8 Score and 1 Year ago ...

Today is the 161'st anniversary of the Gettysburg address,  If I had a bucket list, visiting Gettysburg would definitely be on it.  

Last year, during the A to Z challenge, I published this post, which includes a video of the address plus an 8-minute film telling the story behind the movie The Last Full Measure. I included it because The Last Full Measure is a line from the address.  

I just knew that if I Googled the Gettysburg Address Rap, I would find something. I was not disappointed. I have included it here as well to help commemorate the day.

   

The Gettysburg Address - A to Z Easter Egg

L is for Lincoln

 

Robert Todd Lincoln

                                                                Years Lived Before 1921: Seventy-Eight

                                                                Years Lived After 1921: Five

Robert Lincoln was the first child of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln and the only one who survived past the age of 18. He served as secretary of War under James Garfield and then Chester A. Artur after Garfield's assassination.  In 1889 Lincoln became the U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom. He was the last U.S. minister to the U.K. His predecessor was the first U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Lincoln served 15 years as president of the Pullman Car Company after the death of George Pullman.

Lincoln was 21 when his father was assassinated and was present when his father died.  In his role as Garfield's Secretary of war he was a witness to Garfield's assassination. In 1901 Lincoln was in Buffalo attending the Pan-American exposition as part of his duties as President of Pullman when he witnessed the assassination of William McKinley.  

Six Word Concert Surprise Update

S AS IN SURPRISE

Six Word Saturday.

Here's our Six Words:

Eureka, We found J.J. Heller Concert.




Puppy loves a Christian music artist by the name of J.J. Heller.  Whatever Puppy loves usually becomes a giant obsession with her.  So when she fell in love with the song "What Love Really Means" she wrote J.J. and asked when she was coming to concert near us.  J.J. wrote her back and told her to have us check the schedule at her website for upcoming concerts in the area.  Months passed and Puppy diligently reminded me to check the schedule.  When I did, nothing was really close.  Then a few months ago, I found it, a concert 2.5 hours from our house.  The concert was in Eureka, Illinois.  Eureka roughly translated means I found it. 

Now knowing Puppy like I do, I knew that 3 months of anticipation might not hurt her, but would probably kill us.    So I planned an elaborate day trip to see some historic Ronald Reagan sites which had us ending up in Eureka, Illinois this afternoon.

Bunny and Spider Droid were in on the secret, and it took every inch of self control they had not to spoil it for Puppy.

The field trips and the concert were amazing.  Here is some footage and pictures from the concert.

JJ Heller when she found out Puppy has same birthday as her daughter

For More Six Word Saturday CLICK HERE

Field Trip

R as in Reagan

As you read this we are on a family field trip. We are going to visit some Illinois towns steeped in Presidential history.

It is a Reagan themed trip with a little Honest Abe thrown in for good measure.

Today we are travelling to Dixon, where Reagan grew up. and to Eureka where Reagan went to college. I was also going to stop by Tampico, where he was born, in betwee Dixon and Eureka. I have decided to scrap Tampico and get a presidential 2fer by stopping in Galesburg. Reagan lived in Galesburg prior to Dixon. It is also one of the locations that Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln debated.

It should be fun and educational.

9 score and 18 years ago

I wasn't planning on participating in Six Word Saturday today. But here I am, and here's my six:

I learned something without using google.

Today Spider Droid finished reading the book, Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel to, which he has been doing over the past week or so. The book tells the story of the battle of Gettysburg and culminates with Lincoln giving the Gettysburg address.

As he was reading I realized that Lincoln gave the speech 148 years ago. So that's 9 score and 18 years ago. I'm 47 so it's also 3 me's and 7 years ago. In honor of the Cubs hiring a new manager, it's the last time Cubs were world champions and 45 years ago. Okay, you get it. It was a while back.

While I am good at remembering birthdays and anniversaries in our family, Google's little fancy designs are usually what tell me of the commemoration of a historical birth or event. Today I learned about it without Google. In fact if you take a look at a Google, you will see I scooped them. How about that?

For more Six Word Saturday Click Here.

