Cooper's Rock

An adventure to Cooper's Rock State Park began Saturday morning. We drove to Morgantown in hopes of visiting the Core Arboretum at the university. We got lost driving around town. We were close to the arboretum, but never found the parking lot. Traffic was not something we really wanted to deal with, so we aborted the mission and headed to Heavenly Ham for some picnic items.
We arrived at Heavenly Ham, and decided to eat there instead of waiting until we got to the park because we were hungry at that moment. When we got to the park we went to the overlook, and stood on Cooper's rock. The view from the rock is of the Cheat River. We saw a ground skink scurrying along the rocks looking for a sunny place to rest. We also saw an old woman hiker stretched out for a nap on the rocks. The weather was in the low seventies with a bright blue sky. A few puffs of cumulus clouds were drifting along.

Cooper's Rock has some great trails. We decided to hike out to Rock City, which is an area with lots of large rock formations. Every state park I've been to has crappy maps. I am always paranoid of getting lost in the woods, which adds some anxiety to what should be an enjoyable activity. We started off looking for Rock city trail, and found Rattle snake trail. Brian was bouncing from rock to rock, and we were not on a marked trail for a bit. I had to fight down a fit of anxiety. I am all for following my man, because I have a right and left directional issue. But it was a matter of trust I suppose, for I do not want to be lost in the woods with a six year old. We did get on a trail marked with blue dots after a bit, and I could enjoy the hike.

As we were walking along Bethany stopped to investigate everything. She came home with pockets full of little things. Her prize find was a hatched out chrysalis. Brian's goal was to help mother nature along by knocking down every dead tree and branch he came across. Bethany and I would roll our eyes and get out of the way of falling limbs. I spent my time looking for interesting rock formations and flowers. At one point Bethany was singing some little songs, when she stopped and said, "Mom, I love hiking. Nature comes to you, and you come to nature." She is definitely my girl. We hiked for about four hours, and found our way back to the car. Then we drove to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Brian and Bethany played checkers on the porch. I found some clothes on sale. Our first big hike with Bethany was fabulous.

Memorial Day Picnic

Our community has a Memorial Day picnic every year to celebrate the summer season. The event marks the opening of the swimming area. The lifeguards go on duty. The policemen begin to patrol. Summer fun begins.
We had a classic summer meal with our neighbors of fried chicken, salad, green beans, scalloped potatoes, and cookies. We ate on the porch overlooking the lake. We watched all the kids swimming after the picnic. We didn't know the kids would be swimming, so Bethany just waded in the water.

The lake has two diving boards and two slides. There are several platforms floating on the lake to swim out to and rest I suppose. The swimming area is marked off with ropes. There are benches for sitting while you observe your little ones splashing around in the water.

Bethany discovered that one of her classmates lives at the lake too. She played with Cayden for awhile in the water. He had his swim trunks on, so he was more interested in jumping off the diving board. Summer break is almost here too. Let the lake lounging begin!

Sidewalk chalk

I was really disappointed when the plan for Pullman Square in Huntington was announced because I liked Chi Chi's restaurant, and I thought a fancy new movie theater would cause the demise of the Keith Albee Theater. I've been to Pullman Square a few times now, and I am definitely not sad about the loss of Chi Chi's restaurant. I still have my pictures of my first roommate, Anne, with a sombrero and Mexican blanket wrapped around her bouncing on the bed to recall her birthday celebration at Chi Chi's.

Pullman Square is really a lot of fun. Cold Stone Creamery, the bookstore, the movie theater, and the fountain in a courtyard make this a great place for an afternoon adventure. There is also clothing shops, a coffee shop, a comedy club, and some restaurants. You can also pay a sizable chunk of change for a horse and buggy ride around the block.

Grandma, Bethany, and I spent a Saturday afternoon there a few weeks back and discovered a toy store. The owner of the store was really friendly and offered us a box of sidewalk chalk to decorate the walk in front of her store. Bethany and I spent quite awhile drawing. Grandma stood by patiently waiting for our artistic adventure to end. It was a good time.

Update on Lily

Lily is feeling better. She is wagging her tail, knows who we are, and has left the bathroom floor. She is now snuggling up in the cat bed, or under my clothes in the upstairs closet. She is finding cozy little places, which is better than the middle of the yard in freezing weather. She is feeling better, but she is not a well animal. The vet called today with her lab results. Her kidneys are functioning at about twenty-five percent. She is still refusing to eat on her own for the most part. We are feeding her baby food and cereal by forcing it down with medicine dropper. She seems happy though, and wants to be with us again. Poor old dog...

May Insanity

I realize that I haven't posted many entries for the month of May. It just seems to be an avalanche of events none of which are any fun to write about. This week has been particularly insane. This is testing week at school. The state is now testing all grades I think 3-11, so my entire day is messed up at school. I have my horrible homeroom the entire morning for testing. It is also the last week for Seniors. So, I've been getting grades calculated and writing finals in addition to my usual lesson planning. It has been quite hectic. I am really worried about my dog too. I suppose I can blog about insanity as well as fun an interesting things too.

