not want to take a picture of that. Then we headed home and finally planted some seeds tomato, beans, pumpkin, broccoli and sunflowers to germinate and start inside and direct planted spinach, peas, and some wildflower seeds, after we worked the bed a little. We will buy a few things from the green house but we will see what these will do, I have some pictures I will try to post tomorrow or Saturday.

Now, for the waiting for part. My son just came in excited about seeing the first snowshoe hare  or herethis spring, and wanted to journal it in his nature journal. I am thrilled about this and wondered if something like this would ever happen. I think some times I try to do things before they are ready. They will get there if I stand back and let it happen instead of making it happen. In fact, he got his journal only as no one else wanted to journal this, but all the journals were eventually asked for and journaled in!!! Yahoo!!

I use  this field guide most as it has our Alaska items specifically, but I also have Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock as well.

Winter coat

Summer coat:

 Have you explored God's wonderful creation today?

May the Lord find us faithul.

Update

Here is quick update on my sister, she is home and sounds good.They took her thyroid out, it was toxic. She also had a goiter that was growing internally instead of externally and they removed that as well. I just spoke with her and she is feeling much better. She has a couple of weeks before she can go back to work, she seemed bored all ready!

I have been quiet here at the blog, I have significantly cut down on my computer time, I am trying to find a balance on what is good and what is taking too much time. So, if I am quiet, I am enjoying a good book, or watching my blessings play outside... the important things.

May the Lord find us faithful.

Monday, Monday

We officially begin our summer schedule this week; which is Monday: errands and music lessons, Tuesday-Thursday school (mornings only), Friday: Normal, Dad's off so we are off. Not a major change but the blessings think it is wonderful to have Monday off as well as Friday. I decided to school through the summer in the fall, we just need to keep going, plus I plan on doing some fun stuff that being outside affords, and I need the schedule for my personal accountablity. Of course, we will have quite a few weeks off as we have three groups of company coming up this summer.

I have not mentioned our Pastor in a while, he is still on the road of recovery, but as I said before he has a long road ahead of him. He did ask for company last night after church. He was sitting outside next to his outdoor fire place and his son grilled hotdogs and he was able to visit with church members as they filtered over after the service. I was in a meeting so the family went over first, I just popped over to say hello before we left. My son said Pastor  was planning on attending church next Sunday....my husband told him he would carry his outdoor lounge chair over!!!

No more headaches for blessing #2 and her scrapes are healing niecly, she did not ask for them to be wrapped yesterday, which is amazing.

May the Lord find us faithful.

 

Interesting

 

When I saw this I was a little amazed, then I read the description, it is definitely me, don't you think so Pa-Pa, you have know me the longest.

 

You are most like: Black
You are bold with a dark side. You make clear lines wherever you go, though you color outside of the lines. Many people may just see the surface of you and think you are merely plain, but you have a lot of depth to you as well.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

 

May the Lord find us faithful.

My blessing #2

Thank you for praying for my daughter, she is doing well, her headache went away and she seems to be doing well. So, I have it noted but I believe it was just a headache.

Not much else in my head tonight so I will go...

May the Lord find us faithful.

Please pray for my sister

My sister is having surgery next Tuesday 5/8 to have her thyroid removed. She has really struggled with health issues the past few months or so. She is only in her mid 20's to top it all off. So, please pray for her.

Also, since I am asking, could you pray for blessing #2, she had a horrible  headache last night ( first one ever), she scraped her arm up and she had a rash on her arm this week as well, so she has had a rough week. Thank you all,

May the Lord find us faithful.

Freebie

Go on over to Knowledge quest maps  for their Jamestown Quad pack free resources.

May the Lord find us faithful.

 

Customer service and printables

First, check out the free printable paper toys link at the top of this page. I plan on some of these for afternoon free time for the blessings. I think they will enjoy them.

Now, have you seemed to notice how horrible customer service has gotten? I have had two customer service nightmare  phone calls today, what is wrong with these companies and businesses? I have worked retail and customer service jobs, we were always taught manners and being curtious.  Without customers there would be no business. I appreciate good service and gave it when I worked retail jobs.

I try to stay out of the stores as much as possible. But we have had some things that have needed to be taken care of recently and I had to do some shopping and make some phone calls.

I am not going any farther than that as it would be complaining but I will say that I am taking to writing letters for both horrible and wonderful service. Those people who do their job well should be recognized. It's time for slackers to be start being useful instead of just taking up space and being a warm body.

May the Lord find us faithful.

You know you live in Alaska when....

You know you live in Alaska when.... your children come to your bedroom in the morning and it is daylight but they still ask if it is time to get up!!!!

The blessings and I all stayed up too late, they woke up at their normal times so they are all a little sleepy headed this morning. I had two blessings ask me if it was time to get up this morning. I thought that was just too funny. Check out my sunrise/sunset times on the weather sticker on the right side to see how much sunlight we have a day. I have not been keeping up but I will check after I post this.

May the Lord find us faithful.