Lots of ways to enjoy the weather

You could sit outside and read a book to your blind cat.

You could hit golf balls in the yard with your dad.

You could hide a new letterbox geocache hybrid.

We hid the 4H Trail Blazers geocache that has a letterbox stamp in it. The listing just went live so if you head to the trails today, you could be the first one to find it! If you don't have a GPS, just go to the "Additional Hints" section of the listing page and "decrypt" the message (the system does it for you - no hard thinking here ;-) to get directions to the box.

Robotbunnies Back in Action


Or you could make your own trail in the backyard using Girl Scout trail signs for your mom to follow.

 End of trail sign with a ball 'prize' at the end.

This was a great activity suggestion from the Junior Girl Scouts Badge Book that the Webkinz bunny enjoyed too.

Trail mapping at Wolfe's Neck Farm

My family spent the last two days at Wolfe's Neck Farm with the 4-H Trail Blazers mapping the trail system there.

The Trail Blazers were originally supposed to map the trails at the farm and mark the trail's features using GPS/GIS technology but with the serious Nor'Easter we just had, the group was also asked to mark the coordinates of the storm damage locations. And boy were there a lot of fallen trees there!

The kids were up for the challenge and by the end of the second day, they had walked the entire trail system multiple times and marked all the coordinates needed not only for the new trail map and a new addition to the trail system but also all the storm damage.

An adult trail crew will be at the farm this weekend and is planning to use the kids' data to actually do the storm damage removal work.

Of course the group took lots of pictures - and video - of our time at the farm.

Not all the 4-Hers knew each other so they played a quick icebreaker to learn everyone's names. When it was L.'s turn to say her name and share her favorite ice cream, she couldn't think of a flavor and decided that 'everything' would be her answer.

The kids played a couple of games to practice marking waypoints with the GPS units before the group set out onto the trail. That was key knowledge for the mapping project.

The group was also given a quick overview of the trails by Mitch, the Farm's manager, so they could ask questions about how to prioritize storm damage they found and the type of features the farm wanted them to mark for the final map.

L. was her usual self with needing to bring along some random items. At least she only brought one Webkinz to the farm, instead of three she took on our Georgetown hike).

Each set of partners was given a GPS unit to mark coordinates of either a feature (bridge, signs, outdoor classrooms, etc.) or storm damage (fallen trees mostly) and a clipboard to write down those coordinates along with a physical description of the feature/damage. Then the groups split up to work on different parts of the trail.

4-H Trail Blazers work

While clearing away branches and brush from the trail, L. collected supplies to make a fairy house. She simply can't resist any opportunity to make one.

And speaking of fairy houses, it was a real bummer to hear about the serious storm damage to Mackworth Island today!

In Falmouth, state conservation officials said the hiking trail on Mackworth Island has been closed indefinitely because of damage from heavy rain and winds that reached the speeds of a Category 1 hurricane. There also were washouts on the causeway that connects the island to the mainland. Access to the island, which is home to the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, is being restricted.

But even with the job the kids had to do, they still found time to have some extra fun too.

L. taking a break with her dad and acting silly.

Lichen Lincoln

Balancing on logs

Acorn whistles


Work and Fun


AN EXCITING DISCOVERY

One of the kids spotted a musket bullet in a splintered fallen tree and after more investigating, we found several others. That was the talk of the day! 

Finding musket bullets in tree

And of course L. was in her glory in the mud. There were a lot of washed out areas along the new long trail we were mapping the second day. And it was great that all the kids had a good sense of humor about being so muddy. We all were certainly wearing plenty by the time we returned to the trailhead.

Plenty of mud and snow

The 4-H Trail Blazers ranged in age from 10-16 years old.

You can see more photos from the Trail Blazers in My.MaineToday.com
Wolfe's Neck Farm mapping project

[Update: The damage report map]

Map of damage coordinates plotted by the kids for next trail crew

Beautiful weekend for a hike

The sun is making a reappearnce this weekend so it's time to get out for some exercise and enjoy the warming temperatures!

We spent an early spring afternoon hiking at the Josephine Newman Sanctuary on Georgetown Island a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed the trails there.
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Good morning moose

This morning as we walked out our front door, we found a moose in our yard. I grabbed the camera after gawking for a minute but by then it was on the move again and crossing the street.

