Hiking In The Swamp

Happy Memorial day everyone. Today the Pohicks took a little walk in the woods. Or perhaps I should say they took a little walk in the swamp.
Today's hike took them through a piece of the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has a number of boardwalks that allow you to walk through the swamp without actually walking through the swamp. Just close enough to hear "things" jumping into the water.
We probably could have used just a tad more bug spay. When I say a tad more, I mean some, because we didn't put any on at all. We thought about applying bug spay, but we just didn't. Hey, the bugs have to eat too, right?

Sod

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And then we painted the house. Then we put in flooring, doors and trim. And then we installed kitchen cabinets and shelving. And finally today, we did the landscaping.
Truth be told, laying sod is probably not the most intellectually challenging task that Jake has done during the construction of the habitat house. The only instruction that was given out by the foreman was, "Make sure you put the green side up."
Though the task was not mentally difficult, there were eight pallets of sod to put down. That's a lot of bending and lifting.
After the landscaping was complete, everyone took a step back and admired their handiwork. A lot of hard work and love has gone into the house. The home owner is very excited to be moving into the house in a few weeks.

Cardinal Attacking Window

For the last several days, a male cardinal has been attacking our kitchen window. The first time he did this, we thought it was an accident. Oh, that poor bird just flew into our window. Then he picked himself up and did it again. "Wow", we said, "You don't see that every day." Then we hypothesized that the bird saw one of Molly's flowers inside the house and was for some reason trying to get at it. Jake, thought that the bird was trying to get in and do the Chicken Dance with us since we do that on a regular basis.

At little research on the net led us to the real answer. If we could witness the scene from the bird's point of view, the real cause of the bird's behavior would be clear. We would see what the bird sees: its reflection in the windowpane.

Apparently, Cardinals are very territorial. When a bird decides on a nest site, the surrounding area becomes its territory and it aggressively protects its territory by driving other birds away. Northern Mockingbirds sometimes display similar behavior when they are protecting a food source, such as a shrub full of berries.

Most birds have a strong sense of territory, especially during the breeding season. It is nature's way of minimizing competition for food and nest sites. The singing of adult male birds is a familiar manifestation of nesting territoriality in birds. A male's characteristic song, usually given from several preferred perches in its territory, says, in effect, "This is where my mate and I plan to nest; others of my species respect my boundaries and stay out."

We aren't sure how long the mating season lasts, but we hope Mr. Cardinal stops crashing into our window. It's kind of scary in an Alfred Hitchcock sort of way.

French Award

This week Scribbles was given an award as the top French Language student at her school. The award was presented as part of a regional assembly of the Huntsville-Madison French Teacher's Association. Jake who is very proud of Scribble's accomplishment attended the ceremony with her. Even though Jake is very proud of her, he really wanted her to study Spanish which he thought would be more practical foreign language to study. C'est la vie. As you can imagine, there was a fair amount of French speaking at the French Award Ceremony. Jake who speaks about three words of French was undeterred and began to do a comedy routine concerning Inspector Clouseau of Pink Panther Fame much to the abject horror of Scribbles.

Clouseau: Does yer dewg bite?
Inn Keeper: No
Clouseau: Nice Doggy (bends down to pet a dachshund - it snarls and bites him)
I thought you said yer dewg did not bite!
Inn Keeper: Zat... iz not my dog!

Clouseau: And who are yeu ?
Jarvis: I'm Jarvis, the butler.
Clouseau: And what is it yeu deu..?

Housekeeper: You've ruined that piano!
Clouseau: What is the price of one piano, compared to the terrible crime that has been committed here
Housekeeper: But that's a priceless Steinway!
Clouseau: Nyot Anymeur.

Scribbles who is generally immune to Jake's antics did not appreciate Jake's attempt at French humor. There were even threats of physical harm if he did not desist immediately. Though he mostly complied with this directive he still managed to work in a few guttural "Wee-Wees" during the remainder of the ceremony. Viva La France!

Habitat Kitchen Cabinets and Shelves

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And then we painted the house. Then we put in flooring, doors and trim. Today we installed kitchen cabinets and shelving. Jake got put on the shelf installation crew. He installed shelving in 6 closets plus the laundry room. While installing shelves in one of the bedrooms, we were visited by the family who will be moving into the house. The little girl was very excited to see her new room.
Another team was installing the cabinets in the kitchen. One of the cabinets contained a lazy susan. It just so happened that the two guys who were installing that section, both have wives named Susan. They decided that it would be more appropriate to call that section the efficient Susan rather than the lazy Susan.

So where does the term "lazy Susan" come from anyway? According to wikipedia, legend has it, the term was officially coined in reference to Susan B. Anthony in 1868 by political leaders opposed to her efforts supporting women's suffrage. The term began to surface after an attempted effort by Anthony to make a case for gender equality by denouncing a woman's 'duty' to fulfill cooking needs within the household. However, her adversaries dismissed the idea as an effort to disguise her laziness, hence, referring to her in the papers as 'Lazy Susan.'

