Scribblings from a twenty-year homeschool veteran about homeschooling, life after homeschooling, occasional peeks into the world of writing for children, and the ups and downs of life in general.
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
-C.S. Lewis
I'm taking the exercise challenge!
May. 13, 2008
Rhubarb anyone?
I guess the rain and cool weather is good for something. I just went outside and harvested 24 pounds of rhubarb from our garden. What luck that DS is home from WSU and loves rhubarb sauce. He's going to be cutting it all up. A song. Yes, we need a song to go along with this:
(To the tune of "100 bottles of [pop] in the wall")
"Sixty-six cherry-red stalks in the sink,
Sixty-six rhubarb stalks;
Pull one out and cut it up...
Sixty-five cherry-red stalks in the sink."
Now, for the recipe for rhubarb sauce. Heated with a dab of whipping cream on top, it's delicious, healthy, and much like applesauce (except applesauce doesn't wake a person up like rhubarb sauce!). I double, triple, quadruple batches, load it up into pint jars, and pop them into the freezer. Always ready...just like a jar of applesauce. A bright pick-me-up for a dull winter day.
Rhubarb Sauce:
Cut up enough rhubarb into one-inch pieces to make 4 cups (about 1 pound). Yikes! That means I have 24 BATCHES of rhubarb sauce sitting in my kitchen sink.
Put the rhubarb pieces in a heavy Dutch-oven pan; Add 3/4-1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup water. Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered until rhubarb is very tender. Take a potato masher and mash it up a bit until it looks a bit like chunky red applesauce. You can stir in a few drops of red food coloring if your rhubarb isn't real ripe. I don't do that, as my family doesn't really care what color it is, as long as it is warm and has whipped cream on top!
I've been doing this for 8 weeks? Doesn't seem like that long. I hope for the summer to go back to my Book Review Mondays for summer reading options. But for now I'll toss out a few more of these delights for the crazy people who like to think harder than they should. LOL
Sid Shady is in prison and is planning his escape. The cell he is in measures three meters by three meters by three meters. The walls are made of reinforced concrete and they extend two meters below the dirt floor. The only openings in the cell are a locked door and a skylight one metter in diameter. Sid thinks he has found a way to escape so he begins by digging a tunnel. He knows that he can't tunnel himself out, but digging a tunnel is crucial to his plans. How does he plan to escape?
Thank you, everybody, for trying to help me identify the "guard creature" at our homestead in the Okanogan. It suddenly hit me this morning, while I was reading your comments. An "m". It starts with an "m" I remembered. A...MARMOT!
I found this picture on the web....a yellow-belled marmot in Yosemite Nat'l Park. Looks identical to our "guard-marmot" in the mountains of Central WA. Click on the picture if you want to learn about this obscure creature ("obscure" in the fact that I never heard of them before).
Wordless Wednesday is brought to you by TIANY! I'm not on my computer so I can't put up the cute graphic. But click on TIANY and you'll find more WWs.
Some folks have "Guard Dogs" for their properties. We have a "Guard . . . ___________" on our 14-acre homestead.
It's Wordless today because I can't for the life of me think of what this creature is called. Help!
We have an unwelcome guest in our yard. I glanced out the window the other evening and he (she) was poking around our hedge (about 75-100 feet away). As I watched, he lumbered up under the apple tree and started eating....something. I've never seen a raccoon this close. Then, he came within a few feet of my front door and started nosing around the bluebells. What I wanted to bring outside was the .22, but what I ended up bringing outside was the camera. (I've taken the .22 to a coyote before with less than satisfying results.) Read about that here: COYOTES, CHICKENS, and KIDS, Oh My!
Since we now live surrounded by houses rather than cow pastures, it's probably not a good idea to shoot off a gun, anyway.
I am NOT happy about this recent visitor (there goes the garden!). We've dealt with skunks, possums, stray cats, squirrels, and now THIS! Grrrr.....
MindTrap answer below....
Clem and Joe work in a coal mine. At the end of the day, Clem and Joe come out of the mine and bid each other farewell for the night. Clem's face is dirty and Joe's face is clean. As Clem and Joe set out for home, Joe wipes his face and Clem doesn't bother. Since both men appreciate cleanliness, whey doesn't Clem clean his face?
And a hearty congrats to Lyric, who got it right. Which leads me to ask the same question Alizona asked: Do you have this game at home? Do you run to read the back of the card before you post your answer? 'Fess up! The only alternative is that this HSB young person thinks more outside the box than I do. I didn't "get" it. But maybe I can't think outside the box because I never get OUT of the box! I'd rather stay home and blog, babysit, write, or read, or even crochet and knit than go on field trips or even to the store.
