Kansas Dresners
Is it ever really over?
 | The last improvement that we'd discussed with my parents during their visit was a two-fer move: get more CD/media storage space and hide the rust-bucket fireplace in one fell swoop with new shelves on the mantle. You can't see it all that well in this picture, but take it from me: that dark cavern behind the tv is a blight. |
 | So, this morning after Dance class, we went over to the office supply store. That's not just a store, to Max: it's a mini-carnival, because he tries out every chair he can get his hands on and loves to get spun in the well-oiled ones. The highlight was when Max saw the conference table and called a meeting. He decamped when I called the question, so we lost our quorum, though. |
 | I was hoping that we'd find something sorta like the shelves we already have. I had no idea that Sauder still made, and our store carried, the same shelves, though in a slightly different wood tone. As I said in an e-mail earlier today, it's starting to look like grown-ups live here. |
We're done! No...
 | A couple of hours later, Max and Woody are in the kitchen and I'm at my computer, and we hear a THUMP from the other end of the house. I investigate and discover that the Woody's closet pole has abandon its post, so to speak. Being a metal pipe, it hasn't broken, but apparently it bent so far that it popped out of the supports (after breaking the cable tie supporting it in the middle) |
 | After a little brainstorming, and some searching for misplaced supplies (no, I don't know why the electrical wire was in my closet, nor do I know why I looked there), the original mid-pole keychain-capable hook and cable tie was replaced with this. |
 | It took a little while, but everything went back up on the pole just fine. We weren't planning to look through the closets this weekend, but it is one of the most likely next projects..... |
Project Three: Max's Shelves
Well, after that last project, and a few more lovely meals together, etc., my parents went home (not that it got them off the hook for home improvement work, mind you, but that's their story). They'd left us with some homework -- finishing up the living room with new media storage, especially -- and a good example. So today, after taking advantage of the living room floor space to put out his alphabet mat, we took Max shopping (technically, we'd already decided what we were getting, but he did approve of the plan) for his own set of shelves.
| Before |
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After |
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Again, Max had a blast putting his toys on the shelf, rediscovering what was buried away. He has a natural sense of order, if we can just tap into it....
The Projects: More Shelves
To my everlasting shame, we've had boxes of my papers sitting on the sun room steps pretty much since we moved here. Once we got the living room (and guest room) straightened out, it seemed like the next thing.... And since we still had parents about, we got to it!
| How long has that crate been sitting there? |
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There were
two piles of boxes, actually, one on each end of the step down to the sun room. Hardly noticeable.... really.
So, we got some plastic shelves, and we got a set of drawers, built some risers (to supplement the step). The hardest part, for me, was going through the boxes to sort them out. The ones on the top and bottom are the "boy I hope I don't have to open these again anytime soon, but I can't get rid of them" boxes. The ones in the middle are the "I really, really ought to be doing something with these, so I'll make them accessible" boxes. The set of drawers is Max's, and he's had a wonderful time picking themes for them (moving things, animals, blocks) and putting his things away.
Aside from dignity, what we've really gained is an immense amount of floor space.
The Project: Shelves
The Opportunity: Grandparents love projects
The Goal: take down the baby gate across the living room.
The Problem: Musical instruments, which don't fit in the closet without absurd piling, and which get pretty musty in there.
The Solution:
Revive storage space with shelves! |
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Of
course, it's not that simple. There's the emptying of the closet, the cleaning up of toys (Max was actually very helpful today!), the discovery and categorization of things previously hidden, the packing of the closet, the realization that some of the other things behind the gate need relocation, the clearing of the shelves, the cleaning of many moons worth of dust, the constant reminders of how long stuff can sit in a pile without being looked at, the moving of the tape collection, the (unrelated) retrieval of rock and instrument from behind the piano, and the satisfying post-construction dinner at Ken's.
