****The kid actually is faking dismay and likes his new hair cut. (and I like knowing that he still has eyes.)
As expected I am getting as much fun out of his college education has he is...maybe more, I don't have to write any papers.. I knew he would come home and teach me things I couldn't wait to know....I have never gotten tired of learning about the outdoors and wildlife and herptiles and such.
So far, I have learned from him that sedges have edges, rushes are round and grass is jointed. I have gotten to attend, albeit vicariously, field trips to count salamanders and frogs, which resulted in him seeing newt efts and wood frogs for the first time. My brothers and I grew up surrounded by bountiful little orange beauties and spring singers up at Grandma and Grandpa's camp, where the wood frogs breed in vernal ponds and there are newts under most of the logs, but I think the soil and ponds aren't acidic enough to suit them down here in the valley. We have mostly red backs and green frogs here. I have gotten to hear all about electroshocking fish for censuses and species identification (and therein lies a tale that I don't dare reveal....ask him about it. lol). I worried about that trip but I didn't need to...guess it was just a mother thing.
Next his lab class will be going birding. (I wish college had been this much fun when I went. Maybe I would have a degree rather than just a handful of meaningless credits.) There are rumors that the birding expedition may entail a trip to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. We have taken the family there a number of times, although it is barely within the "between milkings" range that allows us to all leave the farm at the same time and still take care of the animals. However, we have never had the benefit of an expert to guide us around the waterways and swamps that make up the amazing refuge and we have always had to be in such a hurry... Can't wait til he gets back from that one. I actually look forward to milking on Thursday nights after those exciting Fisheries and Wildlife labs....just can't wait to hear about all the plants and critters and ecosystems and all.
I WANNA GO BACK TO SCHOOL!
ReplyDeleteFC, why don't these college field trips need mommy chaperons like elementary school? Some of my best Herkimer Diamond digging forays involved yellow buses and numerous kids having fun getting dirty.
ReplyDeleteZat really you Alan?
ReplyDeleteYou know it changes his looks almost as much as a babies first haircut. He looks so............manly!
Hey, hang on to your credits but you are getting much more of an education through your young man there. Funny how education is something that we took for granted when we had to do it, yet we yearn for when we don't have to.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed education by proxy from my children too. And no tests or term papers. The best kind of education.
ReplyDeleteAnd those ears! Wow!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that you folks live on a farm in the Mohawk Valley and he hasn't seen red efts crawling around the ground after a spring/summer/fall rain. Both here in PA and up at the Bolt Hole north of you, I've got to be careful walking around after a heavy dew because there are so many of the little orange guys on the ground.
Sounds like he's having fun AND learning. Now that's a winning combination. His sharing the infromation with you is as good as a three hour study session for him. And that is another winner.
Linda, he figures no one will recognize him over at school today. lol
ReplyDeleteSTeve, yeah, oh, yeah, I want to be a student over there so bad....they have so many great courses, I wouldn't even know what to take. Of course they have to take a lot of junk too....
Jan, it is you are right. We talk about such eclectic stuff every night. Big topic lately has been the CERN thing. Who wouldda thought?
Joated, I don't know why we don't have them, but I have only ever seen maybe one on the farm in almost thirty years here. Maybe we are too far from big enough bodies of water or something. We have thousands of red backs...I love our nightly discussions. I have with all the kids. With Liz it was animal management stuff, with Beck it is ancient civilizations etc and now the wildlife material....Can't beat it.
I thought the look was for the hat he was wearing. Syracuse is having another terrible season. I can only hope the basketball team will be much better than the football team.
ReplyDeleteI'm with floridacracker - I want to go back to school. I'm trying to figure out some weeds in the new llama paddocks and boy, do I feel dumb.
ReplyDeleteYou must be so proud!
the football team is always terrible
ReplyDeleteNyv, no he was just in shock over the hair cut...but now girls are hitting on him over at school so....
ReplyDeleteTeri, there is so much I want to learn too and never enough time
Alan, always?