Today I have been busy making chokecherry syrup and jelly. It takes a lot of time and attention to detail. Just like online classes. And if you don't pay attention to the details, then nothing turns out. Just like technology. It's not that making syrup and jelly are hard, but then usually learning a new technology isn't either, but...if you miss a step or try to fudge something, well... then your "syrup" or "jelly" just does not taste too great or does not set up. Kind of like that wiki that Ben, Sara and I did. Apparently I did something wrong and the teacher could not tell if I participated or not. So, that got me thinking. If Ben set up the account, and Sara and I logged in under his account, how does one tell who did what? I know I put in my email to become a member, but since we had our wiki set up so anyone could edit it, and never did it ask me who I was, so how did the teacher know? I guess I missed something on this unit and it is an important thing to know because if I am going to use it in class, I will need to know what student did what. If any one would like to answer that question, feel free. So, I guess in this case my "jelly" didn't turn out so well. But here at home, I happily have 18 pints of syrup and 15 half pints of jelly. Yum, Yum!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Ranch Horse Competition
I have a sister, just 2 years older than I, who is really into horses. She has her own little place outside of town and has been breeding and training quarter horses to be good all around ranch horses and some for cutting. At our county fair, 5 years ago, she started a ranch horse competition. Now ranch horse competitions are not unique, it's just that our county had never hosted one before.
If you don't understand what goes on at a ranch horse competition, let me explain. Someone, usually my sister in this case, comes up with "activities" that you and your horse might encounter in every day life on a ranch. For example, Jamie usually has a pattern and list of activities like open and shut a gate while mounted, cross a wooden bridge, dismount and pick up all 4 feet on your horse, load and unload your horse in a trailer, dally a rope on your saddle horn which is attached to a heavy log and do a figure 8 between cones, and always of course, work some cattle, usually cutting one away from a herd and working it (turning it) a few times on the fence line, and sometimes roping it. Of course, you have to do all this in a given time frame, usually 5 minutes! There are usually several judges that critique your riding skills, your horse skills, and your horse.
My sister organizes this event and usually participates. Often my youngest daughter competes also. There are different divisions like colts, kids, women, men, pro. Because my sister organizes it, she enlists the help of all her family. I announce and tell jokes if there is down time, my husband and mother are the timers, my eldest daughter adds scores, and my youngest daughter runs score sheets from the judges to the announcer's booth. There are people who donate cattle, people that drag the arena, people that open and shut gates; a lot of people help with the event. Hats off to all of them.
If you haven't ever been to one, I highly suggest it. It's fun and amazing to watch. Horses are just phenomenal creatures, especially when they have been trained correctly. My sister amazes me with how well she works with horses. She rarely gets bucked off. She doesn't beat them, she is just one of those people that connects. Right now she is donating one of her mares to our Children's home for therapy. Troubled children often find a lot of peace from caring for an animal, or just being able to talk to it. I think that is pretty generous of my sister.
Here is her website if you want to look at her horses. http://www.jamiesquarterhorses.com By the way, I designed her site for her. :-) It is still a work in progress and it's that time of year to update the pictures, but it still looks pretty good. I tried to keep it clean and uncluttered.
If you don't understand what goes on at a ranch horse competition, let me explain. Someone, usually my sister in this case, comes up with "activities" that you and your horse might encounter in every day life on a ranch. For example, Jamie usually has a pattern and list of activities like open and shut a gate while mounted, cross a wooden bridge, dismount and pick up all 4 feet on your horse, load and unload your horse in a trailer, dally a rope on your saddle horn which is attached to a heavy log and do a figure 8 between cones, and always of course, work some cattle, usually cutting one away from a herd and working it (turning it) a few times on the fence line, and sometimes roping it. Of course, you have to do all this in a given time frame, usually 5 minutes! There are usually several judges that critique your riding skills, your horse skills, and your horse.
My sister organizes this event and usually participates. Often my youngest daughter competes also. There are different divisions like colts, kids, women, men, pro. Because my sister organizes it, she enlists the help of all her family. I announce and tell jokes if there is down time, my husband and mother are the timers, my eldest daughter adds scores, and my youngest daughter runs score sheets from the judges to the announcer's booth. There are people who donate cattle, people that drag the arena, people that open and shut gates; a lot of people help with the event. Hats off to all of them.
If you haven't ever been to one, I highly suggest it. It's fun and amazing to watch. Horses are just phenomenal creatures, especially when they have been trained correctly. My sister amazes me with how well she works with horses. She rarely gets bucked off. She doesn't beat them, she is just one of those people that connects. Right now she is donating one of her mares to our Children's home for therapy. Troubled children often find a lot of peace from caring for an animal, or just being able to talk to it. I think that is pretty generous of my sister.
Here is her website if you want to look at her horses. http://www.jamiesquarterhorses.com By the way, I designed her site for her. :-) It is still a work in progress and it's that time of year to update the pictures, but it still looks pretty good. I tried to keep it clean and uncluttered.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Run that by me again.
This video either makes me laugh or sad because my girls are grown and past this stage. Depends on my mood.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Cyber Bullying
Why? What do kids get out of it? Have we taken the "it's not nice to hit" so far that now kids feel like they have to do it via email, texting, IMing? Frankly, punching it out on the playground sounds better, and then make them eat lunch together and talk about it. Face to face, man to man, so to speak. Harder to be nasty to someone's face, no matter how you were raised.
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