Dad – Page 3 – All That is Gold

Birding Victories

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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Our family has seen two uncommon birds in the past few weeks. The first was the yellow-bellied sapsucker, a type of woodpecker that is around our region only during migration. The second we saw this morning. Actually there were three of these birds, and they stuck around all day. Dad was the first to see them sitting on our backyard fence. They were orange and black, and Mom wondered if it was an oriole. I checked the internet to see if they were orioles. The internet confirmed the fact. It also said that South Dakota was in the summer territory of these lovely birds. I was elated. Orioles were on the top of my ‘birds I want to see’ list. I hope they stay all summer and build their nest here.

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Not How I Planned on Spending the Evening

Friday, May 2, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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May 1st was Ascension Thursday, so there was going to be a Mass at the Cathedral. It was sort of rainy and a little windy, but the last thing I expected was stormy weather. Landon was going to be an altar server, so he had to be at the church early. Because of this, Mom left to take him to the Cathedral as the rest of us were finishing supper. My job was to get the little ones cleaned up, and find their shoes and coats and put them on. In other words, they had to be ready to go to mass before Mom got back.
Shortly after Mom left, it started to pour. Torrents of rain fell down from the sky. A few minutes later, it stopped, instantly and completely. Thunder and lightening began to rumble and flash. Alexander was nervous and began to complain about ‘dee funder.’ Maria moaned, “I wish that there wasn’t going to be this really bad storm on the way to Mass.” I responded, “Oh Maria, This isn’t a bad storm. Really bad storms have big winds and hail and tornadoes. This is just a little shower that will help the plants grow.” “I know.” Maria whined, not convinced.
Mom would be home at any minute so I had to hurry I made sure everyone’s shoes were on, their coats found, and done with last-minute drinks and bathroom breaks. In no time, Mom had pulled up and everyone ran out to the car. I ran out last, only to turn around and run inside for Alex, who had had panicked halfway to the car and ran back into the house. I couldn’t convince him to walk with me to the car, so I picked him up and ran to the car, and we were on our way.
Halfway to Mass, my heart leaped as the tornado sirens began to wail. I bean to pray Hail Mary’s with Maria and Johnathan while Mom turned on the radio. We heard that the tornado was close to Harrisburg, a small town not far from Sioux Falls. It didn’t make me feel better that we were on the side of Sioux Falls closest to Harrisburg. Mom kept driving, but I half wondered if we should pull over, find a ditch, and lay down. It was a small comfort that we weren’t the only ones on the road at the time, and the cars next to us weren’t turning around and driving away at top speed.
After a few minutes, we reached the church. Mom called Dad on her cell phone, and he told her that Mass had been canceled and everyone was in the church basement. Mom told us to go inside and go to the basement, so I grabbed Alexander and ran to the door. Maria and Johnathan followed me. Maria was carrying Joseph, who was much to big for her to hold. When I got to the door, it was locked. That was not fun. It was raining, there was a tornado somewhere around, I was hearing a vacuum cleaner-like noise, (now I think it was the sound of a train or another siren being distorted by the wind,) and the door was locked. Mom caught up with us. When I told her the door was locked, she called Dad on the phone to ask him to come up and unlock the door from the inside. She couldn’t get a hold of him, so we ran to another door. Thank goodness it wasn’t locked.
We went down to the basement and saw Dad and all the other people that had come for Mass. My friend Isabel was there, and so we got to talk together. It was a lot harder to be scared in the basement of the cathedral than in the car. There was a little hail, but it didn’t last long. I hoped that it hadn’t hurt my tulips that were about to bloom at home. After a while, the storm passed and we went home. I was happy that the tornado sirens hadn’t gone off when I was at home alone with the kids.

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My Cake

Saturday, March 29, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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Mom had to go shopping, Joseph was asleep, Landon was in the bathtub, and the other kids were outside. I was all alone. On the spur of the moment, I decided to bake a cake. I went onto the internet, got a recipe, checked whether we had all the ingredients, and set to work. We had just enough cocoa powder for a chocolate cake. I set to work. When the kids came inside, Johnathan commented, “I smell hot chocolate.” Then he put on the face that to him says, ‘You’re hiding something, and I know what it is.’ “Did you make hot chocolate?” He asked. “You have a goofy nose.” I giggled. “Being in the cold must have made your nose smell things.” With a little more persuasion, I got them to go downstairs, and I finished baking the cake. When Mom came home, she declared, “Something smells good.” I then presented the cake to her. That night everyone had some. Everyone, including Dad, thought it was excellent, even without frosting! It is the first good homemade cake I have ever made, and it won’t be my last.

