Had to try it.

I had this idea, and I just had to try it. I think it worked out OK. The nose was a bit of a challenge, but I think it will make some little dude or dudette happy. Doing these caps for people with cancer has been extremely rewarding. I have also enjoyed making hats for new babies and my adult friends :-) Thanks for the outlet!! K~

I don't know yet???

Working on some new ideas. This is a knitted bookmark. I like to do a simple knitted stitch (cuz it's all i do :-)) and then add a fancy crocheted edge. I will check out how it works for an actual bookmark now. K~

still blooming

Isn't it neat that geraniums just keep blooming! I think these are just happy optimistic flowers. I like to keep them all winter and watch them happily flower over and over again. K~

trying to save a great blue heron

I got a phone call from Rick who works for the MN DNR. He said that there was a heron with a broken wing at a pond he was at. He and his partner got the heron and brought it to me. I put him in a large box. After a few photographs, I rushed off to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It was an honor and a privilege to be part of this experience. I had to hold the beak and neck while the vet examined it. They are the most stunning animals. Sadly the fracture was too extreme (compound) that the poor guy had to be put down. I was sad to see it go. But it would have perished anyway when winter came. It simply could not fly and was in terrible pain. K~

I tell ya.....

My night started out with the snapping turtles. The 2 in the 500 gallon tanks took a bit of time to drain. Especially with a large feisty snapping turtle in each. After a bit of time holding the tank at an angle so it could drain (they aren't full to the top :-)) I needed to net out the dead fish, lettuce and grape remains. The one turtle kept snapping at the net. The freaky thing is that they jump too. That kind of startles me. While I was filling this one turtles tank I could not help but laugh at him. The water was clear and about 3" deep. He "slid" under the water and approach the side I was on, slowly and quietly. He would go about 2" and then lift his head out of the water very slowly. After a couple of times he was very close to where I was. At that point it finally dawned on me that he was stocking me like prey. I had to inform him, that he was in 3" of clear water and I could see him the entire time. It's good practice, I suppose. :-) I had to laugh.
Then off to Ward D. I needed to clean this gooses cage, that could not stand. He had a spine injury. So I lovingly picked up this hissing fiend and held him in my arms. He proceeded to lung at my co worker and grab her sleeve and bit at it then after I got him loose, he took his huge toothy beak and clamped down on my arm and just bit me hard. After he was done, I put him away and checked my arm. It had a small bruise already and by the nights end it looked like a small hickey! This morning all visual signs are gone but I have a small lump and it kind of hurts. Sheesh!! That's the thanks we often get for cleaning them up and getting them off their own poop!

It was a night of escapees too.

I had a Flicker flee on me. I had a dark eyed junko, jump (thankfully not to his death) and a Sora just dart out of his door. The net was a very handy thing last night.

After we finished, we got treated to some snacks from the Volunteer appreciation event that they had that night. They rotate it every year and this year it happened to fall on Wednesday night, so we had to party with the animals. We sat around and laughed a lot. It was a nice hour.

K~

What is your artistic inspiration??

Mine? well it's a tissue box of course. I saw this tissue box and had to buy it. Then I could not throw it away. I love the color combos. So, I held onto it. The other day, I found it in my craft stuff by my "nest" as I was cleaning it out and rearranging for winter. I was just tickled to get started on a new piece. Well... Here it is.

K~

all that glitters is not gold

This is where my boys decided to do their glitter project.

I am still finding glitter pieces stuck to my arm or on my nose.

K~

my "little" pal

My little pal is scheduled for release. He is absolutely the cutest! I will miss him. He helped me last night again. The gull does not share my opinions of my little pal. The herring gull was screaming at the big sleeping pelican, who, by the way, was sleeping in the gulls pen. My pal also eats all the gull fish, so, I really can't blame the gull for hating his neighbor.

Funny story...... The pelicans fish was thawing in the hall by the kitchen WAY away from the room he was in.

On the box was this note:

"Do not put the fish in the same room as the Pelican.

He will find it and just eat and eat and eat!!"

Last week the vet was thawing the fish in the sink IN THE SAME ROOM. I wonder if that is what prompted this special instruction. If so, I can't imagine the mess the pelican made to get to those fish. Sheesh!!