You would have thought we saw the Easter Bunny by how excited the girls were about the moose sighting (we've seen moose but never seen one in our own yard).

OK, yeah, I thought it was pretty cool too.

Back in time

We haven't had power since Sunday night and yesterday the girls and I spent the day knitting (they're really into that right now) and catching up on some house cleaning and organizing. One day without power isn't so bad. It feels like a free day and those are few and far between for us.

Two days without power starts to get old ... and smelly. We had lunch and showers at our friend's house today and then spent some time at the library checking email and reading.

We're really hoping there's not a Day 3.

But that is a possibility. Bummer.

The quote of the day yesterday was from L. as we were washing dishes in cold, rain water (Fino decided to make spaghetti with sauce on the camp stove - nice idea and very tasty but he really didn't consider the clean-up issue).

"Hey mom, this is like living in the Colonial times huh?"

Yeah, but they didn't know what they were missing.

We do.

Today I stopped at the store for paper plates; it was worth every penny.

Mugglefest Portland 2007

If you're a Harry Potter fan, then you're going to have a lot to do this July. The much-anticipated final book in the series, Deathly Hallows, will be released on July 21. And the latest movie, Order of the Phoenix will be in theaters on July 13.

As a way to celebrate the final book's release, a Portland group will be hosting it's own "MuggleFest" in the converted warehouses of The Portland Company Complex on the East End. The tickets proceeds, which are $12 per adult or child, will benefit the Youth and Family Outreach program (so although not the cheapest event, it all goes to a good cause). It's a 12-hour event that sounds like it will have something for Potter fans of all ages.

Find out more about the event

Hunting fossils, racing lobsters and spruce gum

This year L. had her chance to page at the State House with other 4-Hers like her sister did last year. The UMaine Cooperative Extension had some fun displays and give-aways at the State House that day and L. and a few other 4-Hers did some lobster racing.

Then L. and Fino tried the spruce gum and both had a serious gag reaction.

While I decided to stay with L., G. and Fino headed over to the Maine State Museum for the morning. She took a ton of photos of the gemstones on display and when I was downloading the photos from the camera I began to wonder if she saw anything else there.

In reality she took 24 photos of the gems, "not THAT many mom!"

A trip to the State House

L. and Chinese vampires in NYC

Some kids have an off-beat sense of humor and L. and her cousin S. are prime examples.

A while back L. watched a Cantonese-subtitled movie with her dad called, "Mr. Vampire." It's a comedy featuring Chinese vampires who are a rest with a scroll on their foreheads. When the scroll comes off, they come to life and hunt people. With plenty of martial arts, the good guys always coming out on top. The vampires were fairly harmless anyway as they couldn't walk when they came to life, they could only hop with the arms outstretched in front of them.

The reason I explain this clearly B-movie is because L. thought it was one of THE funniest movies she had ever seen. She's a fan of Asian movies in general (she still laments Mothra's death) and since "Mr. Vampire" was still fresh in her mind, she had to share every detail of the movie with her equally spunky cousin S. while in New York City.

Then the dynamic duo proceeded to hop around Manhattan for two days like the Chinese vampires. I am really not exaggerating.

And the highlight of the entire trip for L. in NYC was not the American Girl Store (our planned highlight) but her discovery of a poster in Chinatown for another "Mr. Vampire" sequel.

Walking around Chinatown


Some kids were just made to keep life interesting.

Little feet, deep snow dilemma

Just the other day I received an email from "Ben" asking me what kind of boots my kids wore to keep their feet warm and dry because, "They always look so warm and happy."

Ben's daughter had gone out hiking this winter and had a bad experience with her boots. Here's an excerpt from his email:

This past Winter, I took her hiking with me in the woods. It was a disaster. We were in extremely deep snow and, unfortunately, the boots I bought for her turned out to be completely useless. They leaked very badly. By the time we got home, her feet were completely drenched and frozen.

