Rattlesnake Kate

 After talking about it for six months we finally made the trip up to Greeley to see Rattlesnake Kate Slaughter’s dress. We learned about her on a podcast we listened to towards the beginning of the pandemic, and once we knew the dress still existed, knew we had to see it.

 

It was just about as creepy as you would expect a dress made 100 years ago out of rattlesnake skins would be. We’ve agreed we don’t need to see it again... ever. 

It was a fun day though. We walked along the Cache la Poudre River, ate a bit of fast food and spent a lot of time in the car. I even found an old trunk in the museum that looks a lot like the one S gave me... giving me maybe a little hint as to it’s age. 

We even saw what looked like a giant paper mache man... not sure what was up with that! 😂

 

We're back!

Yes, we left for our trip to NE, despite M being sick the night before. (Miserable gastroparesis!) I had decided not to go (about the time I posted this), thinking M just wasn't well enough... but as the day went on he seemed better, so we decided to just go for it and hope for the best.



It was a good trip... I got to visit with my niece and her family, and with my cousin who recently moved back to NE after living in Denver for many years. We did a little thrifting, went out to eat (a lot!), and really enjoyed our visit. We only stayed a couple of days but it was good to connect with family I don't get to see very often.

It was good to get home though too (why does home always look SO good after being gone?) although I don't think anyone was as happy as Cody was when he finally realized we had turned onto our road and were almost home again.



The past couple of days I've been busy catching up on work that didn't get done while we were gone (and while I was working on the shed) but things are started to feel caught up again. I should also post an update on the shed, and another project I'm working on... I'll do that soon.

Enjoy the day! (and stay warm and dry if you're in Colorado... it's cooooold this morning!)

Resources...

We are incredibly blessed to live in a community that is rich in resources for young adults with disabilities. There are honestly too many educational, interesting, or just plain cool things for M and R to participate in... I've found I have to pick and choose activities and classes so we have a good balance of down time mixed in with busy times. (A good balance keeps us all feeling good!) 

 This past month was a little busier than usual though, M's having a busy basketball season (his team is doing to the State Games this weekend!) and the kids had the opportunity to take an indoor kayaking class at the rec center (and we couldn't pass that up!), and they've been going to the "Access and Functional Needs Citizen's Police Academy" down in town. The name of the class is a mouthful, but basically it's a citizen's police academy designed for young adults with disabilities. They went last year too and it was such a great class they decided to do it again! 

It was a five week class and here's what they learned each week: 

 Week One they toured the Police Department, seeing everything from the dispatch center to the holding cells, got their police academy ID's, lanyards, and T-shirts, and played some ice breaking games to get to know each other better. 

 Week Two they learned about about Disaster Preparedness, 72 hour kits and "shelter in place". They filled out emergency information sheets to keep at home, and, for homework, we had to make an emergency plan for our family. 

 Week Three was Basic First Aid and Fire Prevention and Safety and they really practiced the first aid skills they were learning.. splinting "broken" arms, applying pressure to "wounds" and even using a blanket carry technique to pull their instructor to "safety" (down the hall). An instructor from the Fire Department taught the second half of the class and they learned what to do in case of fire, how to put out certain types of fires, and even practiced putting out a grease fire by smothering it. 

 Week Four was Crime Scene Investigation and they learned a lot about the tools and techniques that are used to investigate crime, then they learned to take fingerprints (their own and someone else's!). 

 Week Five was 911 Dispatch, where they learned more about what dispatchers do, and how and when to make a 911 call. They got to practice with the 911 simulator phone, making 911 calls on the simulator and answering the questions the electronic dispatcher asked them. 

 Week Five was also graduation... The kids worked hard during the police academy and they were rewarded with a really nice graduation ceremony. The mayor was there, as well as several police department supervisors. (Unfortunately the police chief couldn't make it, although he was at graduation when M and R took the class last year.) I was running late that evening and forgot my camera at home.... but M did remember his. :) His camera doesn't take great photos but they are ok, and I'm glad we have a record of the graduation. 

