RIP Bill the Duck

A couple months ago Bill the duck stopped walking. First he would walk and sit, walk and sit. Then he sort of flapped and flew from place to place. Then he dragged his body along flapping his wings. We checked him over and saw nothing wrong with his visible legs. He was losing weight and couldn't float without turning over in the water. I was terrified I would come out to a drowned duck in the water.

We placed him in a box in a shelter on the back deck for a week and a half. He didn't get any better with rest. So I let him out. Jill, the girl duck, was beside herself. She would hang around and quack at the box all day. So I let him out to live out the rest of his life, or until we could figure out what to do with him.

For about a month he would spend his days under the trees and flap back down- we'd carry him on his bad days- to eat and spend the night by the house. He was hanging on, even though we sort of wished he would give up. I am not the strongest farm-animal person...I am unable to put a bird out of it's misery. We had a similar issue with a chicken- Hopper a couple years ago...

She died of natural causes after about 6 months. And this morning when we went to find Bill to move him to safety before mowing the grass, we found him too. The boys took it well, since it was a long time coming. And I think Jill will be okay too. She's had a couple months to get used to not having him as her shadow and she has made good friends with the chickens....

Comets, Asteroids and Meteors

This week we studied comets, asteroids and meteors.

We made comets using our snow cone maker to shave the ice and form the ice core then added the outer dust and a tail.

Once they were frozen solid they took them outside to fly and melt.


And we made chocolate covered marshmallow/cereal balls as asteroids.

They had bits of rock (peanuts) and other debris (sprinkles) too.

We attempted to find micometeorites in our yard using magnets but we didn't find any. We did however find tons of micro-organisms and a few clear worms in the soil samples we brought it. And Lakin spent about an hour with the microscope looking at our prepared slides and making his own out of his hair and cheek cells....

Good thing earlier in the week the boys were up late getting home from Townsend and we decided to let them stay out for a few minutes to try and catch some of the Perseids Meteor shower. Paul and I were out on August 12th- which was supposed to be the peak- and saw about 15 in the 30 minutes we were watching. Rylan and Cale did see one or two before heading in to bed. So even though we didn't get to find any meteorites, at least we got to see some...

Making Dough

I am always on the search for better clay recipes. For our history projects this past week we needed clay a couple times so I tried a few different versions. Here are some of my favorite new and old recipes.


Play Dough

This is the recipe I have used for years. I got it from one of my frequently referenced books during my preschool teaching days.

2 cups water
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
t tsp cream of tartar
2 T oil
food coloring

Mix the flour, cream of tartar and salt in a saucepan. Mix the water, oil and food coloring together then add it to the pot. Turn the heat on to medium and stir. Stir continuously until a ball forms that pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and turn out on to a plate/board/counter. It will be hot, but as soon as you can knead it until it is nice and smooth. This stays soft forever! Store in an air tight container.


Salt Ceramic

2 cups salt
1 1/2 cups of water
1 cup cornstarch

Mix all the ingredients into a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the mixture forms a ball. Turn out and knead until smooth.

This one is grainy, like salt, but it dries rock hard and is very pretty. Sort of sparkly. I've used in the in past for ornaments and we used it last week for our cuneiform tablets.

Air-Dry Modeling Clay:

1 cups cornstarch
1 1/2 cup water
2 cups baking soda

Mix the cornstarch and baking soda together in a saucepan. Slowly add water while stirring. Heat over medium-low heat. Cook and stir until thick and forms a ball. Remove from heat and knead until smooth.

This one is really smooth. We used it for our sumerian seals and out Mohenjo-Daro house last week and I really liked the texture of it. It dries really hard and smooth too.