unschooling

warrior in red

So we’ve been chasing a pictograph for the past few weeks. We had heard there was one spectacular image, all by itself, not too far from us but there is no sign, no trail and only a few clues to help people discover its location. It goes by the name Red Warrior and was created in a Fremont style and is amazingly well preserved as it’s protected from sun, people and a lot of weather as well, being on a cave wall. We’d been comparing images of nearby landmarks and following hunches and general directions which led to many fascinating spots and moments but this time, we found the pictograph! Success is sweet especially after sleuthing and lots of hard work hiking and checking every cave (which in this area means a LOT of caves).

Here’s a fossil covered with lichen we found on the way up and a view from the mountain we scaled.

We found the warrior and it was spectacular to see in person. It’s marked in dark red ochre paint, with no known other similar art in the area. Fascinating! We wondered about its origins and about the people who passed through or lived in these areas long ago. I was so, so excited to finally find it!

On our travels we spotted two ravens nests and a hawk nest. The bugs are beginning to get bad so I don’t know if we’ll make it out there again until they die down but it was fun.

On our way home we spotted two owls, a pair we imagine. The kids initially thought they were burrowing owls because the first one we spotted was similar colors and small in size. We took some pictures and Gavin identified them later as short eared owls with his books. One of them flew right over us!

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unschooling

things we do while keeping our distance

We’ve been baking and reading. We’ve made about 6 batches of cookies since we’ve been keeping ourselves to ourselves. So far: peanut butter cookies with chocolate tops, spicy hot chocolate cookies, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cranberry chocolate cookies, macaroons. Mmmmmm.

We’ve been playing badminton in the yard

Looking for early flowers and signs of spring

We’ve been visiting our sit spots from our cancelled nature classes and walking and visiting our sit spots in our own yard.

Gavin started some new chemistry experiments which I’ll write about separately soon.

Lilah has been drawing and making videos and working on her doodle crate projects. Here are a lantern and a finger knitted dragon.

They’ve been telling collaborative stories.

Gavin and Chris printed a mask. It got a little warped so they are planning to try again.

We started a family D&D night.

Chris started an adult D&D game by message service.

We’ve been doing some yoga, hula hooping and Just Dance on the wii, trying to stay active.

The kids and I have been practicing our fox walking skills and tracking skills. One afternoon at the cemetery we fox walked carefully enough to get within about twenty feet of a bunch of deer.

We’ve been visiting some of our most secret wild spots and trails so we can enjoy sun and birds and fresh air but not with virus risks.

We looked up on our walk and saw this nest! A hawk flew from it right overhead and it was beautiful. The nest was probably about 3-4 feet across. Huge!

We even found some pretty neat fossils on one excursion!

We have had video calls with my parents and sister and chatted for a couple of hours. Those were really great, not as great as actually hanging out in the same room but still fun.

I’ve been taking my tea out to the porch or deck to enjoy the birds and sun and spring air. I’ve been using iNaturalist and guide books and internet sites to identify plants and animals on our adventures. I’m still finding things to admire wherever I am.

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