Next Time: Aliens on the street?!?

DC Journal

Today I begin my tribute to the top 25 labels I used in the first 300 posts of Home School Dad. It is also Saturday, so I'll try to get my six words in edgewise.


Label # 20 (in a seven place tie): Washington D.C. Trip





When the family got together and decided to create a dream come true, (There's a song there somewhere, the dream in this case was our trip to Washington D.C) I decided to keep a journal of the trip and then post those entries here once I returned.

For a writer, I am a horrible journal keeper. I usually miss a day by the third entry or am going back to fill it in on a later date. Besides the night I fell asleep journaling, I was able to complete each entry before the day in question was in the books.

In terms of posting these entries here, I am very faithful to my original work. While I add pictures and sometimes videos from the day in questions and will correct grammar and spelling (not that you'd notice), I fight off the urge to turn a phrase differently than when pen first met paper, and try to stay true to the moment.


Today I am up to Day 8, our last day of sightseeing before we started driving back home.


Before I start, here are my Six Words:



Take a picture, it lasts longer.









Washington Trip: Day 8



Day 8 started like it might eclipse Day 7 as best day of the trip. I woke up at 4:45 A.M. and drove with Claire, the woman our family has been staying with, into D.C. We got to the tidal basin about 40 minutes before sunrise.


I took pictures from a bridge that overlooked both the Jefferson and Washington monuments and the Potomac river. It was an awesome sunrise among the cherry blossoms. I snapped picture after picture and even without a tripod or a really good camera, I took some breathtaking photos.

At about 7:30, i walked to the Washington monument and got in line to get tickets to go up the monument. I waited two hours just to find out that they had run out of tickets. I then met my family and my sister's family at the National Aquarium.

Most of the museum here at D.C. are free and huge. The aquarium went the other way, expensive and small. After that we spent a few hours at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Saw some real cool exhibits for both adults and children.




We went to the Julia Child exhibit and many others.

We then walked in the almost 90 degree heat to the tidal basin. The petals on the cherry trees were gorgeous. We the walked back to my sisters car and headed back to her house. We ate pizza at Kathy's and visited for a few hours before making our leave. We prepared for our return trip home and called it a night.

So that is it for my look at a label, I will finish the trip this coming week. For more Six Word Saturdays head on over to showmyfacedotcom.

Next Time: Men's Monday Meme

Hitting 300

Blog Insider - A look at the widgets, gadgets, and what-nots of Home School Dad.


Tonight's Episode: I'll Take Labels for 300.


I started this blog back in January of 2009. It took me less than 6 months to hit 100 posts. Click here or on my 100th post page to harken back to that time. 4 and a half months later I came in with post #200. Now, I have hit my 300th post.


I have labeled those posts with 71 distinctive labels. A label is a way of indexing the blog, so that it is easier to look up older posts by topics. A post can have many different labels at the same time. Today's post has 3: Blah Blah Blogging (Which is how I describe when I post incessantly about inane blogging practices), Blog Insider (where I talk about different gadgets, apps and tools I utilize) for this blog, and Posting in the Hundreds (Where I commemorate my posts that have multiples of one hundred). In a sense, all of these labels are very similar and there is a degree of overlapping in my labels.

If I could direct you to the label section of my blog you will see that instead of all 71, I have only 26 listed. This is because in celebrating my blogging longevity I plan to post about my 25 most popular labels in the weeks and months to come. There are 26 because there was a 7-way tie for 20th place. Instead of making a label for these labels, which would seem superfluous, I will be creating a page that will link to these homage posts. Until I have completed all of these I will have the label list show only the top 26.

Not listed in the top 25 are some of my favorite labels like: Hockey Lessons, An Open Letter, A Poem and FAQs of Life. But the 25 labels listed do give a pretty good insight to the kind of blog this has been the past year and a half. I hope you will enjoy the closer look behind the blog in the posts to come.

I plan to finish my D.C. trip remembrances before unpacking these labels, but as usual, prepare yourself for the randomness which is me.

