Once again, I have come up with a new answer for the question everyone seems to ask me, "But what's in Ohio?
http://www.daytondailynews.com/l/content/oh/story/living/travel/2007/07/05/ddn070607goroadside.html?cxntnid=dlh-070607
I knew about the big basket, but the tin man? Big Butter Jesus? Shopping in a candle? What more could you want?
Friday, July 06, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
That Attic Smell
Attics are always a source of material for the imaginations of young people. Think about how many children's books take place in attics. Steamer trunks that lead to different worlds live in attics. Poor little girls living in boarding schools are relegated to attics and then saved by rich neighbors. You could even see the famous Wardrobe of C. S. Lewis hanging out in an attic (I know, it was in a room at the end of a hall, but you could imagine it being in an attic). I think it is more than the fact that kids can climb up there alone and explore. There is something about the smell of the wood heated and cooled by the outside air year after year, the "cathedral ceilings" as they are called by real estate marketers, and the deep recesses and shadows. Attics are just cool.
Grandpa's new house has an attic. And while it's a new house for him, it's not a new house to our family. This was the house my mother grew up in. And her bedroom is up in the attic. One, single room with a nice hardwood floor and a big double window carved out of an unfinished attic with wide sub flooring boards exposed, and cheap wood paneling hastily tacked up on the ceilings. It's a great place for kids. There are boxes to explore. They can all be together on one floor, but if they want to get away to some privacy, they go behind the bedroom wall in a corner to be alone. There is one bed set up outside of the bedroom. Grandpa refers to that as the dormitory. He has visions of the kids all sleeping up there on that bed and the cots and other blow up mattresses. I hope he can get some carpet up there soon so they can take their shoes off while they are up there. Right now it is sliver city. But they still love it. Its away from the adults. There is elbow room. It is very dorm like. And it captures their imagination.
I think they will very much look forward to staying at Grandpa's house. Even if that attic does get a little hot in the summer.
Grandpa's new house has an attic. And while it's a new house for him, it's not a new house to our family. This was the house my mother grew up in. And her bedroom is up in the attic. One, single room with a nice hardwood floor and a big double window carved out of an unfinished attic with wide sub flooring boards exposed, and cheap wood paneling hastily tacked up on the ceilings. It's a great place for kids. There are boxes to explore. They can all be together on one floor, but if they want to get away to some privacy, they go behind the bedroom wall in a corner to be alone. There is one bed set up outside of the bedroom. Grandpa refers to that as the dormitory. He has visions of the kids all sleeping up there on that bed and the cots and other blow up mattresses. I hope he can get some carpet up there soon so they can take their shoes off while they are up there. Right now it is sliver city. But they still love it. Its away from the adults. There is elbow room. It is very dorm like. And it captures their imagination.
I think they will very much look forward to staying at Grandpa's house. Even if that attic does get a little hot in the summer.
Letterboxing, part deux
This weekend, I ferried the team out to Schenectady to visit my father. My sister from Kansas City, KS is visiting him. We don't get to see them often, so their coming back to civilization is a great reason for a trip out to Sch'dy.
I decided to check out some letterboxes while we were there and I also thought that bringing the niece and nephew with us might be fun both for the boys and for the cousins. So we became scalzidragonfireballs + 2 from KS.
We checked out the boxes at Union College. There are 4. We found 2! We were uncertain of the clues for the first box and we forgot to even look for the fourth. The boys were a bit tired and I didn't want to push them too far, so after we found box number 3, we just went for ice cream and then home. The stamps were very well carved and I showed all the kids how the log books were hand made. We got to see how all the boxes were put together and now Firstborn has a good idea of what we are looking for.
Cousin J found the first box. She can be tenacious. And she was very creative in applying the clues to what we were actually seeing. Don't want to print a spoiler, but the clues could not be followed to a tee on box #2. So you had to use logic and she did that well. So did Firstborn, but I dissuaded him since he was giving a suggestion but not showing me his logic. Had he shown his thinking, I might have said, go ahead and try it. It just seemed like he was desperately grabbing at straws. Next time, I will be more patient and ask him to explain why he is looking in that area.
Firstborn was able to find box 3 quickly. We won't take away points for the fact that it was out in the open. :-) We will give him great points for being very discreet when he found it and not shouting with joy the way his face showed that he really wanted to. We wanted him to find Box #3 because I want him to be excited about this. So when we were reading the prescribed plaque and he couldn't figure out how to pronounce the word Schenectady (he was looking at it upside down), I made a big show out of making him come around to my side of the stone to read it. As he came around the stone, he couldn't help but see the box. The whole time cousin J and cousin B were smiling over his head at me because they had seen it. Lastborn was totally oblivious as he usually is. But he mostly participates in letter boxing for the social aspect anyway.