Are you ready for this? It's a little tricky, but it CAN be figured out.
Clem and Joe work in a coal mine. At the end of the day, Clem and Joe come out of the mine and bid each other farewell for the night. Clem's face is dirty and Joe's face is clean. As Clem and Joe set out for home, Joe wipes his face and Clem doesn't bother. Since both men appreciate cleanliness, whey doesn't Clem clean his face?
Have fun!
It's Show and Tell time again. I missed Mary being gone last week! Click the graphic for more.
If you think the sermons at your church are long, try listening to a sermon in Spanish! I was doing pretty well one-on-one, as long as folks spoke s..l..o..w..l..y to me (¡Más despacio, por favor!). However, general talking (preaching, television, shopping) might as well have been in Chinese for as much as I understood it. I'm a visual learner--not audio at all. So I did OK reading La Biblia as Erick preached, but....
Come along with me for a peek inside a typical Sunday afternoon worship service in Costa Rica.
Here is their new building. About 50 people gather together to fellowship and worship.
Here is the worship team. Erick is the preacher, but he is also the worship leader.
"Alabad al Señor porque El es bueno" says part of the wall decoration. "Praise the Lord, for He is good."
The entire congregation really knows how to worship the Lord during this time--the kids are actively involved. One highlight of the service is when we sang "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High." I knew the motions for the song, so I was doing them. Pretty soon the gal next to me got into the act. It was fun singing in English while she sang in Spanish, and doing the same motions. As long as there was an overhead of the words, I could sing in Spanish, but without the visual...uh..no.
Erick really tries to include the children. Here the little ones are doing an interpretive dance to a CD. They were adorable! I always tried to grab a pew where I could sit with the kids. We were drawn to each other.
On my last Sunday there, I had to talk in front of the congregation. "You talk; I'll translate," Erick promised. By now, I was understanding more, but I couldn't speak well enough to say anything important.
Erick was preaching through the Purpose-Driven Life book (2004). You'd think I could catch some of it! He even passed out sermon "notes." I understood those.
Even Ryan participated--but not vocally. Note the glassy eyes. This whole trip wore him out, but at the end of the 2 weeks he said he wanted to stay (but he probably said that knowing we couldn't really stay). Pastor Erick's son, Erick José, is the left teen in this trio.
Notice the corrugated metal roof. Very typical. I don't think there is any such thing as a furnace or heat source in Costa Rica. And not many "ceilings" either.
Sorry, no Monday MindTrap today! I'm writing this with grandbaby on my lap and another one hanging on my knee. Kristel and Sean took the 3 older boys on the train with the homeschool group and I'm babysitting. It's raining AGAIN. We had one day--Saturday--of sun and now the liquid sunshine is pouring down. I meant to go on a walk with the babies, but that's not going to happen. Instead, how do you entertain a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old on a rainy day? You let them sing: (She sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
OK...I've managed to avoid every germ that flew around our place all winter long. I even missed the BIG flu germ that my son was struck with and ended up in the ER. No colds, no nothing. HOWEVER...it finally struck. A mild cold...no big deal...but a "nighttime coughing" cold. No fun. and just when I've started the Exercise Challenge (see button above). Yesterday (Friday) I walked 2 miles, and like I told Kristy (Passion for Purple), I will no doubt pay for it tonight. But the weather was gorgeous today and I HAD to get out of this house.
In other trivia news, I've really enjoyed creating blog buttons. My author-friend, Lee Roddy (of Grizzly Adams fame and the script for the Jesus movie, as well as countless books for young readers) is finally entering the BLOGGING world. I have been playing around with a couple button ideas to put on my blog so I can link all of you to his blog. Unfortunately, it's not "live" yet, but I think he'll be writing snippets of history about his boyhood during the depression and other MUST-READ posts for all our homeschooled kids. I'll keep you posted. As soon as you see these buttons on my sidebar, you'll know it's time to go over and read his blog and leave a comment!
This is for Lee's Ladd Family Adventures:
And one for his D.J. Dillon Adventures:
Like I said, this is a Saturday "trivia" post.
Tonight my DS was surprised when he heard--coming from the bathtub--his 5-year-old DD reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to her...bath toys?
He asked her for an encore, and here it is. May the United States always be worthy of our allegiance!
Please send a little Global Warming our way--It's April!
And the answer to Monday's MindTrap problem (You're going to hit me):
Four men sat down to play,
They played all night 'til break of day;
They played for gold and not for fun
With separate scores for everyone.
When they came to square accounts,
They all had made quite fair amounts.
Can you the paradox explain,
If no one lost, how could all gain?
A song. Yes, we need a song to go along with this:
May the United States always be worthy of our allegiance!
Please send a little Global Warming our way--It's April!
