Distance Learning...

Schools in Minnesota have been closed for weeks in order to prepare for distance learning that started yesterday.  The entire state has students taking online school for at least May 4th (if not until the end of the year)...teachers and school districts have had to take what they do on a day-to-day basis and switch to online...it's been busy...

What's it like for the kids?  They miss their budies (which they can't even hangout with 'after school,' even though this is almost like a summer break -- the stay at home order changes that) and even though they might not admit it, they miss school...

So on Day 2 of distance learning, here is Lukie and Lex getting down to business...

We're working on two laptops and a desktop (I still have 150 students that I need to be able to reach, to have students reach me, etc.), so we're busy...

To be honest, it takes a lot to make sure Lukie and Lex are getting everything they need done...it's all about coordinating schedules...after an hour or two of chaos on Monday, Tuesday went a lot smoother...

We have a plan in place between the three of us, we'll work the plan daily so that all of us gets the work we need completed daily...

Be healthy...and stay home...

#StayHomeMN...

The first day of governor's Stay at Home order  is today and it's been a cold, blustery and rainy day (especially after noon)...so what do you do when it's pretty nasty outside?

Lex got busy making bracelets...

Lukie got busy playing PlayStation (connecting with friends)...

Of course that's not all they did...we got outside before lunch, before the rain...they did their daily reading and online math...and even started their school work, which they are supposed to start Monday...now it's movie night...

Minneopa Falls State Park...

Yesterday, with all the craziness in the news, we took off for Minneopa Falls to see the sights and most importantly, take a hike...

When we first got there, the bison were a ways off (the bison drive is closed due to the freeze/thaw that is hard on the road)...

So we went walking, hoping we'd get closer...

Turns out, if we had just sat where we started, the bison we slowly heading that way...and that's where we caught up to them...

One bison was definitely practicing #socialdistancing...but I'm pretty sure COVID-19 doesn't effect bison...

Along the hike, it was good to see red-wing blackbirds back and singing loudly...robins, geese, swans and ducks have been back for a little more than a week...

Yes, we checked out the falls too...

School's closed for two weeks at least...going to be an interesting time...forecast looks like winter is going to return later this week too....great....

Character Traits (Lukie)...

We got word that Lukie received the 'Excellence in Fairness and Sharing' for the month of February...

We took his picture in front of the board today at school...

Here's the certificate that he received a few weeks ago...

Gooseberry Falls...

Is there ever a bad time to go to Gooseberry?  I don't think so...I was probably the first person at the falls area Saturday morning, not that I bothered these deer much...

The middle falls were awash in sunlight at around 8:30 am...

But I had a purpose of being at Gooseberry this weekend.  I was taking a snowshoe lacing workshop, building my own pair of snowshoes...the picture below shows about 90 minutes of work, it also has about four mistakes that required me to back up and almost start over...

After about three hours of work, I had the toe portion of one shoe laced correctly...I joked with my table mates that snowshoe lacing is four steps forward and nine steps back...it takes time to figure it out...

But, at the end of the day (the workshop ran from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm), I had both the toe and tail of both shoes done and had started my the middle section of both of my shoes...after doing this long enough, you can determine when you made a mistake yourself (though you still ask an instructor to confirm).  Even though you've identified a mistake made, it still means you have to backtrack and redo the work correctly...

At 4:00 on Saturday, it was time to explore the falls...

Winter is still holding onto her grip on the northwoods, but is losing the battle...

Sunday morning it was time to get back to work...not that I bothered the deer that day either...

But, before the workshop started again, I headed down to the falls again.  Same as the day before, but the clocks were moved an hour ahead overnight...what was the falls in full sun the day before, now was the falls in complete shadow...

I really enjoyed the patterns that the water froze in...

By 11:00 am, I was done with both shoes (I still need to varnish the shoes and add the bindings though) , I hung around until 1:00 pm helping others.  I really enjoyed the workshop, I'll be doing another next fall/winter...

FYI - the shoes stand to my shoulders, they're taller than both Lukie and Lex...and they will be used next winter!

Optical Illusions...

Lex came back from school today and had some work from sometime ago.  They had been talking about optical illusions (in this case, the Ponzo illusion I think) and drawing them in class...

They took a test today and apparently Lex decided she wanted to doodle, show she drew houses and aquarium along the sides of the tracks.  While explaining it to me, she asked "can we go take pictures to send to Mr. Schrupp?"

So we did...that's my next email...

Duluth...

We stayed in Canal Park a few weeks ago and spent some time near the bridge...the winds the previous day had pushed the limited ice out into the lake...

And you can see it from the webcam at the maritime museum (though, we were really just playing around with it, trying to get pictures of ourselves on the cam, that's Lukie right of the tug)...

We were out there pretty much until the sun went down...

Then it was time for dinner at Little Angies...

And a couple of hours swimming at the pool...

And of course, when you wake up in the morning, you've got to go swimming again (after breakfast)...

Over night, the winds had shifted again and was pushing the ice back to shore...

We had to play with the webcam again...

Then it was time to leave Duluth, though we made a quick stop at Jay Cooke State Park...

We made it back 20 minutes before it started snowing (3-4 inches that evening), enough to get the roads really slick, but for us, the roads were dry...a quick, fun trip north...