Kitchen chores -- as done by house elves

In our household, kitchen chores get done by house elves, even though our last name is not Malfoy! For those few of you who may not know what house elves are: they're servants (more like slaves) in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Dobby (pictured), is a house elf. Beloved by many a Harry Potter fan, with his big eyes, big ears, and heart of gold, he saves Harry Potter's life numerous times, ultimately dying for him in the last book (sob!)

But back to kitchen chores, like parents all over the world, we've struggled to find a good arrangement for our young brood to help with the daily kitchen chores. Somebody's got to do the dishes, and besides, it builds character! The obvious one was for the kids to take turns: today it's your turn, tomorrow your sister, etc... And they, in turn, started referring to their assigned day as "house elf" day, reflecting the fact that in their own minds, having been assigned to wash dishes was just shy of slavery!

But there was always squabbling, and they begged us to revise the system. For one thing, each child seemed to feel very "put out" when the other did not have to do any chores on that particular day (nothing is worse than having to do chores while your sibling is watching!). SO, they kept on wanting to change the system, and after a while we reluctantly agreed, ok, why don't you come up with your own system!

Here is what they came up with -- yes, it's complicated, but they seem satisfied, and it works!
1st day (Monday): The "Clean" house elf empties the dishwasher and sets the table -- in other words, takes care of the clean dishes and helps with dinner prep. The "Dirty" house elf clears the table, helps put food away, and loads the dishwasher (not their favorite job!!!).
Next day: reverse

Simple enough, but how about the trash? To a parent that sounds like a clear-cut job for the "dirty" house elf -- but even that got more finely sub-divided: there's the actual carrying of the trash to the garage ("dirty" job"), putting in the new liner, and doing the recycling ("clean").

I admit that we parents did some eye-rolling at all the negotiating that takes place, but I now realize a couple of important things:
#1 they're doing it, with less reluctance than when we assigned their tasks point-blank.
#2 they like each other's company -- and they're often found negotiating finer points among themselves, like "If you can put that pan away and refill the ice cube tray, then I'll scrub the pancake mess off the counter, and then we can make cookies together after dinner..."
#3 there's power in self-determination- even among mere house elves!

Sunshine at last... and feeling safe in bear country...

Today the weather has been GORGEOUS -- one of those days that makes up for about a month-worth of Alaskan winter snow/ice/rain. Only yesterday was I blogging on my food/gardening blog, Borealkitchen, about how it's hardly worth growing tomatoes here in Alaska -- but today the sun seems to be saying "Hey Alaska, I can shine!!!"

At the Nature Center I now get many groups of summer camp kids -- it's so much fun taking them on walks and teaching them about geology, plants, animals, etc. But mostly, just to watch them discover things along the hike: a butterfly or caterpillar, some red berries (are they safe to eat?), a hole in the ground (who lives there?)...
Some of these kids are rather urban, and are scared we might encounter a bear and moose. Today I had this one little 5-year old who held tight to my hand during the walk, and kept on asking me about bears. "If the bears here are wild, will they attack us?" -- No, they just want to be left alone, and we'll make lots of noise and they won't get near us. "So your bears here are nice?" -- Well, yes, I suppose! They seem to know to stay away from people...
After re-assuring her some more and confirming that I carry bear spray and a radio, she said "So your job is to protect us and keep us safe."

Never thought of it in those terms, but yes, my job is to take kids out into nature, give them a chance to explore, and also, to help them gain a sense of SAFETY about being in the outdoors.

Photocredit: http://dadomatic.com

It's my "Take the cubs to Work" SUMMER

You've heard of "Take your Child to Work Day", haven't you?

This summer I'm incredibly lucky -- Wolfman and Liesl have been coming to work with me once or twice every week, ever since school let out.

Sometimes they go on a hike first, but afterwards they help at the front desk: taking parking fees and making change, helping the other staff & me with whatever is needed, and of course, answering the 2 most ubiquitous nature-related questions:

Where are the bathrooms?
Are there any bears?
(Last year a resident volunteer wrote a whole song about this!)

The only scary part of this is (no, it's not them hiking the trails alone in bear country), but the fact that the 16-year old is doing the DRIVING!

Photocredit:
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/images/hunt/bear/cubs.jpg;//www.alaskaseaplanetours.com

Semantics: Naturist vs. Naturalist

My job title is Naturalist, which is defined as an expert in Natural History.
Not to be confused with Naturist, which is somebody who likes to go nude, i.e. wear no clothes.

