The adventures of the Dahl family continue:

Jennie, Ruth & Ella drank a toast to the First Friday art work last night. They were joined by Marie, Alice, & Hannah. Alice had a cola since she is only 17. They loved getting all dressed up for the occasion and remind you that the (virtual) display will be available all month at https://thepember.org/index.php/first-friday/.

Grace, Marie & Eliza wanted to get out for a bit. Yesterday, I took them with me to Price Chopper to help get supplies for a picnic. I told them they needed to wear masks and to behave!

I’ll put a description with each picture. I think they had a good time!

The adventures of the Dahl family continues…..

Grace, Jennie and Alice were very excited to learn about animal skulls at the Pember Nature Preserve. They stopped in for a quick program before heading down the trails. Yes, the trails are open! Grace is a big fan of skulls and educated Jennie and Alice on the woodchuck skull. Did you know that their teeth never stop growing and will grow up to 1/16th of an inch each week? That’s why they have to chew, chew, chew on everything! However, they don’t chuck wood.

The girls also learned about the gray squirrel, raccoon and white-tailed deer too.

What’s next? Bones!

The continuing adventures of the Dahl family

(overheard at the campfire)
I love camping out. There’s just something about the smell of a campfire!
Yes, and it’s definitely the best way to cook a steak or a few burgers.
I’m not so thrilled by the black flies we encountered while we were hiking.
Do you think we packed enough sunscreen? I want to take the kayaks out on the water tomorrow.
I’ll check, I need to figure out how we’re going to store the leftover food away from bears and other hungry critters.
When you come back, can you bring the star guide? I can figure out the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper but I wonder what that constellation is that looks like a “W” over to the east.

It’s so relaxing here. And we’ll have great stories to tell the cousins when we get back.

The adventures of the Dahl family continues…

Jennie, Alice and Grace decided to head to the Pember Nature Preserve for a program on Bird’s Nests. It seems Jennie knows all about birds and their nests and even educated Alice and Grace. The Nature Center and the Pember’s loan kit has many nests to investigate. Please remember that people cannot collect eggs, nests or feathers of migratory birds. The Pember has a special federal and state license to collect these items for education.

The continuing adventures of the Dahl family

The Dahls wanted to get out in the beautiful sunshine before the day gets too hot. We have lovely benches and a pretty garden behind the Pember. This overlooks the beautiful Mettowee River. They can also see the walking bridge over the river and behind those trees, the Slate Valley Museum.
Jennie wonders, “Why is it called the ‘Slate Valley’ ?”

Slate was discovered in this area in the 1830s. There is an area about 6 miles wide and 24 miles long that has many slate deposits. Someone discovered that the thin pieces make great roof coverings and an industry was born. This area is also called “the colored slate capital of the world” because the chemical and mineral composition of the vein of slate produces a variety of colors. More information can be found by visiting www.slatevalleymuseum.org/ and of course the Slate Museum itself when they are able to reopen.

The adventures of the Dahl family continues…

David and Ella thought they would check out the Museum’s gift shop. Wow, look at these cool shells, said David. And they are free, said Ella. There are a lot of items in the gift shop which help support the Museum.

Did you know that seashells are old homes of sea animals? The animals that live in shells are called invertebrates because they don’t have a backbone. Clams, snails, scallops and other mollusks will find a new home when they outgrow their current one. The museum has an exhibit full of invertebrates.

The continuing adventures of the Dahl family

OK, I’ve never played scrabble in French before.
Ami
Amour
Baguette
Bonheur
Bonjour
Chat
Chien
Merci
Oui

The continuing adventures of the Dahl family

This is Alice Merrill. She’s still in high school back in Grinnell. She works part-time at “Lil’ Miss Chic Boutique” and is saving her money to go to college to become a journalist. She belongs to the newspaper club at school, likes to go camping and is teaching herself to crochet.

She tells me that all her life people have been saying she looks just like Ariel. She doesn’t see the resemblance.