Through the Eyes of a Child

The grandkids, a.k.a the varmints, are to spend some more time afield with me this year. I plan to share some of that in following posts. I took a walk alone a few weeks ago consciously reminiscing my own childhood, my children's, and trying to tune myself for the interaction with the next generation.

A drizzly day, some shots of our playground.

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Maybe I am not alone.

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The next two are foreigners, planted by my Fathers hands.

An Asian Pear

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And the Burning Bush

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The pear draws the deer and coons, the burning bush draws the bearded birds.

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Past the brambles

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And the Kool-Aid stand

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Another foreigner planted by my Fathers hands

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I stray for a moment and think of vino

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The remnants of a fort built by my children, their parents. I forget how to pick who's a cowboy and who's an Indian, I'm sure they will show me.

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We do share the playground

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I head for the Ol' Timers. Just think of all the children's laughter these guys have heard.

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I can see them tasting the sweet droplets

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The Beech done well this year

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I make my way to the pond, where I, their parents, and they caught the first fish. I'm alone and calm, but anxious for their company.

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Beautiful picks. Thanks for taking us along on your walk.

That's outstanding. Thank you.

Good stuff right there. I wish my dad/grandpa taught me more. They are fortunate enough to have your guideance.

Thanks you, very cool, i think you have struck a cord with a lot of people........

Very poetic. :)

Thanks for the journey.

I consciously make note of the flora youngsters

The beech

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The Pine

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And of the Ol' Timers

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I walk to the headwaters of the pond. This is where the mother of all lizards lives, the father of all crawdads.

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I head back to the house

A wild prune?

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I'm sure that it will be years before they will allow themselves to enjoy this

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But they do enjoy MaMaws flowers, to her somewhat disdain I might add.

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We'll meet the varmints in a few.

"Beech" is the name of that tree?

I found out its leaves are perfect to start a fire in the winter: they stay dry, and if there's ice on them, you can easily peal it off without breaking the leaf (and the part under the ice will be dry).

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Originally Posted by payne

"Beech" is the name of that tree?

I found out its leaves are perfect to start a fire in the winter: they stay dry, and if there's ice on them, you can easily peal it off without breaking the leaf (and the part under the ice will be dry).

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Well, that one is an American Beech. They hold their leaves well into the winter. That is especially true on young sheltered ones.

Well, two of them, Junior Miss Amerca (JMA) and ButtaBean (BB) daughter and son of who else but Miss America. It's the new year and we had the cold snap, we needed to do some preparatory work inside anyway.

MaMaw agreed to instruct a sewing class. She chose felt and embroidery thread for their first exercise, a stick bag.

JMA chooses red

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BB will be the man in black

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Their hands got tired after about an hour of that, we let them stop and moved on. We'll show you some finished bags in a few weeks.



Next was "build-your-own-tinder". I wish you could hear the giggles.

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I melted the vasoline down and let them dip their own cotton. They took well to fluffing.

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We gathered some kindling from the wood stove stash, annnnnnnnnd

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Success.

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And for reward, what else but hot chocolate. I let them use a fuel tab on that.

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Mmmmmmmmm

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Journal entries and cleanup, what a wonderful evening.

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BearDog (BD), varmint number three, plays catch up in the next post. Then it's "little boots in the field".

May you always be able to see the world with the eyes on a child.....and an open mind.......I wonder........?

rep here for the trip.......

What a great time. Something they will always remember.

BD, son of Belly-Up. He gets to spend the night last Saturday. The other two vermin are to arrive Sunday morning, we've got a little catching up to do. I didn't take pics of the vaso giggle session, but I assure you it happened.

The strike

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The reach

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The warmth

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Bad pic, but the fuel tab cocoa

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Journal and clean up. I think I've got three survivors here.

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Great day ,, always fun to share with the young ones

looks like you had a blast thanks for taking us along

Rep sent, glad you had a good time with your grand kids. And leave it to an engineer to have his grand kids logging their adventures in a journal LOL

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Originally Posted by Sparky93

............And leave it to an engineer............

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The journals actually evolved after some deliberation.

I considered paper and pencil to be rather useful items in this adventure, I'll spare the laundry list of why. If I was to turn things over completely to the engineer, he would have insisted on an RPN calculator and log book. With that, they would learn logic and be able to do their own cipherin' for BDC and windage at the range. LOL

If you'll notice in the pic of JMA doing the journal thing, there is a calculator and note pad next to her. That is a piece of schwag from work, put into their kits as somewhat of a convenient afterthought. But it did take care of a couple of key points; The paper was somewhat protected, it held a pen, and it all could be conveniently stored in a plastic bag.


