Kika Silva Planetarium

Yesterday, we went to the Kika Silva Planetarium for a field trip. The Planetarium is on the campus of Santa Fe College. This was our first class there, but we will return hopefully next month. The class was on stars, and DJ will be doing a writing assignment on stars, hopefully this week. We were only allowed to take one picture and as you can see it wasn't that great. But, after we got to ask questions to the Astronomer who did the class. If I did not mention it, last Thursday a meteor came right over Florida and caused a huge sonic boom and our house shook like we were in an earthquake. I so wish I had been outside with the dogs, like I normally would be, but alas I was not. The dogs got to see it, but I did not. I asked him why NASA could not see the meteor coming at us, and he said because it was not big enough. This particular meteor was about the size of a suitcase, but still not large enough for them to pick it up before it entered the Earth's atmosphere. No damage was done thank goodness. Then we went to the park for a chilly but not completely unpleasant lunch and play time.

Today, was a regular school day and so will tomorrow be. Next week we are visiting a Bee Farm.

Photo Editing With Picasa

For DJ's FLVS Photography class, he had to take five pictures he took and edit them using whichever software he wanted. Since I upload most of our images to Picasa, he used that one. The first set of images are the originals. You can see the striking difference once they were edited. I was amazed at the difference. We don't generally edit our pictures. I try to get him to learn to take good pictures naturally, but wow what a difference! I have been adding watermarks to his images, the really good ones, that he wants to save. But, it is very time consuming. These images belong to DJ. No one is authorized to borrow or use them for any reason. Do you edit your photos? Which program do you use?

Do You Have A Puppy, Mother Dog,or Dog With Incontinence?

I have not done a review in a very long time. Just have not had the time to sit and do one. Then my little dog decided she wanted to start to mark her territory. It is not just boy dogs that mark their territory, trust me. She is two and has always been on the nervous side. When she would get excited she would have a little squirt of an accident. Now, that she is older, she wants to be top dog over the older and much bigger dog. I caught her a couple times marking her spot on the couch. I am almost positive she was marking her turf because of the way she acted preceding the incident. Rather than spank her, as some suggested to me, or try and keep her off the furniture, I bought pull ups. You know the kind little kids wear. I had to cut a hole for the tale, and they are a pain to put on and off, with velcro fastening, when she needs to go out to potty. Then, one day I was at our Earth Kids meeting, and a fellow member was telling me about these new doggy diapers they just got in inventory. Of course I wanted to check them out. So, she showed me, and I bought 2. They are completely washable, go on and off with ease, and there is a hole already there for the tale. You can see Lucky wearing one in the picture below. I have been using them for about three weeks now and I love them. Not only will they prevent her from going where she is not supposed to, but the one time she did have a squirt in them, I think she actually didn't like that wet feeling. She has not done it since, though she still wears the diaper when we are not home, or vulnerable times for nervousness. Since she is not fixed either, the diaper will come in very handy when she is in heat. If you have a dog that is not fixed, you know exactly what I am referring to. They come in sizes from XS all the way up to XL for the bigger dogs. These diapers are great for potty training, deterring marking of territory, heat control and uncontrollable incontinence. I must tell you I received nothing from doing this review. It is my honest opinion of a product I purchased.

Below is some more of the products offered by Ezwhelp, or you can just go ahead and visit their website to get the doggy diapers, whelping boxes, pads and other great products too. They are a small family owned business.

Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum

Our visiting family has gone back to NY, and Spring Break is officially over. Now I get things back in order, back to work and back to school. One of the places we visited was Saint Augustine, FL. There we took a trolley train around town, and visited the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. This is one of my son and husband's favorite shows, so they were exceptionally excited about visiting. I do recommend it if you can get there. It is a lovely little town, rich with history, and so much to do. I have shared some of our favorite pics below. I have tons more of stuff to share, but for now we will start with these. It is always sad when family goes home, but we know they will be back. You can't resist visiting Florida.  Some of the images, in case you can't see the signs, Vampire killing Kit from 1840, Lego Lady Art, Pecan Art, The Lords Prayer engraved on a nail head, the largest hand in the world with mine held up to it, the blue faced man, the man who could swallow his nose, and painted potato chips.  I was especially fascinated with the blue faced man.  If you read the sign it says that there was a family in KY that developed a recessive gene that made them have blue skin on their faces.  Their name was the Fugates.  I have yet to look it up, but I will.  The potato chip art is pretty cool too.

Spring Break!

We are on Spring Break all this week.  We are off to Bush Gardens tomorrow and at some point a visit to the Atlantic Ocean side of the state.  I will try to post all the fun stuff, but it might not get done until Spring Break is over!  Have an awesome week, everyone!

Red Hair!

Tuesday, for our Earth Kid's meeting, we met at a fellow members home rather than one of the local springs. The girls had asked me at the last meeting if they could make up their own Nature Scavenger Hunt at their home. They have a lovely five acres of land, and I agreed to let them. The kids found everything very easily and then played ping pong, ball, and even some archery. It was a very good evening. Two of the trees had something on them called red lichens, or at least that is what everyone thought it was. I did not notice it until I downloaded the pictures, and it stood right out. I have not had time to research it yet, but I will. I will share what I find out. Us moms got to visit, which is always nice for us.

Technically we are on Spring Break this week and next. DJ did have to do a bit of Virtual School, but next week he is off completely. We have been doing a lot of Spring cleaning, and I am ready for Spring any day now. We had a mild winter, but I am not happy about twenties at night in March. I feel for all my Northern friends suffering through a March snow storm. It is so cruel this time of year.

I have tried to dye my hair red before, a strawberry blonde. It almost seemed to orange to me, and since I am blonde naturally as soon as I would go out in the sun it would go right back to blonde. Well, I decided to try an auburn color. Right now as I type this it is shocking to me. Hopefully in a few days I will love it. Everyone else seems to like it, but who knows if they are being honest, lol. I will share pics in a couple of days when it tones down a tad.

Dudley Farms Field Trip

Dudley Farms is an old real working farm from the 1800's. It is a Florida State park, donated by the Dudley family. It is run mostly by volunteers, and your kids can volunteer there as well. I am going to look into the volunteering, but I am not sure we will have the time. I was under the impression that on every Wed there are classes offered to the public. Well, that technically is not true, at least not to the extent that I thought. DJ was the only boy that could go, so he didn't have much interest in learning how to make rugs, but our little group is going to start collecting old sheets and curtains to give it a try. It really was not that hard once you got the hang of it. The ladies that did the demonstration were so kind and knowledgeable. Then we went on a self tour of the old farm, and walked the nature trail. It was warm but not hot, so a perfect day. Next month, on the fourth Wed, they are doing something with palm frans and I really hope we can make that one. They said to look up Morning Side, in Gainesville, as they do offer a lot of classes. So, I will be checking that out for sure. Check out the Dudley Farm website, to learn about all the events they have for March. Some of them are pretty cool. I have tons more pictures, and I will share them a little bit at a time.