Once we stamped in, I asked Firstborn to re hide the box "better than he found it." Silly me. He headed back into a pile of brush to "hide it good." so I had to explain to him that this phrase means to use the same spot, but cover the box more thoroughly.
We did have fun and cousin B thinks he would really like to look up some boxes in the Kansas City area.
While the kids did enjoy their ice cream at Stewart's afterward, I don't think that the ice cream was the highlight of the day.
It was so nice for me to have an organized way to show the kids the Union College campus, the Nott Memorial, Jackson's Gardens, and so many other sights in the area. We could see St. John's church from the distance though none of the kids could recognize "Grandma's Church." So that was a fun thing to do as well. Then I told them about how Aunt P and Uncle L had been married in that church and I pointed out the Union College building where they had their reception and told them about how Aunt P had a bagpiper lead us all as we marched across Union Avenue (4 lanes of traffic) to the building at Union College and how traffic had to stop for our little parade of about 100 people.
I pointed out the Dorms and how they are all called houses just like in Harry Potter. Firstborn even said he liked the campus and might be interested in going to College there "if only they had Chemistry there." Well of course Union offers Chemistry. So maybe he will be attending Union too. We only have to wait 8 years to find out.
So how many other college campuses have letterboxes hidden in them. :-) What a great way to start the kids thinking about going off to college.
I decided to check out some letterboxes while we were there and I also thought that bringing the niece and nephew with us might be fun both for the boys and for the cousins. So we became scalzidragonfireballs + 2 from KS.
We checked out the boxes at Union College. There are 4. We found 2! We were uncertain of the clues for the first box and we forgot to even look for the fourth. The boys were a bit tired and I didn't want to push them too far, so after we found box number 3, we just went for ice cream and then home. The stamps were very well carved and I showed all the kids how the log books were hand made. We got to see how all the boxes were put together and now Firstborn has a good idea of what we are looking for.
Cousin J found the first box. She can be tenacious. And she was very creative in applying the clues to what we were actually seeing. Don't want to print a spoiler, but the clues could not be followed to a tee on box #2. So you had to use logic and she did that well. So did Firstborn, but I dissuaded him since he was giving a suggestion but not showing me his logic. Had he shown his thinking, I might have said, go ahead and try it. It just seemed like he was desperately grabbing at straws. Next time, I will be more patient and ask him to explain why he is looking in that area.
Firstborn was able to find box 3 quickly. We won't take away points for the fact that it was out in the open. :-) We will give him great points for being very discreet when he found it and not shouting with joy the way his face showed that he really wanted to. We wanted him to find Box #3 because I want him to be excited about this. So when we were reading the prescribed plaque and he couldn't figure out how to pronounce the word Schenectady (he was looking at it upside down), I made a big show out of making him come around to my side of the stone to read it. As he came around the stone, he couldn't help but see the box. The whole time cousin J and cousin B were smiling over his head at me because they had seen it. Lastborn was totally oblivious as he usually is. But he mostly participates in letter boxing for the social aspect anyway.
Once we stamped in, I asked Firstborn to re hide the box "better than he found it." Silly me. He headed back into a pile of brush to "hide it good." so I had to explain to him that this phrase means to use the same spot, but cover the box more thoroughly.
We did have fun and cousin B thinks he would really like to look up some boxes in the Kansas City area.
While the kids did enjoy their ice cream at Stewart's afterward, I don't think that the ice cream was the highlight of the day.
It was so nice for me to have an organized way to show the kids the Union College campus, the Nott Memorial, Jackson's Gardens, and so many other sights in the area. We could see St. John's church from the distance though none of the kids could recognize "Grandma's Church." So that was a fun thing to do as well. Then I told them about how Aunt P and Uncle L had been married in that church and I pointed out the Union College building where they had their reception and told them about how Aunt P had a bagpiper lead us all as we marched across Union Avenue (4 lanes of traffic) to the building at Union College and how traffic had to stop for our little parade of about 100 people.
I pointed out the Dorms and how they are all called houses just like in Harry Potter. Firstborn even said he liked the campus and might be interested in going to College there "if only they had Chemistry there." Well of course Union offers Chemistry. So maybe he will be attending Union too. We only have to wait 8 years to find out.
So how many other college campuses have letterboxes hidden in them. :-) What a great way to start the kids thinking about going off to college.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Our first letterboxing attempt
This Sunday, we went out to find The Three Bears. We found none.
The boys were wary of the idea. I tried my best to explain it to them, but of course their young minds began to fill in the blanks and create great imaginary ideas of what it would be like. This worried me. I would like to do this as a way to share my interest in the outdoors and to be able to find our way around some of the little known areas of Dayton once we get there.
