The only aspect of these programs that we use are all the nature classes that you see on my blog from time to time. We would be devestated because we have enjoyed each and every class that we’ve taken. And Cade has learned a lot about nature and survival skills.

I could teach these things to Cade, but it works so much better when he is actually IN the park and he has a knowledgeable person to ask questions.

Here is his letter:

My name is Cade Martin. I am twelve years old and I am homeschooled in Chesterfield County. I don’t believe that the 100% elimination of the Outdoors Program will really benefit the County and I don’t want it to be gone. I really enjoy the nature classes that are for homeschoolers that are done at Pocahontas Park and Rockwood Park. Ms. Christen always teaches me things that I didn’t know before and I like getting outside during the best parts of the day. A lot of things happen while I’m in her classes and I find things that I wouldn’t have noticed before. If you eliminate these programs I’m not sure if my mom will be able to teach me enough about nature….lol

Thank you for listening to a letter from a kid.

I felt I should write a letter myself. I can’t speak to all the issues that are being considered. But I can speak to how this decision affects us on a personal level. So, this was my letter:

I’m writing to plead with you to reinstate the Outdoors Programs section of Chesterfield Parks and Recreation. I feel that these programs are valuable to the citizens of Chesterfield as well as to the greater public.

As a homeschooling family in Chesterfield County, we use many of the nature classes offered at Pocahontas State Park and Rockwood Park. These programs always teach my son valuable, hands-on topics that I would have a hard time coordinating on my own. We have always paid a small fee and would be willing to pay a larger fee in order to keep the programs going, although I cannot speak for other homeschooling families.

I believe many of the programs offered through Outdoors are well regarded by the local public and even on a national level. I have a personal blog that I use to feature many of the things that we do as homeschoolers in Virginia and commentators on my blog are always envious of the programs that we have been able to participate in and enjoy.

In these difficult economic times, more and more people are choosing to venture into the parks on their weekends, rather than travel for entertainment. So I would hate to see that no longer be an option.

Thank you for your commitment to the people of Chesterfield County.

I don’t know what kind of response to expect, if any. We still haven’t gotten a response from the President for Cade’s letter regarding new energy options.

But at least we won’t feel like we sat back and just let it happen without doing anything.

© Robin for martinzoo, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments

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We had a blast. This place is so much fun; kind of expensive, but fun.  We ended up spending about $20 per person. That included our meal, $10 worth of games, taxes and tip. I loved our waiter. He was so funny. He could’ve been a comedian. Well, I should say, ‘I’ thought he was funny. My brother-in-law thought he was working too hard for his tip. But he’s cynical, so we don’t count his opinion. I liked the guy.

This was my yummy meal. It’s a Mac & Cheese dish with chicken and bacon. I don’t even want to think about how many calories there are in it, but it was so good. I only ate half, so that’s not too many calories, right?

Cade’s special order pizza was the last item to arrive, so he bummed fries from everybody else.

This was our weekend to have Erik. Actually, that fact went into our decision of when to celebrate Cade’s birthday. We also went at lunch time because it saves an amazing amount of money and there are no drunk people….lol!

Me!

This was Cade’s favorite game.

Tiffany and Erik played Guitar Hero, trying to convince me to give it a go. But I didn’t want to look ridiculous in front of the masses. My forte is the trivia games. I got 72 tickets from those games.

Every game that Cade played had a machine gun attachment. Scares me.

He does have good form, though. Don’t ya think?

Tiffany had just whomped on Erik in this driving game. She’s pretty good at driving games. I like them a lot too, especially the ones that actually vibrate the car. Fun!

We brought Cade’s best friend, his Uncle David. David is very tolerant of Cade and will talk with him about any topic, even if it goes on and on and on.

I think we’ll definitely go back, but not any time too soon because it took us 45 minutes to get there.

Cade liked it better than Chuck E Cheese, though, so I think the mouse’s days are numbered in this household.

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Today we were hiking though the woods and looking for things that didn’t belong; they were unnatural.

Some items of ‘trash’ were planted for the kids to find. And then we were going to discuss how long each of these items would last in nature if nobody ever picked them up.

We found this sweet little bottle beside a dead old tree trunk. It wasn’t a planted piece of trash. We were all fascinated by the tiny little ecosystem that was growing inside of it.

Can you see the mosses growing inside? Since it was made out of glass we knew it would last for hundreds of years, maybe thousands, if nobody ever picked it up. Who knew how long it had been there already.

Most of the items were pretty much out in the open, but it still took the boys a while to find them. They were enjoying the hike as much as the mission.

This tin can would take hundreds of years to decompose.

The boot in the tree just astounded Cade. He couldn’t understand how that would happen. Then one of the volunteer ladies explained that sometimes trash came from flooded areas and when the water recedes you find many interesting objects in very strange places.

After all the ‘trash’ was discovered, we gathered on the floating dock to discuss the importance of recycling, composting and getting trash and debris out of nature. Btw, we also found many bits of trash that weren’t planted. So, while learning, we were also helping out the park.

This is our favorite spot in PSP. We love the waterfall at the dam. The sound is just mesmerizing. I could seriously go to sleep to this sound.