The presentation:

Christmas Eve is always spent at my Mother's house, the whole hee-haw gang. That includes infants to the geriatric. We all live close, but I am next door. I was cautioned by the safety department not to present their kits in front of the other children, I think bomb making class was mentioned. After obtaining permission from ALL the mothers involved, the varmints and I snuck out the back door and made our way to HQ. I could write for days describing the emotions and intellect from that hour, but I'll just say it was epic.

Debrief:

On the short walk back to Mothers, the discussions revolved mainly around what if I'm here and he's not or vice versa. They were all three concerned with the other, a humbling moment. My answer was that I would keep notes and make sure that each was aware of all tasks. "We need a calendar PeePaw".

Purchasing:

So, engineering approaches purchasing for three diaries, and was immediately denied. "Resubmit and call it a journal dummy, the boys won't use it if there is any connotation of a diary".





Engineering, Human Resources, Purchasing, Safety, and the End Users were all involved.

A gret read for a tired Quality Mngr. and really hit home to me a Father. -Rep Sent!

That was obviously a civilian purchasing dept. A military one would have required the form in triplicate. Then after two weeks you would have received a denial because, "said diary not a stocked item". You would then have to resubmit the proper form, in triplicate, requesting "journals" and after three weeks your would receive your shipment of socks.

Networking is the key. I know that the Head of Purchasing has some strange affinity for the Chief Engineer. Just got to pull some strings.

You sure know how to make it all fun--begining to end! They're lucky to have you in their lives and through these experiences, they'll have you forever.

BD and I are up and moving before the sun. We quietly exit and rendezvous with the other two varmints at Miss America's house. A buffet breakfast is on the menu this morning, in town. Can't be startin' without some bacon and cinnamon rolls.

We get back home with temps 20ish. I had a little bit of classroom time scheduled so that we could wait on some direct rays before venturing out.

Each received an FRS/GMRS/Wx radio in their kit. We went over the the overs, and over and outs, and ins and outs. There is no better music than to listen to those three jabber on a radio.


Then I had them line up in front of me.

"Which way is North?" As if they were trained in the Third Reich, each pointed forward.

"What? Do I look like Santa Claus?" All three rolled their eyes in unison, I take it they didn't get the joke.

"How do you know that way is North?" JMA jumped on the answer, and went through what was an impressive dance singing "Never Eat Sour Worms". I was impressed by the mnemonic, but seen right away that my mad kitchen skilz would come into play. I gathered up two mixing bowls and a pepper shaker, and sent them scrambling for their compass.

I put the two mixing bowls on the coffee table rim to rim. They all three recognized right away that it was the big blue marble with the rims being the equator. They all three knew that we lived in the Northern hemisphere. They all three knew the poles. I only had one more thing to do, get them to understand my jokes. Well, maybe I should aim for just one. I set the pepper shaker on the North Pole and told them that was the Santa Claus magnet. That brought the tiniest of grins. The N on your compass always points to the home of Santa.

"Where does Santa Claus live?" And as if they worshiped the North Star...............the joke got old quick though.

A little more conversation on magnetism, in particular how it affects your compass. Keep it away from your body, no knife in your hand etc.

Since I was fresh out of jokes, we choose some lunch to carry, and mount up.

little boots in the field, and a little frost.

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And sneakers, I think that counts too.

10ish and we have about an hour walk. I take only one pic on this leg, a bunch of wild onion that I hadn't noticed before.

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12ish, close to the house, we stop for lunch. Two of the three take the fire detail fairly serious. BB keeps tearing open bags of M&Ms and such, he doesn't have much time for fire detail.

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JMA does Ramen

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BD and BB do Mac and Cheese

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I opt for Christmas leftovers

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And challenge myself to a wet wood fire

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They each get fire brewed cocoa

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And all is right with the world. We pack up and I ask which way is MaMaws, all three immediately look at their compass and I hear the sweetest echo; "East....East.....East". Back to MaMaws around four for journals and cleanup.

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I'll bet that they (and you) will remember days like this for the rest of their lives, and even relive them on an internet forum in 50 or so years.

First, ya gotta get it past their sweet tooth.

We should get a day afield this coming Sunday, and I'm trying to prepare something other than prepackaged stuff for them to chew on. My Great Grandmother made something very similar to this, and I loved it as a child.

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And I almost forgot the syrup

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Crush those almonds

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A pan of water in the oven seams to keep the crust a bit lighter.

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I poured them at various levels and size.

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Can you smell em?

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The smalls turned out a little too crusty

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I think the deep pour in the large pan is the ticket.

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I sliced a few of them before storage.

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And got rid of a few samples. Man, this is good with peanut butter.

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Ya think I can get them to try it? The packaging is certainly not what they are used to.

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That's so much better than store bought snacks and much more fun to eat the way you packaged them!
Kudos to you for taking time to do it and for letting us in on it. Those are some very lucky munchkins.