 Here's M receiving his diploma from his instructor, with the Mayor, police department supervisor waiting to shake his hand, and his RCC adviser taking a picture

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 R receiving her diploma...

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 After graduation... from the group shot of all the students together.

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R and M with their instructor, she was their instructor for the police academy last year too and she's just awesome... She so good with the kids, and isn't afraid to have fun with them. 

They are both crazy about her...

 

 Both kids are happy and proud of the work they did at the Police Academy, and even though it was a repeat for them I know they learned... having the skills reinforced is always good. I'm so grateful that our police department spends the time and money to do this for our community...    

Mythbusters exhibit (DMNS)

We visited the Mythbusters exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science yesterday as part of a co-op class through our homeschool group. (Duct tape canoe, more about it here.)



What a great exhibit, the kids loved it! There were a lot of props from the various Mythbuster's shows, including a flyable duct tape airplane, and a full sized mechanical shark (which they used to test the theory that it's possible to escape from a shark attack by poking the shark in the eye while he has you in his mouth. (See it here.)

The kids tried most of the experiments, including M seeing how quickly he could don his superhero outfit in a phone booth (turns out it takes him about 45 seconds for a cape, gloves, belt and helmet!). Yes, the cape is on backwards, but if you are a superhero racing the clock to get out of the phone booth and save the city from certain destruction... you can ignore little details like that.



Here are R and M (and me) checking themselves out in the blacklight after checking to see if you get wetter running or walking through the rain (walking was the loser there).



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Both kids loved trying to pull a tablecloth off a table quickly enough to not dump everything onto the floor (yes, they did it...).







They also tested their speed in the "dodging bullets" experiment...



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And M couldn't stop laughing over this...



All in all it was a great way to spend the morning (and sneak a few science lessons into the day).

If you get a chance to check out this exhibit, take it... it was amazing.

Mythbusters exhibit (DMNS)

We visited the Mythbusters exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science yesterday as part of a co-op class through our homeschool group. (Duct tape canoe, more about it here.)



What a great exhibit, the kids loved it! There were a lot of props from the various Mythbuster's shows, including a flyable duct tape airplane, and a full sized mechanical shark (which they used to test the theory that it's possible to escape from a shark attack by poking the shark in the eye while he has you in his mouth. (See it here.)

The kids tried most of the experiments, including M seeing how quickly he could don his superhero outfit in a phone booth (turns out it takes him about 45 seconds for a cape, gloves, belt and helmet!). Yes, the cape is on backwards, but if you are a superhero racing the clock to get out of the phone booth and save the city from certain destruction... you can ignore little details like that.



Here are R and M (and me) checking themselves out in the blacklight after checking to see if you get wetter running or walking through the rain (walking was the loser there).



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Both kids loved trying to pull a tablecloth off a table quickly enough to not dump everything onto the floor (yes, they did it...).







They also tested their speed in the "dodging bullets" experiment...



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And M couldn't stop laughing over this...



All in all it was a great way to spend the morning (and sneak a few science lessons into the day).

If you get a chance to check out this exhibit, take it... it was amazing.

Tour of Five Points

We headed into Denver yesterday for a tour of the historic 5 Points neighborhood. It was a co-op class through our homeschool group and it was one of the best tours we've gone on... The 5 Points neighborhood has, for many years, been the heart of the
African American community there so I especially wanted R to learn more about it. It's an area rich in history, culture and it has a special kind of energy.

The one hour walking tour wasn't nearly long enough to do more than scratch the surface of 5 Point's history, but it was enough to give us a taste for the countless stories connected to the neighborhood and the people who've lived there, and make us hungry to learn more. Along our route there were signposts on some of the buildings, telling about their history, and about the people who were part of that history.

Needless to say R was fascinated... She knows it's likely that at least some members of her birth family lived in 5 Points, and so the neighborhood is likely part of her personal story too... even though she's never lived there.

I took a few pictures, but R wanted to be photographer for the day so she took most of these...

