Maebius Musings

I write this as a proud father of an 8yr old boy, who finds himself crossing the Threshold of Proper Fantasy Geek.

Before that though, I’m also happy to report another win FOR SCIENCE.

(warning: bugs and bits below.  You have been warned.)

This weekend, after a good day of playing around at a nearby farm, and being locked into the chicken coop by playful cousins, we discovered a spider mite or louse in the kid’s hair.  Now of course mom has a bit of an overactive “eww bug!” reaction, but after a recent purchase of a microscope at a yard sale, I figured “why not check it out”.

Of course, the kid was completely boggled by the fact that we “had a REAL microscope like the science labs?!”, but I assured him that it was a recent purchase and may be a bit blurry or entirely non-functional, but it was worth the attempt, for this particular Teachable Moment.

So, we grabbed a blank slide, wiped the copious dust from the lenses, and smacked a cover slip on top of the bug (it was a louse) and peeked through the eyepiece.  The little teeny hard-to-see spec was flailing it’s little legs around, and when the kid peeked through, his shriek of Joy was contagious.   OMG, MOM MOM, LOOK! IT’S MOVING! LOOOOOK! YOUCANSEETHEEYESANLEGS, and EVERYHING!

The afternoon then filled up with further micro-curiosity.  I plucked a hair by the roots.  The kid hesitantly yet stolidly plucked his own to compare (FOR SCIENCE!), and we brushed the dog to get a third hair sample.  A bit of lettuce leaf, an onion skin, the wing of a dead fly.  Sugar.  Salt.  Gourmet Salt flakes (not cubes). Water from the pond. Dust from under the sofa.  … all this flickered across the single “blank” slide that was included with the microscope kit. (a LEGO brick did not work, sadly, which I expected, and was a good lesson in optics and transparency necessary for Micro-viewing)

I’m sure we would have continued with flour, skin samples, and such but dinner time came and there were other chores to do.   Still, I’ve added microscope slide kits to my Amazon WishList, because my son already plans on trying more stuff to look at this week.  It’s pretty awesome.

As for the geeky Rites, I am also happy to report that we have just finished watching the Fellowship of the Ring, and  The Two Towers,with plans to complete Peter Jackson’s amazing trilogy at the end of this week.  We were a bit unsure if he was ready for it, but after being assured (by the kid of course) “I am eight, and Oh Yeah, I love epic battles.“,  we tried the first movie with a finger on the pause button just in case.

We shouldn’t have worried.

So far, Legolas is his favorite character, mostly for the action scenes with rapid-fire arrows.  He thinks Gimli is silly, especially during the battle for Helm’s Deep.  Aragorn is a good king, but dreams about his elf-love too much, but overall, the Ents attacking Isengard were the high point in both movies.

As he said loudly last night… “See, now THAT is why you don’t mess with Nature, right?!”    

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Recently, my son has been drawing short 4-page comic books in his spare time, and is planning on a large 8-page one featuring Bulldogs playing Baseball (The Bulldogs are the school mascot/team name).

Here is a rare glimpse into the creative process involved in bringing these works of art to life.

I present to you,  “Electro-Charles versus Hairy Potty!”

Enjoy!   Transcript as follows:

Maebius: Here is the master comic, hard at work.

The Artist: Oh hi!   I’ll start with the face… Then draw the rest of the hair… The eyes, the nose, and the mouth…

The body, his legs, his arms…  I added spears since he’s in battle.  Facing a Hairy Toilet.

Maebius: Could you read the comic for us quickly before you finish the artwork?  So that the read… viewers of this video can see the comic?

The Artist(affecting his ‘erudite’ accent):   Alright, I’ll finish it later.

Electro-Charles versus…

Electro-Charles versus Hairy…

Electro-Charles  (points to picture) versus Hairy potty (points to picture).

(turns page) Zaaaaap!

(third page) Hairy potty is terrorizing the city with his henchmen.

(while pointing out features of the illustration) Henchmen… city people…  (Maebius mumbles something in the background to acknowledge the contents of the illustration)

(turns to final page) Electro-Charles defeated Hairy potty and saved the world.

Maebius: Excellent!  We’ll have pictures when the comic is finished and coloured.   Good bye.

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The kid made up a song for his spelling words and we recorded him singing it. He wanted to share it with everyone, so hopefully this works….
(link to the video if the embed does not work:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_iwP9pb5CU)

This week’s spelling words, made into a song, to the tune of “Loony Tunes”.

Lyrics:
I do NOT want to play with you,
I sent you a NOTE.
Bunnies just HOP around,
I’ll get to school I HOPE.
I’m fishing with my new ROD
I RODE in the car.
TOT is for toddler,
you put things in a TOTE.
I take a bath in the TUB,
straws are mini-TUBEs.
Everyone knows what a bear CUB is,
at school we have a CUBE.
US means you and me,
we USEd up the ice-cream maker.
I can CUT with scissors,
my mother thinks I’m CUTE.
I eat BECAUSE I’m hungry,
your letter is FROM meeeeee——————————————————-!

