Category Archives: The Ranch Hands

living and learning lately

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Random slices of the learning rooms lately….

Feb

Feb
The big draw?  A new science text for Alannah.  She made a comment about one of the images which got one boy's attention.  They started looking through the book and talking and before you knew it a crowd formed.   ON the table. 

Feb

When was wasn't studying she was working on some vegetarian dishes for lent.  The spinach mushroom quiche was a huge hit.

Feb

Feb 2
This little man learned to divide, much the way the rest of them did – sharing. If there are 12 cookies and 3 friends share them fairly, how many do they each get?

Feb
There you have it.  Cookies and friends and fair shares. 

Feb 2

 

Feb 2

The funny thing about floor work is that it usually isn't just the really little people.  I often turn around and stumble over someone else who just sidled up for company.

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These two are inseparable. I mean the two above and the two below who are usually in deep discussion about something every waking moment. 

Feb

She tries very hard to keep up with Tess and Brendan and they try very hard to include her or to join in on something of hers.  

Feb
Feb
high five for that. : ) 

 

some hits lately:

Shopping List game

Addition Puzzle cards

Mainz Madness – Fasching 2012

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Fasching 2012 was a bit more um, colorful, than Fasching 2011.  At least for us.  Husband had read about the parade in Mainz and heard it was second only to the celebration in Koln.  It isn't all that far away and it seemed like something to to check off the bucket list while we were here.  

mainz
I did mention it to my German friends a few days earlier to which they both responded, "Why? They'll all be drunk," with a shake of their heads. Honestly, we took that with a grain of salt.  For one thing, all German festivals involve a fair amount of alcohol.  While drinking and driving is dealt with severely here, open intoxicants and drinking and walking are not considered a problem. So we expected some of that. But "all" sounded like an exaggeration.  Yeah.

It wasn't. 

Feb

I am just going to interject here that the little people generally get dressed up cute when going out in public. But sometime in those last minutes before we get out the door Brendan usually reworks at least part of his outfit. Today it was his cold weather gear. So. Back to your regularly scheduled programming…

We arrived an hour or so before the parade was set to begin and immediately found a parking spot.  Rare events such as these always make us pause and go, hmmmm <g> After scouring the street for signs to the contrary, we assured ourselves it was, indeed, a legit spot.  We headed down through the park to the city center. It wasn't hard to find.  You just follow the noise. 

Feb
The parade route was lined with beer trucks and pommes vendors, beer and french fries being standard festing fare.  People were milling about and just beginning to line up streetside. We took spots ourselves and settled in.  That lasted about 20 minutes, at which point a crowd of "young people" (ok, did I just say that?  I did.  I think I am very old….)  could be seen carousing down the street in our direction.   When they gathered on our corner and decided to stay I smiled pathetically at Husband and he moved us further down the road.  Right after I taped them. <g>  It's terrible video because you know, there is a fine line between getting footage of drunken revelry and being noticed getting footage of same. 

Untitled from Starry Sky Ranch on Vimeo.

 You get extra points if you can identify the song on that one.  If you watch international soccer you might recognize it.  Give me an H!

 

Feb

So we set up again and waited.  A long time.  Two more hours actually.  Which required some pommes to convince Abbie it was going to be worth it.  

Feb

The crowds grew to massive size by the time the parade reached our end of town. Like, massive. Like, the kind of crowds you see on the news massive.  The rest of the event could be summed up thusly: music, costumes, and public drunkeness.  All in large quantities.

Feb
You might think you have a visual, but if you haven't been here I am venturing to say you probably don't. I am not posting all my pics here (though several will likely end up on the website by the end of the week) because some were a little over the top. Like the guy dangling the little girl out of the window ala Michael Jackson.  Or the old folks in the parade chugging tiny shot bottles of vodka as they marched.  Or the bottles and broken glass that literally covered the streets like peanuts at the Organ Grinder.  (Did I just date myself?  Someone tell me there are still Organ Grinder restaurants someplace?)

Feb (this was my little space before things got rockin'.  The dirty clogs are mine, the vodka wasn't though)

Don't get me wrong, it WAS a cool thing to say you got to see in person.  Still, we did form a human chain and got outta Dodge before the parade was over. Seemed better to leave before the crowd no longer had something to focus their attention upon.   Our German friends said this year was particularly rowdy and the news was all about it last night.  So Tina, if you are reading this – you were right!  

Feb

Anyway, I was pretty pumped that I did get to see those giant puppet head guys finally.   The kids mostly had fun – if sometimes in a deer in the headlights sorta way.  Always an adventure in this family. Always an adventure.  They will never be short on stories!

If you want to get a feel for the place and the day I made this slide video. The music is one of the party songs you hear at all these things.  I apologize in advance if you are singing "La, la, lalala" all day now. If it makes you feel any better it is stuck in my head now too.  "So a schöner tag…"  Remember I already explained this event so you know that this may be a PG show ok?  Ok. 

Untitled from Starry Sky Ranch on Vimeo.

Enjoy!  As for me it is four minutes to lent now.  Probably my cue to go to bed instead of sitting up snacking as though I was storing up til April.  Even if I maybe was. <g>   

If you want to learn more about Fasching in Germany you can check out last year's posts here and here.  

