Field Trip - National Weather Service

We visited the Spokane office of the National Weather Service with some other families from our homeschool co-op on Friday. We learned a lot about weather and what is involved in forecasting weather. The meteorologist who was our tour guide was very friendly and enthusiastic. He showed us a bunch of different satellite images and dramatic photographs. And then we found out that many of them are available on the NWS website! My kids want me to "put that website on their computer"! (We have the internet blocked on their computer, except for websites that their dad or I approve.) I think that's great! They can learn a lot by exploring the site, and then keep us up-to-date on the weather forecasts. Oh... and by the way, it's weather.gov, not weather.com. The .com site is the Weather Channel, which is fine, but it does have ads. The .gov site is the NWS and you don't have to worry about ads.

We also discovered that the NWS is who broadcasts the weather radio station that the kids discovered on one of the channels of their walkie-talkies.

The highlight of the field trip was at 4:00 p.m. when we got to watch them release a weather balloon. I have seen weather balloons occasionally, but I never knew they were released twice a day, every day, all over the world at the same time! (I think the guy said 1,100.) There is a small styrofoam box, about the size of a shoebox, tied to the bottom of the balloon with instruments to gauge things like temperature, wind, and moisture. The balloon is bigger than I thought it would be. Maybe the size of a bean-bag chair, if a bean-bag chair was inflated? They track the balloon for an hour-and-a-half. They said it usually travels 150 miles or so before it "pops". The box has a label on it so if anyone finds it, they will know to return it to the NWS. Our guide said that about 15% are returned. He estimated that it costs about $300 for each balloon that is released!

Speaking of weather, we had our first snow of the year last night and it's still on the ground this morning! Maybe a half inch or so. The kids are excited. I dread driving in it.

Tragedy in our youth group

A 14-year-old boy in our church was killed on October 13th. The newspaper tells more about it. Our whole church is stunned and grieving. Please pray for the family of this young man, particularly his mother who was also in the accident and was critically injured.

Hunting update!

What a week we've had! We aren't used to this much "testosterone" in our house, so it's been a riot!

Last night the hunters came in without a kill, but with great pictures, video footage, and stories. That's as good as a kill, in my book. They saw several moose and got pictures. (They don't have moose tags, so couldn't shoot them.) What's amazing is that we have lived here for over 8 years and in that length of time have only seen 2 moose on 2 separate occasions. Yesterday they saw a cow and her calf, and a bull moose, and some others. They saw a grouse strutting its feathers like a peacock or a turkey. They also saw several deer, and I'm not sure what else. They just have a great time! (No bears, though.)

I'm not sure what time they left this morning, but they were long gone when DH got up at 6:30 to go to work. About 11:00 I got a call from them. How would we like grilled venison tenderloin for supper? One of them got a deer, and they would butcher it themselves! The others were still hunting, so they may come home with more than one.

Bear hunting!

My uncle and cousin and 2 of their friends are here this week from Missouri to go hunting. The season opens tomorrow. Their tags are good for a deer, a bear, or a mountain lion! They are all hoping for a bear! They are just sure they saw one up on the mountain above our house. There was a black spot there yesterday morning... and later it was gone... so it must've been a bear! At breakfast this morning they asked each other, "Wasn't it about this time yesterday that we saw that black spot?" Yeah, they agreed it was. So they went out with their binoculars to see if they could spot it again. (We've lived in the area for over 8 years and have never seen a bear, so the chances of them actually getting one are very slim, IMO, but maybe I'll be surprised! Wouldn't that be a hoot?)

DH took them on a scouting expedition today. He's not a hunter himself, but he took the day off to show them around since they can't shoot anything today anyway. They seem to be having a good time.

Just call me McGyver!

The North Idaho Fair opens today. I had intended to enter several things in the Open Class category, but I would have had to have them there last week, and I just didn't make it. Mainly because most of the things the girls and I have made over the past year are still in various and sundry boxes who-knows-where! However, I had also pre-registered to enter the table-setting category. They only accept 9 entries and you have to apply about 2 months in advance. So I had applied before we knew we were going to need to move in July. I did manage to get that exhibit together, and went last night to set up. (Good thing I didn't have to have it there last week!)

There are 3 themes for the tablesetting division, and supposed to be 3 tables for each theme. Turns out they only had 6 entries this year... 3 in the "Blue Ribbon Good Times" theme, 2 in the "Home for the Holidays" theme, and 1 in the "Baby's First Birthday" theme. Each theme is judged for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, so I think you're pretty much guaranteed a ribbon for even entering. If you're the only entry in a particular theme, I don't know if you automatically get the blue or what... but as it turns out, mine was the "Blue Ribbon" theme, so I have more competition. I assume they did the judging this morning... but we aren't going to the fair till tomorrow, so I'll have to wait to see how I did.

The girls went with me to set up, and we had to wait around a little bit because there was some tastin' and judgin' going on in the corner of the room where we were to set up. When they were finally finished we started unpacking and setting the table. One of the things I did was make a loop of wide blue ribbon and pin a small sunflower at the center of the loop, to lay across the tops of the plates as "place cards". As I carefully set each ribbon into place it became very apparent that they would not stay in place, because there was a fan behind my table blowing vigorously! That would not do! I had to think fast. No, I didn't have any tape with me. What else? A-ha! I pulled a package of chewing gum out of my purse. "Here, girls! Chew some gum!" And we stuck those ribbons to the plates with wads of chewing gum.

There's an ol' Ed'ards sayin' about that: "Necessity is the mother of invention."