As I bring this post to a close, I just want to give you links to my favorite posts of 4 labels that just missed the top 25:

Amy Roller Guest Blogger with Trudi's Garden.

Awana Scouts featuring Turtle Cake is Best.

The Labels Lincoln and Our Kid's Write are both featured in the post: In praise of Home School Kid's Write.

Next Time: Washington D.C. Day 8

Six Word Saturday: Washington Trip Day 7

If you go on a long trip, odds are that one day will be your best day of the trip. Today was definitely that day. We drove into the city, walked to the White House, took a cab to the capitol building. We took a tour of the building which included an excellent movie. I have been inside the capitol dome 3 times and it never gets old. There was something immensely pleasing experiencing it with my family.



**** We now interrupt this journal for my six words, which I wrote in the margin of my notebook:






Nothing says freedom like flying kites!




We now return you to the journal entry, already in progress ****

After lunch, we flew kites on the mall as we made our way from the Capitol Dome to the Washington Monument. We rested there and enjoyed the gorgeous day and each other before going to see the WWII (The Big One) memorial, The Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial is by far my favorite spot in D.C. It is an awesome spectacle. We then walked the mile and a half (or so) to where we parked. What a day! If we could only spend 1 day in D.C. and this was it, it would haves sooooo been worth the trip.







FOR MORE SIX WORD BARBARIC YAWPS HEAD ON OVER TO SHOW MY FACE DOT COM. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO HAVE CAPS LOCK ON TO DO SO.

Next Time: How I feel about getting older.

Penny Winners

A couple of months ago, I had a crazy idea. I would give away 200 pennies to celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth year. 100 pennies to a commenter on my original post and 100 pennies to a follower of my blog. The contest was supposed to end on 9/23/09 I picked winners and emailed them to get their addresses so I could send the pennies and now a fortnight later I have still not heard from either of them.

I have decided to change course a little. I have picked new winners will announce they're names now as well as e-mail them. I also picked a third winner from all my post comments from the original announcement to 9/23/09. Confused? So am I.

Without any more hoopla here are the winners. The first winner is Georgie. The winner from my commenter's is Lizze and the third winner is Jennayouknow that blog. Hopefully they will all contact me so I can give these pennies away. Otherwise my life seems so incomplete.

Next Time: What to do with half a bagel

A thought for My Pennies

Give-a-way: 200 pennies for Lincoln's Bicentennial.

When I was in college, I volunteered at a Campus radio station from 10 pm to 1 a.m on Tuesday nights. The radio station broadcast primarily in a few of the dorms and also could be heard on one of the campus t.v. channels that broadcast school announcements.

My show had an average listenership of maybe 10 people. I did it because, a) I loved playing Christian music and had the only christian program on the station b) I loved talking on the radio, reading copy introducing songs the whole thing and c) I love having crazy ideas and gimmicks and when you are doing a latte night radio show that virtually no one listens to it is the perfect place to showcase your crazy ideas and gimmicks. One gimmick I would sometimes do is give away a package of ramen soup to the 100th caller. Now I could buy the Ramen generally 10 for $1.00 at the Local Hyvee. So at 11:30 at night I am giving away ten cents worth of soup to the 100th caller when I have maybe 10 listeners.

The thing is people would call. I always gave the package away. One time somebody called in to request a song and didn't even know I was doing the give-a-way and they were the 100th caller.

So, we have established that back in 1987 I was as crazy (if not more) as I am today. Which brings me to my give-a-way. A few weeks ago I started the give-a-way with this post.

Earlier this year I gave away a set of 50 state quarters. I think that post had the most comments I had ever received. The Pennies give-a-way has not been so successful. So far I have had only 2 comments on the original post but both from the same person. I am making entering this contest very easy, though comment on any of my posts from the original until September 23rd and you qualify for one entry. So I encourage you to go to the original give-a-way comment there and comment on all the later posts including this one.

On September 23rd I will randomly pick from the entries and give-a-way the 100 pennies. I am also giving another 100 away to those following my blog. Yes it's crazy. Yes it's more work than is needed to get 100 pennies, you can simply go to a bank and get 2 rolls easy as you please. But that's where the fun is. Anyone can enter for a meaningful give-a-way but how cool will it be if you actually are the one who can say "hey I won 100 pennies from Crazy Dave. He paid more than that to send them to me!"