We started at 24th and Welton outside the Blair- Caldwell African American Research Library.

Here's our wonderful tour guide... an educated, enthusiastic guide makes all the difference. He really made the history come alive!



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Some of the plaques we stopped at...



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District 3 Fire Station then:

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And now...





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The firefighters on duty were nice enough to come out and talk to us a little about the history of their station. It's the city's oldest operating firehouse and has been at this location since 1931. (The original station 3 was located right across the street... it started operating at that location in 1884!)  M started talking to the firefighters and discovered one of them was friends with our next door neighbor (also a firefighter). Leave it to M to find a connection there... what a small world!



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R took a lot of pictures of the historical photographs displayed on the buildings around 5 Points... I especially liked this one of the mandolin and banjo players. ;)

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We didn't go into any of the shops or businesses during our tour, but after I saw this antique folding ruler star in a shop window I had to go back after the tour to get it.



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It took two stops to catch someone at the shop, but I did get it and will hang it up someplace here... Not only is it kind of an interesting star, but I'm hoping it will be a visual reminder to R of 5 Points (5 points on the star, get it?) and the rich history of her ancestors that we learned more about there...



Thanks so much Liese for setting up this tour, it was the perfect way to spend the day!

If you would like to see more of our tour and learning more about the history of 5 Points, check out Liese's post here, it's a great post about the tour and 5 Points!

Plains Conservation Center... then and now

We live on the high plains of Colorado, it's a unique area with our relatively high elevation (about 6,300') and mix of plains and foothills weather and environment. We are fortunate to have the Plains Conservation Center a short drive away... It's a place dedicated to educating about and preserving the plains environment.

When you visit the PCC you can go " back in time to Colorado’s high plains and pioneer life in the mid-1800’s. The Plains Conservation Center is a true-to-life homestead stretching across 8,894 acres of dedicated open space. Historic ranch houses, a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop and barn plus an heirloom garden and chicken coop and a Cheyenne camp with tipis bring the experience to life. The Learning Center and library are open to schools and groups." (Taken from their website, I got lazy...)

Anyway, we love the PCC and have visited there many times over the years, sometimes to take a class and sometimes just to visit the homestead.

S has been asking to go to the PCC for a long time now. We took her there a couple of times when she was little, but haven't taken her in years... so when she visited this past weekend a trip to PCC was on the agenda. We went early on Saturday morning, took a wagon ride out to the homestead and learned about the homestead and helped with their morning chores.

I took pictures and as I did I remembered the pictures I'd taken years ago when we'd taken S there.

Just for fun I thought I'd post a few then and now photos...

Here's R and S then (in March of 2005) and M photo-bombing the picture ... :)



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And R and S now (and M managed to stay out of the picture!)



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All three kids back in 2005...

Aren't they the cutest things ever??  S would have been 10, R was 8, and M was 12. (I love R's purse hanging from her arm... I wonder what was in it?)



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And a bad picture of all three now, on the wagon heading to the homestead.  It looks like two surly children on either side of sunny S... :) I think R just wasn't ready for the picture, and M had been sick (gastroparesis flare up) the night before and was tired and cranky at being woken up to go to PCC.



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I love this picture... S was so happy just riding in the wagon, the wind blowing around us... I love seeing her this happy.



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We had a great time at the PCC... It was like visiting an old friend we hadn't seen for awhile. All the kids want to go back for their "Harvest at the Homestead Festival" next month... and it does sound like a lot of fun, we'll have to try and make it out for that...

Bits and pieces

Summer is zooming by at warp speed around here... the busy days just seem to fly by!

What have we been up to?

Working in the yard and gardens... Keeping everything watered when it's so hot and dry is a daily job, especially with the new sod I just laid. (Which is looking very good, by the way!) We're getting a few tomatoes, but not all the plants are doing well... it might be a small yield this year. The jalapenos are looking great, and producing well, and the green beans and lettuce have gone wild! They must like these warm dry days... and the pumpkin patch looks great. All in all a good year.. (it's so much easier to garden without the spring hail storms!)