Today's Anchorage Daily News has an article about Nude hiking in Alaska -- not exactly a trend I see catching on big-time, given our state's abundant crop in mosquitoes...!

But I better be extra clear, pronunciation-wise, when I describe myself as a naturalist. And specify that I do wear clothes, which naturists refer to as "textiled".

Picture Credit: http://www.dw-world.de
accompanying article that reports nude hiking has been banned in the Swiss Canton of Appenzell.

"Why would she work here?"

A mosquito landed on me recently while teaching outdoors. Kids can get very distracted by such things and it can be a challenge to get them refocused (forget teaching if they spot a squirrel!).
They often interrupt me with: "em, Naturelady, there's a mosquito on your forehead."
So I shoo away the mosquito, saying something like "it's just a mosquito, don't worry about it".
Soon another mosquito lands on me, and I hear the following exchange:

girl 1: Another mosquito landed on her.
girl 2: Mosquitoes don't bother her.
girl 3: Yeah, why else would she work here?
girl 1: what do you mean?
girl 3: It's a Nature Center, stupid! Mosquitoes are part of nature!

So there you have it.
If it only were that simple-- how about all the pollen that are bothering my allergies right now?

Joys of teaching... with jello

I just finished 2 days of 4th grade Geology camp, and now I can teach about glaciers in my sleep!
One of the really fun things I get to do is to demonstrate glacial action with the use of gummi bears and blue jello.

We are surrounded by glacial features in this glacier-carved valley, but few kids really understand geology because of the large time scale involved.


Around here there are many glacial erratic boulders, and there is one right near these kids' school that often gets painted by rival schools. Last week the rock was yellow, but this week it's blue!
When I ask the students if they have ever seen a glacial erratic boulder, they say "no", unaware how the yellow/blue rock got to where it is now -- what fun it is to tell them about how that rock got there -- this is the kind of thing that makes geology relevant to them. I love to be able to teach "hands-on" science, and the biggest praise I get is when a kid tell me after the lesson "I really get it now!"

For teachers out there -- here's what I do:
1) Before class, I built a mountain-valley landscape on a large tray, using crushed soda cans and the like for the mountains, then covering the whole thing with aluminum foil, and then some clear plastic wrap.
2) In the first part of the lesson I do a demonstration using gravel, carving a U-shaped valley with snow and ice, demonstrating moraines.
3) Then I get out my Aluminum-clad landscape and sprinkle a few gummi worms, telling the kids that they are rocks and boulders.
4) Next, we have us an ice age! I start piling on the blue jello spoonful after spoonful high in the "mountains", while talking about the process of firnification (how snow turns into glacial ice).
5) They watch the jello getting heavier and heavier in the mountains, until gravity starts pushing it downhill -- and the gummi "boulders" start getting pushed down the valley.

Then I have them write a little story of how their school rock got to its present location.
I remind them that the word erratic means "out-of-place", and the rock obviously does not "belong" there, in other word, did not start out there. So while the kids are all quietly writing their stories, I serve up dessert: a bowl-ful of glacier-jello with a few erratics embedded in them...

I'm a Viking!

Conversation overheard behind me as I'm leading 6th graders on a fieldtrip at work yesterday:

Kid#1: She has an accent. I wonder where she's from?
Kid#2: Who? The guide?
Kid#1: Yes, of course. She talks like someone from another country.
Kid#2: You're right. I think she's like ... from Europe, maybe?
Kid#1: I know. She's from one of those countries way up there, in the North.
Kid#2: You mean, like a Viking?
Kid#1: Exactly. She's a Viking.

Yikes, I was on the evening news!

I have to admit that I'm fairly camera-shy, but I did end up on the local evening news recently. The occasion was a story about the proposed expansion plans of the Nature Center where I teach.

Sooo -- if you're curious about what I look and sound like, and how taking a group of Middle Schoolers on a nature hike is a lot like herding cattle, go to KTUU and type "Eagle River Nature Center" into the search field on the upper right-hand corner (I hate to admit that I have no friggin' idea how to load a video onto this blog post).

And when you see all those bulges and are wondering if I've gained weight since you last saw me -- it's my uniform: I carry a first aid kit, radio and bear spray!

Back to School...

Hey ho, hey, ho
it's back to school they go...

Yes, it's that time of year -- the youngstas are headed back to school bright and early tomorrow morning. Parents everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief!

Actually, this summer our kids (the 2 remaining who are of school age, entering 10th and 6th grade) have been a breeze. They're old enough to take care of themselves while mom & dad are off to work, and never set the house on fire even once. They take care of their chores (usually), don't fight too much, and even practice their instruments without being nagged about it -- when did they grow up to be so responsible?