It's one thing to say, let's go check out X park. The boys often fight an idea such as that because they have no idea whether there will be something great there or whether it will be another boring place mom drags them to. With Letterboxing, I can say let's go to X park. I hear they have a letter box hidden there. We have a discrete purpose for our travels. Something to focus on.
So I was nervous going out. I also wanted DH to join us for the first excursion so that I could get a lay of the kind of land used in these things. Will it be safe for a woman and kids? Am I risking my kids? What happens if one of them gets tired. I'm certainly not in better shape than my kids are at this point. Maybe I'm setting myself up for a drastic situation. Worry! Worry! Worry!
The boys showed their true colors as we entered Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park in Billerica. I've driven past this park many times and seen the RC planes flying around, but I have never actually entered the park. The boys were really excited to find the playground at the entrance to the trails. That was enough treasure to keep them happy for the whole day. But they condescended to tag along with mom into the woods to find the real point of our journey.
We followed the directions to the best of our ability. The clues lead you first to Pappa Bear's box. But we were uncertain when the clues told us to stop at the fallen tree with the orange marker after the third tree with an orange marker. Do you start counting the markers at the beginning of the orange trail or at the next marker? We started at the beginning, but I'm not sure that was right because we found no fallen tree with an orange marker. And frankly, that seems like an important piece because in the woods, there are lots of fallen trees.
We tried to use logic but things were just as cloudy. Which rock is Pappa Bear's boulder in a giant stack of boulders. Again, we tried to use logic. But to no avail. The idea of letterboxing is to hide the box in a way that disturbs nature as little as possible. Firstborn thought we needed a shovel. But that would have disturbed nature. I found what I thought was the perfect boulder for Pappa Bear and it would have been a great place to store a letterbox because there was a boulder below it, making it easy to stash a box between and cover it with leaves.
I tried using a stick to swipe under the boulder, but nothing was there. I was relieved that no wildlife came racing out to attack, but dissapointed that no box at least rattled around in there if not came flying out with the swipe of my stick. We tried "under" many big boulders. We dug under the leaves and I explained to the boys that a box should be under the brush, not under the dirt. There must be some sort of natural hole to hide it in and then camoflage it with leaves and sticks.
After about a half hour of looking and Lastborn tagging along saying these woods give me the creeps, we decided to leave Papa Bear's Box behind and see if Mama Bear wanted to visit with us. Apparently, Papa Bear is in a grouchy mood today. We followed a long trail over a hill and past many more stacks of boulders. I pointed out to the boys that these great granite outcroppings are a feature of the northeast and that we would see few of them around Dayton.
They were not impressed. Eddie was still talking about how creepy things were and Ken was still walking way too fast and getting way ahead. Meanwhile, I was trying to read through the clues and not trip over roots and rocks, and the mosquitoes were coming out as the sun seemed to dim more and more by the minutes. Mama Bear's box was supposed to be hidden behind a tree just off the path at the 4th yellow marker. Again, do we start counting at the intersection of the blue and yellow trails or after that one? It might have made a big difference. Because we pursued the only tree that even remotely fit the description of the tree in the clues, and we went behind it but found nothing that looked like a good hiding place. We walked around looking for a hole under the leaves. We moved leaves and twigs looking for a hiding place and we replaced everything so that no one would know we were there. Again, Firstborn wanted a shovel.
I suspect that if we went to the 4th marker and looked for a tree, we would have found a tree with a hole in the back of it, but the mosquitoes were getting hungrier and so were the boys. We gave up after 15 minutes of this and headed back to the car without making an attempt to find baby bear.
I expected the boys would give me a very hard time for our failed outing, but was surprised. They liked the hike even if the woods were creepy. Firstborn was certain that the clues were flawed and I tried to explain to him that we are very new at this and probably missed something.
They seemed even more intrigued after the hike than they were before. Well, Lastborn complained of being tired, which is to be expected considering he had attended a party at a zoo earlier that day and spent the entire time running around like a madman.
I mentioned to them that there are boxes hidden at Union College in Schenectady and that maybe we could go out with cousin J to see if we could find them. First born liked the idea. Lastborn was silent. So I suggested that Lastborn could stay home and I would go with Firstborn and J.
This morning, Lastborn asked if he could go to find the boxes at Union. He was nearly in tears. I told him of course he could. He thought I didn't want him along and I explained that he seemed like he didn't really have a good time. Well, I guess I was wrong.
Maybe it's a good thing that we didn't find our first boxes. I think it made the boys even more interested in finding boxes now that they know they are so well hidden.
