Just Yoking

1. Where do geese go when they want to search online?
2. What award did the American football player win when he took gifts to Jesus?

1. Gaggle.com
2. The Weissman Trophy

Ginger Bread Houses

One of my favourite advent activites is making ginger bread houses. I went to J.'s class yesterday and helped the 1st grade kids make theirs. They started with a small milk carton and pasted Graham crackers all around with icing. When I got home, A. and I started on our own. We didn't have milk cartons so we had to stick the crackers together with icing, and then leave them to harden over night. Today the boys started making theirs. A. and I finished ours, and J. enhanced hers with some more M&Ms. Now to eat them!

A Bust of Sir Arminius Oliphant

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I am
proud to present: a bust of the highly esteemed imaginary scholar, the accomplished Sir Oliphant!
Now that we've finished the pleasantries,
you may be asking yourself,"Who is this
Sir Oliphant?". Please do not trouble yourselves
with these questions. He is nothing but a figment
of my imagination.
Now that we have that cleared up, you may be wondering how I made the bust. That is what I
will tell you now.
to start, at the center of Sir Oliphant's head is a wooden rod about five inches long. Around that is
a rather thick layer of paper towel bound with
masking tape in the general shape of a human head.
After I accomplished this, I simply wrapped clay
around it in a way that it still looked like a head.
The first actual feature I formed was the nose.
Accordingly, the nose is a prominent feature in
Sir Oliphant's face. The rest was simple enough,
except for the hair, which, as hard as I tried,
would not be made in one piece.

Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon

My desire to know about astronomy greatly eclipses my knowledge of astronomy. When I heard that Venus and Jupiter were going to be visible near the moon this evening, I went out and snapped this picture on the digital camera. These three won't come together again until 2052.

On Christmas Eve I'd ....

I finished working on the smoke chamber of the fireplace yesterday. It was one of the most unpleasant jobs I've ever done in my life. I had to lie on my back with my head in the fireplace, and reach into the 100 mm slot above, sometimes with both hands to operate the drill. I put seven pieces of tin in place to replace the rusted metal. It had to go up in pieces because of the small gap for access.

Today it seemed worth it as the snow turned into rain and the fire crackled. We hooked up an aerial to listen to Christmas music on the radio.

A. contributed to the advent mood with a picture and story:

"On Christmas Eve, the last [day of] advent. I decorate the tree. I light a fire. I have fun. The end."

The picture shows the fire in the fireplace with a Christmas scene on the mantel piece. She is next to the fire with her mouse slippers on, stringing lights onto the Christmas tree. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Pop-pop Boat

I recently made a steam boat. The instructions, at http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/boat/makeBoat4_07.htm, called it a pop-pop boat, but it runs fundamentally on steam. First, I made a "boiler" from an aluminium soda can, cut and folded to the correct shape and size, with two straws sticking out. I then sealed the boiler with epoxy glue and silicone sealant. While the silicone dried, I made the hull of the boat with a milk carton, cut and folded. Once the silicone on the boiler dried, I stuck the straws that were poking out of the boiler through a hole that I had cut in the hull and bent them back under. I then glued the straws and boiler in place with a cool-melt hot glue gun. Now steam engines are external combustion engines, so for the "external combustion", I added a candleholder I had made to fit quarter birthday candles. On the day I finished it, I tried it out in the bathtub. On the first run, it worked, altough not very well, but the second try was amazing. The funny thing is, the day after I tried out my boat, a tin one came in the mail from my uncle and aunty in Australia!

Of Making Blogs There Is No End

Check out this new journal on Ecclesiastes
http://ofmakingblogsthereisnoend.blogspot.com/