More weekend pix

Kris painting a fence outside the Clemens' family home, a hoop skirt, playing with phones, and playing foosball.

Cave Pictures

Pictures from the Mark Twain Cave, Hannibal, MO.

Weekend events

First of all, in case you have not heard, Mt. Redoubt in Alaska has been erupting almost daily since my last entry. Updates and many cool pictures can be viewed at the Alaska Volcano Observatory site: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/.

Second, Kris has had spring break break this week. She has had fun despite a migraine, a bout with the flu, and working on experiments for science fair.

Third, Karen had a heavy run at subbing this week at For Friends Preschool at St. John's Lutheran Church. She got good news on Friday when she found out that she passed the Early Childhood Content Test that she took in Bloomington a while ago.

Fourth, Peoria got stunning 4.9 inches of snow overnight, so spring has had a bit of a setback. It is melting, though. We missed some of that around here because...

Fifth, we took a short overnight trip for fun to Hannibal, MO (the boyhood home for Samuel Clemens). On Friday evening the road itch was hard upon us (and we did not have Sunday school to teach) so we came up with this trip. Saturday morning we drove the 3 hours to Hannibal. The cold, rainy view was not all that great along the way, so I read aloud our one Mark Twain book, a (heavily) abridged childrens' version of Huckleberry Finn. We finished the book before we arrived. We then drove to the south of Hannibal for our first visit, the Mark Twain Cave. This is the cave that Samuel Clemens played in as a kid and was used as the inspiration for the cave in Tom Saywer. As caves go, it was pretty good. It was a labyrinth of crisscrossing narrow (but tall) tunnels. The cave was much drier than outside (thought there was a bit of wet flowstone formations in one area toward the end), and warmer. The walls were very ledgy (for lack of other words). There were a number of places where I could have "canyon walked" by stradding a narrow passage using those ledges, but of course that would have been frowned upon. We saw a couple of cute little bats and a number of soot signatures - the cave has been visited for over 100 years. The tour guide did move us along too fast - and you could tell that she has done the same monologue over and over again.

After the Mark Twain Cave we stopped at a Mississippi River overlook, went back to Hannibal and ate at the Mark Twain Diner, and then went to the Mark Twain Museum. This was a series of restored houses belonging to Samuel Clemens' family and some of his neighbors (who were the basis of characters in his novels). There were also a couple of musuem buildings covering his life, literature, and other efforts. (Did you know he filed 3 patents, including one for a board game that he invented?) It was pretty well set up, but of course museum fatigue sets in after a while (and there was that cold, pouring rain).

After that, we went to a hotel to warm up, swim (in a cloverleaf shaped pool of all things) and play games (pool, pingpong, foosball). Missouri does not have the "kick people outside to smoke" laws that Illinois has, and I have to say that I like the Illinois policy. The smoking area was off to one side of the pool, and you could smell it when you were swimming. There was a small wedding there, and the bride just did not look pretty dragging on a cigarette. And another thing, what inspires people to drive around randomly giving other people the bird? Some idiot teenager did that to me downtown - maybe he has tourist issues.

Anyway, the next day the rain had turned into about an inch of snow. Kris and I squeezed in a short swim and we went to church in town. As I listened to the readings, I could not help but realize that I was listening to a "Hannibal lector". We stopped at another viewpoint (there is a lighthouse on the Mississippi River) and then headed back home with clear skies and a late March snow on the ground. There is still high water along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. We saw an amazing number of turkey buzzards this weekend on the way there and back - those birds are huge!

It was a short, fun trip that we all enjoyed. I don't want to upload too many pictures at once, so for now I'll add a few from today.

Eruption pix

Last week there was an underwater eruption off the island of Tonga (at left). Last night, Mt. Redoubt in Alaska finally erupted. No good pictures of that eruption yet, but here is a very dramatic one from 1990 (at right).

These were pulled off the web.

First full day of spring, 2009

Friday I did demos for Kris's fourth grade class - she was sure surprised! Kris and I took a fossil-hunting stroll in the woods on Saturday. We found some fossils, heard a couple frogs, saw a couple butterflies, and had fun. Here are pictures of a mossy hillside and a footbridge. Our friends the Brogans visited last night - it was a nice visit. School starts up again tomorrow for Karen and me; Kris's spring break has just begun.

Some recent pictures

Kris getting a treat from a leprechaun at a restaurant on St. Patrick's Day, and working on her science fair project tonight.

River Crest

The Illinois River crested this morning to its 3rd highest recorded level at just a fraction of an inch shy of 28 feet, and less than a foot from the highest recorded level in 1943. Please keep those hit by the flooding in your prayers.

More flood

There was a headline in today's USA Today about how dry much of the U. S. is, see: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/drought/2009-03-10-drought_N.htm

Well, not here right now. Recent storms (our power was out for 2 hours on Sunday afternoon) have again swollen local rivers. Here is one of Kickapoo Creek (note the flooded power pole). The Illinois River is predicted to crest on Saturday at about the same very high level that it did last September (see old postings for pictures of that). Even though we are in a freezing cold snap again, the skies have cleared. Here are some flowers at Kris's piano teacher's house. I forget what they are called, but they even beat the crocuses!

Another random thing, here are the lyrics to an old Jars of Clay song called Worlds Apart (from their album "Flood" by the way). They are a bit heavy, but I really like the words...

I am the only one to blame for this

Somehow it all ends up the same

Soaring on the wings of selfish pride

I flew too high

And like Icarus I collide

With a world I try so hard to leave behind

To rid myself of all but love

To give and die

To turn away and not become

Another nail to pierce the skin of One who loves

More deeply than the oceans,

More abundant than the tears

Of a world embracing every heartache

Can I be the one to sacrifice

Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow?

To love you - take my world apart

To need you - I am on my knees

To love you - take my world apart

To need you - broken on my knees

All said and done I stand alone

Amongst remains of a life I should not own

It takes all I am to believe

In the mercy that covers me

Did you really have to die for me?

All I am for all you are

Because what I need and what I believe

Are worlds apart

[Additional lyrics:]

I look beyond the empty cross

forgetting what my life has cost

and wipe away the crimson stains

and dull the nails that still remain

More and more I need you now,

I owe you more each passing hour

the battle between grace and pride

I gave up not so long ago

So steal my heart and take the pain

and wash the feet and cleanse my pride

take the selfish, take the weak,

and all the things I cannot hide

take the beauty, take my tears

the sin-soaked heart and make it yours

take my world all apart

take it now, take it now

and serve the ones that I despise

speak the words I can't deny

watch the world I used to love

fall to dust and thrown away

I look beyond the empty cross

forgetting what my life has cost

so wipe away the crimson stains

and dull the nails that still remain

so steal my heart and take the pain

take the selfish, take the weak

and all the things I cannot hide

take the beauty, take my tears

take my world apart, take my world apart

I pray, I pray, I pray

take my world apart

Molly's Mushroom Cloud

We did a demo show on campus today for visiting 8th graders, and this hydrogen balloon explosion looked pretty good.

First flowers of spring....

This afternoon Kris and I stopped by the Terraqueous Park in East Peoria to look for eastern skunk cabbage, which flowers quite early in the year. The flowers (the red and green pointy things in the first picture) actually generate heat to thaw frozen ground, disperse its bad odor, and provide a warm spot for pollinating flies. We also saw lots of evidence of beavers in the area. On the way home, we stopped by some bluffs in Bartonville to look at some ice formations. This excursion really took the edge off the cabin fever.