Pine Tar Carving

Dudeboy at a early American carving in Tennessee. Apparently, it was used for making pine tar . This is the second one we have seen (the other is located in the Mammoth Cave area).

Pierre and Friends

Dudeboy went to the Nashville Zoo last week for one of their programs specifically for homeschoolers. And as you can see, he made a few new friends. That is Pierre on top of his head.

Explorers Club 101

Monday (March 2) we went to Mantle Rock in western Kentucky. Indians camped there for a winter on the Trail of Tears and many died. Trees had fallen on the path to Mantle Rock, so we went a quicker way through the woods. We crossed a small creek and got to Mantle Rock. Merkin took a lot of pictures which annoyed me, but then we hiked around the back and got to the top of it. There was quite a view from the top. You could see far.

We walked around, found a humongous icicle, and Merkin got it down for me. I was following him and tripped and broke the icicle. Then we found a place that looked like miniatures--the moss looked like ground, a different moss looked like trees and a rock in it looked like a quarry. Then there was a creek which was deep in that section. I said maybe we could cross it, and Merkin got a horrible idea that he could throw me across it. He threw me across. My feet landed on the other side but I toppled backwards and thought “oh, oh” as I landed in the water. It was very cold (in the thirties) so we had to go to the nearest town to get me some new clothes. Merkin made me some pants out of his shirt and I wore a sweatshirt jacket that hadn’t gotten wet. I waited in the car while Merkin bought the clothes. Then we went to another arch (Apex Arch). It was completely trashed with graffiti and many empty paint cans at the bottom. It’s a wonder how people got 60 feet up to write the graffiti.
When I was sopping wet in the creek, I thought I would catch a cold, but I haven’t. Funny thing is . . . Merkin did catch a cold! Remember to take extra clothes when you go hiking with Merkin, and don’t let him throw you across a creek.

For Spring Break Merkin and I met up with Angela and Bob at the Red River Gorge. On Sunday, March the 8th Merkin and I went to Gray’s Arch. It is a large arch. There is a small monument for someone who fell off the top of the arch and died.

The next day (3.9.09) Angela and Bob bushwhacked with us to Sandy Arch. I was almost wet several times because of many creek crossings. One time we even crossed on a log. Sandy Arch is located up high. I stayed down below with Angela and Bob while Merkin climbed up. It was too scary for me to climb up.

While Merkin went to another arch, Bob read the newspaper, Angela built a sandcastle, and I built a sand arch on a sand bar on the Red River. We called the creation Malcolmland.

On Tuesday (3.10.09) we saw a small arch named Copperhead. It was pretty small. I could hardly fit through it. Then we all went to Rock Bridge and Merkin took off his shoes and got into the water for a better picture. He said the water was very, very, very cold. In Spanish it would be mucho, mucho, mucho frio. When the area was logged many years ago they tried to dynamite Rock Bridge, but it held firm. Only a small piece was knocked off. Merkin and I climbed on top of the bridge. It was very neat. We left Angela and Bob and went to Natural Bridge. I have been to it before, but Merkin needed a better picture. We went up Fat Man’s Misery to get to the top of the arch. Then we headed home.

On March the 17th Merkin and I went to McCreary County get some pictures for Merkin’s arch presentation. We first went to Double Ledge, which is located off an old roadbed. It is two arches on top of each other. I had some fun, but couldn’t get to the very top because it was too muddy.

Then we went to Yahoo Arch and Yahoo Falls. The arch was big with a smaller arch next to it. I could climb on top of the big arch. I tried to make another sand arch, but it failed. We took a path to the bottom of the waterfall. I could feel the wind on my face coming from the waterfall.

Finally, on Monday the 23rd Merkin and I joined Vic, Scott and Aaron on a trip to see Cow Cave Arch. It is a small arch at the entrance of Cow Cave. We then explored Potato Cave, which is right next to it. It was my first wild cave. We found our way through the many tunnels. At one point we had to do a belly crawl. In the middle of the belly crawl I said I was hungry and that I had to pee . . . Which did not please Merkin one bit. We continued on until we came to a pit. Aaron and Scott went on, while Merkin and I waited. I sculpted Merkin’s head in the mud while waiting for them to return. It was night when we exited the cave.
I got to see Vic and Merkin’s presentation at the library on the Natural Arches of Kentucky and I was in many of the photos!

Frist, Zoo and Science Center

Friday, February 20: Frist/ Z00
We went to the Frist for the Medieval art exhibit from the Cleveland Museum of Art. It had Celtic clasps made out of gold and rubies. We also saw an arm made of gold that supposedly held a saint’s arm bone. There was a statue of a saint taking thorn out of a lion’s foot. There was a sculpture of Daniel interior’s den that had been the top of a church’s column. There was a reliquary with a very elaborate front and a saint’s bones inside. Another reliquary had a crystallized part of the cross. On the back it had holy objects wrapped in cloth. The exhibit was so great and so neat because they were able to save so much history.A side exhibit which didn’t link to the other at all had short films pieced together from early and newer films. One was about a boy who lived in his family’s car.

Relic hunter.

When we left the Frist we went to the Nashville Zoo. Right when we got there the homeschool day began. I got to pet a tarantula and a centipede that was about afoot long. I also got to pet an albino hedgehog. The hedgehog was neat : it was the first albino hedgehog that I’ve seen. The theme was rainforests and the animals that lived in them. I never thought that a hedgehog would be in a rainforest. After the session we went to the jungle gym until they came through the park on golf carts to kick the visitors out.
Since we’re combining these, last Wednesday ( February 25 ) we went to the Nashville Science Center. It was very fun. We got to play a little then we went to their new planetarium to see something called Ice Worlds. It had different planets that had ice on them like Earth, Mars, and some moons of Saturn. Did you know that the rings of Saturn are made of ice? The next session, called “Strange Matter,” had different tables that had things to do like figuring out why some gel looked like it disappeared when you put it in water and some crystals that looked like sea salt turned rubbery. There was some sand that floated when lightly shaken on the water, but if you poured it through a funnel, it fell to the bottom in long tubes. The next session was “What’s the Matter?” and it talked about how matter could change states like water to ice or water vapor. Then they had some water vapor in long tubes and they ran electricity through it and it lit up. Light shone from it in a purplish color. Then they poured liquid nitrogen on a flower and after a few minutes, they dropped it on the table and it shattered like glass. They put rubber bands in liquid nitrogen and it broke when someone pulled on it. Ping pong balls dipped in liquid nitrogen started spinning like crazy when put on a plate because the air inside that was cold heated up and forced the air out of a hole. When they poured liquid nitrogen in an empty tea kettle, it whistled.

Dudeboy petting an albino hedgehog.

Presidents' Day & Lincoln's Birthday

Dudeboy's message for Presidents' Day and the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's Birthday . . .



You can also view this on our channel on YouTube.

Darwin/Lincoln Celebrations

Yesterday was the bicentennial of the birth of Darwin and Lincoln. We went to Hodgenville to see the state of Kentucky’s celebration of Lincoln’s birthday. I saw the governor speak right before they released the new Lincoln bicentennial penny, straight from the mint. The pennies have Lincoln’s cabin on the back—where he was born. I dressed up as Lincoln and saw three other Lincolns. But we didn’t see any other kids dressed up. Later, when we got home we had a cake to celebrate both their birthdays, and we watched a documentary about Darwin. As part of our homeschool, we’ve been doing “Where’s Darwin?” (reading from his Beagle Diary and finding the locations he visited on Google Earth). He never mentioned his birthday on the 12th . . . He only talked about being seasick!
Dude Boy

Happy Darwin Day!