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Clover and Dad

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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Clover and Dad have gotten off to a good start. Clover will sit on Dad’s shoulder nicely, and let Dad pet her. She also tries to climb up Dad’s neck in order to get a better view of her surroundings. Last night, while Dad was playing with her, she saw a dark place to hide. She still wants to get into dark places to escape from us, so up she went. Dad had a bit of a hard time getting her out of his sleeve. This morning when she was in her cage she was eating. It really is fun watching her eat with her feet.

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Clover

Saturday, February 16, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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Hurray! Today Dad took us to the pet store and we brought home a cute little bird. We have a nice little pet shop in town called the Ark that has lots of birds. Mom had been looking in to getting a bird, and the Ark happened to have the kind she wanted, a green-cheeked conure. Here is a good article about them Dad said yes, and so we piled into the car and went to the Ark. They had two green-cheeks, but one was a color mutation that didn’t look as nice in my opinion. So we bought the other green-cheek. It is very tolerant, and even though it is still scared of us, it lets everybody hold it without biting. We can’t tell if it is a boy or a girl without a DNA test, so we just decided to call it a girl since our Golden Retriever Isaiah and our Ragdoll cat Solomon were both boys. We named her Clover. I will post about her progress as she gets used to our family.

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(Untitled)

Friday, February 15, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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Dad surprised Mom with some lovely tulips for Valentines’ Day! A little taste of spring.

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Model Airplane

Friday, February 8, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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Dad got a model airplane for us to build together. Here are pictures of out progress

It is thrilling to look at this pile of sticks and say, ‘I’m going to build a flying airplane out of that.’

Clamps holding the fuselage together. I glued the sides together.

Mixing up the epoxy. (Extremely strong glue.)

The tail is not glued on, just sitting on top for show.

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Flying Model Airplanes

Sunday, January 27, 2008 by Sarah 3 Comments

J+M+J

Saturday was lovely. The temperature was 34 F, the sky was clear, the wind was not extremely bad, and even that died down later in the day. On this lovely day, Dad took Johnathan, Landon, Alexander and I to fly model airplanes with Mr. Wilson at a place for model airplane flyers. (The same Mr. Wilson that took me in the air balloon.) Mr. Wilson owns two model airplanes. One without a motor called the Gentle Lady, and one with a motor called the Cessna 170. We flew the Gentle Lady first.

This is the remote control. The same control is used for both planes.

To Launch the Gentle Lady, we thread a little string through a backwards hook on the bottom of the main body, or fuselage. Then the holder of the plane steps backward until the string is taut. The string is fastened on the ground across the field. The end of it is rubber.

We let go, and the string pulls the plane quickly and it sails into the air with the string still attached.

The string falls off when it is not pulled tight anymore, and the airplane is free to glide for a couple of minutes.

The airplane gets closer and closer to the ground.

Then it lands.

When it does land, Landon runs after the plane to bring it back, and Alexander or John Paul runs to get the string. Once Alexander bent over and grabbed for the string. He thought he had it in his hands, and so he went through all the motions of pulling it (he has to put his weight into the string because it doesn’t want to be stretched tight) without having it in his hand.

Sometimes Alexander with his little legs can’t keep up with us.

Dad readies to launch the plane.

Then Mr. Wilson got out the Cessna. He filled it up with fuel, and tried to start it, but it wouldn’t start. Mr. Wilson figured that he had plugged the tube that was supposed to be plugged into the fuel into the place for exhaust, and the tube for exhaust into the fuel.

He fixed that and then started the airplane with this thing that spins the propeller fast and starts it.

After a few crashes, it took off.

Vroom!

Neeroom!

Zoom!

This airplane really doesn’t have a limited time of flight, (except for running out of gas or crashing, of course.) You can steer it close to the ground and then back up into the air, unlike the Gentle Lady. It is also very fast.

The Cessna crashed and broke a propeller, so Mr. Wilson went home to get a spare. In the mean time, we went to eat lunch. Mom came to the restaurant to take John Paul home, because he was cold and did not have snow pants. He was a little tired of watching Dad and Mr. Wilson fly the airplanes. I could not believe Alexander did not want to go home, because he should have been needing a nap and usually little kids have short attention spans in watching stuff.

We met back at the field, and Mr. Wilson flew the little Cessna.