Hot Fudge Sundae

Sarah Ray performed in the final concert of the year this week. This was her first year in the band. The beginner band came a long way from the start of the school year. The beginner band performed three selections. They were Hot Fudge Sundae, A Prehistoric Suite and Dr. ROCKenstein. The attached video is Hot Fudge Sundae which was written by David Martin and was conducted by Mr. Kevin Johnson who was student teaching at Sarah Ray's school this year.

Tomato Garden

It is officially spring time now. Jake got his tomato garden going yesterday. He can hardly wait until he can start harvesting those delicious ripe tomatoes.

Habitat Flooring

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And then we painted the house. Today we put in the tile floor throughout the house, painted trim and hung doors. This was actually a pretty easy day. We put glue on the floor and then waited until it dried to a clear consistency. Then we started putting the tile in place. They only thing that slowed us down was cutting around corners. Yes, we were cutting corners, put in a good way.
The tiles were on the floor in just a couple of hours.
Everyone took a break at lunch. Each of the churches that are sponsoring this build take turns providing meals and snacks for the workers. It's almost hard getting everyone to stop and take a break sometimes. After the lunch break, we started hanging doors. Hanging doors is a much more demanding and exacting science than tile laying.

Last Track Meet of the Season

Thursday was the last track meet of the season. Even though it was a varsity meet, Sarah Ray's coach gave the JV team a chance to compete. Sarah ran in 4 x 100 relay. The team gave a pretty good showing of themselves and Sarah ran a excellent leg. Sarah had a lot of fun this season and is looking forward to next year already.

Habitat Painting

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And today we painted the house.
Today Jake was not alone though. Today he brought along his painting sidekick Scribbles. Even though she probably did not want to get up at six am on a Saturday to paint a house, she wasn't quick enough to come up with an excuse. Scribbles did a good job and helped get the job done a lot faster. We put two coats of primer paint on all of the interior walls of the house. The place is starting to look pretty good.
Most of the paint got on the walls, but a fair amount that went elsewhere. It was nothing that a little soap and water couldn't fix though.

Destination Imagination 2009 Alabama Competition

Scribble's Destination Imagination Team competed in the 2009 Destination Imagination Alabama State Affiliate Competition this week. They had a great performance which you can see in the video above. Alas, the team was beat out by Dr. Klaw and will not be making a return trip to the Global Finals this year. Here is the link to their performance at last years Destination Imagination Global Finals.

Saint Joseph Will Help Sell Your House

Jake's sister-in-law DJ has been trying to sell her house for a while without much luck. Jake has been doing some research and has discovered this fool proof method of getting the house moving. Hopefully DJ will give this a try.

When it comes time to sell a house, some homeowners rely on St. Joseph, carpenter, earthly father of Jesus and, well, earthly real estate agent. A centuries-old tradition claims that burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard helps homes sell faster.

Stephen J. Binz believes it works. The author of "St. Joseph, My Real Estate Agent," he became a believer when his own house had been on the market for seven long months. Upon the advice of his Presbyterian real estate agent, Binz buried a St. Joseph statue in his yard.

"I thought it was a rather ridiculous superstition," says Binz, a practicing Catholic. But a week later, he had an offer and sold the house.

Binz now says it's only a superstition if you treat it like one. "The distinction between superstition and devotion is created by the person doing it," says Binz. In other words, if you simply bury St. Joseph and count on that to sell the house, then it's superstition. If you do it as an act of faith, then it's devotion.

More Habitat For Humanity

As reported previously, Jake continues to work on a Habitat For Humanity Project. We are making good progress. The roof is complete, and the windows and doors are in.
Today's project was to install the siding on the house. The first step was to install the J-Channel around the edges and across the top. This kind of frames the siding and holds the siding in place.
The next step was putting the siding in place. It isn't hard, but it is time consuming, because your have to cut the siding to fit around every door, every window, every spigot, every electrical outlet. Once the piece is cut, it goes on pretty easily. Just snap in place and add a few nails.
By the end of the day, we had about 75% of the siding on the house.

Davy Jones at EPCOT

Davy Jones is performing this week at Disney's EPCOT and there was no way that Molly was going to miss him. He puts on a pretty good show. He did a mix of songs and humor and he worked the crowd pretty well. When he first came out on stage, he sang for a bit and then he said, "Hi, I'm Davy Jones' father." It was funny and got a big laugh from the crowd. He also said that the three words he hears most when people see him on the street is, "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha". This is a reference to an episode of the Brady Bunch that he guest starred in. Here is some video from that episode.

Some of the songs that he performed at the concert today included, "I'm a believer."

He also performed, "Daydream Believer".

He also performed a song from the musical "Oliver" that he starred in before joining the Monkees.

Relaxing Back at the Port Orleans French Quarter

After a hard day at the amusement park, we headed back to the Port Orleans French Quarter Resort where we are staying. Jake and the girls did a little swimming in the pool and then grabbed pizza at the food court. After dinner, we relaxed along the Sassagoula river.
The resort has some flatboats that go up and down the river carrying guests between the resorts and Downtown Disney. The resort also has a variety of different types of boats for rent. There are also horse drawn carriages that carry guests along the river.
It was really relaxing just laying in the grass, watching the boats and ducks.

