I missed seeing Chance swoop down on his prey, since I was making my way through some brush at the time. Here he is, happy that at least he was able to catch a bunny for his dinner.
I just hope this wasn't the Easter Bunny.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Flying the Hawk
It was a beautiful day, my second time out with my apprentice falconer son and his red-tailed hawk. This time we went with his sponsor, who had brought along his Harris hawk as well.
Tama did not seem overly concerned with looking for prey, at least not to me. But, then again, this is all new to me!
We traipsed through fields and bushes, looking for bunnies to flush out into the open. Tama flew to fence posts, to a telephone pole, to the top of an oil drilling rig. She would return, sometimes reluctantly, to my son's fist. Nothing was happening on the bunny front.
Finally, fearing she might be getting bored with the whole thing, they tossed out a lure, which she dove for. She was rewarded with food and returned to her box. In a few days, we'll try again.
Tama did not seem overly concerned with looking for prey, at least not to me. But, then again, this is all new to me!
We traipsed through fields and bushes, looking for bunnies to flush out into the open. Tama flew to fence posts, to a telephone pole, to the top of an oil drilling rig. She would return, sometimes reluctantly, to my son's fist. Nothing was happening on the bunny front.
Finally, fearing she might be getting bored with the whole thing, they tossed out a lure, which she dove for. She was rewarded with food and returned to her box. In a few days, we'll try again.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Real Life Homeschooling
Our lesson in school today is all about septic tanks. Unlike the public schools, we do not believe in sheltering our children from life in the real world. Even if real life is sometimes a bit messy and smelly...
Yesterday, real life intruded on an already hectic and frustrating day. I'd been suspecting some septic tank issues for a few weeks now, but my concerns were dismissed. After all, what do I know about plumbing and spetic tanks? Besides, hadn't I read all about the proper care and feeding of septic systems over a decade ago, and hadn't I been carefully observing a regimen guarenteeing the best health for our system? And wasn't the fact that our septic tank had not caused us any problems in over a decade proof that my system worked? So why was I worrying?
Somehow there seemed to be a lapse of logic in all that. (Obviously someone has not been attending our logic lessons.) Yesterday, when our toilets steadfastly refused to flush and one rebelliously decided to back up, just to make a point, it became impossible to ignore the obvious truth any longer.
Eleven years is too long to go without servicing one's septic tank, especially in a household of eight people---no matter how large the tank and how diligent the homemaker might be in avoiding bleach, pouring Bac-out down the drain, and trying to keep her septic tank happy.
Once we called the local septic service, we were faced with our next dilemma---where exactly is the tank? We had a general idea, but attempts at probing revealed nothing. The hour grew late. Digging became out of the question.
Early this morning, our hero (in the form of a septic tank guy) arrived at the door, asking us questions about service history and then cheerfully groaning and citing the latest results of an indepth Stanford study (they study septic tanks?!) before setting off in search of our tank. This whole process has fascinated our young scholars, and they are now rapidly becoming experts on all things septic while observing the adventure taking place in the front yard.
In the meantime, I'm busily trying to come up with some sort of unit study...hahaha...
Yesterday, real life intruded on an already hectic and frustrating day. I'd been suspecting some septic tank issues for a few weeks now, but my concerns were dismissed. After all, what do I know about plumbing and spetic tanks? Besides, hadn't I read all about the proper care and feeding of septic systems over a decade ago, and hadn't I been carefully observing a regimen guarenteeing the best health for our system? And wasn't the fact that our septic tank had not caused us any problems in over a decade proof that my system worked? So why was I worrying?
Somehow there seemed to be a lapse of logic in all that. (Obviously someone has not been attending our logic lessons.) Yesterday, when our toilets steadfastly refused to flush and one rebelliously decided to back up, just to make a point, it became impossible to ignore the obvious truth any longer.
Eleven years is too long to go without servicing one's septic tank, especially in a household of eight people---no matter how large the tank and how diligent the homemaker might be in avoiding bleach, pouring Bac-out down the drain, and trying to keep her septic tank happy.
Once we called the local septic service, we were faced with our next dilemma---where exactly is the tank? We had a general idea, but attempts at probing revealed nothing. The hour grew late. Digging became out of the question.
Early this morning, our hero (in the form of a septic tank guy) arrived at the door, asking us questions about service history and then cheerfully groaning and citing the latest results of an indepth Stanford study (they study septic tanks?!) before setting off in search of our tank. This whole process has fascinated our young scholars, and they are now rapidly becoming experts on all things septic while observing the adventure taking place in the front yard.
In the meantime, I'm busily trying to come up with some sort of unit study...hahaha...
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