Remember if you blog about this give-a-way you get an extra entry. Just leave a comment on this or the original give-a-way post with the link.

Join in the madness! Another kind of madness is Six Word Saturday. Join in that by heading directly to Show My Face dot com. No passing go, no collecting 200 dollars. But you can collect 100 pennies if you are the lucky winner! If you'll excuse me I have to go listen to some Christian music and eat some ramen.

Next Time: A Bunny at Last.

Pennies

I generally do not lament my name. My Dad's name was David and he named me such, sure I would have rather him named me David. But Such Roller has a good ring to it. But today I lament that they did not name me Kevin for if they did I could name this post Pennies from Kevin.

Okay, that was a long way to go for a bad joke, so let's move on.

As you may know this year is 2009. If you did not know that, you may be beyond my ability to help you further, so hopefully you did. Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, 200 years ago . 100 years ago to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth. His image was placed on the penny.

Prior to 1909 the penny had an Indian Head.

To put things in perspective the last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series Lincoln was not yet on the penny. Wow!

In 1959 to celebrate Lincolns Sesquicentenial (150 years) The Lincoln Memorial replaced the wheat.

This year to celebrate Lincoln's bicentennial the face of the penny got a new look ...

And 4 different images on the back . . .

The 4 images represent his early years in Kentucky, his boyhood years in Indiana, His professional years in Illinois, and his presidency in D.C.

Many wheats are still in circulation. I opened 2 rolls (100 pennies) today and found one 1958 wheat and no 2009 pennies. I usually average about 2 wheats and 1 Canadian penny per roll.

Being a good Illinois boy from the original LOL: Land of Lincoln (Not the original Land of Lincoln which is Kentucky, but the original LOL) I would like to celebrate Abe's 200th with not 1 but two give-a-ways! Yes I will be giving out 2 sets of 100 pennies (with at least 1 wheat each). Yes you heard it right the buck ships here.

To win the first set do the regular old comment thing. When you comment tell me significant years in your life (yours, spouses, kids birthdays anniversaries, year favorite team won World Series (after 1908 of course) and I will try to mix a few of those years in).

For the second set I will be picking from my followers, so if you don't follow, this would be a fine time to start. While it's mathematically possible to win both sets, let's share the wealth and say that we will have 2 different winners.

I am going to run this contest until September 23rd, because 2 dollars is a lot of money and in these tough times I may have to raid my birthday money to make good. If you blog about my crazy give-a-way I will give you 2 more chances at the first contest, simply link the blog to your comment. See the official rules on the sidebar. .

All this bang for a buck? That's why they call me Crazy Dave!

Next Time: Zoos

Our Last Meal

THREE THINGS THIS THURSDAY

If you read Michelle's blog you know she's had a lot on her plate lately. So she has asked me to host 3TTT for the next few weeks and I have glady agreed. It's all in my long term goal of taking over the internet.

I thought we'd go into the not so way back machine today and give you some snippets from my No Junk Food June experience: You may first want to look at my post from yesterday to get some context.

1. 5/31/2009

Dropped my friend Marina off at the airport today. She came in from Russia for an Amway convention in Grand Rapids. I got her and some of her travelling companions to the airport so they can catch a bus. I had about a half hour to kill on my way to church, so I punched Taco Bell into the GPS and got a quick bite before service. Yes it was 10:30 in the morning, but this was my last shot at Taco Bell until July.

Tonight I took the kids to CiCis to use a coupon we got in the newspaper. Not sure if a pizza buffet counts as junk food or not. The multiple sugary sodas and desserts sure would qualify though. Indulging myself on this last day of fast food availability may not be the most prudent of decisions, we shall see.

2. 6/9/09

Dropped off Marina at the airport today. After her conference ended in Grand Rapids last week she and some other Russian tourists drove from Illinois to New York to see Niagara Falls. It must have been a National Lampoon's Vacation length stop because by Monday night she was back in Chicago where she stayed with our family. I took her to the airport where she was flying to Charleston, South Carolina to spend a few days.

