1-14-2012

Another quarter of school finished and another set of report cards to complete.  The kids are happy to be back at school even though they may complain when I hand them an assignment. Me: “Here, I’d like for you to complete this moderately complex set of tasks that you have been adequately prepared to accomplish by me.  Just follow the simple instructions and work quietly until you are finished.  Thank you for being compliant and courteous to other students.”   Students:“ WE WANT TO WATCH SHREK!!!!”  We seem to have different views some days on what we should be doing in the classroom.  But the students and I agree that the funniest part of Shrek is when he farts in his mud bath.  Classic Hollywood.  

The kids are happy for the most part to be back at school.  Since it has been so cold, they had been cooped up inside for the Christmas break.  Now they are able to have more room to play.  And yell.  Apparently they didn’t get their daily yelling needs met during break and are now making up for it.  They also are catching up on their need to run from point A to point B.  Even if it is only from their desk to the pencil sharpener.  Maybe they just want to hurry and get back to completing their assignment.  I doubt that part, but it is nice to hear and see them happy.

Hoar frost that formed on the net, rim, and backboard.

The other day, Monica looked out our window and pointed at the power line, which runs between our house and our neighbor’s, and said “Hoar frost.”  Since I had not heard of that term before, I was somewhat curious about what the power line had done to anger my wife.  I thought she was over reacting and considered it a bit inappropriate.  I remembered back to a similar comment I had made to an erratic driver and I was chastised for using such language.  It turns out hoar frost (notice the spelling) is a phenomenon that occurs when objects become cooler than the surrounding air.  Ice crystals form on the objects in abundance and make it look kind of cool.  It now makes sense when Monica points at an object and makes that declaration.  But, as it turns out, she doesn’t like when I say it.  Or how I say it.

With school back in full swing, it means that we are in the backside countdown to summer.  And with that, it means that a 10-minute walk outside will not require 10 minutes just to get dressed.  We have not seen the temperature above -10 in almost a month.  We are looking forward to spending some time outside worrying about sunburn, not frostbite.  It is suppose to get above zero soon, so we’ll spend time out on the snowmobile.  We planned on heading upriver to Emmonak to get groceries but I want to wait until it warms up more.  My fingers are still feeling the effects from my last trip. 

My focus now is to get the kids back into the swing of school.  We are gearing up for our annual science fair at our school, with the winners traveling to another school for the district science fair.  Some are excited while others couldn’t care less.  One of the problems of doing these experiments is that it is difficult to get even the simplest of materials needed.  Like eggs or candles or food coloring.  I’ll need to prepare now for next year’s science fair so we can do more and exciting experiments.  Maybe we can use the ‘air bubbles in the water’ experiment from Shrek as an experiment.  I know I would have several volunteers for that one.