As it is, I was there until 10:15 last night. AND when I left, there was about and hour of work to do. I needed to leave, cuz, the kiddies and Rick were at his mom's and they needed to get to bed for school. I am tired today!!

Below are other cool animals that were there. Not shown is the downy woodpecker, that was just pecking away at my hand while I was cleaning it's cage. peck peck peck peck wiggle wiggle wiggle oh and i better peck some more!!

Midland Painted Turtle

Cat bird

3 night hawks
smallest chipping sparrow EVER!
Chukar...COOL!
brown headed cow bird
Solitary Sandpiper. He was very shy. go figure.

K~

Finally...

It is a reality. There I am with my bun and all, crafting and learning YEAH!! Should have been given a bit more credit in the article... but... it's certainly NOT about me as an individual. I am so so happy and proud that all our hard work (5 of us) stuck with it. I saw something come full circle. That doesn't happen all the time. K~

Parents pepped-up about PEP


PEP group meeting in September. Photo by Deb Pleasants.
By Deb Pleasants , TC Daily Planet
September 20, 2008
“It’s about time they have a parenting class for parents with school-age kids,” Melissa Semrad said. PEP, the new Parent Educational Program for parents with school-age children, debuted in September. Created by the Working Family Resource Center in Saint Paul, PEP addresses the concerns of parents with children ages 5-12 years of age.
When Semrad’s son was an infant, she participated in parenting classes sponsored by ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education). ECFE is a widely popular parent education program for families with children under five. She felt the parenting advice and peer support she received in this program was invaluable. Semrad remained in the program until her son headed off to kindergarten. She had no choice but to leave; she had aged-out of the program. Semrad found herself facing this new stage of parenting and nowhere to turn for help.
To register for the next PEP session, contact the Working Family Resource Center at 651-293-5330.“All of our problems don’t end when our kids start school…sometimes they’re just beginning. Parenting gets harder the older they [the kids] are and you have less and less influence,” Semrad said.
Semrad is not alone. Many parents rely on ECFE. They see it as a lifeline between parents of small children and parent educators knowledgeable about the many issues involving childhood development. Severing that line just when parents need help navigating complex issues such as peer pressure, self-esteem, and sexual development did not make sense.
“I actually have felt a drift in some common, but extremely difficult topics. I just could not give up the idea of getting easily accessed help out there for the common everyday issues that come up for parents and their children,” said Kirsten Walsh, mother of three.
Walsh was one of several former ECFE parents who decided enough was enough. She and several other parents including Julie Printz realized if they wanted a parenting group designed for them, they needed to convince potential funders it was a worthwhile venture.
“We interviewed other parents and found there was a desire for it…Many parents grieved once they left ECFE and had nothing to replace it,” Printz said.
Their survey yielded the results they needed to find an agency willing to tackle this issue. Printz reached out to the Working Family Resource Center, which already had a PEP program they used for working families.
“I was thrilled that the WFRC was able to line something up. They were a natural since they already had established connections with parent educators,” Printz said
Working Family Resource Center began in 1985 funded by Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS). Its purpose is to provide parenting education and other resources to working families. WFRC offers a wide-range of services including community classes, online seminars and library resources. However, WFRC is perhaps best known for the brown bag parenting seminars they hold onsite for employees at over 100 area businesses.
“There is not another organization like ours…we are unique,” said Beth Quist, Director of Education at WFRC.
On July 1, 2007, WFRC broke away from SPPS and became an independent, non-profit organization; this decision granted them more freedom and flexibility. Even with a small staff—two fulltime and three part-time employees—last year WFRC provided services to over 10,000 working parents throughout Minnesota as well as 15 other states.
“It [WFRC] can now reach beyond Saint Paul boundaries. We can reach a broader audience with technology and web seminars,” said Quist.
Typically, employers contract with WFRC to provide services to their employees. In this case, however, SPPS Community Education offered space at the Rondo Center. It seemed like an appropriate partnership since many of the parents participating have children attending school in Saint Paul.
Similar to ECFE, Working Family Resource Center uses licensed parent educators to facilitate classes. However, there are distinct differences. One difference is in funding; ECFE is a state-funded program. WFRC, on the other hand, receives its funding from employers. The new PEP program receives funds from SPPS Community Education \ and participant fees.
Another noticeable difference: WFRC has no age cutoff. Their services cover family issues at all stages of growth. In fact, a four-stage PEP program already existed: birth to 5 year, 6 to 12 years, Adolescents and Eldercare. Because resources and parent educators were readily available, adding the new PEP class was rather easy.
At present, WFRC plans to hold two classes. A morning class started earlier this month with twelve participants. They plan to start an evening class for working parents as soon as enough parents register.
Parents will meet weekly for eight weeks. Rather than strictly adhering to a set curriculum, many of the topics discussed will be parent driven. The parent educator will customize the course to reflect the concerns of the participants.
“No two programs will look the same,” said Quist.
Quist hopes WFRC will be able to expand the program in the future. However, first they need to evaluate the success of this first session.
“We want to do an initial program…do it extremely well and then make decisions based on that,” said Quist.
Deb Pleasants worked as a probation officer for 15 years prior to becoming a stay-at-home-mom. In addition to caring for her son, she is a freelance writer and citizen journalist. She resides in St. Paul with her family.
Article Tags:
St. Paul,
Community Culture,
Education

