Another Super Sunday...no bowl...

Ben and I got to work on the FEGHA Project again early this morning, attaching doorknobs, looking for homesites, and affixing the doors once suitable sites had been found (Remember:Location, Location, Location).


I like taking delayed-action pictures, so below you will find a gratuitous "team-effort" shot, although we did work well as a team on this project...


What you may not know is that placing a Fairy Door is the easy part in inviting the magical creatures to come and live with you...luckily, the hard part is taken care of by the Fairy, Elf, or Gnome Family that comes to live with you (much like with Habitat for Humanity, where people have to help build their future home)...once the door is in place, the enchanted beasties build the home behind it, and will live there forever...

One of the FEGHA Homes will be located within Gail's hot-tub (all of us can use it, but I'd be lying if I called it "ours")...


Another one will be built into a beautiful white pine near the rabbit and quail barn (pay no attention to the fancy composter of pallets behind the tree, I'll fix that when this year's quail herd/pod/posse arrives)...


The last door that we placed today went on the side of a huge rock in our driveway that Ben loves (he picked this and the other FEGHA homesites)...we discussed it, and hope that a gnome family comes to this one, as they are better suited to the hard work of excavating a home out of a glacial erratic...


After the Fairy Door project was taken care of, Ben played on the computer for awhile, he is all about the Orisinal and Poisson Rouge edu-websites these days, favoring them above the Noggin or the Nick jr. sites he typically enjoys...I like these sites...they are fun and interactive and learning oriented, rather than the passive entertainment that TV tends to offer...


We had a picnic lunch out of the deck...bologna sandwiches all around before heading out for the afternoon...


I headed out to hide a couple more geocaches for an upcoming CITO (Cache-In, Trash-Out) event that our local group holds every year to clean up as a way of giving back around Earth Day...between hiding the new caches, we stopped off at 2 of Ben's favorite playgrounds...he had, of course, a great time...


I like the picture above because it turned out very interesting-looking and captured Ben's "playground happy" perfectly (I'm praising Gail here, not myself, she took the playground pics)...I like the picture below because it shows one of the cool things that Ben does in every playground that we visit...he gives most elements a "run-through" (not all, some intimidate him, and he promises to do those "next time"...), and then tries them out in a way that wouldn't occur to me...just to see if it's also fun...


While I went out to place the last of 4 geocaches that I hid this weekend, Gail and Ben went to our meeting place, the playground in Gabriels, to wile away the time until I arrived there...he had fun...


I mention geocaching and GPS frquently in this blog, you can find out about geocaching by following the link at the beginning of this sentence, and I found a great little video explaining GPS technology, which I am attaching at the end of this blog entry (just below)...click to play the short video...

Spring Sprung...Finally!!!

Mom and Ben went to the playground in Saranac Lake this morning while I wrote some IEPs at home...it's amazing to see the difference in Ben's coordination and bravery increase each time he goes to the playground...


He ran all over the place, climbed up, slid down, and had a fun time...


We had a major snowstorm on Monday, and it got up into the 60s by Friday...today was in the 70s...


Ben loves playing on the slides, both up and down...he also has a blast on the balance elements...


At home, we worked to transplant some seedlings that Gail and Ben had planted while I was out West into some larger containers...peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, beets, herbs, radishes, and lettuce...we're still about 6 weeks from frost-free, so they'll live inside for the time-being


Ben and I then did some contract work for the FEGHA (Fairy, Elf, & Gnome Housing Authority), making doors for future homes for the magical creatures who live in our woods, and all over this part of the world...I'm not entirely sure why, but Ben was happiest working in the warm and snowy afternoon in a t-shirt, boots and Power-Rangers underwear...Ben is seen below waving off the camera, as our work for the FEGHA is done on a confidential basis...


We had a fun time painting the doors to the Fairy-Houses, and will post follow-up blog entries as the occupants move in...


Another glorious day in the best place in the world!!!

Blah!

What a yucky day!

The middle of April and we are living in a snow-globe. After playing inside for much of the day, Ben and I decided to head out for some geocaching despite the snow/rain/sleet/ice-pellets falling outside. A friend of ours recently hid one about 2 miles from our house so we headed out with gear and clothes appropriate to the day and activity...

The cache is hidden near the Jackrabbit Trail which wanders through a big chunk of wild country between some roads that run near our home. Some of the trail runs along a power-line and is pretty open, some runs through deep woods and is like a deer-path; all of it is beautiful and a great place to walk and see lots of wildlife...

Since this was the first time I had used my GPS since returning from the Southwest, I was getting some funky readings from the compass (it had acclimatized to the level of declination out there which is about 30 degrees different, so it was giving me erratic readings). The remedy for this is to calibrate the GPS and compass, which involves telling it to do so, and then turning slowly in circles until it tells you to stop. A minute later, I was getting a clean reading (it took me to within 3 feet of the geocache), and Ben was looking at me strangely...he was also looking in the woods worriedly as I had been whooping loudly, "Crazy Ivan, Crazy Ivan" while spinning...

The cache was exactly where my GPS said that it would be (3 feet is a perfect reading, given the vagaries of communication to and from satellites of my machine and the machine of the person hiding the cache), and Ben was excited to search it for goodies. This is a cache designed specfically with kids in mind, and is filled with toys. For the occasion, Ben had gone through his own toys and selected a couple of pristine toys that he was willing to trade (we like having him pick his own trade-items, and making fair trades)...

I did the obligatory "push-n-dash" photo, which in this case involved my balancing my camera on a fallen and snow-covered tree, setting the time, composing/focussing the shot, pushing the button, and running through the knee deep snow around to Ben in a couple of seconds without disturbing the camera in the slightest...it's an art form that ordinarily evokes larger smiles from the people I am posing with than Ben gave this time around...

On the way back, Ben navigated. I customarily mark a waypoint at my car, so that if I get turned around in the woods, I can use the GPS to get me back to it. I marked a point out of habit, even though this walk was very easy; and when I asked, Ben was eager to help us get back to the car. I helped him get through the screens on the GPS, and select the, cleverly name, "CAR" waypoint, and off we went. He did a great job, not looking at the screen the whole time, as many GPS-rookies tend to do, but just checking every so often to make sure that we were going in the right direction...

Spring must come soon, despite the 20" of snow we are supposed to get tonight, and when it does, Ben will continue to take a more active role in our geocaching adventures...

Las Vegas Baby!!!

Sometimes, one of the great things about living in the Adirondacks is leaving...

I met my sister Sarah in Las Vegas for along weekend, and we had a spectacular time!!!

We played lots of Blackjack, stayed up too late, and enjoyed cocktails in some of the best, and worst, spots in town...

One of the highpoints of our visit was a visit to the Las Vegas Hilton, and more specifically Quark's Bar and Restaurant, which is a Star Trek themed eatery...

An integral part of enjoying your visit to Quark's is a full immersion in the food and drink experience...we had a lunch made up of the Smorgasborg (which is a mixed group of appetizers) and the Holy (onion) Rings of Betazed, along with 2 of their high-powered cocktails...a Warp Core Breach and a Borg Sphere...


Mmmmmm...you can really taste the warp core breach...


Sarah was only too happy to be assimilated by her Borg sphere...


Quark came by to check on us partway through our meal...he was happy to pose with Sarah at first...


...but got a little grumpy when he realized we weren't going to pay him for the pics...it's a Ferengi thing...


Next we ran into a very tall Andorian...


We also found one of the Gorn, a lizard-y species from the original series...


One of the real finds of the day was a Klingon female warrior...


We had a great time in Las Vegas overall, and a really super visit to nerd-Graceland...