Humor

It has been a long, long time since I've posted.  I've been pregnant and tired, and now I'm a mommy and tired :)  But, I have to say, having a baby is the best science project ever.  I mean, I thought I knew, but I didn't know.  I waited until I was 43 to experience this miracle, and WOW!  I could go on and on -- and probably will at some point -- but what's on my mind this morning is:  where does a kid's sense of humor comes from?  Is it DNA-baked, or is it absorbed and learned?  Whichever it is, it is dern impressive when a kid lets off a zinger.  My favorite from this week was from my stepson, J.D., who is 9.  We were standing in front of the dog school where our puppy Scout is learning to calm down, and he said, "Hey Memoo:  Wouldn't it be funny if they had a sign that said, 'No Dogs Allowed.'"  Love, love, love it.

Gas & Ants

I learned two very interesting things so far today.  First -- ants -- there are a lot of them around this time of year.  I learned that they like to live up inside flower pots.  Russ noticed a bunch of ants in our sunroom, so we watched them march to find the source.  Hmm, they seem to be going under that big pot over there but not coming out the other side.  Lift -- ugh! -- ant colony in the house.  Is it possible to have a million ants in one place?  Pot is now outside.  In a timely twist, I also read a fascinating blurb about ants in the Wash Post this morning -- apparently farmer ants herd aphids like cows and "milk" them using their feet and antennae for a syrupy substance they produce called "honeydew."  They keep them anesthetized with a susbtance the ants secrete, and clip the aphids' wings to keep them from flying away.  Now that is dern interesting!  Curiosity Index:  10.

Ok, so my second lesson of the day was about gas.  We had a lovely propane leak today at the house as well, and I learned that you can isolate the leak by spraying a soapy solution on the pipes.  If there is a leak, you get bubbles.  We got bubbles.  So I am now home waiting for Amerigas.  Ah, the joys of living off the grid with a propane tank.  At least the leak was outside.  And a funny problem to have this week, because we are studying gas in classes this week at Curiosity Zone. . . .

Dirt & Stripes

I was thinking about our garden adventures this weekend, and trying to calculate in my head how many hours I spent rolling around in the dirt.  At one point my stepdaughter, J.M., said, "Memoo (they call me Memoo), what are you doing?"  I was actually accomplishing something -- pruning hollies, spreading mulch, clearing dead branches, fertilizing. . . .  But it never occurred to me NOT to throw myself down into the dirt while doing those things.  Literally, on my front and back, rolling around.  So then I thought - wow, maybe that's not normal.  Fortunately I have a couple of friends in my life who remind me that it's OK to be a little odd.  Makes me think, though, of all the parents out there who tell their kids not to get dirty, or not to roll around in dirt.  Come on, moms and dads, it's fun!  Let a little unbridled energy flow!  I was also sad this weekend when I was repainting our old mailbox and suggested we add stripes -- both Russ and J.M. cringed like they'd never heard anything so dumb.  Come on, what's wrong with a striped mailbox?  Who says mailboxes have to be black?  I'm just saying. . . .

Planting Seeds

The kids and I had a great time getting the garden ready this weekend.  We kicked off the project by planting lots of seeds in one of those starter kits from Home Depot.  They sell trays now with neat little shrunken peat pellets that expand and crumble into dirt when water is added.  That was a big hit at our house -- kind of like those instant capsules that dissolve in water and expand into creatures -- except this was actually useful. It gave us an opportunity to talk about inventions and design -- I'm sure someone has a patent for that cool expanding pellet idea!  J.M., our fifth grader, carefully picked out the plants she wanted to start, and was so interested in the different sizes and shapes of the seeds.  She carefully planted them and drew a grid to map what was planted where.  She also used a little math to figure out how many seeds she needed for the allotted garden space that she had.  Later we had a good time in the garden when we moved a few pieces of wood that had been stationary all winter and found bugs and worms everywhere.  This led to a discussion of who eats what, where bugs go in winter, and how worms eat.  Good questions all! 

Late Night

I am up late tonight (2 a.m.) trying my best to finish up a pile of work.  I seem to forget every year how much work the holiday toy season is.  It seems like so much fun going in, asking kids to flip through our catalogues and carefully hand-picking every toy that will appear on C-Zone's shelves.  But man, once you order everything, deal with the inevitable blowback from the wholesalers, then get the toys in and have to unpack, process, price and place somewhere on the shelves -- whew, it's a lot of work!  Add in our holiday open house this Friday (4:30-6:30), a visiting relative and the imminent launch of our record company's new website -- and wow, I just need a dern nap.  My profound science observation of the night:  caffeine really does keep you awake.  I was also curious about what's making my hair suddenly go grey from the tips in, but I haven't had time to research. Anyone know?  By the way, our new series of experiment videos is live now -- this one shows how to turn science projects into cool holiday gifts. Check them out in the experiments section of our website at http://www.curiosityzone.com/.  The bath bombs are the best -- so much fun!

Great Green Globs on Live TV

Miss Angela and I had fun yesterday appearing on Channel 8's Let's Talk Live!  We blew up a globby green volcano, then walked through how to make bath bombs.  You can watch the video and get the experiments on our website, http://www.curiosityzone.com/. We felt a little conspicuous trudging through the streets of Rosslyn with a large bottle of vinegar and a box of beakers and test tubes. . . .  And then of course there was the Noreaster that blew my "camera-ready" hair into a soggy wet mess . . . . (Sadly, the underground parking for the studio's building was full.)  The studio, which is Channel 7 and Cable Channel 8 combined, was fascinating.  We saw a lot of familiar faces, including Arch Campbell and Joe Witte, and of course, Natasha Barrett and Doug Mckelway, hosts of Let's Talk Live.  Everyone was so kind and friendly; it was a wonderful experience!  Though the situation was very fluid -- I'm sure TV folks are used to things being very last minute, but Miss Angela and I had to stay very focused to get everything set up on time and staged appropriately.  We had almost no idea what to expect in terms of setup and timing.  I was thrilled that they let the segment go for more than 8 minutes, but at the same time, I had no idea whether I was supposed to keep talking, or wrap things up, or let them talk, or. . . .  It was fun to see the hosts really get engaged in the project and have some fun.  I even got them to wear silly goggles!  It was fun to meet the other people who were appearing on the show as well -- it is so true that everyone has a story to tell.  The most nerve-wracking part was setting everything up while a live show was broadcasting about 10 feet away.  You can't help but think -- oh gosh, what if I knock this thing over!  It's funny how big sets seem on TV when actually they are tiny areas all strung together - maybe 15 x 15.  Fascinating stuff all the way around to see behind the scenes.  I'd give this whole experience a Curiosity Index of 10, and would encourage everyone to go on a studio tour at some point.  And when you are watching TV, wonder about who or what is immediately to the left or right of the person talking, just out of camera range.  You might be surprised!

Appearance on Let's Talk Live

We just got word that we've been invited to do an appearance on Channel 8's Let's Talk Live tomorrow (Thursday).  I would love to bring the kids with me, but I suppose it's not worth pulling them out of school.  Though I know they would love to see a real TV studio!  I took them to a recording studio a few months back when we were producing our first podcasts and they loved it -- they even put on the headphones and recorded some dialogue.  Anyway -- the show airs live tomorrow from 12-1.  Not sure when our segment will be, but it will be approximately 5 minutes long.  We've been running around trying to figure out what experiments to do. . . . We want to focus on putting science into the holidays.  I have to arrive "camera ready" which means lots of makeup -- but how much??  If I look like Frankenstein tomorrow, it's because I have no idea what I'm doing!