Disney's Magic Kingdom

We spent the last two days at Disney's Magic Kingdom. Day one was very crowded, but the second day was great. It is amazing what a difference one day makes. We debated why attendance would be so different on a Friday compared to Thursday. We aren't really sure, but we all agreed that the park is much more enjoyable when it is not so crowded.

The girls took a little time to pose with one of Scribble's favorite Disney Characters Stitch. It was interesting because after waiting in line to meet Stitch, he had to take a break. We were disappointed, but after a one minute break he was back. And a little taller. And with a different handler. Hmmmm... How unusual.
We also took a little time to do a little shopping. Jake had to try on the classic mouse ears. Disney now has about a thousand variations on the theme though.
The weather has been great all week. Every day so far, it has been about 80 degrees and sunny. We have been careful to wear hats and have used a lot of sunscreen.
Every once in awhile we had to take a look at the map to re-evaluate our strategy. Usually Jake was sent ahead to get fast passes for a ride. It is a lot more fun to make use of the fast pass system and walk right past all of the people who have been waiting in line for about an hour.
Scribbles did a little driving practice on the Disney Speedway. Jake hopes that she does better on her real driving test which she should be taking soon.
Not to be outdone, Sarah Ray did some driving as well. This was the first time that she was old enough to drive herself.
Jake and Molly have decided to get some of these stocks for the house. It is a great time out and attitude readjustment tool.
At the end of the day, we caught the Magic Kingdom Parade and said hello and goodbye to the main mouse.

EPCOT

First Stop today was Mission Space at EPCOT. The Pohick's took a little trip to Mars. Scribbles was the Commander. Molly was the Pilot. Sarah Ray was the Engineer. And Jake was the Navigator (And no, they didn't get lost)
We did a "Behind the Seeds Tour at the Land". The Land is a large greenhouse complex with lots of neat and innovative methods of growing food. We learned how the biologists control pests at the Disney Greenhouses with minimal use of pesticides. One method is the use of helpful bugs like ladybugs. The girls even got to release some lady bugs into the complex.
Here we see Sarah Ray releasing some lady bugs among a bunch of pineapples. Much of the food grown in the greenhouses including the fruit, vegetables and fish are served in the Disney Restaurants.
One of the neat tricks that the Disney growers do is growing food in the shape of Mickey Mouse. These vegetables are placed in clear plastic forms when they are young. As they grow, they fill out the forms until they are the shape of Mickey.
In addition to growing fruits and vegetables, the Disney Growers also raise fish and alligators for food. We fed the fish in one of the tanks as part of the tour.
One of the neat things going on in EPCOT was the Kim Possible Experience. The girls got a cell phone that was connected to Kim Possible and her team of crime fighters. The girls received phone calls and had to rush around to different countries in search of clues to stop the bad guys. Kind of like a way cool scavenger hunt. When they located a clue, they pushed a button on the phone and some animatronic event would occur.

We finished the evening at the Biergarten in Germany. Jake and Scribbles did a little bit of dancing while they were there. Check out a short video of their moves.

Disney Hollywood Studios

Our second day at Disney World was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Our first stop was the fast pass line for the Toy Story Midway Mania Ride. We arrived at the park exactly at opening time and it was a good thing that we did. The fast passes for Toy Story sold out pretty quickly. As it was, we waited in line for about 20 minutes so that we could avoid waiting in line. The normal line was about 100 minutes long. The ride was awesome, but we don't think it would have been nearly as much fun after a 100 minute wait.
Jake got to do his favorite thing and appeared as an extra in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. This is the second time in a row that Jake managed to get into the action. To quote Jake, "You either have to go big or go home." The price of celebrity is that people were accosting Jake all over the park telling him what a wonderful job he did in the show.
We had lunch at the Brown Derby restaurant. Jake really enjoyed his meal, but everyone else was a little iffy. There was a lot of fish on the menu, and Jake is the only one in the family who appreciates that sort of thing. Of course there are very few foods that Jake doesn't appreciate.
We got fast passes for the Rockin Roller Coaster and everyone rode. Molly and Scribble's actually got to ride twice because someone gave them extra fast passes. Some people have all of the luck.
Scribbles got into the performing bug and danced as part of the Block Party Bash. This is a combination parade and live performance with dancers, and disney characters. Scribbles' feet just couldn't be stopped and she was out there shaking it like a polaroid picture.

Disney Animal Kingdom

Our first day at Disney World was spent exploring the Animal Kingdom. Our goal this year was to focus on some of the things we haven't done on our previous trips. Upon arriving at the park, we went immediately to Expedition Everest to get fast passes. The ride was a lot of fun. Disney roller coasters may not be the fastest and scariest, but they have the best themes.
After getting our fast passes for Expedition Everest, we caught the Finding Nemo Live show in Dino Land. The staging of the show and the costumes were amazing. We really felt like we were under water.
We also visited Rafiki's conservation station this time which we haven't done in the past. It is kind of a laid back refuge which can only be reached by train. At the conservation station you can watch actual veterinarian procedures being performed on some of the animals from the Animal Kingdom.
There is also a petting zoo at the Animal Kingdom with goats, llamas, and big cows.
And of course there are always the character greetings.