Look out WoW, there's a new game in town.

I will confess there's another reason I've been neglecting my blog, and it's a big one. In December, Bioware released a new MMO game,  Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Up to this point, I've been a World of Warcraft (WoW) fanatic, only playing Aion and Rift for a short time. But WoW, there's a new kid on the block nipping at your heels. The mechanics of Star Wars are more-or-less the same as WoW with fighting, moving, buying items in an Auction House and crafting items such as weapons and armor. But the biggest difference between the games is that Star Wars has story lines  for the individual classes, several companions you can choose from that assist you in your quests and fights (usually every class gets a healer, dps, tank), and dialogue options to converse with your companions and the quest givers , not to mention there's a romance option with one of your companions for all the classes.

I initially rolled up a Jedi Consular Sage (basically a healing class) and had a hard time getting into the game. The storyline was slow and I didn't care that much for my companions. I played the game maybe 3 weeks and was about to let my monthly subscription expire when I rolled up a Trooper. Holy crap. That changed everything. The story had me enraptured, I liked the companions, especially cat man  Aric Jorgan, (Timothy Omundson, incidentally does the voice for this character) with Yuun and Elara as close followups.

But this entry isn't about the classes you can play or their companions. I may do entries on them at a later date. Rather, I meant for  this to be an overview and to share the point at which I really got into the game. Yes, it was the trooper that rallied my enthusiasm, but the quests on Tatooine really got me going. Tatooine brought back all the memories from the original Star Wars movie. I grew up on Star Wars. I was Princess Leia for Halloween one year, I had a poster of her on my wall, and my sister and I played with our Star Wars figurines.

Remember hot, arid, sandy Tatooine from the movie?

It's here and there are bad guys. Remember the Sand People, the guys who beat up Luke Skywalker and rooted through his land speeder before Obi-Wan Kenobi saved his ass? Yeah, they're all over the place and they hate everyone who isn't part of their clan.

The Jawas are here too, but the game portrays them as annoying, but loveable scamps, similar to the goblins in WoW. I thought they were mean in the movie, but it's been awhile since I watched it.

And there are Banthas too!

The game has many of the same aliens, cantinas, space ships, blasters, lightsabers as the movies too. It's a nice walk down memory lane.  Yup, I'll be writing more about the game in future entries.

You've been warned.

An entry NOT for the faint of heart

I'll begin this with a disclaimer. There will be photos of carnage and mayhem in this entry. That may be an exaggeration,  but there is at least one gross photo, a photo depicting the food chain at work.  Avert your eyes or skip this entry if you'd rather not see animal parts.



Okay.

I was out at the Ecology Center yesterday with a group of second graders discussing the subject of birds. Just right up my alley. We don't get many teachers who use our bird lesson plan (maybe 2 or 3 a year) so I was excited to be at the right place at the right time. This teacher has obviously spent some time covering this subject with the class because the kids were spot on with the knowledge and enthusiastic.

I had a group of 4 girls and 1 boy. The kids knew what a Cardinal was and were so excited seeing these birds that we kept track of the number we saw (we saw 25 by the end of their visit). We didn't have binoculars so that limited what we saw, but I discussed how to narrow down the list of birds based on their body shape (ie if the bird is big and somewhat plump, there's a pretty good it's a Robin and if it has a crest, it may be a Cardinal etc). While walking through the woods and near the creek, we talked about migration and habitat preferences (Would you see a duck on the prairie? Probably not. Those birds like the creek!).

As with most school visits at the Ecology Center, the focus rarely remains entirely on the assigned subject. There is so much to observe in our urban wilderness. We peeked under bug boards, discussed who could dig small round holes in the soil, collected a few walnuts, came across a praying mantis egg case, and looked at the square stems of a Cup Plant.

The north prairie was burned last week and I took them up a small hill to get a birds-eye view (hehe) of the burned land.



The concept of prescribed burns was new to these second graders so I spent a few minutes talking about the benefits of these burns for the plants, as well as the predators on top of the food chain.

When we went down the hill, we came across evidence of the food chain at work. We found bits of fur and bone scattered in a small radius.

They were silent for a moment before they started talking all at once.

"What IS that?"

"I think it must be raccoon or squirrel fur" I replied.

"What happened?"

"Well, what do you think? What would cause an explosion of fur and bone like this?"

"Ohhh something ate it!"

"Yeah, like a coyote or a fox or or a HAWK!!!"

The excited chatter continued until one of the girls pointed at something with her stick. "WHAT is THAT??"

This is when the little kid inside of me took over. I got down and started poking it with a stick, prompting one of the girls to squeal.

"I don't know but it's disgusting! That's awesome!" I exclaimed, turning the mystery piece of flesh over with the stick.

The same girl who squealed would not be outdone by my enthusiasm (either that or she took courage in it).  She poked it and poop came out, eliciting a unanimous EWWWWW from the group.

"Oh my God you made it poop! How cool is that?" I exclaimed. "That must be a piece of intestine or something. I thought maybe it was a kidney. You guys are the best group ever!"

