Pumpkin pic

The cold snap knocked out our remaining pumpkin vines, so we drew on our last three green pumpkins and set them out. The cold knocked most of the leaves out of the walnut tree while they were still pretty green in the space of about a day - it was a surprise to walk into the back yard and see that!

This evening, the local Extreme Makeover: Home Edition wrapped up with the family coming home. (See the October 26 entry - I guess the house is only one story, but it is pretty tall). None of us went, but some people I know tried to join the crowds of spectators.

Roller coaster

Yesterday Karen and Kris finished building the K'nex roller coaster that they have been building - it works well (the car is in mid-loop in the picture).

The weather turned cold and windy this weekend. Our neighbor has lost all of his leaves from his big tree; the three trees in our yard are still mostly green! Last night I saw a few snowflakes falling at about 11:30 pm, and today I saw them at about 5 pm when I left from early voting. I feel like I need to take a shower after doing that voting thing. Too much dirt!

Extreme Makeover: (Pekin) Home Edition

We are fans of the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, so when we found out they were doing a house in Pekin (it's all over the local news), we stopped by. The show had filmed near Seattle when we lived out there in Fall, 2004, but we would have had to travel a bit to get there so we missed it - I guess you never know what the future holds. Since traffic in the once-quiet neighborhood of the house was a mess, we went to the local (small) Sears to catch a shuttle bus. We asked at the Sears (big sponsors of the show) if the designers had done their big shopping trip there that seems to pop up in every show and we were told that they went to the one in Peoria. We were able to get to the viewing area (with bleachers) across the street from the house. To get directly across the street from the house you had to have access to the VIP area. The construction has been going for several days, so the old house is gone and a brand spanking new two-story house is in place. (It sticks out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood of one-story houses.) We overheard Pekin's mayor telling someone that at one point construction was 12 hours behind but things are back on schedule now. We did not see Ty Pennington; we heard that the hyperactive lead designer and show host was in Pennsylvania wrapping filming of another house building. Apparently two houses are built at about the same time, then there is time off, and the whole thing starts again. We did however get to see Michael Moloney (a designer who has been with the show since it started) and he autographed a tote bag for Kris. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. The whole circus was interesting to watch, and though some neighbors have complained, I think it is pretty cool. The "reveal" is on Tuesday, and the show will air sometime early in 2009.

Chemistry and zucchini

Today Kris and I and three students helped out at a National Chemistry Week event at the Children's Museum in Normal, IL. The picture is of Kris and I in a really cool climbing area area at the museum. Karen opted to stay at home and turn about half of our zucchini into bread - that's 64 mini loaves and 8 big loaves!

Happy Mole Day!

In science, the mole is a measure of a quantity of a substance. A mole of particles has been described as about 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd power of those particles. This number, also known as Avagadro’s number, is why Mole Day is celebrated on October 23 (10/23). It is hard to imagine such a large number:
- one mole of popcorn kernels would bury the United States to a depth of 9 miles
- one mole of table tennis balls placed side by side would extend from the Earth to beyond the Andromeda galaxy

Although Avagadro’s number is large, it is usually used to describe quantities of small particles such as atoms or molecules.
- nearly two moles of liquid water molecules could fit into a table tennis ball
- one mole of gas molecules could properly inflate only two basketballs

Nature pix

Fall colors in Bradley Park, drizzle on campus flowers, and a 2.5" fuzzy caterpillar from our woodpile. We found out it is a giant leopard moth caterpillar (and it is a beautiful animal based on the web pix. Despite the fact that Kris was petting it and got a little rash from the spines, she wants to try to raise it.

In other news, Karen and I finished pounding posts for our driveway edging.

(Grand)parent Visit

Kris's school had Grandparent's Day on Friday, so my parents came down to visit. The visit has been busy. Friday, they saw Kris in a program at her school, and today we all saw her play a song at a clavinova fest. Dad, Kris, and I played frisbee golf; Karen and Mom went to a Bradley Women's Club luncheon. This evening we all went to the Italian Buffet at St. Anthony's.

Trip to Chicago

Yesterday I traveled to a meeting in Oak Brook, IL. The sunrise and sunset made nice lighting for pix.

Fall Break project

We have noticed that the retaining wall holding up part of our driveway has been sagging and the driveway has been cracking apart slowly. My original intent this weekend was to pull the wall back into place. The reality was that the wall came completely down, four extra beams were added underground, and the wall was rebuilt. One of my neighbors loaned me all sorts of goodies like a 6-foot pry bar, a pole driver, and lots of advice. He advised me that my 6-foot vertical poles were too weak (unfortunately I had driven 2 of them already) and he would find some stronger ones. I drove 2 more to help ensure the wall would hold up for a while (the last thing I want to see is the wall collapse and take the carport with it -though I think that is a remote possibility). There are multiple retired people on my street, and sometimes they hover. At one point today 3 of them are watching and gabbing while I'm trying to spike together 6x6s!

Anyway, Kris had class the last couple of days, and Karen subbed successfully for 7th graders during that time. Leaf colors are slowly changing, weather is cooling, and someone was burning leaves on our street today. I guess fall is here.

Happy 40th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my parents, Dennis and Theresa Campbell, married 40 years ago today!

Washington, IL

Kris's friend Jared had a birthday party in Washington, IL, today, so she and I spent a bit of time in that area this afternoon. The Cobra helicopter is a veterans' memorial. Karen and I are mostly over our colds; it skipped Kris this time. Karen and I have Fall Break this weekend. We have many projects. I'm trying to reset the 6x6's that are supposed to be supporting the driveway edge but have been slowly collapsing - that project is making headway, but could get interesting if I want to get picky about it. I need to figure out what the point of diminishing returns is.

Leaf color is starting to come in slowly. Our warm weather has been slowing that down, I think. I am keeping an eye out for good shots, though!

Fossil hunting

Kris's good friend Sam is big into dinosaurs and fossils and knows a lot about them. So, as part of a birthday present to him I took him and Kris to poke around in that hotspot I found earlier this summer. He was interested to go since he did not have any plant fossils - he does now! We had good hunting again.

Bradley Homecoming

Bradley University had its Homecoming soccer game tonight. At the tailgating event, the chemistry department had a booth where people could make UV bead-containing bracelets; it was sucessful. Bradley won the chilly game 2-0. It was quite physical, with a bunch of cheap shots (and overacting). Kris was a little distressed at the uncharitable behavior.

In other news, I think this is pretty significant news for this region: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/03/great.lakes.compact.ap/index.html

Mannequin

We are experimenting with a different strategy with our fall mannequins this year. I'm not sure how long this will hold up, but it looks cute.