Mag Lab

Today, we went on a field trip with the Tallahassee Homeschool Group to visit the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.







They said we were the largest group that had ever shown up for a public tour, so they split us up into two smaller groups. Blaze and I ended up in the smaller group, with a very friendly and knowledgable Florida State University grad student as our tour guide.





We learned that magnetic energy is measured in Teslas and that those big magnets that lift cars in junk yards are between one and two Teslas.



This magnet is located inside a hole in the floor:







There are only 3 big magnetic labs in the country, two of which are in Florida, but what makes this one exciting is that is houses the most powerful magnet in the world.











Along with the magnetic research done at the lab, they also do high power microscope images, like these:

The Solar Nightlight for Camping

Just before our camping trip, I made this solar-lit jar that I had seen on Pinterest.
http://campwander.blogspot.com/2012/07/elk-camp-solar-lanterns-provisions.html

Mine turned out a little different, since the solar light sat lower on the jar lid, but I think I like it better that way.



Blaze likes to have a nightlight and this worked perfect as a tent nightlight. The light was shining from the moment the sun went down, until just before dawn.



The solar garden light I used had been a red, white, and blue one that I bought for a $1 last year after the 4th of July. I used a little Rub 'n Buff on it to tone down the colors. The canning jar was also about $1, so this was a very inexpensive project.

Rainbow Spring State Park

It's been three years since our last camping trip and at that time I had really wanted to go to Rainbow Springs, but we couldn't get reservations for the days we needed. So, when Blaze started asking to  go camping again, that was the first place I thought of. It turns out that the middle of a school week is a very good time to find vacancies there.



The park and the campground are about 7 miles apart and campers still have to pay the $2 a person entrance fee for the park.

The state park was once a privately owned tourist attraction. The spring is beautiful and swimming in it is included in the entrance fee.



The water falls in the park are also beautiful, although they are man made.











Blaze and I followed the sound of live music and found this event going on, although we still aren't sure who these people were.



The campground was located on the spring fed, Rainbow River and it also had a swimming area and canoe rental.











The water is amazingly clear.



This was not really roughing-it. Each campsite had electrical outlets, water, a fire pit, and a grill. We had our little one-burner propane stove with, but mostly we cooked over the fire.



Blaze got a bit lazy the second day and came up with this new way of roasting marshmallows, where he just rolled the stick with his foot to keep the marshmallows turning, so they wouldn't burn.



Parboiling potatoes at home, before putting them in the cooler, means that they fry up much faster for a hardy camp breakfast.





Wednesday, we were walking around the park and only had a Cliff Bar and water for lunch, so we were pretty hungry by late afternoon. We had a tea time of cold foods that I think was Blaze's favorite meal of the trip.



Blaze is very reluctant to try new foods at home, but he will try, and enjoy, new things if they are given as samples by the demonstrators at Costco. He will then ask to have those foods again. This is the latest of those things, crackers with brie and red pepper jelly.



We only had one serious complaint about this camping experience, and that was cows. We arrived at the campground on the day that the calves were removed from their mothers at the farm across the road from the campground. It's a very large herd of cattle and they kept up a droning noise that sounded almost like motors running, punctuated every now and then by a louder individual moo of complaint. This mournful cattle chorus lasted all night and well into the next morning.

The Steampunk Scrapbook is Full

Both Blaze and I were sick last weekend, and then took a couple days to recover, which gave me plenty of time sitting around in bed, completely surrounded by scrapbook supplies, to finish up all the scrapbook pages I wanted to make. The steampunk scrapbook is now completely up-to-date and I don't think it will hold any more pages.



















Using the inside of the dance card as a photo holder:

Updating the Steampunk Scrapbook

I have replaced the chains that originally held my steampunk scrapbook together with these metal rings I found in the embroidery section of Michael's. Turning the book into a 6-ring binder, means that I can fit more pages into it, so I have started making new pages.



From the very beginning, one of the things I have tried to do with this scrapbook, is to fit as many images as I can into the book, without using too many pages. Not every page does this, but coming up with creative ways to include more photographs has been a fun challenge.





Photo matting made a good cover for a thin book of pictures glued onto a page.