She wasn't the only one doing any travelling, though. After we dropped her off at the airport, it was off to Springfield to spend a few days with our friend Matthew who is recovering from a minor surgery.

We actually have a bit of travelling we are doing this month. So I told the kids at the onset of No Junk Food that it does not pertain to them while travelling. Had a minor mishap when getting gas on the way to Springfield. I picked up a 20 oz Mountain Dew rather than it's diet equivalent. Didn't notice until I drank from the bottle a few miles down the road. Believe me if you haven't had sugary drinks for a while, you immediately know the difference! Charlie lucked out and I let him drink about 1/2 of it before throwing the rest away at our next stop which was Wendy's. Charlie and Emma had Bacon Cheeseburgers, Lucy had Chicken Nuggets, and I drank water (Amy had to work and was unable to make the trip if I hadn't mentioned this already).

When we got to Springfield, we visited with Matthew and then went swimming at our motel. We then took Matthew out for dinner at Golden Corral. I did get the buffet but drank water and did not get any desserts. Of the three temptations I had today, the temptation to hit the dessert buffet was much stronger than those to drink Mountain Dew or eat at Wendy's.

When we got back to the motel we swam for a while in their outdoor pool even though it was below 70 and raining. Tomorrow it's breakfast at Cracker Barrel then a visit with Matthew to the Lincoln Museum and then back home to the lovely Amy.

3. 6/15/09

Dropped off Marina at the airport today. We actually picked her up at 1 airport and then drove her to another. She had a great time in Charleston and flew from there on Saturday to St. Louis to visit our friends the Hendricks. She flew Southwest on Monday from St. Louis to Chicago, Southwest flies into Midway and she was flying back to Russia from O'Hare. So it was me and the kids picking her up at Midway, eating sandwiches while we waited for her luggage, and then seeing her off at O'hare. She certainly had a jam packed visit to the states and we were glad to spend sometime with her on her travels.

So that's three things for this Thursday. Before I bounce you back to Michelle, What is a trip to the Capitol of the Land of Lincoln without the man himself? The family caught up with him just outside of his Museum . . .

It's your turn now. Do you have three things that you would like to share? Recipes, ideas of what's brewing for Gilligan and company on Lost, or other random thoughts? Use Mr. Linky below and be sure to send Micheele an encouraging word and myself any creative constructive ideas as I host 3TTT for the next few weeks.

Next Time: The Wall of Glaze

A Short Trip

The above title does not refer how long it takes for my children to drive me crazy. But when they do they certainly do not need a GPS. We as a family just got back from a less than 48 hour journey that took us from the Land of Lincoln (Illinois) , to the boyhood home of Lincoln (Indiana) , to the birthplace of Lincoln (Kentucky) and back again. This was no presidential visit though. We were bound for the blue grass state for the purposes of celebrating family achievement. Amy's cousin Chris graduated from high school.

Highlights of the trip were shouting "Marshmallow!!" when crossing state lines, swimming in the hotel pool, and using GPS for the first time.

My Dad lent me his GPS and it is a lot of fun. Amy and my favorite part of a GPS is not following their directions. We got home yesterday and today as we drove to church, we plugged my Dad's address into the GPS. The thing is my Dad lives south of us and church is north of us. As we got closer and closer to the church you could hear the frustration mounting every time she (it's a woman's voice) said "recalculating". The best time was when it suggested we turn into a cul de sac with 4 houses with the express purpose of turning around.

So that's enough interstate travel for a few weeks until we will again shout marshmallow. Our congratulations to Chris on his outstanding achievement.

Next Time: Some Carnivals May Vary

A Message From Springfield

Springfield, IL

I saw the new Star Trek movie last night. I tried to come into the movie with low to modest expectations. It is hard to maintain low to modest expectations for a movie you travel 225 miles to see. This is especially true, when the first leg of your journey includes Chicago's Friday rush hour traffic.