We spent an inordinate amount of time tying to figure out how this dead fish got here. It was perfectly preserved with cold water rushing over top of it. But it was partly buried under some rocks. Cade was absolutely fascinated with it. And Christen totally indulged him.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed that there are only two boys in these photos. But they were the only kids who showed up today. Christen had four other volunteer women there to help out. These ladies were studying to be master naturalists. It was kind of embarrassing to have only two kids show up. But they did an awesome job with the boys and we had a spectacular time.

I learned today that Chesterfield County is thinking about discontinuing 100% of their Parks and Recreation programs. And that will just devastate us. Cade and I are already planning to write a letter of protest.

When we got back to the nature center we put the little bottle inside one of the frog habitats. It looked like a sweet little fairy abode.

© Robin for martinzoo, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments

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I win the award for ‘WORST Pet Owner of the Day’. I can’t say the worst ever because…. well,  there is still Michael Vick. But I feel like I’m in the same category, at least for a day.

Look at that cute, fluffy, perky little face. Do you know what I did today, totally by accident?

I’ll tell you, even though I’m horribly ashamed to admit it. But I must make some restitution to my precious little schnoodle.

I was grooming him. I was trying to trim those little fly-away bits of fur around his mouth. When suddenly, he shot his little tongue out of his mouth like a serpent and I…… (gulp)…….. I cut the tip of his little tongue off. It happened so fast. He shot it out while I was literally shutting the scissors.

It was horrible. Just as you would imagine it would be. My shame was absolute. He let out an immediate “Yip!” and then looked at me as if I were punishing him. HE thought HE had done something wrong.

Ugh! The blood… I just couldn’t stand it. I almost fainted dead away. The little piece of tongue on my scissors; pretend you didn’t read that. It was all too much.

And he was so confused. He didn’t understand at all why his tongue was now hurting, so he would lick whatever he could get into his mouth, paws were handy. This just made it worse.

So I rushed to the phone to call my vet. You know what? They can’t do anything. You can’t stitch it. I was just supposed to try and keep him comfortable and give him lots of love.

Well, I could give him love, but would he want it?

Yes, he really would. He followed me around frantically, probably thinking that I was mad at him to have inflicted this kind of pain on him. And still, he wouldn’t keep his paws out of his mouth. He kept breaking the wound open again. Cade and I were beside ourselves.

So I finally drugged him up. I had some doggie-type of Valium. We used to use it on Murphy when I would have to groom him. When he finally dropped off to sleep I went down to the vet’s office and got him a ‘lampshade’ collar to keep him from breaking open his wound.

See how pathetic he looked?

“Don’t look at me. I’m so embarrassed by this thing.”

He slept all day and when he woke I put the collar on. He followed me around, looking at me, trying to understand.

He’s not really very bright. So we have to resort to these methods.

You know what? This morning he seemed absolutely normal. He was bouncy, perky and adoring again. And it seemed to have healed a lot overnight. I think he has actually forgotten about. But I can’t be sure.

He’s still following me, though.

And I still feel enormous amounts of guilt. I’ve been a hairstylist since I was 15 years old. I’ve cut many, many wiggly kids and tons of ornery adults. But I’ve never, ever cut someone.

Why, oh why, did I have to start with my little Peatsy?

I can gain some comfort from the fact that he seems so darned normal today. But I spent yesterday beating myself up, crying and hugging the little guy. He is such a little sweat heart.

I only have one question left.

How am I going to screw up the courage to groom him next time?

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There is a wide variety of skill sets in the group. So sometimes he doesn’t always get a challenging partner, but he always, always has fun.

Today Ann, the coordinator, tried something different. She split the kids into three groups to compete against each other in some chess puzzles. Cade really enjoyed these puzzles.

Basically, she had them set their boards up a certain way and then they had to get a mate in one move. You could just see the neurons connecting in the kids. They were just loving the puzzles.

When I got home I went online to see if I could find some web sites to allow Cade to practice because he’s really hoping that Ann will do these puzzles again.

This is what I found:

Chess Puzzles

Bucks Youth Chess Association

Game Knot

Chess Kids

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Today, I decided to do a bit of art because it’s Friday, we haven’t done any art in a long time, and because I felt like it.

I searched Kathy’s posts to find something that I thought would be suitable and found this post on painting winter trees.

We’ve had so much snow here this year. But Cade and I are lamenting on the melting snow, wishing that we’d get another big snowfall to cover the ground again. Right now, we’ve got half our yard with a measly inch or so of snow, covering it. The rest is just mushy, wet grass. So we hoped that a nice wintery art project would put good ideas into God’s brain.

We didn’t do it exactly like Kathy’s post, but it turned out SO pretty.

We began by using watercolor paper and drew the Y shaped tree with a black oil pastel. Then we added the branches and thickened the trunk and lower branches. Then we drew in a snow line.

Then we made a very thick application of watercolor paint to the sky behind the branches. When we’d finished we used a rough paper towel to blot some of the excess paint. It really gave the sky a nice, textured look.

To finish, we used a watery mixture of white tempura paint and spattered some snow all over the painting. I really liked all the different sized snow drops.

Cade and I were just delighted with our results. And they will immediately make an appearance on his art wall.

© Robin for martinzoo, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments

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