But first Dad and Mr. Wilson had to search for the perfect runway. Dad played with this picture a little.

Later we got out the glider.

A perfect landing.

Mr. Wilson showed me how the controls worked, and then he had me fly his hand pretending to be the airplane. Then he tossed it up in the air and let me control it down onto the ground.

I crashed, nose down. On my second try, I stalled and forgot which way was up and which was down and the planes wings flew off. Fortunately, we were able to put it back together again.

To give you an idea of the wingspan…

I got to launch the plane into the air for Mr. Wilson to fly. It bumped my head gently because I wasn’t holding it level.

Alexander never tires of tracking back and forth to collect the string.

Even at the end of the day, the airplane is still a source of fascination for him. Alexander behaved himself quite well considering his age.

By the time we got home, Alexander proved how much fun he had had in a predictable way.

A+M+D+G

Makeover!

Monday, January 21, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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My blog got a makeover, can you tell? It took Dad all of about thirty seconds to change it! The birds in the upper right and lower left are European Robins. I also added a page called Nature Notes that I will update frequently.

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Catch-up

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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I haven’t blogged for a few weeks, so I’ll just catch up in this post.

Early January, I’m pretty sure we had the January thaw. The January thaw is a warmer period in early January for the great plains region (in other areas it comes later in the month) that usually follows very cold weather.

I had fun putting together a puzzle that I got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Dykhius:

The next week there was the spelling bee. I got second place in the written test and third place in the oral spell down. I got out on the word rebellion (I am really mad at myself) making the same mistake I made in the city spelling bee last year, not spelling it with two l’s.

Then I came down with the worst sore throat of my life. I had body aches, a headache, vomiting, a fever, and a horrible sore throat. I couldn’t even drink water! It turned out to be Strep Throat.

I got on an antibiotic and it went away in time for my grandparents on Dad’s side to come over. Dad made a big Chevy’s (a great mexican restaurant) dinner with salsa, corn pudding, churro beans, fajitas, and guacamole from recipes in the Chevy’s cookbook. It tasted great! We opened up presents and I got this to add to my mounted atlas moth:

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New Year’s Celebration

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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Dad took us to eat at a delicious Chinese restaurant for supper New Year’s day. After that we went bowling. While we were waiting for our food, we looked at the chinese zodiac place mats to see what animal we were. Dad said, “I’m a tiger.” Alex looked surprised and declared, “You’re not a kiger, you’re a Dad!”

After bowling, Dad asked if we could see the machinery in the bowling alley in action. The man he asked took us back and showed them to us. They were loud, but I am glad we got to see them.

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Farming Pictures

Saturday, November 10, 2007 by Sarah Leave a Comment

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A while back, I wrote about our trip to the farm. Here are the pictures of what we did that day.

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The Keebler

Friday, November 9, 2007 by Sarah 2 Comments

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Thursday night, I dreamed about hot air balloons. Noon Friday, I learned Dad was going to take Landon, Maria, Johnathan, and I along in his friend Mr. Wilson’s pick-up truck while he chased the hot air ballon Mr. Wilson was flying with his instructor and helped him inflate and deflate the balloon. Maria said she wasn’t going to come because she had seen hot air balloons on television.
When Dad arrived at three, we piled in his truck and went to a park in Brandon. Soon Mr. Wilson arrived and we began to help him set up the balloon. First we got the balloon bag out of the car. The boys helped roll it a little way from the car. Then we got out the basket and put it upright.

Next we tipped the basket on it’s side and Dad and I began to take the 200 and some pound balloon out of it’s bag. It was like a magician’s scarf trick in that it kept coming and coming. Meanwhile, Mr. Wilson’s instructor arrived.

Now we turned on the fan and began to inflate the balloon with cold air. Mr. Wilson informed me that I was to help him buckle down the top of the air balloon’s vents so the heat, when it was applied, would not escape. I passed off the camera to Landon.

Filling up!

Buckling down.

This is why it’s called ‘The Keebler’

Beginning to rise!

The inside.

After the vents were closed, Mr. Wilson gave me a rope attached to the top of the balloon and told me how to ease up the balloon into the air as the burner heated up the air inside the balloon. This was hard as the balloon was EXTREMELY HEAVY!

Getting directions. I have to wrap the rope around my waist but not tie it and pull. I am told to let go if I have to. Then Mr. Wilson demonstrates what he does not want to happen by cupping his hand to his mouth and calling into the sky, “Let go of the rope, Sarah!”

