July 2006
Monthly Archive
July 30th - Bruce’s 1st girlfriend
Posted by Jo on 31 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: Homeschool
This is Bruce’s new love. Better than Power Rangers I suppose. At least there is no violence in the film. It really is a sweet story, although, a few of the plot holes really bug. I wish he wouldn’t watch it so much but I’m letting him figure out the TV thing for himself. I am trying to prevent him seeing anything with fighting in it. He totally acts it out, sword fights, martial arts, dinosaurs trying to get lunch … I end being the recipient. At least he doesn’t seem to care whether he sees the more violent flicks. He hasn’t quite made the congitive leap to why others get hurt & upset when he hits, bites, kicks, or headbutts. Thankfully he doesn’t do this to other kids yet, just family 
So Kiki is perfect … Blues Clues seems to be ok although he doesn’t like it as well. He does like Jakers the Adventures of Piggly Winks but often already has Kiki on before Jakers comes on on PBS.
July 30th - Grapes, etc
Posted by Jo on 31 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: The Farm
[Anna] Yeah!! We have mars grapes too. So now the only variety that we didn’t get at least one cutting to take is the buffalo. Of course we still need to see if they make it through the winter.
Today, Eric cut almost a cord of alligator juniper. We stacked while he cut. I can’t believe how long it takes. We were debating whether it was more efficient to haul out the little logs & cut next to the pile site or to cut in the woods & haul out the firewood. We still haven’t decided
Gillian & Wink got in the clear panels on the roof of the barn today (opaque panel replaces galv. aluminum roof panel). What a difference it makes in the light. I so wish we’d done a few opaque panels to begin will. Live and learn I suppose.
TV Dilemma
Posted by Jo on 18 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: Homeschool
[Anna] Now that Bruce is 2 yrs old we’re letting him watch TV (PBS) and DVDs (Nemo & Muzzy). I’m trying to take an unschooling approach that he’ll know moderation. So far I’m a little worried. He gets up in the morning, pulls me into the living, hands me the remote, and says “open.” He will watch all morning long with short breaks here and there. Then in the afternoon or evening he’ll watch 2 or 3 more hours. It’s been like this for about 2 weeks now. I haven’t decided yet when or if I should intervene. I have to admit that I’ve found his new interest rather liberating … I can actually get something done while he’s engrossed in Jakers or Cyberchase, when he doesn’t insist I watch with him.
I did find yesterday at the thriftstore a very partial, almost empty, tin of a tinkertoy construction set which he’s developed a love for. He insisted on taking it for a walk with us (although he let me hold it while we picked urban black currants) and that is the 1st time he’s ever really wanted to take a toy with us somewhere. He also played with it some while watching TV. So maybe that’ll at least change the stimulation some. We’ll see.
Grapes July 18
Posted by Jo on 18 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: The Farm
[Anna] Last count on Sunday had 25 grapes with some leaf action present. That means we have at least one of everything except Buffalo & Mars. There is a promising soft bud on one Mars so we have our fingers crossed.
July 14, 2006
Posted by Jo on 15 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: The Farm
[Jo] More broken machinery! Put the new cement mixer onto the tractor pursuant to mending the washed out culvert only to discover the pto connector was too long and bent the drive shaft. Spent the morning sorting that out, got it going, did the first mix, and had bad sand mix, couldn’t pour the mixture out! Going to try again tomorrow.
 Got some more chicken wire to tent the berries with. Worked so well on the grapes–22 now showing leaf–hope it foils any leaf snacking bunnies! All that rain also helped. Everything is so green it doesn’t look like New Mexico!! But spotted neighbors cows nearby this morning–hope they don’t discover the hot wire is not performing well.
July 11, 2006–Biodiesel Workshop on 15th
Posted by Jo on 12 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: Bio-Diesel
Biodiesel Do It Yourself Workshop
Limited spots available, please reserve yours now.
e-mail Eric@ABQbiodiesel.com
phone 977-9846
When: July 15, 2006, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Rain or Shine
Where: Barela Landscape Materials, 7713 Bates Rd. SW
What: Biodiesel 101, We’ll cover sourcing oil,
economic and ecologic pros and cons, preferred
vehicles, how to make your own biodiesel processor for
under $400, how to brew on small and meduim scale
including testing oil quality, safety issues, washing
fuel, politics, why we drink beer when we brew and
much, much more!
How Much: $80 including pizza, beer and information
packet.
Why: Because its fun to make biodiesel! Oh, yeah, and
because ¡§here we have a serious problem: America is
addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable
parts of the world¡¨ (G. W. Bush, January 2006) and
the world is running out of cheap oil, global warming
is already worse than we thought, and the planet is
dying of not-so-slow death. Do we love ourselves, do
we love our children, do we love the grandchildren we
haven¡¦t even met? Then do the right thing and kick
the oil addiction.
Who: James Burgess and Eric Chrisp have been declared
biodiesel Jedi by the New Mexico Solar Energy
Association ļ They have conducted numerous
presentations and workshops. Each has been running one
or more vehicles on home-brewed biodiesel for the last
two years.
For hands on experience please bring clothes headed
for the dust bin (you will get greasy), gloves,
goggles and respirators optional.
More July 7
Posted by Jo on 08 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: The Farm
We’d like to have a ford, a shallow concrete pad that would not impede the flow of water, and that could be cleared with the tractor if too much debris got deposited (unbelievable how much soil is being carried away–erosion control is at the top of our to do list!). The county required the culvert even though Soil & Water Conservation recommended the ford, so we’re stuck with it, but we may be able to hybridize it some so it doesn’t turn into a seasonal ritual.
July 7, 2006
Posted by Jo on 08 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: The Farm
[Jo] If it can go wrong, it WILL go wrong. The last couple of weeks have been all about broken machinery, leaky cisterns, a big disappointment about where we’ll be placing the solar panels, and to top it off, the rains have come early. We’ve had to stop working on the solar to rebuild our flooded culverts. We have two areas on our half mile of drive that cross normally dry gullies, or as the natives say–arroyo’s. Getting two inches of rain overnight turned them into raging torrents, washing away road base, gravel, heavy rock, and exposing the culverts. With the rainy season just beginning, we have no choice but to jump into the mud and start shifting heavier rock. Luckily we have plenty of rock onsite. Some as big as pianos! We spent today on the upper arroyo, using the tractor to haul chunks of smaller rock–rip rap–to fill in behind the wall that was supposed to keep the road base in place–amazing to see tons of gravel simply wash downstream like popcorn. The we rebuilt the pieces of wall where large rocks tipped over the edge. The lower arroyo we’ll tackle next week–we’re still talking about the best way to fix it.
