Day 70(b)

Outdoor work and play continues. Tracy and Matteo finished putting together the astro-turf landing pad for the kiddie slide. Official school is over (for all except Fina), but reading daily will continue. Dinner was picked up at Bad Daddy's Burgers. Nana and Papa watched one of the James Bond movies last night, Tomorrow Never Dies.

Curious about Day 70(a)?

AJ's excited about ant farming.

Done. Except 48-hour drying time.

Fina said she thought she was going crazy. It's possible.

My favorite demo from yesterday's science teaching conference.

Day 70(a)

Today is coming in two parts. This first part (a) just got to be so much that I thought two pieces were in order. First in this post is my new Ember Mug. Second in this post is the science teaching conference I "attended" today.

1. So far so good on the first morning with my Ember Mug (14oz). I learned the coffee comes out of our coffee maker freshly brewed at about 160 degrees. The mug max setting is 145. That works for me. And I actually got a little more than 80 minutes from about 70% charge (out of the box). And it really does take about 2 hours to fully charge from under 10%. At one point the app would not open when touched (all other apps worked fine). Restarting the phone fixed it. Coffee from the pot at 118 degrees took 20 minutes to get to 145 in the mug (about 60% full).

2. There were over 11,000 registered participants (even more via Facebook live) in the ScIC2 (Science Is Cool Conference) today. Topics were about remote control of distance learning as well as all kinds of do-it-at-home science activities. Neil deGrasse Tyson was the keynote along with Chuck Nice (PocketLab, a free online lab notebook; "Backyard Rollercoaster Physics"). 1700 questions were submitted ahead of time! Capitalize on curiosity. Look for the kid's "velcro spot" - where science will stick. Recordings of the entire day will be available online (link will be here by the end of May, in the meantime recordings from the first ScIC conference are here). They also created a Facebook group: ScIC Science Is Cool by PocketLab. Lastly, check out these valuable links I snagged as the conference proceeded (most have at least some, if not all, free content):

iNaturalist
Stellarium
How Science Works
The Wonder of Science
Bozeman Science
PhET, interactive simulations
TeacherGeek
Hooked on Science
Exploratorium (San Francisco, penny cleaning demonstration)
Argument-Driven Inquiry
Future Engineers
Nasco (all free till July 1st, some will remain free after)
   Nasco Educate
Parametric Studio
NetLogo
Google Jamboard
FlipGrid

My favorite demo of the day. Drop the egg into the water
without breaking the egg. You may touch only the pie pan.
It's OK for you or an assistant to hold the glass of water in place.
Video.

Bacteria evolving to overcome antibiotics.

Dipping Birds  - curiosity!

Does this remind anyone else of Odyssey of the Mind?

Exploratorium has 300 such demonstrations.
They guarantee you have all you need at home for 70 of these.
Check out their STEMinars.

Future Engineers

Day 69

Another day full of activity. And, last day of at-home schooling for everyone except Fina. She still has a couple more school days, but she's had her assignments known for some time now and pretty much has them all wrapped up. Matt had the smoker going most of the day for carnitas tonight with all the trimmings. Tonight's movie: Analyze That.

New location. New cushions.

"Wake me up when it's over."

New plants in the courtyard...

Ever heard of Corkscrew Grass?

The magic of big boxes. How many kids do you see?

Matteo continues with Take Flight, a reading program.

Almost there, should be done tomorrow.

Fina had pretty good luck with Amazon Essentials.

Great name, Cabin Fever. If only it had been 2,020 pieces.

When either, or heaven forbid, both puppies decide to join you,
it can be with the passion of a swarm of bees.

Day 68

As quiet as yesterday was, today was busy. Tracy and Nana went at it on all the outside areas: the new patio, old patios, the courtyard, and the deck. Cleaning. De-cluttering. Re-arranging. Tracy took pics of old tables and chairs, put 'em online, and they were gone by dinner time. At day's end they ventured forth to Lowe's for cushions and plants. We'll see the results of those tomorrow. In the meantime, a couple guys were demo-ing the weird stairs in the garage in order to put in new ones tomorrow. Papa, Matteo, and AJ did a hike at Fox Run Park (which has become a favorite for AJ). See Day 58's Fox Run pics. The matching chairs for the Fosters' new kitchen table arrived. We did a wine tasting challenge tonight. A Regusci 2014 cabernet sauvignon (an old favorite) versus a Neal 2013 cabernet sauvignon (recommended as "maybe better" by the wine guy), both Napa Valley. Both retail low $40s. And they did turn out very comparable. Both yummy at the get go. But the Regusci outlasted the Neal after competing with each other and enjoying three very interesting cheeses (Italian herbs, horseradish, and Hatch chili). A Noble Tree Sonoma Valley cab made a good 3rd wine for the evening at half the price. Yours Truly got to enjoy a beautiful evening out on the new patio. The little white dot over the neighbor's house is Venus. Mercury was there, too, but very faint. Jupiter and the Sun were there, as well, but just below the horizon.

Out with the old stairs in the garage.

The interior courtyard is getting a makeover.

The puppies loved playing outside.

The kids loved playing outside, too, with the new Aqua Maze.

Our naturalist can't go by a pond these days with out checking things out.
See the skeeter (Gerridae)? Itself and its shadow.

By Thor's Hammer...

I think it was the hike that inspired Wingspan.

Two Napa Valley giants battle it out.

See Venus?

Day 67

CostCo days are always very exciting. Or as exciting as it gets, sometimes. Jamie attended an online workshop: Using Technology Platforms for Content Delivery (by ColoradoFilm.org). Oh, and we got some of the yard stuff properly stashed beneath the front stairs (the HOA clipboard carriers have been busy lately). We had spaghetti and meatballs from the Club for dinner. And tonight's movie: Analyze This.

Tracy and Nana found a puzzle at the game store by Lowe's.
Puzzles are in high demand these days. Tracy's having a hard
time finding 2000 or more piece puzzles.

Guess what Lexi found a little early.

Got some photos in the mail.

On Matt's shelf.