We had the septic tank pumped yesterday... What a miserable job! I'm not sure what the people who built our house were thinking, putting the septic tank (and it's covers) in the middle of the front yard. It means every few years we have to pull up the grass and dig up the covers (for pumping) then lay the grass back down. The grass, of course, doesn't do well with being pulled up and replaced and always looks a mess for a year or so afterwards. :(

We had S over the weekend... She's doing "ok" but not great. We took her to the movie in the park Saturday night (brrr... it was SO cold) and the farmer's market Sunday morning. I think she had a good time...

After doing well for a couple of months, M's gastroparesis has been flaring up lately. He was sick most of last week, and still isn't back to "normal" (for him). His diet is still super restricted (which can sometimes be a fight) and most of the time he does pretty well. I'm not sure why he suddenly got so sick... hopefully his gut will start working better soon and he (we) can all relax a little.

The kids and I have finished the annual chopping down/pulling out of the purple thistles for this year. We ended up with 11 LARGE trash bags of thistles, countless tiny stickers in our skin, and a deep appreciate for power tools. (We finally ended up having to cut one of the patches down with a chain saw!!) As soon as the trash guys come today, the purple thistles are GONE... hallelujah!

I've finally started work on a project that has been sitting around for a year or so... fixing up a little handmade wooden kitchen for granddaughter Emmy. I found the little kitchen at a garage sale a long time ago and it's been sitting around waiting for me to spruce it up for our Miss Emmy. Yesterday I took all the hardware and doors off, wood puttied, and gave it a light sanding followed by two coats of primer. Today I'll (hopefully) finish up the painting and start shopping for new cabinet and "stove" knobs, and a new counter top.

And yes, we've been getting school done too. We are working primarily on life skills these days, with work sites and other volunteer work being a big part of our homeschool. But we are still plugging away at math, using Teaching Textbooks. Math is a subject that, if not continually reinforced, both kids tend to forget... so we are careful not to neglect math. R's also keeping up with her ukulele lessons (you'll find her playing in the park on Wednesday mornings, she and her teacher moved her lessons there for the summer) and we always have a read-aloud going.

We're in the middle of our "Comedy Movie Night" series too... We started with "Christmas Movie Nights" during the holidays last year, and it was such a hit we decided to have some other movie night series' throughout the year. What we do is pick our favorite movies, or movies we think will be favorites, of a certain genre and schedule them, one each week, on a particular evening after dinner.  The schedule is printed out and posted on the frig. Our movie nights are usually Thursdays, and we're working our way through such gems as Three Amigos (the kids laughed 'til they cried!), R.V. (an old favorite), and Open Season (one of M's picks :). I think we all look forward to movie night, it's a time to just kick back and be lazy for awhile. Comedy Movie nights will last through the end of August, then we'll take a short break and start "Scary Movie Night" sometime in September, followed by "Christmas Movie Night" again in November/December.

I guess I've rambled about this and that enough... time to get out to the barn and get our big boys fed. ;)

aquarium trip

Our oldest daughter gave us a gift card for a trip to the Denver Aquarium... After never seeming to have time to get up to Denver for it, we finally headed up to the aquarium this week.

This was an especially exciting trip for R who LOVES sharks and spends a lot of time thinking about shark conservation. She couldn't wait to get there and see the sharks in the exhibits.

We started with lunch in the aquarium restaurant because we are, of course, always thinking about food...



... and we wanted to make sure to see the mermaid show.  (Honestly, the best part of the mermaid show was watching all the little girls lined up in front of the tank, open mouthed with wonder, watching the "mermaids".)





Then we started wandering...

We were members of the aquarium during it's inaugural year, back when M was little... We went several times that year and he was always afraid of the "flash flood" exhibit.  He puts on a good show of courage now but when the flood came....



... he went!







We saw so many incredibly amazing creatures...





...it's such a treat for us land-locked Coloradans to be able to see and experience a tiny bit of the richness and diversity of the ocean environment.









R and her sharks....





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Just a couple more pictures... ;)

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