The balloon is not very heavy in this picture yet. For now I am able to smile and wave.

Now the balloon is big and it takes all my strength to hold on. I ease it up.

Going up!

All the way up.

Dad loves this picture.

When the balloon was completely in the air, I rushed in and added my weight to help keep the basket down. Mr. Wilson had me step up into the basket on a side that was trying to escape into the air. This was a lot of fun. It was similar to those rides in the entrance to the grocery store where you are rocked back and forth. The wind pushed the balloon up. Sometimes the basket would lift. I leaned to this sneaky side trying to go up, and then to that side, trying to keep my balance. I called to Landon to take pictures of me in the balloon.

When the basket was level and everything was ready for the take off, I heard Mr. Wilson say to his instructor, “Can we take her along?” I held my breath. The instructor’s answer was yes, if Dad would consent. She went over to talk to him, and Dad nodded his head. The instructor had only been giving him directions on how to cast off the rope, which was tied to the pick-up. THen Mr. Wilson asked, and Dad said: YES! We lifted off. I wished I could have had the camera, but Dad was getting into the truck and, “I can’t come back! I don’t know how it works!”

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Wheeee!!

Mr. Wilson’s touch-and-go.

We flew low over the country. We saw many pheasants, deer, rabbits, and cows. I even saw a fish jump out of Beaver Creek we were flying above. The bottom of the creek was visible, as the water was transparent. The sun was out and there were no clouds. The ride was smooth and the air was fresh, cool, and crisp. However, it was not too cold. The only shivers I had were from excitement. The ride was smooth and gentle, except when Mr. Wilson practiced landing with a touch-and-go. I was instructed to bend my knees, face the direction we were going, and grab the basket in two places while we landed. It wasn’t quite as bumpy as I thought it would be. After we touched ground, Mr. Wilson squeezed the fire on and we rose into the air.
When we gained speed and height, Mr. Wilson let me squeeze the handle that controls the fire. I could just reach it by standing on the balls of my feet and reaching my arm high above my head. At first, Mr. Wilson told me when to use the fire, then the instructor told me she wanted to try something new. She squeezed my hand whenever it was time to use the fire. She helped me land the ballon very gently with almost no hard bumps. We touched ground, then lifted off a couple of feet and glided along the ground, and alighted again. This was repeated several times, like a stone skipping across water. Finally we came to a halt behind a car racing track that was not in use at that time.
Mr. Wilson took over and we again gained speed and height. He did not quite get that it was actually the instructor who had made the landing and he said, “Now you can’t make me look that bad.” We didn’t tell him what was actually going on until we had landed for good.
All too soon, it would be sunset, and Mr. Wilson landed the balloon. This time it was much bumpier, and I was smashed between Mr. Wilson and the instructor, who took turns falling on me. It didn’t hurt that bad. Dad pulled up in his Mr. Wilson’s truck and all together we began to put the balloon away.
First Dad pulled the air balloon onto the ground. Then Mr. Wilson and his instructor squeezed the air out of the balloon. Then everyone helped put the balloon into the bag. When the balloon was in, Johnathan jumped on the bag to get the air out. Finally, everything was loaded into the back of the pick-up truck.

Squeezing out the air.

Stuffing the balloon into the bag.

We returned too the park, had a few snacks, and then we went home. I had not expected to have ridden in the balloon that day.

A+M+D+G

In the Mall

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 by Sarah Leave a Comment

J+M+J

I was walking through the mall with the family. My heart was beating faster than normal. I had my Claires Botique gift card in my pocket. I wondered how bad it would hurt, because I was going to get my ears pierced.
We entered the store, and told the cashier what I needed, and then I was escorted by a proccession of family members and a ear piercing lady to a tall chair in the corner of the store. I was given pictures of many earings. The woman recomended that I get 14 Kt gold earings so I wouldn’t have an allergic reaction. If I did, I would have to take the earings out, and the holes would close up. Anyway, the gold ones were cheapest. I picked some white gold ones that were quite pretty.
Next came the hard part. I was going to have both ears done at the same time, and that took two people. The second person was checking out customers, and couldn’t get there at that moment.
When the woman arrived, they positioned the earings and told me they were counting to three and on count three I had to blow Maria’s hair off because she was standing in front of me. I didn’t quite do that, because I was concentrating on not flinching. That’s because the condition on which I was to get my ears pierced was that Dad got to watch my face while it was done. It didn’t hurt so bad, but my ears felt hot and were a little purple for about forty-five minutes later.

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