Chicago was not blacked out for the premiere. I decided to mark the occasion with a visit of a dear Star Trek loving friend in Springfield. I am blogging from his computer at this instant. Another college friend went with us and just hanging out together was enough to make the evening a success regardless of the merit of the film.

Star Trek, in my opinion was a blast rather than a bust. It re imagines the series without dismantling it. From the opening sequence to the closing credits it was a festival of imagination and innovation. Actually the closing credits were pretty standard fare. They did however give me an idea for my next career once this home schooling gig has run it's course: Font Advisor.
(I know that is such a Times New Roman thing to say, but all my jobs can't be wingdings.)

My friend has amassed quite the library of movies and t.v. shows and comic books. I have watched episodes of Dark Wing Duck. Doctor Who, Life on Mars and The Batman (cartoon version) and read the first issue of the Marvel adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. You have to make room for the classics.

I also went into down town Springfield sat on a bench right next to Abraham Lincoln, spent time in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, visited the television station my friend works for, and saw cougars and Chinese barking deer at the local zoo. That's pretty good considering I have only been in town for 27 hours.

My friend (I'd mention his name but that's classified information, alright it's Clark Kent. There were cut backs at Metropolis and he's been re-stationed in Springfield.) lives about a mile from one of the best 2 restaurants in one building combos in the history of restaurant sharing. Long John Silvers meets A&W Root Beer. Been there once already and hitting it on my way out tomorrow.

I do miss my family, it's nice to get away from time to time, but even nicer to head back home. I hope Clark doesn't miss Season 1&2 of Dark Wing Duck. "When there's trouble you call D.W.!"

Next Time: Not Much, What's a Co-op with you?

In Praise of Home School Kids Write

Leftovers let you feel good about yourself twice. First, when you put them in the refrigerator "Hey! I'm saving money!" Then, two months later when you throw them away "Hey! I'm saving my life!" - George Carlin

That has nothing to do with today's post, but I was cleaning out the fridge today. Just keeping it real.



A few weeks ago I read about a website called Homeschool Kids Write. Each Monday they post a writing assignment and the students can either put the assignment on their blogs and post a link to it or they include a place for students to post if they don't have a blog of their own.

The reason why I like it so much is it's simplicity. I let my children know the assignment and then they write it. I post it and link it for them, and then we spend some time reading what the other students write. It has become a cost free planning free component of our school week.

Here are some samples of the assignments and what my children have done with them ...

Assignment 53 was to write about your favorite president. Charlie wrote ...

I like Abraham Lincoln because he freed the slaves.



Nice, concise writing, I give it a 10.


Assignment 56 was to write a dialogue between yourself and a sandwich. Emma has been taking a skits class at our co-op. I think that's why her dialogue reads like a skit...

My Samwitch by Emma
Emma: Balony again! Why doesn't mom choose liver sausage insted?
Samwitch: Hey! Don't insult me!Emma: Sorry! I thought you weren't listening. But why do you just have to be balony?
Samwitch: Hey! Don't blame me for being a different kind! Besides, I thought you liked balony.
Emma: My sister does but I don't.
Samwitch: Oh! I thought she liked liver sausage.
Emma: She doesn't but I do.Samwitch: Oh then I got mixed up! I'm sorry! Will you forgive me?Emma: Yes, I forgive you. But tell Mom I like liver sausage, okay?
Samwitch: Do you mean you're not going to eat me?
Emma: Yep! I have extra money for cafateara food.
Samwitch: Yea!
Emma: Good bye!
Samwitch: Good bye!
THE NEXT DAY ...
Emma: Good, liver sausage! I don't have any more money.
Samwitch: Oh Man!
Emma: Well good bye!
Samwitch: Good Bye!

You notice how it's not called homeschool kids spell. I often will have the kids correct their spelling before we post it, but in this case I decided to post it as is.

SO, if you are looking for some ways for your kids to practice their writing and see samples of others, I recommend Homeschool kids write.

To see what other home school families are talking about go to the carnival of homeschooling hosted at the Home School Cafe.

Next Time: Danger! Blogging