Luckily they're not 9-5 latchkey kids -- our schedules are flexible enough that usually one or the other of us got to be home at least some of the time. But it has been great to be able to trust them, not worry about them, and not have to spend a huge chunk of change on daycare or camps. They both are much happier just "hanging out" en famille -- organized camps are not their "cup of tea". Some people thrive on being busy, but our lot (the kids and the 'rents) love having a laid-back summer -- there's plenty "busyness" the rest of the year...
We did not go on any trips Outside (a.k.a. the lower 48 States) this summer, but have done a fair bit of fun stuff around here, including a few great camping trips. Bicycling, hiking, s'mores around the campfire, reading, picking berries -- that's what summer is about! One of the highlights of my summer was them coming to work with me occasionally -- volunteering to help out at the Nature Center.

When they were younger, I was lucky to be able to stay home with them. My job grew in hours and responsibilities as they grew older -- I started first as a volunteer, then very part-time during the peak spring/summer fieldtrip season with summers off. Now I work 3/4-time year-round, and still get to be home when they return from school -- couldn't ask for a more ideal job!

But I do think that in the American school system summer vacation is too long -- 3 months! True, some children (with rich parents) go on amazing trips and specialty camps. But most don't, and they lose out academically too. Students forget a lot over the summer if they're not engaged and challenged (Nintendo & the tube are unfortunately the entertainment of choice, rather than playing outside) -- i just can't imagine how long it takes teachers to catch them up on math, let alone study habits and routines. If I were gone from my job for 3 whole months, my brain would do a major core dump, and I'd have forgotten procedural details and quite a few phone numbers...

I like vacations -- don't get me wrong. Kids need them, and adults too! I think US workers don't get nearly enough vacation from their jobs to take a good break and RELAX, for their health and sanity's sake-- instead many are juggling to find daycare or summer camps for their children who are out for 3 whole months when they themselves have only a few weeks' leave! I see many of those summer camps coming through the Nature Center on fieldtrips, and they vary greatly -- some of the counselors are great, and some so young and inexperienced that they have little clue on how to deal with their charges... I've met some wonderful dedicated people, but I imagine that many a young college student who's doing this for a summer job ends up getting turned away from this field after negative experiences -- I know it sounds cynical! My sincere wish is that our society learn to place a higher value of those working with children: they're our future, and we ought to pay and respect all teachers much MORE!

So here's a "hip, hip, hoorah" to hard-working and dedicated teachers everywhere!

Playing forester again!

I have a degree in Forestry, which I get to put to use occasionally. And this week was just such an occasion: I was assigned to check our trails for hazard trees.

Hazard trees are not exactly a Homeland Security issue. It's a matter of evaluating potential risk: which trees along the trail are likely to fall in a windstorm, and would they cause much damage? It's one thing if they only block the trail until we can send out a guy (or gal -- we do have a few on our trail crew) with a chainsaw. But the most serious case would be if a tree falls on an innocent person sitting on a bench or picnic table...

So I got to do the first round of evaluating hazard trees. Once again, I'm lucky to be paid to spend hours hiking the beautiful Alaskan Outdoors -- can't beat that. And this time, I took my family along: the prof was the photographer, the son was in charge of GPS, and Youngest helped take notes and take samples. We made a great team!

Barely posting, hanging in there!

It's spring in Alaska, and EVERY school class wants to have their nature fieldtrip during the last month of school - so I'm one busy Naturelady.

I may not be posting much these next couple of weeks, cause I'm outside every day, hiking with 100's of kids -- many of which love being outdoors ("This is best fieldtrip ever!"), but the occasional teen, like the one on a Wetlands fieldtrip yesterday in pink ballerina shoes (I kid you not -- the pictured slippers is what she wore) who said "I hate nature: it's so messy!"
Duh!

I love my work!

Yesterday was a beautiful day.

I work at a Nature Center, and get to hike and teach children -- it is the best job in the world!

My nickname came from kids trying to get my attention, "hey Naturelady -- look at this this bug I found..."

Here I'm taking the pre-school group on a walk to the pond -- we were studying migratory birds. We made binoculars from empty toiletpaper rolls.



Little Kate loves hers!
(thanks to Kate's mom for the pictures)



Last we went to the classroom yurt, where I folded Origami paper swans for each of the children: first a big one, and then a baby swan to tuck into the mommy swan.