A Walk in the Woods

Looks tranquil, doesn't it? Megan is learning about birds, so we went bird watching. The trouble with ornithology is that you need to be quiet to see birds. We don't do very well in that department. Here's the calm and still photo.

Since this is Illinois and every bit as flat as Kansas, we expect the littlest to walk. The only trouble with that is that he is going through what we hope is a phase of asserting his independence. When he doesn't get his way immediately, he stages a sit-down strike. He recovers quickly and I try not to laugh. This one craves attention.

As we're walking along, I hear Drew discussing the virtues of various herbs. It takes me a minute, but then I realize that someone plays an herbalist in their computer game. Nonetheless, I was impressed. The trouble is that I have no idea whether their information is factual. It's a geek game, so they are probably correct. Our next walk will be to find and identify plants. They seemed into this. Drew and Ellen later launched into a discussion about alchemy. They were thrilled beyond words - no small feat around here - when I told them that we could study this and analyze their information for accuracy. However,I think their interests lie in establishing an arsenal. And I fear that we may need a philosophy class before they are ready to handle their new knowledge.

Those long things only look like bats and hockey sticks. They are really weapons. Missiles and grenades. To be launched at a neighbor. He's 6 and unaware of the escapades in our yard. I wonder how much power the homeowner's association actually has.