After finishing a trebuchet at Craterworks last week, Gibson built a catapult in his science class this week. His teacher emailed a list of supplies to gather from around the house before the zoom class began. Then the students followed along from home.
Here's a closeup of his catapult built from popsicle sticks, rubber bands and a plastic spoon.
This is a photo of the catapult in action as Gibson launched a cotton ball.
Since we first hiked on the Applegate Ridge trail this summer, Helen and Becky have been making plans to hike the entire trail (10 ½ miles). We were waiting for cooler temperatures and an unscheduled morning. We finally went this Wednesday since it was Veteran's Day and we both had the day off from school.
The first 2 miles of the trail went uphill through a thin forest of madrone and fir trees. We were glad to get the uphill part over at the beginning of our hike.
Most of the trail was along the ridge of mountains that run between Jacksonville and the Applegate Valley. Here the terrain was covered with grass and scrub oak. It was easy hiking and we cruised along at a good pace. We highly recommend hiking this trail. The views are amazing and we finished with a sense of accomplishment without too much effort.
Craterworks was open on Veterans Day and the boys started a new project. They began in the computer lab where they used Adobe Illustrator to design a project they could cut out of a sheet of plywood. Jason drew a sandboard he wants to make to use on the sand dunes at the coast. Gibson and Eddy decided to work together and make a Bigfoot cutout which they can hide in the bushes at Eddy's house. After they got the design they wanted, they printed it out on a large format printer to use as a pattern.
The boys used spray adhesive to attach the pattern to plywood. Jason cut out his sandboard on the bandsaw. Eddy and Gibson took turns using a jigsaw to start working on their Bigfoot design. It was great to see how comfortable the boys are in the woodshop after 2 months of meeting there. We had to end our day early when an alarm connected to the vacuum and filtration system sounded. Neither Ross nor Nathan knew what the alarm meant, but it was safer to stop and learn about the alarm system than to keep using the tools. We're super thankful for Craterworks and the opportunity for Gibson and his friends to learn from Ross and Nathan who are a perfect match for 14 year old boys.
After a long, hot, dry and smoky summer, we were also thankful for the rain this week. Becky took this photo while on a walk Friday afternoon.
On Saturday morning, Brandan, Becky, Helen and Gibson joined some of our neighbors to help the Land Conservancy plant some trees along a creek in our neighborhood. Shade from the trees helps cool the creek to provide a better habitat for fish.
We wore masks and worked with our family instead of mixing together with our neighbors, but it still felt good to be working on a neighborhood project. We miss being part of a physical community. This is a photo of Helen and Gibson planting a dogwood tree.
We planted far more trees than was necessary for the existing space because the botanist in charge wanted to account for the trees that won't survive. For example, some will be killed by beavers. We didn't know beavers lived in the creek near our house, but here is evidence of a tree a beaver has chewed on. Now we know they are here, we will keep our eyes open to see if we can spot one.