At the Cabin

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I had to laugh when my son commented on Facebook that a visit to our house typically includes your involvement in a play, a concert, or a photo shoot.  This is actually true, particularly if you are a guest of one of our middle kids.  You may well find yourself swept away into a throwback fantasy world – at least for a little while. It's all good fun.

If you visit, dress warmly.

We may end up hiking over to the cabin at the pond…

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Learning to Love

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"There are many who want me to tell them of secret ways of becoming perfect and I can only tell them that the sole secret is a hearty love of God, and the only way of attaining that love is by loving.  You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art." 

– St Francis de Sales

valentine

valentine Little love apprentices at work around here this week.  

Montessori at Home – Multiplication Manipulatives

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Aidan smiled when he saw Brendan using the muliplication mat.  "Oh! You got out that thing-a-ma-jiggie!"  Yes, indeedy.  That OLD thingamajiggie is an idea I altered from the basic multiplication board in the Hainstock book.  It is cut from an inverted bathmat (the kind with lots of tiny suction cups) which has not fared well in storage across the ocean. The numbers 1-10 are labeled across the top.   You can easily drop pony beads or beans across the rows of cups to illustrate groups of numbers.  

multiplication mat
(You can also use the bath mats to make Hundred Boards.  Just use a fine tip sharpie and write the numbers on the cups.)

multiplication mat

Doesn't take long before you transition into a times table chart like this.  It is good to have some hands on work with the beads first so they can really visualize what is happening before they memorize the chart.

page
You can, of course use a printable, but when you realize just how far a pony bead can travel, and at what remarkable rates of speed, you become highly motivated to corral them. <g>

PS – you can print out multiplication problems here.   We are using inexpensive math workbooks and hopping around some for convenience. 

The Bodyguard

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When I was little I used to pour over the D encyclopedia.  I memorized the names of all the dog breeds and could sort them into classes – toy, working, hound etc.  I was an animal geek for sure. 

I remember watching Benji (and reading the book and hanging the poster…) and sighing with longing for the little white Maltese sidekick of his.  My mother and I were barely scraping by however and exotic dogs were totally out of the question.  The closest I ever got was pressing my nose up to the pet store window in the mall. Oh for a dog with long flowing coat to pull up into bows and brush long into the night. 

Fast forward about 30 some years.  Toy dogs are slightly less exotic than they were in the Upper Midwest of the '70's.  Ours arrived here after bouncing around to a few other homes.  They arrived with all those flowing coat genes.  And matted to the skin.  

I admit I silently tsk'd their negligent owner and for a moment was transported back to those days sprawled out with the Brittanica.  Visions of grooming perfection wafted through my head. Never mind we owned a large shaggy dog for many years in CO who was frequently trimmed down to a very short coat.  That was the country however.  This would be different.  How quickly we forget. 

gizmo

Well truth is, we aren't all that good at dog grooming.  There are a fair number of little people under this roof who need grooming help too.  The dogs got to be a mess while I was sick last fall.  So, we told the groomer to start over and here we go again.

Gizmo's ears promptly sprang up like Dumbo's as soon as they were shorn.  Since it was December he also got cold.  Aidan found a coat to fit him until his own grew back.  Check it out….

gizmo

Yarn Along – the pink hat

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Behold, knitting project number two. : ) The hat was actually done but I didn't get around to sharing for last week's yarn along at Ginny's.   I so enjoyed making this little hat although the yarn I used was lighter than called for so the hat was smaller than intended.  That's ok, there are a couple of small heads around here.

HAT

This was my introduction to circular and double pointed needles.  The circular knitting was a dream.  LOVED that you can get stockinette stitch without purling. No major errors, just a few stitches looser than the rest.  It seems my tension level isn't constant, much like in life…. lol.

The double points went alright but I did that part wrong.  I divided the stitches among all the needles and then began to knit so I kept ending up with too many stitches on one needle. Rebecca explained that part to me afterwards and I think I can do it right next time. 

HAT

I am stymied now for the next project. Trying to align pattern difficulty with yarn and needles I own has been impossible.  I think I am going to try to let go of the acrylic yarn stash I have and just find a pattern and the necessary yarn and needles for it.  Way too many hours on the net have not panned out. There is a fine line between thrifty and scrupulous.  A line I sometimes cross.  So someone have mercy and point me towards something small and pretty and simple.  I heard of a yarn shop not too far away and will be finding it next week.

Most of my reading has been aloud lately.  We found a Bill Bennett anthology we haven't seen before and have thoroughly enjoyed the renditions included.  The story about the young married couple and the fountain of youth nearly brought me to tears.  There was also a moving retelling of the Story of Ruth.  I see it got one glowing and one negative review on Amazon fwiw.  I like Michael Hague so it's thumbs up here. 

Another big hit was Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.  It is all the more interesting since Sue and I have been working together at Snapshots Around the World this year.  We plan to exchange a box of goodies with their family.  This is the best sort of story stretcher. 

Continuing that WWII theme, Aidan just finished The Winged Watchman for school.  We are going to tackle the book report tomorrow.   We also coincidentally rented Sophie Scholl in German last week.  I didn't realize it was subtitled 'til we got home but everyone who watched loved it.  We agreed this story was much better with German actors, having lived here.  I tracked down the book version and hope to hit that soon.