We spent another minute ohhing and ahhing over our gruesome find before advancing towards the burned prairie. There my kids identified Eastern Bluebirds and American Goldfinches using the field guide I brought along for use.

Kids correctly identifying birds and getting excited over gross stuff. I was so proud.

Rockin' Through the Shops

Several years ago, my mom gave me a Rockin' Santa. He gyrates his hips to Brenda Lee's "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree." The whole production is a little loud and obnoxious, but I love the Santa so when I pull him out every year, I leave the plug in the basement. My husband HATES Rockin' Santa and twitches when he sees me bring the box up.  Every year, we have the same conversation:

"UGH. You're bringing up Rocking Santa."

"I'm not going to plug him in. You know I leave that in the box."

"I don't care what you do. Just be sure to get that Rockin' Santa business out of your system before I get home from work."

"Whatever."

It's a joke really. I think Danno exaggerates his distaste because he knows it gets a rise out of me. Every year he rolls his eyes in disgust and every year I valiantly defend poor Santa.

This year I did a lot of shopping in Antique Stores and it seemed like there was a Rockin Santa every where I turned.

It started with this Santa

I was in the Antique Shop near my house and came across Cowboy Santa. I posted the pic on Facebook, to which my husband replied "HATE".

I found this Santa at an Antique Mall on top of a dresser crowded in with a lot of unrelated nick knacks for sale.

Then there was Saxophone Santa.

This was one smoooth looking Santa. At this point, I was LOOKING for these Santas so I could tease my husband. I loved his reactions. And when I posted the photo on Facebook, he did not disappoint.  He replied "Is every antique mall required to have one of these??"


The Santas got to be nonexistent the week of Christmas, but I found this one today.

I posted the pic with the caption "One more before the end of the season".  Danno replied "Oh no. HELL no."

I know Christmas just ended but I can't wait to find next year's Rockin Santas and listen to Danno's expressions of outrage.

The lonely Ornament

I've been on a vintage Christmas ornament collecting rampage ever since I did research for the Historic Society's German Christmas party.  I've hit nearly every antique mall and shop in the city in search of those ornaments of yesteryear. I've come across a plethora of Shiney Brites, a respectable amount of ornaments made in West Germany (obviously all made prior to 1989) as well as Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and a few from Columbia and Japan.

I do have a handful of my grandmother's ornaments. Most of them are Shiney Brites, but there are a few ornaments from Poland and West Germany. There are a few that I do not remember, but there are others that I vividly remember hanging on her Christmas Tree. This is one of those ornaments that I remember. It's an Austrian ornament and it's one of my favorites.

 

I had a very productive day at one antique mall. Not only did I find 2 rare West German ornaments, but a trio of Austrian ornaments that match my Grandma's ornament!

 

As you can imagine, I snatched this trio up in a heartbeat. They were a little more expensive than what I ordinarily pay (I usually don't pay more than $3 for an ornament) but that lonely silver ornament was now part of set. Compared to my tarnished silver piece these ornaments were well cared for, and I could see they were all painted by hand.

I really loved my Grandma and whenever I go into these antique shops, I always look for something similar to what she had, whether it be an orange juice glass, the Secretary Desk or some knickknack. I'm always rewarded in finding at least one object and when I do, I usually stand in front of it, or hold it in my hands (depending on the size) and reminisce of those days long past. Once in awhile, the object can be purchased and I've probably bought half a dozen things over the years. I didn't expect to find a set of ornaments (that weren't Shiney Brites, because she had lots of those) that could be connected to her silver ornament.

Thanks Grandma for the find. I hope you can see how your Silver Ornament is now part of a set.

Why I love my WoW Guild

 There is so much to do in World of Warcraft besides killing the monsters that threaten to overtake Azeroth and much of the domestic life revolves around the mailbox.

 

Through the mailbox you can mail weapons, armor, scrolls and money to your other characters as well as to your friend's characters. The mailbox plays a big part in the Auction House activites; it is where you pick up money from the items you sold and where you receive the goods you won.

There are a few of my guild members who have found another use for the mailbox, a creative outlet, if you will. I think T started the mailbox wars. He and A would mail each other objects with a clever note attached. Monster eyeballs, dead fish, torn sails were a few of the items that flew back and forth between the two. Then I decided to jump into the fray. I sent T a pair of "chiming stress balls" with a note that said when I saw the stress balls I thought of him because it must be stressful shouldering the blame of the entire guild. Because we do blame T for everything that goes wrong in our many encounters with monsters.

A few days later, he sent me a broken necklace with the following note:

 

He's a clever one, that T. He's got the wit and knows how to stir the pot.

Then A and I began sending each other things, with funny notes.. Cloth, cookies, flowers and yes, even shoes.




I must confess that I like Z's letters the best. They are completely random; you never know when or what you're going to get from him.  When we were doing the Firelands raids, I would often receive notes from him "I'm mailing you this from Ragnaros" and "Zomg we're at Ragnaros!"  The best one he sent from Firelands was in post card form.