I emailed Ben back explaining that my kids have second-hand boots and one pair  doesn't even have a brand name on it. I think for us the key has been that the boots the kids wear are tall (almost to their knees) and that they wear elastic bottom snow pants over their boots to prevent snow from getting inside the top of them. I also shared that we are often on cross country skis on the trail most of the time so they don't sink in the snow as much as they would in regular boots.

But then this morning L., who was helping to load up the car for our vacation, came up with this plan to keep the deep snow from getting in her boots (apparently she didn't "feel like putting on snowpants").

Those would be a couple of fleece scarves ties around her legs.

Do you have a suggestion for Ben about good winter boots and/or ways to keep your kid's feet warm and dry in the snow?

[Of course, this will be advice to follow for next winter as this will hopefully be the last of the white stuff this year.]

A winter, no SPRING, wonderland

G. went outside with L. to snap a few pictures of our trees that are weighted down with the heavy snow. We easily received a foot of snow in our area, which my husband and I were not happy about as we dug out the car this morning for his early morning commute. As you know, we love snow ... during the winter. We're ready for spring over here, even the kids didn't have their usual enthusiasm to play outside this morning.

But later today we are off to snow-free lands for our annual urban vacation to NYC (the kids are already talking about how many boxes of Deli Manjoo we're getting this time).  We'll be back next week and I'm sure we'll have some new tales to tell from our big city adventures. 

Adios until next week ...

More snow, bird songs and edible books

The kids were not happy about seeing this weather report this morning. They love the snow but we're all ready to move on.

WCSH6.com graphic

But that's how April goes around here. It's hard to believe just this past weekend my family was out hiking to Georgetown Island (more on that later), looking for birds and getting excited about spring.

The kids have been distracted lately with the Birdsong Identiflyer they got for Christmas. They identified some birds while hiking and in our backyard and now they can't put the thing down.

The Identiflyer is a handheld device that has special encoded cards with birdsongs on them. We haven't invested a lot of effort into learning about birding other than the basics (bring along the 'Maine Bird Guide' and binoculars on hikes and see if we can figure out what kind of birds we see). The Identiflyer is a whole lot more fun - and accurate - so the kids can say with confidence what kind of birds they find.

They play with the Identiflyer so much that last night they heard a whip-poor-will in our backyard and immediately knew what it was. Actually I bet our cat Toddy could identify several birds as well since they have spent a lot of time "teaching" him the birdsongs too (useful information for our blind, indoor cat of course).

So last night when they were supposed to be doing something else, they were instead playing with their Identiflyer again and lamenting that snow was on the way.




Today we're off to the Edible Book Festival at the Portland Public Library (yes, we eventually finished making our entries late last night once we put the Identiflyer away).

The basic idea of the event is to make something edible based on a book. Last year the entries were VERY creative and the winner made a rye bread bowl and put a stake in the middle with a picture of a baseball catcher for the book, "Catcher in the Rye." A lot of entries are done by local artists and are really impressive (ours however are not, we do it just for fun).

The Festival opens at 11:30 a.m. today to view the entries and vote for your favorite. It's an annual fundraiser for the library but there is no fee to stop by; it's $5 for 3 voting tickets and a plate for the feast.

We eventually finished our entries for the Festival, which were as much about trying to being creative as they were about tasting good (our entries last year were not so tasty to eat -- G. didn't like her black frosting and L.'s egg roll wrapper hand shadow book needed a little salt). This year it's all about jelly beans, candy and white cake.



Check out Seen Team's home page  tomorrow for photos from this year's Festival.

Enthusiasm for all things game-related

Cheering (a.k.a. yelling), jumping around and laughing was how the kids and their friend A. enjoyed last night's Pirates game, which was a win without OT.

When L. and her friend A. get together at a game they need some space for their combined enthusiasm for all things game-related. From the action on the ice (which requires loud cheers and boos from them) to the songs and such that happens between periods.

G. was sitting next to the crazy fans, which were moved to sit in a row of empty seats behind our original ones so they didn't bother the people in our row sitting next to them.

I caught L. and A. on video at a previous game from a distance (they were sitting with A.'s dad); this time I got a closer view to record the 'action.'

And BTW, the girls have found a new appreciation for "Sweet Caroline" -- they just jump around for the length of the song.

"It's a fun song when we do that!" L. declared. "Yeah!" agreed A.