School will be out before we know it. We have two more days this week, four days the next week, and five the following week, which includes final exams. It is the end of the year crunch. Exhaustion sets in, and then the who cares its over mentality takes over. I'm plugging along like a little steam engine.

There is a nice long break approaching, and I am excited about unpacking and sorting things in my new house. I am looking into the idea of painting a few rooms. I'd like to plant a few things. I want to buy some curtains. I am also planning a trip to Washington DC. The summer is really a welcome respite.

Everyone should come visit me at my lake. You can check out all the water fowl. The Heron has been catching fish in front of my house. He caught a huge silver fish two nights ago when we were having dinner on the porch. He thought he would share a meal with us. He gulped the fish down in one swallow. He stood up on the bank for awhile afterward, so that we could see his pretty feathers. Then he flew down the lake stretching out his wide wings, feet dangling down.

White duck and mallard the inter-duckle couple have not been swimming on the lake for two days. I am getting concerned for them. A couple of days ago I saw them trying to cross the road in the morning. I hope they haven't gotten into some trouble. There is also a Mallard family living on the lake. Bethany and I saw the mother and father shepherding one little duckling the other evening on a walk.

There are still half a dozen or so Canadian geese hanging around the lake, but the large flock that lived here in the winter has flown to other places. The little brown ducks have flown away as well. The little brown ones, I could never get close enough to see markings to identify them. They could plunge underwater and swim for several minutes. They would dive in at one point and pop up somewhere else. They were quite interesting.

We are hoping to observe some turtles this summer. Supposedly, they like to sun themselves on the wall in front of our home. I will let you know when we see one. Bethany has been collecting the shells of freshwater clams. She has maybe thirty now. I'm not sure what we should do with them now that she has them. She likes to wash and sort them in the bathroom sink.

We have been fighting carpenter bees, which have invaded our porch. They drill holes into the wood, and lay their eggs. They are huge and look like bumble bees. We had an exterminator come out to look at them. He told us to spray WD-40 into the holes, seal them with wood putty, and finally varnish our posts in hopes that the bees wouldn't smell the wood. He didn't charge us for this information. We have a little weekend project to attend to now. He also said they won't sting people, so I don't feel it as critical of a problem as I did two nights ago when they were swarming around my porch.

Until next time...

Lily is Sick

My poor Lily is very ill at the moment. She is at the Veterinarian Hospital in Fairmont. The doctors believe there is something wrong with her kidneys. She has been ill for a week. She hasn't eaten anything since Saturday. We have had her to the vet three times. She is just pitiful. Tonight she is to have an ultrasound done on her kidneys to see what is going on with her. We don't know if she is going to live much longer.

Mother's Day Surprise

On Mother's Day, I was packing up my things to leave Grandma's house in Winfield. I was making my third and final trip to the van with suitcases. I had gone out the door, and was walking down the sidewalk, when Natalie threw open the door. She called out, "Nellie, I love you!", and ran back inside. I turned around and went inside totally delighted and surprised that she said this. I wanted to know who put her up to it. No one did! She freely said that she loved me. This is a big deal for me because Natalie is her own little person, and doesn't much want to be bothered with sitting around chatting with her aunt when she can be playing with her Bethany. Bethany is number one in her little world, and I am Bethany's mom. Natalie called me "Mom" for a very long time. I was excited when she learned my name. For her to take the time to open up a door and shout out that she loved me is a very wonderful thing. I love her very much too. I got to hold her for about three seconds, just long enough for a picture before she ran off to find Bethany.

Tent Caterpillar Capers

A long time ago maybe thirty years or so I discovered tent caterpillars in the spring. I collected as many of the furry little creatures as I could find. I made for them a little home in my little red wagon. I'm not sure why they stayed in the wagon, but I recall with the blurry memory of childhood imagination and the passage of three decades that they produced a tent in the corner of my wagon.

Bethany discovered tent caterpillars this weekend, as they were migrating across Grandma's back porch toward the delectable leaves of the trees in the back garden. She constructed a little habitat of sticks and stones. Bethany picked some apple leaves because she thought they looked yummy. At the highest occupancy, Bethany had eight tenants, who were determined to escape. They did munch on her leaves, and she observed Caterpillar droppings to her grossed out delight.

Tent caterpillars develop into the Lackey Moth. I did some reading, and they have very interesting little life cycles. Here is a website if you are interested in studying more about our little spring friends: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tent_caterpillar.

Muffins for Mommy

A celebration of mothers and children happened in Mrs. Phillip's kindergarten class today. The mothers were invited to "Muffin's for Mom". The students have spent the last several weeks preparing for the event, and all were very excited and secretive about what was going to happen. Bethany said there would be three songs--one serious and two funny.

When I arrived today, Bethany met me at the door with a paper flower she had made, and escorted me to my seat. I sat in her tiny chair, where she sits every day. She had made me a lovely and colorful card with her hand print. She had also written my name on a lace place mat.

While we were waiting for all of the other mothers to show up, Bethany took me out into the hallway to guess which portrait of me she had made. I guessed it on the second try. She had put earrings on me. I didn't choose it, to begin with because I don't have pierced ears. Bethany really wants her ears pierced, so maybe this was a subliminal message.

