Monday, January 6, 2014

Brrr....Code

6/366
We are snowed in.  I guess technically, I suppose we could get out if we needed to, only we don't need to.  The snow stopped last night, after we got about 11 inches.  But after the snow followed an arctic blast.   So we haven't left the house. 




Jake kept warm under his new Colts cover I made him. 
Have I mentioned that he's getting too big for the swing?  He still will sleep in it, when he won't sleep anywhere else, today he was cocking his head looking at Sesame Street that we had on, and he fell asleep like that.  Pretty cute.  


So, we broke out Christopher's Loom.  These rubber band looms are all the rage with the kids today. (I know I sound old saying that.) I didn't know about it, until Chris brought home a bracelet someone had made for him. Suddenly, I felt the 80s were back.  Anyway, he's been bugging me to help him learn to use it.  So I practiced, and failed the other day.  Then someone suggested I look up youtube videos, and there's all these teenagers making videos teaching people (dummies like me) to use the loom.  So I tried.  I made Chris a single chain bracelet during naptime the other day that was green, turquoise, and blue.  And he was thrilled.  Now Sam wanted us to make him a "Green lantern" bracelet.  I was trying youtube, and they wanted the raindrop rainbow, and just when I thought I had it, I pulled it off and rubber bands went everywhere.  And the kids disappeared.  I was getting so frustrated.  The baby was awake (which I try not to do bracelets aka choking hazards when he's around) and I was 'THIS CLOSE'.  But not really.  Eric asked, Why I was doing it instead of the kids, they were long gone in the basement.  I gave up.  Maybe another day, I won't be sleep deprived, and I'll have time to learn something new.  

UGH - Just give me yarn and I'll crochet him a bracelet that will take 2 seconds! 


I gave up, curled up in my bed with Jake for naptime, and when I woke, the boys were playing video games.  They broke out Mario Kart on the Wii.  I don't think we've played it in 2 years.  I see why, the kids shriek at each other and get flustered with the game, and with each other and with us.  Ugh.  That's why I hate video games, if they can't figure it out by themselves, I don't have the patience for it.  


It has been the coldest in 20 years.  It's been hovering about -12/13 all day.  Even when the sun came out it didn't get any warmer. We did get a Sun Dog though, but it was hard to see through the trees. I kept looking outside.  It was very quiet in our neighborhood.  The plow still hasn't come at all.  So I gazed out our window, and took pictures.  Pictures of birds at the feeder, and hiding in the trees and things around it, because they are the only ones crazy enough to be out in this. 


The nutty nuthatch was the first one out this morning.  


Then the juncos took over.


They enoyed staking out the area around the pallets next to one of our trees. 
We didn't think it would have been such a great birdhouse and perch.


This was the first time I saw Mourning Doves in our yard too.  They really loved the feeder in the afternoon.


The word is getting out that the Willman birdfeeder is where it's at! 

The boys were beginning to make me crazy, so I buried my head into the internet, and found a bunch of nifty tricks to try in the freezing cold. Science experiments.  So Eric and I gave a couple a try.  
The first was turning hot water into snow.  I tried by myself, and just threw water.  But then a friend told me it has to be rolling boiling.  So we boiled up some water and threw it outside.  


You'll appreciate my reaction, I'm sure.  I was Definitely more interested than the kids. 


In fact, it was so cool, we decided to do it again, this time taking still pictures too.  
I didn't try in manual, but instead used the speedy guy setting, which turned out pretty good I thought.

The second experiment was to go outside and blow bubbles.  I tried out back and they all just Blew Away. 
It didn't work at all.  


Eric's theory was that the bubbles had been kept in the garage, which while not as cold as the -13 outside, probably still pretty cold.  So we stored them indoors for a while, before I took them out again.  The kids didn't care at all.  They didn't even want to come to the window, like they'd done with my previous experiments.   Yes, I am a science geek.  I tested the hypothesis that the wind was worse on the back of the house, so I moved out front.  But I was only able to get a couple bubbles to not blow away, pop, or turn into bubbly slush on my hand or the wand.  But by gum, I took their pictures.  

 


The first one is tiny on the brick, but was no longer round, it crumbled under the cold.  Then my most successful bubble got all frosty as it stuck to the screen.  After snapping the picture, I popped it, it felt like a thin membrane almost, very cool.  Maybe I'll try some other science experiments tomorrow, we're going to be home again (yippee), maybe the kids will Care.  

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