Enthusiastic Fans - Take 2



 Seen Team photos from last night's game

Check out game videos from this season

Kid Tracks Column: Sanctuary a delight to hike with kids

"Is an ant's heart in their butt?"

That's what my 9-year-old asked me while we were hiking at the Josephine Newman Sanctuary on Georgetown Island.

Although the ant question was out-of-the-blue, that's part of why I enjoy hiking with my family -- the random conversations. At the Sanctuary we talked about recent movies, the nuances of the Webkinz website, what kind of ice cream treats we liked at Dairy Queen (which we passed on the way to the trailhead) and ant anatomy. Getting away from our busy life for a few hours gave us some time to simply chat about what was on our minds (although my 9-year-old has her interesting questions no matter the setting).

We also talked about birds since we had brought along a new toy that the kids have been enamored with -- the "Birdsong Identiflyer." It's a handheld device that has special encoded cards with the songs of 10 birds on each one. The girls have four different cards and both were eager to see if they could identify a bird at the Sanctuary based on it's song.

The girls heard a birdsong while we were on the Red Trail and immediately tried to find it on the Identiflyer. They found a match -- the White-breasted Nuthatch - fairly quickly because they have been playing the songs on the device since Christmas. Actually, I bet our cat Toddy could identify several birdsongs as well since they have spent a lot of time "teaching" him the birdsongs too (useful information for our blind, indoor cat of course).

The kids were thrilled with their discovery and kept an ear out for other birds. We thought we saw some chickadees but the songs didn't match up with the device so we weren't certain. And then we spotted a hawk flying high above the marsh, although he wasn't "singing." We haven't invested the time to become more fluent in bird identification but we all had a lot of fun with the kids' new toy.

We also made a couple of other discoveries that the kids were excited about - deer fur and some feathers.
I always pack an extra plastic baggie in my backpack because when hiking with kids I know it will come in handy - and keep my backpack from getting really dirty. My 9-year-old is always finding things and deciding she needs to take it home for her "collection." I don't let her take a lot of souvenirs from the trail but an occasional item keeps her pleasant company.

So yes, some deer fur and one "pretty little feather" came home with us.

We hiked the entire Red Trail, the largest looping trail at the Sanctuary, and found it an easy and well-marked trail. But there were a lot of roots so even without the mud and ice of early spring, hikers should pay attention to their footing.

When we arrived at the section of the Red Trail that overlaps the Blue Trail we made another interesting discovery -- a pair of work gloves on a tree.

At first glance it appeared that someone had been clearing some branches and left their gloves to dry (one of which was in posed in a one-finger salute).

My husband and I laughed at the sight but the girls assumed that the finger was suggesting they look to the sky (I really am grateful for the innocence of my children) and spotted a potentially dangerous situation. Several loose - and very large - tree branches were laying precariously across the tops of two small trees. We held the girls back until the wind died down a little before running across the trail and away from that area. It was a good reminder to look towards the sky periodically when hiking in the woods in early spring. Many trail crews at this time of year haven't likely had a chance to clear out the winter storm damage yet.

By the end of the afternoon we had hiked nearly two-thirds of the Sanctuary and found the trails a snap to navigate and the terrain easy for children.

And in case you were wondering about ant hearts, my 9-year-old and I did a quick web search when we got home. It turns out that ants actually have a long tube that pumps their blood from its abdomen to its head and back again.

So the simple answer is yes, an ant's heart is in its butt.

NEED TO KNOW

Trail name: Josephine Newman Sanctuary
Nearest Town: Georgetown Island
Region: Mid-coast
Difficulty: Beginner Directions: From the junction of U.S. Route 1 and Route 127 in Woolwich, just east of the Woolwich-Bath bridge, head south on 127 for 9.1 miles to Georgetown. Turn right at the small blue sanctuary sign and follow the narrow entrance road to the parking area.
Other: The sanctuary is open year-round from dawn to dusk. Pets, hunting and off road vehicles are not permitted. At the top of the access road is space enough to park about six cars. The day we visited the access road was too icy to drive on so we parked on a wide shoulder down the street.

Originally published in the Maine Sunday Telegram, April 2007