Head to Toe

The Engineer lost another tooth. This is the fourth he has lost, but only the second that the tooth fairy will take from his pillow. He found a way to lose the other two.

Some time before six o'clock Sunday morning the Engineer came up to our room and shouted a happy "Guess What!" I was too groggy to raise my head. The Engineer had gotten sick Saturday evening and I was up checking his fever, breathing rate and listening for signs of an asthma attack periodically through the night. He had lost this tooth too, but I found it in his bed. Now it awaits the tooth fairy in a safe place.

The Artist spent some time with her sculpting book recently. The project she is working on next is making a shoe. It is an ambitious project, and this one has given her some problems. She has made a first draft, so to speak. When done, she made some observations on how it could be done better next time. We will save this one until another is made. She plans to try again with all one color and paint the finished product after is it baked. Working with one color will make for fewer joins and less smoothing of joins.

Drop Drop Fizz Fizz

The Artist spent the week studying some rocks in her collection. She did streak tests, and scratch tests first. A few days later she was able to conduct an acid test. She used vinegar to test for soft carbonates. None of her four specimens fizzed with household white vinegar. That did not make for a very exciting experiment, so I brought out a clam shell and an oyster shell from the lot she had found on the beach in Florida a couple of years ago. Those both fizzed a bit, to the delight of the Artist and her Engineer side kick in this experiment. At the end on the instructions, the Artist's book mentions that an adult can conduct a second acid test with diluted HCL. I don't happen to have that handy. But I do have some 12% food grade hydrogen peroxide. It was interesting that the peroxide solution made one of the Artist's rock specimens fizz actively. We did not try the H2O2 on the shells, they were soaking to get rid of the vinegar smell.

All Dressed Up

One of the wedding attendees took this photo of Rick and me. It's been a while since we had a photo of ourselves all dressed up. The Engineer, his duties as a member of the wedding party completed, fell asleep waiting for the rest of us to finish dinner.

One Week Ago

It was just one week ago that we were enjoying dipping our toes in the Pacific. Rick took us to Santa Monica Beach and Santa Monica Pier. We got there shortly after 10 a.m. and the beach was almost completely empty. We shared the view with just a few surfers. The water was cold and I wondered if a wet suit would have been enough to keep me warm in the waves. Despite rolling up the pant cuffs, the kids still were drenched from the mid thigh down. After playing in the water we wandered over to the beach to walk and play on the playground. Here's the old fashioned clothes drier at work. Rick and I just watched them play and we played around with our new camera. Still learning how to use that new camera. The video I intended to take didn't work out. This shot does not show how well Rick did climbing rope. He got very close to the top. There were several balance beams of various heights, but the Engineer saw the high beam first. The Artist got over her fears in a couple of steps and finished well. Last we found some child-sized climbing ropes. The verdict is-- the rope is a little too short for the Artist, she could touch the top with a jump and more push-ups needed for the Engineer.

Wedding Day

If someone asks us what we were doing on November 8, 2008 we should have no trouble remembering. That was Uncle Paul and Aunt Brittany's wedding day! And it was a beautiful day in southern California for this wonderful couple.

Moments before the ceremony:
The best man gives a toast:Note the custom black and purple converse shoes and the snazzy cheetah tie!

Layers of chocolate raspberry and red velvet cake:

The happy couple: Congratulations! We are so happy for you!

Date Set

The date is set for the Engineer's next tae kwon do belt test. On December 6th he will be called upon to show what he knows and demonstrate his skills. If all goes well, several days later he will be awarded his orange belt.

On the way to his first class back from vacation I asked him if he remembered all his techniques. He said yes, but I kept my doubts to myself. Silly me! That first night back he was awarded his star and given the go-ahead to test.

I hope to write about our trip soon.

Confidence

This morning I was treated to a radio commercial paid for by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. She used John Glenn to speak to Ohioans and tell then they should vote with confidence that the system is fair and the elections officials are hard working.

I'm incredulous. It seems to me, if you need to spend the money to advertise that Ohioans should believe the system is fair, there is actually a huge problem.

This follows just a couple of days after Jennifer Brunner said the Ohio registered voter database is so poorly constructed that if the system had to be tested it would crash.

What I'm really feeling can hardly be described as confidence.