In the Garden

MOVING OUT: Today was the day. Our peas and beans had basically taken over the kitchen and outside it's sunny and nearing 60. Time for our little babies to meet the great outdoors.

So, this morning the kids carefully carried the pots one by one out to the yard. Next, we set about getting a spot of ground ready to accept the plants. We pulled dozens (hundreds, perhaps) of weeds from a semi-flat patch in our yard that gets a fair amount of sun. Next, I unearthed the electric tiller that has been gathering webs under our deck for a couple of years. We tilled up a relatively flat, hopefully sunny enough spot.

During tilling, we discovered lots of worms and several flowering bulbs. Annabelle chose to relocate a couple of the bulbs. CJ decided to keep them out, certain that a museum would want them. :)

Before sticking our peas, beans, tomatoes and such in the ground, I decided I wanted to add some enrichment to the soil, so we made a Fred Meyer run. There, we got some organic compost and bought another blueberry bush (we already had one at home).

When we got back to MPA, we planted the blueberry bushes on the north fence line. CJ and Annabelle's training during the day we volunteered planting shrubs at a local park (o earn our Disney World tickets) came in handy. They knew how to take the bushes out of the pots, break their roots up and set them in the holes I'd prepared.
PONDERING PETALS: This afternoon, after lunch, I redirected CJ away from the computer and toward a book. I handed him "Flowers Bloom!" and told him to read it and then be prepared to tell me what he'd learned.

He slumped on the couch and read the book. A couple of times I glanced over to make sure CJ was on task. "I'm reading inside my head," he assured me. :)

After he finished the book, I asked CJ what he learned about flowers. He said, "It helped me learn that some flowers have some colors and some do not have colors and some are the brightest flowers." Hmm. "And I learned that pollen makes some people sneeze." OK, that's true. "And that flowers have body parts," he said, grabbing the book again. He opened it up to a graphic where a flower's parts were labeled. "There's an antler, stamen, petal, flower stalk, pistil, a flower bud," he listed. OK, good stuff!

BACK OUTSIDE: I felt like we should do more table work today, but eventually the sunshine convinced me otherwise. It was just waaaay too nice outside to be toiling inside. There have been and will be plenty of other dreary days weather wise. Today was a time to take advantage of the weather.

So back out we went. I spent a couple of hours battling weeds and blackberries in a swath along the north property line. CJ and Annabelle helped from time to time, and I always called them over when I discovered something, be it a roly-poly (potato) bug, a centipede, a huge beetle and so on. In all, I'd guess we spent four-plus hours outside today.

BOY KING RETURNS!: Exciting news here today in Seattle! King Tut is coming back!!!!

Over 100 objects from King Tut's tomb will be on display May 24, 2012-January 6, 2013, at the Pacific Science Center. A touring Tut exhibit came to Seattle in the 1970s and seeing it was - and still is - one of the highlights of my life. I can't wait to see these treasures again, and this show is going to be significantly bigger than the last. The event's Web site is here: Though the show's not for a couple of years, tickets will go on sale later this year. You know we'll be getting ours! An event Web site can be found here: http://tut.pacsci.org/. Once there, be sure to check out the "news media" section of the site - there's lot more info than on the regular Web site, including a listing and some photos of some of the specific artifacts that will be there.

One item of note: the king's golden sandals that are engraved in a way to replicate woven reeds. The slippers were created specifically for the afterlife, and still covered the feet of Tutankhamun when Howard Carter unwrapped the mummy.

These golden sandals have engraved decoration that replicates woven reeds.

BY THE BOOK: CJ came home from Tae Kwon Do tonight with a "student handbook." It covers etiquette, rules and regs, tenets, the uniform, Korean phrases and counting, form names and meanings, belt rankings and colors, promotion requirements and more. We'll have to spend some time exploring all this information.