Volcano: Visitors
 | Max was thrilled to get a chance to wear his sweater (actually, any sweater would do, but this was the one his mother knit). Grandpa, as usual, was thrilled to have things to take pictures of.... |
 | Max is fascinated by volcanoes, for all the usual reasons plus the fact that we live near one. So we have to read all the signs, at least once. |
 | After the Sulpher Bank trek and the Halemaumau lookout, Max still wanted to see some more, so he and I hiked out the half-mile or so to where the newer flows were. |
 | Grandpa Norman made it as far as this lookout, one of the more dramatic vistas |
 | Later, at the Lava Rock Cafe, Grandpa Norman showed off his artistic skills (and train knowledge) with a little art of his own. |
Volcano: Stone and Steam
As I said, we didn't see flowing lava, but we got to see the next best thing (well, after geysers, I guess): steam vents. The top of Kilauea is riddled with them, and they bring a lot of minerals to the surface. Max led us on a short hike we'd never done before, from the Steam Vent Lookout to the Sulpher Banks and we got a good look at some of the results. First, the vents: the smell isn't too bad, but the heat can be pretty considerable. The wind was strong today, though, so it never got too concentrated.
 | As I said, the steam brings lots of minerals to the surface, especially sulpher (yellow), gypsum (white) and hematite (red/brown). This was the end-point of our hike, the Sulpher Bank. |
 | Here's a close-up of some sulpher crystals |
 | This is from a different part of the park -- the walk to the Halema'uma'u crater lookout -- but the principle's the same. There are lots of little steam vents in that area, too. |
Volcano: Flora
Today we celebrated the Birthday of the World by visiting an active volcano, where the act of creation is ongoing. We didn't make it down to the active flows (bit of a rough hike, that is) but we saw the glory of Creation. I'll start with flowers.... Berries, actually. Ohelo berries were busting out all over, in various stages of ripeness
 | We're not sure what these are, but they were all over the road to Volcano village. The wind was something fierce up there today, so anything with a long stalk or branches was whipping around. But sometimes you get lucky. |
 | The area we were tramping about, Steam Vents and Sulpher Banks, was pretty thick with these relatively recent (1945) imports. I took a lot of very fuzzy pictures of these guys, but I did get this one decent shot. |
Max Enjoys His New Chair
Max is very proud of his new chair,
that he made with his Grandpa Norman. |
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 | It got put to use immediately as a Reading Chair. Here you can see Max working through the first book of the second set of Primary Phonics readers. |
 | It's tough doing a demonstration read for this crowd. You get stuck and there's lots of people trying to help.... He did really well, though: focused on the book and got through it. |
Max and Grandpa Norman Build A Chair
 | Apparently my father spotted this chair kit at Ikea and decided it would be the perfect grandchild project. Step one is getting out all the parts and seeing how they fit together. |
 | Max got to practice a whole bunch of new skills, though he claims he's been practicing all along with his toy tools. The Allen wrench crank was pretty stiff... |
 | but he did get the hang of putting his weight on it. |
 | He also got to do some work with the ol' Philips head screwdriver. |
 | Still, all those old-fashioned hand tools require a lot of leverage and hand strength. So Max also got his first taste of power tools. He likes them. |
Tune in
next post to see the complete chair in action!
County Fair
The county fair comes once a year, and last weekend was the time. Max is bigger now, so there are a few more rides he can do every year, and he wants to do them all. I never was big on carnival rides, but I have to admit that the bumper cars were, indeed, fun. I don't think most of these really need commentary...
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 | OK, this one might need a little explanation. Meadow Gold is our local dairy operation, and the cow in the hula getup, named "Lani Moo" (roughly translated: Cow Royalty) is their mascot. The first fair we took Max to, when he was almost two, Max was not pleased to see a talking, walking cow. The next few years he's been unimpressed. This year he wanted a picture. |
Intellectual Development
Why have a blog if you can't brag now and then? Max has made some real progress since school started, though it doesn't have much to do with school (though he's been a very good student lately, they tell us).
 | The biggest excitement is still the reading. Max has worked through the first phonics books, and read an awful lot of the Dick and Jane you see here. He's been enjoying the old Tom Lehrer reading songs (Silent E, L-Y, etc.) and we just got the second phonics set in the mail today. |
 | If you'd asked me, I'd have said that he wasn't ready for Rush Hour yet, and the beginner game is labelled "Six and Up." But Max can do most of the Beginner level puzzles with minimal coaching, and he and Woody have been working through the second stage ones. He can't get them on his own, but he can help. |
We'll have more pictures next week for sure: my parents are coming!