When all of the mothers arrived we dined on blueberry muffins and punch. Then the students lined up on their carpet, and sang one beautiful serious song and two silly songs. The children thanked us for taking good care of them. Mothers were crying for the sweetness and pride the children showed for their moms.

The program ended and we took our children home. Bethany and I went shopping for Grandma's Mother's day gift. We spent a long time looking, and finally we settled on a gift. It isn't nearly as sweet as having a six year old serve you a muffin and sing you a tune. Happy Mother's Day!

Facebook and FarmTown

My friend Tammy sent me an invitation to join Facebook the other day. My sisters had already joined so I thought I might as well join just to see what all the fuss was about. I already have a Myspace account, two email accounts, on-line banking, and a blog. Plus I have computer logins at school to sign in on the server and the attendance and grading system. Oh, I almost forgot I have another program I have to use with students and parents called LiveGrades.What is one more password to remember? Well, now that I have all of these passwords I can't remember them all, so I cycle through a favorite few. I have no idea which password belongs to which account, so I hope I hit the jackpot every time I sign in. I can't write them down because they expire so often I would never be able to catch up. :)

Anyway, I joined Facebook. The format is interesting, but confusing. Your email account gets filled with notifications that someone sent you something. Everyone wants to add you as a friend, but they do not necessarily wish to speak to you. It is kind of odd. Some folks have two hundred friends or more added to there page. Seriously, how many people can you really talk to even in a year?

I have found some interesting people who I had all but forgotten about. I've found old college buddies and neighbors who moved away a long time ago. I've found some high school folks too. I have enjoyed looking at their pictures and trying to figure out what they are up to, even if I don't actually write to them. It is a bit voyeuristic, if that is even an appropriate word. It serves as a window into their world without having to go through the effort of real and genuine communication.

I wonder if people will lose their ability to have a one on one conversation with another person. We are all about twittering, posting, texting, and emailing now. How I long for a hand written letter with extra stuff added to it like confetti or a newspaper clipping, or a hand-drawn cartoon. I am from the age when we had pen pals. My friends in college would send me letters to camp. My boyfriend constructed incredible letters, which he spent long hours writing and thinking about. I'm not sure I am really prepared for this impersonal closeness of communication.

I am embracing technology in all aspects of my life. Today I had my students create a brochure about a biome and an animal using Microsoft publisher, which would have been completely unbelievable when I was in high school. Our computers had black and green screens. We used floppy disks! I also used my SmartBoard with an LCD projector to check our homework and do lecture notes today. These things are remarkable. But I still want a handwritten letter.

I am also a hypocrit too. I sent my friend an electronic birthday card today, instead of buying her one. You usually look at the card, keep it a few weeks, and then trash it. So, why not just send the birthday greeting electronically?

I am thrilled about this little game I found on Facebook called FarmTown. You tend your farm and earn money to buy animals, seeds, trees, barns, ponds, and anything else you can imagine. Bethany and I have been playing it together. I am almost to level seven. I found an old college buddy on Facebook, and he is playing the game too. We are neighbors in the game. I haven't talked to him in nearly ten years. I still have no idea about his personal life, but he is helping me out on my farm. I am sending him a tree everyday, or some animal as a gift. I go over to his farm and water or rake. I would still rather pick up the phone and talk, but in this new technology age I suppose I'll settle for a game on Facebook.

Clay Center And the Circus

Following the Build A Bear Workshop, we ate some lunch at Chili's on the patio. It was a beautiful, warm day. We watched the pigeons wander around for crumbs while we ate. Then we headed to the Clay Center, which was a caboodle full of fun for all of us. There were so many things to play and try and see and do and watch!

We spent some time upstairs at a movie costume display. They had actual costumes worn in movies like Star Trek, Batman, and Wizard of Oz. We were not allowed to take any pictures. Brian really enjoyed this exhibit. He loves movies.

Molly and Bethany played a game of Hollywood Squares, and learned about healthy habits in the process. These "organs" talk. There is a moderator who asks the questions.

Because the Clay Center was celebrating Earth Day, there were many additional activities and exhibits available. One room had creatures for observation. Bethany really liked the box turtles. There were several snakes, a tarantula, frogs, and a couple of rats. The girls ignored the snakes.

This is a picture of Brian standing behind a waterfall in the water room. I thought it had a neat effect with the light and water. Molly and Bethany enjoyed digging in the sand in the miner's trough in the water room as well. There were so many things to do, there is no way to even give you a glimpse of what fun the girls had. We did take a walking break for a bit of time, and watched a movie about Hurricane Katrina. The movie tried to explain why the hurricane was so severe and what environmental things are happening in that area of the world. The film had awesome pictures of the wetlands and crocodiles.

We left the Clay Center around four o'clock, and walked back to the mall for dinner. We sat down at the Outback restaurant, and waited for Molly's mom and the circus. I tried to take a few pictures at the circus. None of them turned out. The girls were exhausted from the day's events, and I was too. We enjoyed the circus, and headed to Grandma's house. Then Bethany got pneumonia, and I've already posted about that day.