Water Recycling and Sanitation

So what are some ways we use water? Less than 1% of the water on Earth is fresh water that people can use for these purposes. Where does that water go? How does it come back to us clean? How can we conserve water at home?

Most water treatments have a substance added to the water to make certain kinds of particles in the water sink to the bottom. Then filtering systems are used to clean out the remaining purities. Here was the experiment.

I shaved a bar of soap with a cheese grater. We poured soap into two glasses of water and mixed it up. To one glass we added table salt. To the other we added Epsom Salt. Again we mixed them up. Then we used two new glasses with filters to filter the water. The Epsom Salted soap water came out looking clear. The Table Salt Soap Water was cloudy. Same glasses same filters same soapy water, different substance added.

Wetlands and the Water Cycle

So to go along with a trip to the sanitation district, we did a couple experiments that have to do with water. Here is the first one.

Here we see a wetlands. The sponges represent the waterlogged soil. Here is what we did. First we put a puddle of water at the bottom of the paint pan. We gave the upper land some animals and put the spongy soil inbetween the land and water. Then we poured on some pollution (hole punches and powdered cocoa). Then we let it rain. (Water falling from a watering can). The sponges held a lot of the powdered cocoa from reaching the water. AND only one hole punch got in.

Here we let half the land be wetland and half be non-wetlands. The cocoa powder all got in, along with the hole punches. You can see that the wetlands area is "less poluted" than the non wetlands however it is infiltrating into the wetlands.

What WE did...

So while the girls were off investigating "scat" Marley and I decided to do Easter decorating crafts.
We started at the dollar store. We found these great little hangable sparkle foam eggs, two little baskets, and some green plant foam. So each craft was about 3 dollars. We had hunted out some branches yesterday in the rain and set them out to dry.

Here is Marley painting the branches white.

Here she is putting the branches into their green plant foam. We set the foam in there with a couple inches short of the basket so there was room for the rocks. Also I stuffed some paper bag pieces in the sides to keep the foam and branches from moving.

And the final product. We made two. One for the dining room table and one for the family room. We put rocks over the foam and paper (found outside) and hung eggs from the branches. And wah laa. (I saw someone spell voila that way the other day and have loved the spelling ever since. lol.)

A Flutter With Activity

So spring has officially sprung. We are getting out far more. Being part of the world again.

So I set the girls up to do a park program called Nature CSI for today. We had no idea what it would be ahead of time. I guess a rabbit was killed and it was their job to find out who killed it and who ate it based on foot prints, scat, hair, etc.

Brenda's only complaint... It was cold and rainy today. She wished they didn't have so far to hike to get to the taped off crime scene. lol.

Accessorizing

News just in. Marley is an A+ accessorizor. She has THE style.

Gettin Into Everything

It is that time again. Callie is at that age where every door, drawer, space, and crevice is just a place to explore. :-)

A Day With Old Friends

We decided to make plans with an old friend we hadn't seen since the move. By old I mean that we have been friends for years, not that she is old. So we headed back to the ol' KY to enjoy a lunch, bike riding and just good olfashioned hanging out. Paula said her grandkids were getting too old for the My Little Pony castle so of course now it belongs to us!!! Marley has played with it since. She even put her tooth in there for the tooth fairy last night. I am sure the tooth fairy loved hanging out in the castle before heading out to the next house.

Invention Convention Day

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Toward the end of the "school" year the girls start staying up later, sleeping in. So today they ended up sleeping past the time to go to today's invention convention. But we headed up there around noon to drop Bret off to spend the night with her friend. When we got there it turned out we were still in time to help set off some rockets. Pressure, air, water, vinegar, baking soda, plastic bottles, and away they went. And Marley did what she does best. She got good and muddy in the sand box. It looked to be a stormy day, but turned out to be great!

Cinnamon Bubble Rolls

Again! It took two times to download this before I got it to stick! Oh well. So is life. In our new edition of Family Fun there was a fun-looking recipe for this bubble bread (that incidentally tastes like cinnamon rolls). So I got some yeast and asked Marley if she wanted to help which of course she did.

Lately I have heard all about how the older girls get to do whatever they want and she NEVER gets to do ANYTHING she wants to do. So I have been working on just finding ways to attract her attention to other fun things.

This bubble bread was so fun! There was the issue of my yeast not leavening properly. That has been happening to me since I moved to this house. I blame the house. Anyway so we were making these balls of dough and then we were to roll them in butter and next into our sugar cinnamon mix. Finally 5 go in each cupcake tin and they rise (except mine don't) and then they cook (this is where ours finally rise lol.)

The rule was to pat your hands in flour before you role the dough pieces so they don't stick. She rolled a bunch herself then offered me to help. I started rolling them at a faster speed. Marley corrected me. "You don't need more flour, Mom. Slow and easy, Mom. Slow and easy. Then they don't stick to your hands." And when I forgot and sped up she would remind me. lol.