On Friday I loaded my boys into the Runamuk-truck and we ventured over to New Sharon for some goat manure. Two older women manage the 80-something goats and their farm, and for $10 will use their tractor to load your truck with manure. The boys had a blast petting the goats while we waited–the tractor…
Category: Family
No home-loan yet…
Well the long wait is over. We found out yesterday afternoon that our loan request with the USDA has been turned down. Ugh.
Holding my breath for our home loan approval
We finally completed the paper chase for the USDA. Like any home-loan process a number of financial documents and credit verifications are required, but when dealing with a government program there is twice as much red tape. It was a bit of a hassle to gather the necessary documents and get them to the specialist…
Avoiding cabin fever in Maine
The snows and cold used to come a lot earlier to Maine thirty and fifty years ago, but now, in this time of increased climate change, winter doesn’t seem to really get underway until January and February. I remember my mother’s stories of snow that reached the second-story window, and how she and her brothers…
Winter Family Fun Day at Mount Blue State Park
Maine is fortunate to have a bounty of state parks and public reserved lands. We also have a number of organizations whose only goal is to get the people of Maine outside to enjoy and appreciate this great state and it’s natural wonders. On Saturday, January 29th from 10-3 families can participate in the Mt…
What Exactly is Citizen Science?
I’ve mentioned it a couple of times in some of my posts, participating in a citizen science program at-home. I also wrote about central Maine’s lack-of citizen science and environmental activism programs. I even started a new blog recently, called Green in Central Maine–hoping to create more opportunity for citizen science where I live. But…
Age is No Limit in Big Scientific Discoveries
This is amazing. Just two days ago, on January 2, this 10-year old Kathryn Gray in Canada was using a computer program that compares new and old images of the same portion of the night sky when she located a previously undiscovered supernova. She is now the youngest discoverer of a supernova, proving that age…
Science at-Home; Not Just for Homeschoolers
Everyone agrees that parents play a critical role in their children’s education: research shows that when parents are actively involved in their child’s life he will achieve greater success as a learner. It is also generally agreed upon that a scientifically and technologically literate society is crucial to America’s future success, yet much of the…
Darwin’s Darkest Hour
I’ve been looking forward to watching this particular film for a long time, unfortunately in our area there’s not much in the way of video rentals, so we wait for movies and documentaries to be available to us online. Finally today, I found Darwin’s Darkest Hour at the NOVA website. Written by the Brittish screenwriter,…
Going secular for the holidays
With Halloween upon us and Thanksgiving on the horizon, I find myself looking ahead to the winter holiday season with much excitement. I’m like this every year, but seemingly more-so this year. This will be our second year observing the Winter Solstice rather than the traditional Christmas. Now that we’ve broken away from the ill-fit…