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Originally Posted by BENESSE

Those are some very lucky munchkins.

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I am so fortunate to have them healthy and curious. They warm the heart of an old man.

Try pulling the smaller ones a bit earlier next time. They won't take as long as the larger ones to bake. They sure do look good!

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Originally Posted by Rick

Try pulling the smaller ones a bit earlier next time..........

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Point taken, but listen to me argue with myself for a moment. This is always fun.


I poured the different sizes in anticipation of a miscue. Crust, to at least these three, is akin to eating worms. I remember GG's being thin, but rather gooey, so that's why I think the sliced "loaf" will go over better with the kids. That's less surface area of crust per volume of bread. I'll end up with the heels.

But if you'll note the samples that I took, that ended up being mostly the small ones. There was a wonderfully sweet crystallization that happened in the crust. I liked it, they may. Assuming they will eat these gooeys, I am going to try a few crustys on them next time.

Great thread! I appreciate you sharing.

Flatlander

I'm coming to get you. I won't stop until I find you. But, you need to help me.

First, if you find yourself lost, set down. Have a snack, have a drink, think things over. The best thing you can do is just stay put. If for some reason you need to move, you need to leave signs. You should only move if you think you are in danger at that particular location, or if there is some resource that you absolutely need. We will discuss those in days to come.

I was immediately bombarded with questions. They revolved around what would be too dangerous, and of course what would we need? I somewhat dodged the second, stating that there are quite a few more things that we need to go through before we can discuss just what you need, you need to understand what you have first. My answers to the first mainly revolved around exposure to cold, wind, rain, and the sun. Shelter from those is of highest importance. It can be as simple as putting your rain coat on, to as difficult as building a temporary shelter.


But whatever you do, leave me a sign.

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It was a really wet morning this past Sunday. It had drizzled rain basically all day Saturday well up into the night, and it was one of those dripping fogs until around 9 Sunday morning. Temps started just above freezing.

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One of the days plans was to allow BB to redeem himself on fire detail, we all pitched in to gather kindling and wood. I suggested that this was going to be a twofer on the cotton balls. BB goes to work.

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And it stops us all in our tracks for a few minutes.

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JMA and BD go back to gathering

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While BB feeds the monster

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I spot some architectural material and set it aside

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We take a few minutes break, and check in with HQ

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Hillbilly architecture in the next post

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I grabbed a few pieces from the wood pile and built a model. Guys, we need four forks and umpteen poles.

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BB puts a new face on the monster

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And the shelter begins

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We pause for a moment to discuss alternative designs

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And then continue with the original

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I let them go with nylon, and took mental note of each knot. Knot class is to come.

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JMA and I took a hike up the hill to scavenge a log stool. The boys were left in camp, that had beat us to the punch.

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Lunch on a stump

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And a hot drink

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Then, time for round two

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I love this shot

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I wanted to take a nap, they wanted to sharpen sticks

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See ya soon

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You are the best grandpaw EVER!!!!

It helps to have all of these resources surrounding me. That credit goes to my Parents and Grandparents, we live in an incredibly resource rich area. If I can half fill their shoes, I will be doing well.

We now have a place to run to in foul weather, but it's going to turn into an incredible fire trap. The next time they are up, I think we are going to remove the bows and replace them with a tarp. That will make it a bit more safe and functional. We should be able to get the summer out of it. That'll be our classroom for the next few months.

The Sweet Corn didn't go over so well, too gooey. I didn't think you could get too gooey. I'll bake up some crustys before the next adventure.

Awesome adventure for them (and you). Thanks for taking us along.

That was some trip, and congrats of putting your self out with the kids.....That was super.

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Originally Posted by hunter63

That was some trip........

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Trips, and we never leave the farm. It's comforting to be able to do this with them, at this age, and not have the associated risk of being remote. There are plenty of resources available while still being in sight of a roof line.

We should be able to make a few cabin runs this year, a bit more remote, but still only a few miles walk to the closest roof. I doubt that I will ever get to experience true wilderness with them, or maybe I can in memory.

You don't have to go far for a trip....my first camp out was in the dining room with a quilt over the chairs for a "tent", and sleeping on the floor....was pretty much an adventure in young mind.....You have no idea how far you really did go, my friend....Again congrats.

Reminiscing a bit, looking back through the photos of the past few weeks. Here's one of BB signing his canteen. I'm going to have them do that very thing on a few more items, I'll save that for a foul weather day.

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I'm also setting here thinking of next weekends lesson plan, if that's the correct way to put it. I need to dig up a link or two, and I have some questions to pose.

I had to give you some rep for that. Those adventures will live on until they are old and grey. Perhaps the foundation for teaching their kids and grand kids. Great job.