Thank You For Your Service

Tuesday May 21st was a sad day for us here on the farm.  Our beloved friend Mauka passed away quickly in the early morning hours. He died instantly guarding the goats in the corner of the pasture where he normally barks at predators.  On the same day Mauka passed my husband went to the funeral of a Vietnam Veteran buddy.

It was a tough day.

Too many veterans end their life due to war trauma.  If you or someone you know who is a veteran needs help please direct them to Operation Restored Warrior.  They can help.

                                                                   

Mauka's soul was beyond my ability to describe here.  Language can't quite capture the essence of this amazing animal and friend but I will try my best.  

Our journey together began when we moved to the farm back in 2008.  We started out as clueless farmers with a small herd of alpacas.  We needed a guard dog because South Carolina has lots of bad guys here.  Coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and other dogs all love to taste the delightful treats (chickens, rabbits, goats) here on our property.  

Our grandson Peter was visiting us when we headed up to North Carolina to pick out some dogs.  We came home with Mauka and his sister Lani; two of the best Great Pyrenees dogs ever created!  Poor Peter was not quite sure about riding in the car with two big white monsters right behind him! 

Mauka protected the alpacas with great care.

 

Our grandchildren loved him dearly.  Even though his size was large and somewhat overwhelming, they sensed the gentle and kind soul emanating from that huge hairy body!  Ella Bella Petronella is afraid of dogs, especially large ones, but not so with Mauka.  

Mauka attended all 13 of our Farm Labs this past week.  The students were able to love on him, brush him, and marvel at the fact that such a big dog can hang out with baby rabbits, 

tiny chicks, and baby goats, 

all together in the same pen.  

How do you say goodby to such a gentle giant and loyal companion?  My husband and I buried our dear friend Mauka in the back corner of the property.  We both cried as we remembered the wonderful times we had together for the past 12.5 years.  We thanked him for his unrelenting devotion and service to us and to our family.  

We love you Mauka.  Thank you for your service.  You will never be forgotten.  Even in death you still reach out to teach me.  As I've been reflecting on Mauka this is what I believe he would want me to know. 

• My "to do" list is not as important as saying hello and goodbye when I greet my loved ones.  You never know if it might be the last time.  I would give anything to rewind the clock and hug him and tell him how much I love him one more time.
• Non-verbal communication speaks volumes.  Mauka never uttered one word his entire life yet he was a transmitter of unconditional love and loyalty to all who were fortunate enough to encounter him.  
• Don't let looks fool you.  Mauka was large and scary yet his eyes gave him away.  He was a lover of humans, other dogs, and those who needed his protection.  
• Love your work.  Mauka loved to protect and he worked any hour of any day if his services were needed.  
• Recognize greatness, it is all around you.  Mauka was more than a remarkable dog.  He was my friend, my protector, my helper on the farm, and loyal to the bitter end.  I didn't quite grasp the value of his greatness until he left us so suddenly.  I wonder how many other humans and animals are part of my life and I don't see their beauty or recognize their greatness shining out.  That  70's song "Don't It Always Seem To Go That You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone", (Big Yellow Taxi) by Joni Mitchel makes me sad.  I was in the presence of greatness and was too busy to recognize it.  
• Always be grateful to those who stand guard over you. They deserve honor for what they do.   

And to all the faithful ones both human and animal who helped protect us we thank you this Memorial Day!  

Mosquito Madness

One spring day I was aimlessly cleaning out the goat water buckets.  As I peered down into the water bucket there were odd looking red and brown squiggly things in the water.  I could hardly see them.  

Oh oh time to change the water!

Little did I realize at the time was that these tiny larvae would be the big stars at the next science lab.  

I recruited my daughter-in-law Megan  who is an expert with a microscope and pesky things (because she is married to our son Nathan) to help me look at them up close and personal.                                                                    (algae)       

These are some of the first photo's we took with my Amscope Microscope

                                                              

Then we recorded some videos of them as we dived into observing the beauty of these pesky little creatures.
                                        
Next, we looked at them with another microscope.  This is a microscope I have my eye on but have not made the financial plunge just yet...  It is a Celestron USB microscope.                                         
                                          
You can find these handy little gems on Amazon for as low as $20!   I use them quite frequently in the lab.

One little kindergarten student who came to the class with her school accidentally broke her mosquito larvae in half!  Horrors!!  She was almost in tears until I reminded her that

We swat adult mosquitoes all the time!  OK???

Mosquitoes have an interesting life cycle.  This video explains it quite succinctly.

We took lots more photos during the class.  Click here to see them all.  

Science Fair Awards a Broken Pot Best of Show

This is our grandson Peter.  (We call him Pete Schmete, he calls himself Peter the Great).  He was named after my father, Peter.  They were both having a fight this day...  Don't worry they patched it up.  

This is my time to brag on Pete.  He won "Best of Show" at the Northern Illinois Regional Science Fair.  

Explore Science Beyond the Classroom, in conjunction with Flex donated a Gateway laptop to the winner of the show. Peter won the laptop!  Boy is Peter excited!! 