ice cream, bears and sharks... oh my!

We went to the Minnesota Zoo today. I had the chance to photograph the grizzlies up close as well as the shark. I, of course, had the setting on the camera wrong. I am determined more than ever to get this retaken.... NEXT TIME!! K~

Hats for the neighbors

I finally got the hats off to the neighbors.

Of course it had to be 85 degrees today :-)

The little boy seemed to really like his. K~

The best "little" co worker!!

I am so in love with my new co worker. He/she is ADORABLE!! I am in ward J. I need to clean the 4 snapping turtles, 5 ducks outside, one herring seagull, one angry little duck and this sweetheart juvenile American White Pelican. So I am busy cleaning out the turtle bins, and dead fish are spilling onto the floor heading for the drain. I hear an odd noise of some major rustling behind me. There, up on his 2 foot high pen sits an enormous baby pelican. His wing span is about 5 feet and it is attempting to fly. It jumps off the pen, and walks over to where the dead fish are. He proceeds to work on eating these tiny minnows. He picks at the grapes and apple pieces too. Then unexpectedly, he come over right next to me and starts to check out the snappers. Needless to say, I moved him along. He followed me around for the remainder of the evening. When I went out side, I needed to prop the door open. I needed to keep an eye on the door, because he was determined to come and help me out there. When I got to cleaning the angry duck, he was so close to me that his soft bill was just rubbing on my leg and his feathers were brushing up against me. At one point he was kind of pushing me aside and was sticking his huge bill in the duck enclosure. I had to physically move his bill out of the duck pen. He was persistent. Finally his fish was thawed and his pool was clean and after he stole most of the herring seagulls fish, he got out of the seagulls pen and flopped into his pool as I threw him fish like a seal. 3 to 4 - 5" fish at a time. Oh he was SO happy!! Just such a special special time for me. Heart warming really. If he wasn't 3' tall and about 20 pounds, I would have wanted to just tuck him in my pocket and brought him home!! He did poop everywhere too, but so does Bing!
Juvenile Herring Seagull
Belted Kingfisher - I snuck in and peeked on this cool bird. Didn't have to care for it, but still super neat!
K~

14 years

Happy 14th anniversary to us.

We have been married for 14 years!

Is this possible?

Wow. Love you Hun!

K~

My Pey Pey!!

Here's Rick. Handsome yes, my partner in life since 1986 and my hubby for 14 years.....yes we are old!! I needed to acknowledge him because I feel a bit of guilt having such a popular "boyfriend".

By the way we got matching "Walsh" Vikings shirts from Marsha and Barry. It was so fun. They spoil us so.

Ok, If you don't tailgate, having beef, shrimp and alcohol slushies at 9 am is par for the course.

I was so excited about seeing my Pey Pey live!! Under all my Vikes gear is my colts shirt :-) Here I am purple and very round :-( No photos please..... and yes I am knitting :-)

#18

But who cares....................Here is my Pey Pey. Peyton Manning. I was like a young teen at my first rock concert. So silly. I had SUCH A GOOD TIME!! This game went SO FAST!! I was so thrilled when they won. I took photo after photo. I had to enlarge this one. My zoom sucks on this camera!! Anywho.... I could go on and on. Now I have the ticket stub, the Peyton Manning 3 1/4 action figure, my tee shirt and now my personally shot photos! K~

Ramses

What??? I like my salads. K~