Lots of Helpers

Garden Update

December 13, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The boys and I have been spending an average of half an hour a day, each, on the garden. It’s really amazing how much can happen in that amount of time! The garden is thriving. We’re watering when we have to, from a large cistern by the house that collects the overflow from our half unit of water from the Council. We’ve had a little bit of rain lately, which does wonders. We also save all the water we can in the house, such as from washing lettuce, or Little Miss’s bath water, and bucket it out to the garden. We’re loving having all the lettuce salads we want. We’re going into my favorite time of the year!

These first three pictures were taken the last week of November.

I took this one a couple of days ago. The boys were finishing up their 30 minutes, with Little Miss’s help, while I fixed lunch. Left-right: Mr. Sweetie, Little Miss, Mr. Inventor, Mr. Diligence.

This isn’t quite the garden, but it is a plant! We were recently given a couple of pitcher plants. They are catching a lot of flies for us—so many, in fact, that the plant can’t digest them all and gets indigestion. We’ve had to cut off a few traps that were dying because of all the flies inside them!

Mr. Inventor

December 9, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Mr. Inventor has been very busy living up to his nickname lately. Here are pictures of some of his projects just in the past week.

He built a forge out of an old 20-pound propane cylinder. He had watched a YouTube clip online, and and added his own ideas. He cut off the top of the cylinder and attached a pipe to the lower side to which he attached an air pump. Then, he lined the lower 2/3 or so of the tank with an inch or two of clay and let it dry for a day. He started a fire in it with wood, and then added coal to get a very hot fire. He was able to get it really hot by pumping air in.

After getting the bar of steel red hot, he beat it on a piece of railroad rail with his hammer to try to make a chisel. He later ended up melting this end of the steel, though, when he was experimenting to see how hot he could get it! When he pulled it out of the fire one time, part of the bar was missing.

He made this handle for a chisel with his wood lathe.

He also built this hand-crank bench grinder one day. He spent a lot of time on YouTube trying to find directions for building something like this, but couldn’t find any, so he made it up himself, if I understood right. He wanted to make another, and make a video of it to post on YouTube for other boys to watch who want to make the same thing! He used the bike pedal that was originally attached to the gear at first, then made this handle on his lathe. He likes the bike pedal better, though, because it’s easier to turn. Actually, now he’s saying to take off the pedal but leave the bolt it turns on.

He’s also using his lathe again to make wooden bowls. There has been a lot of creativity here in the past week!

After the bowl is shaped and sanded, he oils it for several days with olive oil. These bowls are beautiful!

Of course, the boys had to have fun with the forge, too! Besides melting aluminum and making odd shapes with it (Mr. Intellectual has now made a clay mold in which he wants to try casting an aluminum signet ring), this short video shows some of their other fun. And by the way, after only doing this trick four times, the bucket of water was hotter than dishwater!

Dear Mr. Imagination

December 6, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I found a number of pictures of or taken by Mr. Imagination on my memory card when I went through it today, so I decided to give him his own post.

One morning during dishes, while I was reading aloud, he climbed into this tub and spent several minutes totally engrossed in his own little world. I took several pictures, and he never seemed to notice.

He took this picture, of me helping Mr. Sweetie with school, one morning.

Either he or Mr. Sweetie took this picture, of Mr. Inventor and Mr. Diligence working on a lawn mower.

Mr. Sweetie took quite a series of pictures of Mr. Imagination being funny.

Apparently, they took turns with the camera!

Last Week’s Science

December 4, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We are on our summer homeschooling schedule now, which means that instead of school lasting all morning we only do about an hour, besides the hour or two of reading aloud (whatever they can get me to do!) we do every day year round. We’re doing reading and spelling, basically, through the summer, just so my dyslexics don’t forget everything they’ve learned.

We did do some science last week, though! On Monday, the vet came to pregnancy check our cow. He uses an ultrasound wand to check, and it has a button you can push to freeze the image so other people can see what he has found. We were very excited to get to see our next calf, just 40 days after the cow visited a bull! It was a round ball, about 2 cm in diameter. He said that by 60 days they have legs and a head, and he can tell if it is a heifer or bull if it’s laying the right way.

A couple of days later, we brought some water in from the mucky, stagnant pool that was left in the creek out front, just before the boys got all the rest of the water pumped onto the garden. We had fun looking at stuff through the microscope. There were a lot of these round green things floating around. They moved pretty fast, twisting and turning as they went. We also got a very close-up picture of a mosquito larva (second picture). The big circle by its head is an air bubble.

Then, on Thursday, I took the children to Christchurch. Mr. Sweetie had fallen pretty hard the week before, and two doctors here in Cheviot said he almost certainly had a greenstick fracture. To get an x-ray and a cast, we have to go to Christchurch. Sure enough, when we did the x-rays, he had a small fracture. The boys got to see the x-rays, and watch the cast get put on. Mr. Sweetie is now sporting a bright green cast! I paid extra to get the lining that is waterproof, and I’m glad I did; within half an hour of arriving at home that evening he had fallen into the duck pond!

Videos of Baby for Her Absent Siblings

November 28, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We predicted that Little Miss would learn to walk while her big sister and brother are in America. Until yesterday, I wondered if that would actually happen. Now, I am sure it will! These videos are for the two of you who are absent; hopefully you can see them in a few days when you have access to internet again.

First, she learned to push her stroller last evening–that was thrilling, as you can see! The laughter you can hear is Mr. Imagination.