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The kid turned seven today! Sadly, we’ve all been fighting the plague for the last (literally) two weeks and it’s just not leaving us alone, but it’s better, with a drawn-out sniffly blah lately, but functional waking at least. I wanted to do a bit more “coming of age” type stuff, but that may wait until Halloween party and such to mark the age-growing better with a bonfire and such.

However, I’m not here to rant about our health. I’m here to share the fun that was his birthday breakfast and gifts, because I’m feeling like a Proud Papa today.

He got three gifts, two of which were a surprise, one was specifically asked for. The fun part was that he had to follow a trail of clues around the house to get all three gifts.

• A Kung Zhu hamster, Thorn, from the Skull Tribe of ninja warriors…
• A foam “battle staff” suitable for frequent trampoline battles with me, and his friends. (He’s actually been practicing staff-combat with a length of PVP pipe and gotten surprisingly smooth and fluid! I sense great things here for martial artistry…
• A pre-owned copy of Cooking Mama: world kitchen, for the Wii, because he loves to help cook.

The clues read as follows:

At your birthday breakfast, you are reading this note,
To start on a scavenger hunt that is fun.
So first you should go read the next clue I wrote,
on the cage of the six baby buns!

The bunnies are cute, the bunnys are furry,
The bunnies need water to drink.
So I would go downstairs in a hurry,
and look in the kitchen _____!

You’ve probably noticed the staff that bends air
which is not the only surprise for you.
So I’d go look in front or under the green chair
for the next scavenger clue.

The bunks beds that have a few Mjollnir toys hanging
are the next stop on your quest.
But watch your head, do it’s not banging,
on the bottom of where you rest.

Where we eat is a table, that is made of wood,
Which your puppy likes to also eat under.
So the next clue should be there, so look real good,
Where could it be, I wonder???

When done playing outside, and covered in dirt,
you need to get clean and scrub.
Before you can eat dinner, and then a dessert,
So you should wash up in the ______.

You found this clue now, so you really are smart!
One more step to the final gift from Dad.
Old paint is where you should look to start,
you will love it and not be sad.

There are a few things that may not make sense to readers not familair with our house layout and contents, but he got each clue right away and was grinning from ear to ear by the tiem he was on hte last clue, before the actual wrapped gift itself was found.

Guess it was a pretty nice start to a birthday. <3

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The kid’s been getting quite creative with adventures outside, turning our yard into a vast forest full of dragons and Pokemon(tm). His latest adventure, with Pikachu, the thunder-mouse Pokemon, was to find a stash of Thunder Apples, the only food Pikachu will eat.

Also, they are learning rhymes at school, so he had me help write down the “secret riddle” to help us find the thunder apples. I repeat it, with his permission below. So if you ever visit us, perhaps you’ll be able to find the treasure also! Enjoy!

When you walk into the yard you will see a tree.
But when you look up do not look for a bee.
If you do not look at the bee, you will be led to the smiley-face tree.
Next to the tree you will be on the other side.
And you will find another tree with great pride.
And that tree with great pride will have a tire-eye.
Then you walk back to the tree with two eyes.
and back again to the tree with a tire-eye
because there you will find the prize!

Now, for those who have not seen our yard, we have a pine tree with a smiley face Like these on it, and another with a small tire-swing. Thus, the tire-eye and smiley trees.

How fun!

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No deep musings for this post, simply a list of links to photos and youtube videos from the recent whale watching trip, soccer game, and such…

The sharks smile as they swim past in the big tank at Boston Aquarium:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsyRTXJeEs4

Jellyfish (Pacific Sea Nettles).  The photo didn’t turn out nearly as well, which is sad, since I wanted it as a potential background for my PC.  Very relaxing to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JcKna8bnAo

A whale feeding, just off the starboard side. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYBS1fJZJpw

Another whale, making the bubble net and feeding, then diving back underwater. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZAthIq3UZk

The kid, playing in the fountain near Quincy Market, Boston.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT2oVbcZ_bM

Sprogling’s first soccer game.  We were “Those parents” who yelled and cheered, and I even tried to get the others to do ‘The Wave‘.  Sadly, the other parents tended to mostly sit on their chairs watching, or chatting on cell-phones, or reading. *sigh*    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RARh3qX_tes

Kid throwing the ball back in-play after it went out-of-bounds.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O75XtDRQxhg

Photos:   During the Soccer game.
The penguins at the aquarium.
A seal, at the aquarium.
Happy Kid, after playing in the fountain.
Happy Maebius, eating with a tasty brew.

