Author: Sarah

Chemistry and Botany

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I have read the praises of coffee grounds for plants. I read that it is good for hydrangeas to make the flowers blue an effect of vinegar, an acid. This lead me to wonder if coffee grounds were acidic.

In this WONDERFUL, INTRUIGING book, The Mystery of the Periodic Table, (a must read,) I had read how to tell acids from bases (the opposite of acids.) So I proceeded to do the test.

First, I boiled four purple cabbage leaves in four cups of water for fifteen minutes.

Boiling Cabbage

Boiled Cabbage Leaf

 This is what the leaves looked like when the where done

This is the water’s original color

Cabbage Water

Before I started my experiment, I first added things I knew whether or not they were acidic or basic. I put in acidic vinegar with a low Ph of 2 and the blackish-purple water turned red. I put in the slightly basic backing soda (with a Ph of 8) and the water turned slightly green.

These are the results of my experiment: When I put the cabbage water in the coffee grounds, expecting it to turn red, nothing happened! I tried it again with the same results! THE COFFEE GROUNDS WERE NEUTRAL! To confirm my results, I went on to the internet to find the Ph of coffee grounds. They have a Ph of 6.7, 7 being purely nuetral.

I read that coffee grounds making hydrangeas blue-er was a myth.

Cabbage Experiment

Left to right: Vinegar, Coffe Grounds, Baking Soda.

A+M+D+G

Taste of Tea

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J+M+J 

When Sarah and her Mom picked up a box of green tea, Sarah thought she would like it as much as she liked herbal tea. But when she brewed a cup later on in the evening, she found it tasted better than any tea she had ever drank before. After experimenting with different time lengths of time brewing, she found it tasted best when brewing it two minutes out of the reccomended one to three. She also thinks the addition of any sugar makes the tea taste horrible.  Sarah’s mother thinks it tastes OK, but nothing special.

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Rain, Rain, Don’t Go Away

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J+M+J

Here is what my family does on rainy days:

These wonderful, quick projects are great!

Cross Box

 

 Crosses 2

Crosses 1

If I can’t garden outside, I garden inside. These are strawberry plants, sent to me from my grandmother.

Strawberry Pot

Strawberry Plant

Strawberry pot

This is my first tulip to bloom.

Beautiful Flower

Purple Prince

Rain does not prevent us from playing outside!

In The Rain

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A Ballerina is Born!

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J+M+J 

Congratulations to my homeshool ballet class teacher! She won’t be teaching for a while on account of her little baby girl! With a family of ballet-ing people, (her mother, sister, and brother) she is likely to be interested in ballet also.

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Spring is Definitely Here!

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J+M+J 

The snow has melted. The robins and redwinged blackbirds have come. The grass is greening. The trees are budding. And yet, something is missing to make it really spring.

 

 But now spring is definitely, positively, certainly, undeniably, unquestionably, beyond a doubt, categorically here!

 

The final touch was added when the first of my flowers bloomed (this is one of the members of the royal family. I believe it is the Purple Prince. Other members are Red Emperor and Queen of the Night.)  The time of the gardener has arrived.

 

With last day of frost only 10 days away, I am adding the finishing touches on my plan for where I am going to put the annuals in my garden. I am looking forward to playing in the dirt.

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Three Cheers for the Red and White

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J+M+J

Last week at ballet, we, (my ballet class,) were shown the costumes we were told we would wear for the recital. They were supposed to be white, but instead were yellow with age. Most of them had holes in the skirts.

 

But this week, the ballet teacher brought in new looking, beautiful, costumes. Some are all red, and some are all white. The torso is velvety, and the sleeves and skirt are silky, the sleeves fluttering almost to the elbow, and skirt fluttering almost to the knee. I am glad to have a tan leotard to go underneath it, because the back goes a little too low. I was allowed to choose whether I was red or white, and I chose red.

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Bulb Update

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J+M+J

 

I won’t expect any daffodils this year. They were about to bloom when the snow came, destroying the buds. However, many other tulips are sending up buds, I am very, very, excited for them to open.

 

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Snake Day

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J+M+J

It was a very nice day today, and Alexander and I were going for a walk in a few acres of land behind our house (my family refers to it as ‘the field,’) when suddenly a place where I was about to step came alive! It was a harmless Garter Snake and I immediately thought ‘Alexander will love this’ I picked up the snake and called Alexander over to me. He said “(s)Nake? Me hold nake?” I helped him hold the snake and after a while of peting the snake I let it go. Alexander got a kick out of following the snake until it went down its hole. “Bye nake.” Soon afterward we found another snake. This one was to fiesty to pick up, so we only followed it until it too went down the hole. After that Alexander was calling out: “Nake! (where) Are You? Nake! come (to) me” and making me look for more snakes. Later on I did find more, but he was asleep in the house.

This is not the first time I have played with Garter Snakes. When I was little, on my Grandparents farm, I would beg snakes from their dog, Pepper, who had caught them.

When we found snakes, we would always play we were the crocodile hunter saying things like “Crikey, she’s a fiesty one,” “you’re all right mate,” and other Australian sayings.

And every summer we have to rescue snakes and other small animals from our window wells.

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I’m Melting!

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J+M+J 

Drip, Drop, Drip, Drop; Trickle, Trickle; Splish, Splash Splosh.

Melting 

These musical noises are everywhere today; for the 3-4 inches of snow we got Tuesday and Wednedsay are melting!

My tulips are not too badly damaged, a little wilty, but I think they will be all right.

Melting Snow

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The Last Snow of the Year (Hopefully)

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J+M+J 

It is cold, cloudy, and white outside. It makes me feel a little bit down in the dumps. I do hope my tulips survive.

As I was doing school at my desk, I spied a bottle of nail polish I had gotten for Easter. When I finished my school I grabbed the polish and began painting my fingernails. The color was bright, reminding me of watermelon and summer. When I was done, I felt better.

Polish

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