Then, today, she started walking on her own.

She is also waving. She often waves with just one hand, but when she gets really excited she uses both.

Carol and the Belles

November 26, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I had the opportunity, over the past couple of months, to do something new. When my (current) favorite author, Chautona Havig, asked for volunteers to read her new Christmas book, Carol and the Belles, as she wrote it and help her launch it, I signed up. I’ve been enjoying reading another three chapters each week as she completed them–although it’s a little harder to keep track of the plot with that lag time in between. The book is finished now, though, and is publishing on Thanksgiving Day–she said it should certainly be up by 8:00 pm PST. If you would like some light reading after Thanksgiving, check this out. Here is my review; as with my other reviews on this blog, I’ll take it down when Esther publishes it on her website, so I don’t mess up her SEO.

Chautona Havig has dreamed up an incredible “hook” at the beginning of Carol and the Belles! I won’t tell you what it is, because that would spoil the suspense, but it’s one I couldn’t have imagined.

Read my full review here.

Fun Times

November 24, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Life in this family can be a lot of fun! Here are a few glimpses into the past few weeks of life here.

Our oldest two left for America the beginning of the month. This was our last glimpse of them, as they headed for their gate at the airport.

The lemon tree outside my kitchen window is blooming.

Mr. Sweetie lost a top front tooth—but this is the look I got when I tried to get a picture of his gap!

I had Mr. Sweetie clean out the container cupboard one day.

Little Miss loves to stand up by herself!

She also loves being carried in the backpack. This time, Mr. Inventor carried her for awhile, and then Mr. Intellectual took a turn. She is very happy in there!

Mr. Imagination and Mr. Sweetie were busily reading How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. They had the story pretty close to right! Mr. Sweetie was taking apart a pallet last week and fell, giving himself a greenstick fracture just above his wrist. He still hasn’t had an x-ray and doesn’t have a cast on it, but two doctors have said that is the problem and we’ll be going to Christchurch in a couple more days to get the x-ray and the cast. They said there shouldn’t be a problem if we keep his arm wrapped and he doesn’t do anything silly with it.

The cat comes in to beg for food when the door is open. Little Miss was sure checking him out!

She is such a happy little girl!

Outdoors Fun

November 20, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Because it’s spring, and the temperatures are lovely and moderate most days, and the grass is green, the boys have spent a lot of time outside lately. I get out when I can—I try to get to the garden at least a little each day. Here are several pictures I’ve gotten lately. As you can see, Little Miss loves being outside. If she’s grouchy and nothing seems to suit her, asking if she wants to go outside will often make her happy. This week, she figured out how to get outside without falling on her nose out the kitchen door, so watch out—she won’t be contained in the house any more!

Little Miss wanted to go watch her brothers play in the water.

She stands up anywhere she feels like it, without support, although she hasn’t started to take steps yet.

Apparently, she didn’t want to go through the patch of bare ground; it was more interesting to follow Mr. Imagination.

He had a toy car!

I assigned Mr. Diligent to plant pumpkin seeds in the moist creek bed. We’ll see if they grow. He had a wetsuit on because he had been playing in the water.

Mr. Imagination and Mr. Sweetie were still playing in the water. The boys built this dam across the creek after the 3-inch rain we had in September. The creek dried up behind it by mid-October, and the boys reinforced the dam at that point, and then when we got another inch of rain a few weeks ago, it filled up again. They rigged up a small sump pump below the dam to pump the water that leaks through back above the dam. That’s what the white pipe is for. The boys have spent a lot of time playing in that water, but by now it is starting to smell like swamp muck and I’m not very happy to let them “swim” anymore. Yesterday they put a bigger pump in and used the water to irrigate the garden—perfect use for it!

Ten Months Already!

November 15, 2015 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

This little girl is already ten months old. She is more fun all the time. All her brothers love to cuddle her and encourage her to walk, although she isn’t taking steps on her own yet. She stands up from a squat anywhere she is, though. She’s a very happy little girl unless she’s tired or hungry or gets hurt, and she’s very good at expressing herself.

A week and a half ago, we spent the whole day getting Esther and Mr. Handyman ready to leave for six weeks in America. Little Miss loved playing on the suitcases.

Little Miss loves her Daddy! She was overjoyed last Saturday afternoon when he carried her around this way for an hour.

Last year’s Swiss Chard (called Silverbeet here) is going to seed, so I’ve been pulling it and cutting off the leaves to cook. Little Miss “helped” me and tasted the stems.

When I washed the Silverbeet, she helped by pulling leaves out and throwing them around.

She loves her doll, as well as this one, which belongs to Mr. Imagination.

Mr. Sweetie was trying to sweep and wash the kitchen floor last week. Little Miss wanted to “help”, but I locked her into the living room with the help of two chairs. She was not happy about it–watch this short video to hear what she had to say! She often talks like this.

The Girl From the Train—book review

November 13, 2015 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

When I read a review of The Girl From the Train on a blog I follow, I was immediately intrigued by the story. Sure enough, it is a fascinating could-have-happened love story.

Gretl and her sister Elza were pushed out of a train full of Jewish people on their way to a concentration camp, by their mother and grandmother, who couldn’t fit through the sides of the car. The girls end up living in the house of a Polish family, but after Elza dies, Gretl ends up being rescued by Jakob, a Resistance fighter.

Read my full review here.