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We have been cleaning up around our farm this spring. I’m talking a good thorough tear-down of old buildings, unearthing half-buried pipes and scraps in the old cistern, and other such things.

In the course of these events, we cleared out a small cement ‘pit’ approxinately 2 feet deep and 4×5 feet, which is within a few feet of the well. Our guess is this is a trough of some sort from when the well had a hand-pump. Our plan is to use it to grow worms or other compostable critters, since is is moderately self-containing.

As we cleaned out the decades of trash from this pit (which had bits of pipe, broken bottles, barbed wire fragments, and lots of rooty weeds) the kid decided to do a bit of archeology himself with the last few bits of stuff found at the bottom amongst the dirt. Since this past Monday, he has been actively pondering these artifacts and asking the grandparents, his teacher, and random strangers what these clues add up to.

There are NO wrong answers here. (I’ll post the best theories he came up with later this week, and unfortunately, our camera is broke, so no photographic evidence. you’ll have to settle for MS Paint!)

Can you solve the mystery, using these clues?!

Clues:
1) A small glass ‘tiger claw’, (actually: shard of broken window glass) approximately 1 inch in length.

2) One strangely shaped bone, approximately 4.5 inches long (broken scapula? Skull fragment?)

3) A small dark blue, 2-hole button (such as on a shirt)

4) A small length of chain, with fat 1/2 inch links, un-rusted, approx a foot long found buried in the dirt.

5) A very rusty fork, with four straight tines and a simple pattern.  (cheap flatware)  One of the middle tines has 1/4 inch missing from the end.

6) A handful of sandy dirt.

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Just a quick unfinished post while the topic bounces in my head, so I can refer back to it later with more details…  (how’s that for taunting foreshadow?!)

After seeing the recent Percy Jackson movie, which my family enjoyed, we went out and got the book series (via library and eventually local bookstore).   Currently, we are at the end of book 3, and the kid enjoys a chapter a night before bedtime.   So much so that when he slept over at his grandparent’s house this weekend, they called with a request to bring the book over to read before he would fall asleep.

Throughout the story, the character interacts with a number of mythological figures and events, which are slightly changed to match the more modern narrative and plot.

For example, Chiron is the head councilor at Camp Half-Blood, for example (the hidden place where children of the gods stay and train).  He seems well represented as a wise centaur, and a teacher. When we meet his ‘family’ in the books, they are “Party Ponies” and described similar to crazy frat boys, which is close enough to the myths in my mind.

Dionysis, however, is quite changed in the book series compared to Greek mythology, and is described here, and is essentially a rude and arrogant Staff-member who was punished by Zeus to help at Camp Half-Blood and avoid all alcohol for 100 years after cavorting with a wood-nymph. He cares little for the campers, and often calls them incorrect names, intentionally. This didn’t quite match up to the myths as I understood then, but worked as a believable character in the novels. Still, the basis of his “punishment” has been pointed out to me as essentially flawed, since Dionysis is an Olympian God and free to cavort with any Nymphs he wishes too.

My musing, is whether this light-handed introduction to the characters and place-names of Greek Mythology reenforced interest in them, or waters-down the myth by changing the details too much. I’m sure the answer is complicated, and individuals may have varied responses, as well, but the question seemed valid enough.

Your thoughts, oh readers of this blog?

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You hear the term “One of those days” most times as a negative thing. Bad stuff happened, you know, it was one of those days? Well, I’m going to redefine the term in my mind. Today is Awesome. It’s one of those days!

This feeling I have today is probably,  (well, most definitely) a result of a workshop I attended this weekend, with Andrew Steed, Kat, Mary, David, Dorita, Molly, Mary, Carly(sp?), Vinny, Aylish, etc, and a myriad of smiling faces that I can picture in my head but would bore some of you readers who know them not.

I’ll have a de-briefing post about the whole firewalk and such later this week, but today, I’m concentrating on how awesome it is RIGHT NOW.

I woke up, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and as we staggered downstairs to eat breakfast, that kid of ours remarked “I Love Toast today, SHA!”

So, we sang some silly “YEAH TOAST” song, danced around the table as my wife and I got the butter and cinnamon for it, and had the dog happily confused with our antics.

I got to work, and was asked (only semi-jokingly) by my co-worker what they put in the Kool-Aid(tm) this past weekend, since I was apparently smiling too much, and had quite the spring in my step.    I never knew it was possible to smile too much.

Must be one of those days! 

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Congrats to the kid, for earning his Bobcat badge in Cub Scouts!

He was so proud he rushed home to show mom the cool new patch he gets to sew on his uniform, and a plastic paw-print to start hanging beads from for extra elective award-thingies.

I’ll direct you Here for details on what the badge means.

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