The boys were wary of the idea. I tried my best to explain it to them, but of course their young minds began to fill in the blanks and create great imaginary ideas of what it would be like. This worried me. I would like to do this as a way to share my interest in the outdoors and to be able to find our way around some of the little known areas of Dayton once we get there.
It's one thing to say, let's go check out X park. The boys often fight an idea such as that because they have no idea whether there will be something great there or whether it will be another boring place mom drags them to. With Letterboxing, I can say let's go to X park. I hear they have a letter box hidden there. We have a discrete purpose for our travels. Something to focus on.
So I was nervous going out. I also wanted DH to join us for the first excursion so that I could get a lay of the kind of land used in these things. Will it be safe for a woman and kids? Am I risking my kids? What happens if one of them gets tired. I'm certainly not in better shape than my kids are at this point. Maybe I'm setting myself up for a drastic situation. Worry! Worry! Worry!
The boys showed their true colors as we entered Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park in Billerica. I've driven past this park many times and seen the RC planes flying around, but I have never actually entered the park. The boys were really excited to find the playground at the entrance to the trails. That was enough treasure to keep them happy for the whole day. But they condescended to tag along with mom into the woods to find the real point of our journey.
We followed the directions to the best of our ability. The clues lead you first to Pappa Bear's box. But we were uncertain when the clues told us to stop at the fallen tree with the orange marker after the third tree with an orange marker. Do you start counting the markers at the beginning of the orange trail or at the next marker? We started at the beginning, but I'm not sure that was right because we found no fallen tree with an orange marker. And frankly, that seems like an important piece because in the woods, there are lots of fallen trees.
We tried to use logic but things were just as cloudy. Which rock is Pappa Bear's boulder in a giant stack of boulders. Again, we tried to use logic. But to no avail. The idea of letterboxing is to hide the box in a way that disturbs nature as little as possible. Firstborn thought we needed a shovel. But that would have disturbed nature. I found what I thought was the perfect boulder for Pappa Bear and it would have been a great place to store a letterbox because there was a boulder below it, making it easy to stash a box between and cover it with leaves.
I tried using a stick to swipe under the boulder, but nothing was there. I was relieved that no wildlife came racing out to attack, but dissapointed that no box at least rattled around in there if not came flying out with the swipe of my stick. We tried "under" many big boulders. We dug under the leaves and I explained to the boys that a box should be under the brush, not under the dirt. There must be some sort of natural hole to hide it in and then camoflage it with leaves and sticks.
After about a half hour of looking and Lastborn tagging along saying these woods give me the creeps, we decided to leave Papa Bear's Box behind and see if Mama Bear wanted to visit with us. Apparently, Papa Bear is in a grouchy mood today. We followed a long trail over a hill and past many more stacks of boulders. I pointed out to the boys that these great granite outcroppings are a feature of the northeast and that we would see few of them around Dayton.
They were not impressed. Eddie was still talking about how creepy things were and Ken was still walking way too fast and getting way ahead. Meanwhile, I was trying to read through the clues and not trip over roots and rocks, and the mosquitoes were coming out as the sun seemed to dim more and more by the minutes. Mama Bear's box was supposed to be hidden behind a tree just off the path at the 4th yellow marker. Again, do we start counting at the intersection of the blue and yellow trails or after that one? It might have made a big difference. Because we pursued the only tree that even remotely fit the description of the tree in the clues, and we went behind it but found nothing that looked like a good hiding place. We walked around looking for a hole under the leaves. We moved leaves and twigs looking for a hiding place and we replaced everything so that no one would know we were there. Again, Firstborn wanted a shovel.
I suspect that if we went to the 4th marker and looked for a tree, we would have found a tree with a hole in the back of it, but the mosquitoes were getting hungrier and so were the boys. We gave up after 15 minutes of this and headed back to the car without making an attempt to find baby bear.
I expected the boys would give me a very hard time for our failed outing, but was surprised. They liked the hike even if the woods were creepy. Firstborn was certain that the clues were flawed and I tried to explain to him that we are very new at this and probably missed something.
They seemed even more intrigued after the hike than they were before. Well, Lastborn complained of being tired, which is to be expected considering he had attended a party at a zoo earlier that day and spent the entire time running around like a madman.
I mentioned to them that there are boxes hidden at Union College in Schenectady and that maybe we could go out with cousin J to see if we could find them. First born liked the idea. Lastborn was silent. So I suggested that Lastborn could stay home and I would go with Firstborn and J.
This morning, Lastborn asked if he could go to find the boxes at Union. He was nearly in tears. I told him of course he could. He thought I didn't want him along and I explained that he seemed like he didn't really have a good time. Well, I guess I was wrong.
Maybe it's a good thing that we didn't find our first boxes. I think it made the boys even more interested in finding boxes now that they know they are so well hidden.
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