Peter showed his project to an electrical engineer and he was very impressed that the concept worked so well.   We affectionately call it his Peter Pot. Here is Peter testing out his pot right before it broke, the night before the science fair... Gasp Gasp If you look closely you will see the red Kindle light indicating that it is being charged.  Peter is cooking Ramen Noodles and charging his brother Gabe's Kindle all at the same time.  Unfortunately, shortly after this picture was taken, the high heat from the stove broke the Peltier Modules inside the two pots so the experiment didn't work after that. It was too late to find more Peltier Modules to fix it.  

The power pot is a thermoelectric generator that uses heat and cold to charge phones and other USB devices. Peter built his power pot with four Peltier Modules wired together between the two pots. The beauty of these devices is that they are not reliant on the sun.  They can be used in all kinds of weather and conditions, day or night.  They can generate electricity in the most remote areas.  There are no moving parts or turbines to break.  These pots use the Seebeck Effect to harnesses the voltage differences between two different temperatures and turn it into direct current electricity.  

Peter obviously understood the technology completely because he was able to explain to the judges how his pot worked, how it broke, and how he could improve on the technology.  

So they all headed to the Science Fair with fear and trepidation after working so hard on their beloved projects.  

Brianna was not in the best of spirits that day but still managed to pull off  champion of the 4th-6th Grade.  Bree tested and scored over 53 peoples tests and questionairre in order to come up with indicators on memory retention.  Some of you took her test and for that I am sorry.  Don't feel bad, Grammy flopped on it as well.  

Gabe submitted an awesome project of Obsidian and Flintknapping (I never heard of this before Gabe shared it with me).  Flintknapping is the process of creating weapons and tools from certain kinds of rocks.  American 

Indians used these methods to make arrowheads.

He is going to present his work to the Freeport Geology Club later this month.  Go Gabey!!  

 What a great day it was with lots of memories to treasure and lessons to be learned.

Are You Smarter Than My 4th Grade Granddaughter?

Our Granddaughter Breanna came to visit us for ten days of Grammy Heaven on Earth.  My daughter sent her to me as a birthday gift.  What fun we had.  

Until she presented me with the dreaded Science Project Quiz.    

Oh the horrors of it.  I now know how much I don't know.  Are you brave enough to take it?  Try it!  Click here if you dare.   Oh, by the way, its anonymous so no one will ever know.  

This rooster is called "The Brain".  Breanna named him that for obvious reasons...  The Brain attacked her two times so we decided to take him to the animal auction.  Breanna was so ready to ditch that bird!!  

She also helped me bottle feed our new herd sire named Carson.

She helped care for Freddy and Whilhelmina, our bunnies.  

Breanna got to tend to the 10 baby chicks that came out of the incubator.  She named them all, of course.  

Breanna made everyone here "hop to it".  I believe someday she will rule the world or at least a Fortune 500 company, or a large family.  But for now, she is my "right hand girl".

Are you brave enough to take her Science Fair Quiz?  I dare you!!

Grammy is not Fish Bait

Meet my grandson Peter.  Something was nibbling on my feet.

Peter told me I was fish bait!

He and I love to find things in creeks!

Pete found three Caddisflies.

I edited this picture in order to preserve Peter's 

integrity!  heee heee Grammy's revenge...

I set the larvae on my pant leg and we watched as 

the larvae come out of the home he made.  Pete found 

three Caddisflies in the creek.  At first we didn't 

think they were really alive but Pete convinced us 

they were.  We found out that Caddisflies are really 

moth-like insects that are closely related to butterflies 

(Lepidoptera). Their larvae are aquatic and they 

use silk, gravel, twigs, or other debris to 

make their homes. 

  

Pete also found a lot of crayfish.  

 

Crayfish feed on vegetable and animal debris.  

They are arthropods and resemble lobsters.  Crayfish 

can be kept as pets in freshwater aquariums.  Pete

is waiting for the day his mom will let him keep

one.  Crayfish prefer foods like shrimp pellets or various 

vegetables, but will also eat tropical fish food, 

regular fish food, algae wafers, and even small 

fish that can be captured by their claws. Their 

disposition towards eating almost anything will 

also cause them to explore the edibility 

of aquarium plants in a fish tank. 

 

Pete also found what we think are mayfly larvae.

What an adventure we had finding these amazing
creatures in the creek.

Benefit Farm Lab

Our son Nathan


is going to Ethiopia

this summer.  He is going with a group of medical professionals
associated with Clemson Presbyterian Church.   This group has
gone for many years and the people line up to visit the temporary
triage that the students and doctors set up to help them.

 
Ethiopia is far far away and costs lots and lots of money
to get there.  Nathan doesn't worry about such things so  
dearest mom decided to help Nathan out by hosting two
days of benefit farms labs to help Nathan along. 

It turned out to be a blessing for Nathan, the students
who attended, the animals, and soon to be for the
Ethiopian people!

The alpacas enjoyed all the treats that they were given.

Students learned the proper way 

to meet an alpaca. 

 They found eggs in the hen house and learned about chickens.
One student is building an incubator
to hatch his eggs. 

 The goats were a big
hit.  This is Pink Daisy Jane.  She just had three kids.
Students entered a contest to pick the date and number of kids
she would have.  She
fooled us all and
nobody won!
















 












Student's enjoyed milking
Maggie and playing with her
billy "Pieter". 

We were all thankful for the great time we had and
the opportunity to help Nathan go to Ethiopia.