Tonight, I received this letter tonight from Z before I logged out of the game.

Random and funny. Those are my guildies and I love them for it.

I need to root around in my bags for some stuff to send to T and A. They are overdue for a letter from me.

You two have been warned.

Well NOW I want to put up the tree!

As I've mentioned in last year's post,  I have a love hate relationship with holiday decorating, or rather, Christmas Tree decorating. Last year's method of taking 2 days to put the tree up and not hanging all one million ornaments on the branches worked rather well. I also took the tree down in a timely fashion, the week after Christmas.

I made the decision to not put up the tree this year. It was a confident and guilt-free decision...until now.

We're having a German-themed Christmas Party at the Historic Society next weekend and I've spent the last 2 months researching the Christmas traditions of this country. I've read quite a bit on their decorations; Christmas Pyramids, Raucherman, Nutcrackers and especially the ornaments.

Glass making was big business in Lauscha, Germany, but it wasn't until the mid nineteenth century that the Christmas ornament was born. Louis Greiner-Schlotfeger began blowing thick-walled glass balls known as kugels, which he silvered with a Bohemian silver mirroring solution. Kugel making was a family endeavor in Lauscha. The man of the household created the ornaments while his wife silvered the insides. The ornaments were hung overnight to dry before being dipped in different colors. Family members painted trimmings and the younger children put the caps on top of the ornaments. It was estimated that a family working 6 days a week, 8-15 hours a day, could create 300 to 600 ornaments a week.

In 1880, F.W. Woolworth, the owner of the popular Woolworth Dime Store, reluctantly agreed to display a few imported German glass ornaments in his Lancaster, Pennsylvania, store. He sold out of his original $25 shipment in two days. By 1890, he was traveling to Germany to select ornaments for his stores.

Molds for ornaments were created around 1890, giving glass makers the opportunity to mass produce their goods. Over 5000 different molds were created from 1890 until 1940 with the pine cone being the most popular design. However, Santas, animals, flowers, nuts and fruits were other favorites.

World War II  brought an end to glass blowing in Lauscha and East Germany turned most of Lauscha’s glassworks into state-owned (VEB) concerns after the War. However, when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, most of these firms were reestablished as private companies. Today there are still about 20 small glass-blowing firms active in Lauscha.


The more I read about German made ornaments, the more I thought about all the glass blown ornaments my mom bought me from her days working at the Department Store. Were all those ornaments made in Germany? Up until this point, I didn't particularly care for glass blown ornaments. I always preferred wooden or acrylic ornaments. Ornaments that were hardy and could weather a fall without serious consequence. I always felt like if I sneezed on a glass blown ornament it would shatter in my hand. In fact I had at least 2 that fell and broke after hitting the carpet.

Tonight I went downstairs and rummaged through my boxes of glass ornaments. Most of them did have the "Made in Germany" stamp on top of the metal caps.

  After learning the history of glass ornaments, I felt like I was seeing these Christmas decorations in a new light. It would be a shame to leave these German made creations hidden away in my basement. Maybe this year I'll buy a SMALL live tree and only bring up my absolute favorite ornaments.

Seed Cleaning

Late fall is a busy time at the Ecology Center with the staff trying to schedule the yearly prescribed burn and collecting and cleaning seeds for planting. We usually try to involve students in this process because not only are they learning a part of the life cycle of a plant, but the class takes home a big bag filled with seeds they picked and cleaned with their own hands.

Seed cleaning may bring images to mind of scrubbing seeds with soap and water, but this is not the case, as today's students learned. This was the school's first trip to the Ecology Center and the staff is helping the school plan their very own native plant garden. My group was introduced to the prairie habitat and the ways these plants are adapted to a life of full sun and little rain.  The students got a hands on look at the various sizes and shapes of seeds and we discussed how they were adapted to their particular method of transport (seeds that were carried on the air were light and fluffy, whereas seeds that hitched a ride on the coat of an animal felt like velcro).  There was a great deal of smelling, poking and rubbing of plants as the kids decided what they wanted to put in their bag.

Once we collected enough seeds, we returned to the cabin to begin the process of seed cleaning.

Seed cleaning is essentially separating the seed from the chaff and spreading them out to dry. Ideally, colanders, sieves, window screens or other forms of metal screens are ideal for this step, but space and cost is something of an issue for us. We have the kids separate the seeds from the chaff on top of a white piece of paper or tray before moving the seed to another tray.

The newly separated seeds can be dried in paper or plastic bags (open for air circulation), dixie cups or spread out on small plates. The seeds need to be turned or stirred every few days to make sure they are dried evenly. Once dried, the seeds can be stored in a cool place out of direct sunlight until they are ready to be planted.

The kids had a great time cleaning the seeds and it didn't take long before stems and other pieces of chaff were strewn across the table and on the floor. The next step is for the school to sow those seeds in their garden. And that is an entry for another day.