Jackson Sitting

Jackson has been working on sitting for a while and he's getting better and better. He does fall over though when he gets too much momentum to sit up straight or when he gets tired....he'll either flop over to the side or backwards. He'll get the hang of it soon. Here are some pictures I took yesterday of him.

So happy....

But oh no...starting to slump over.....

And he's down.....

Costa Rica!

Sarah, Jackson, Jeanette, and Christa are going to Costa Rica1 They're going for a week starting February 14th, and they're going to visit Sarah's sister, Ellen, and her family. They're really excited about it. We saw some video of their place today and it is pretty amazing. They sent us these pictures a few days ago.

I had no idea sloths got that big. That's freakin huge.I do know that they almost never leave the trees, so this is a pretty rare sighting. Awesome!

I wish I were going, but I can't leave work right now. Next time!

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

On Saturday, January 17, we went to Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay, Long Island with Ed, Jeanette, and Jeanette's sister Christa and her boyfriend Nick. It was a beautiful, freezing day with highs in the teens. It started out with clear blue skies, but clouded up in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day for a beautiful place.

Sagamore Hill was the home of Theodore Roosevelt, one of our best and most charismatic presidents.

On site there is a park welcome center, the house itself, a cemetery, trails, orchard, and a museum. Tours through the house are every hour on the hour. We found out that winter is a good time to come because few people come, and as a result, they make the tours longer, more informative, and in more parts of the house. I was pretty happy with that, but I would like to come back in the spring or summer - I'm sure it's beautiful here then.

Tours are $4/person. After buying our tickets, we walked up to the house and began our tour - just us and an English couple. I don't have many pictures because photographs aren't allowed inside the house.

The house was beautiful and really amazing. Roosevelt lived here from 1885 until his death in 1919, and while he was president, he called this his "Summer White House". Roosevelt was very much a naturalist, conservationist, hunter, outdoorsman, and general adventurist, as much as he was a politician. His house reflects all these characteristics. Taxidermy mounts of many of his trophies, gifts from governments from all over the world, gifts from Native American tribes, etc. My favorite room was a huge "library", with many of these gifts and mounts, books, etc. The woodwork here, as throughout the house, was amazing. It's hard to describe the house and this room - I wish I had pictures - but this room is kind of my dream office.

The house is situated in a beautiful place also. On top of a hill that overlooks the nearby Oyster Bay, part of Long Island Sound.

Roosevelt obviously loved this house and watching his kids grow up here. He was a very dedicated father who made a point to spend as much time with his kids as possible, even when he was president. He moved here in the 1st place because he wanted his kids to grow up in a rural setting.

The tour takes about an hour, but that time flies by. You get to see essentially every room, which is nice because it seems most of these kinds of tours I go on don't let you see large portions of the house.

After the tour we took pictures on the huge porch where Roosevelt and his family spent much of their time, then walked over to the Museum, which was originally a house built by one of Roosevelt's son's. The museum was great because it really chronicled Roosevelt's life. He really was an amazing man that accomplished so much. There's no way I can give you even a brief overview, but here are a couple of things that I really admire about him:

- He was a big conservationist and is largely responsible for the National Park system. In the 7&1/2 years he was president, he created 150 national forests, 51 bird reservations, 3 game reserves, 5 national parks and 18 national monuments. For everyday he was president, he protected an average of 84,000 acres of land, totalling more than 230 million acres - this is an area roughly equal to all of the states on the East coast from Maine to Florida. A lot of his efforts to protect land had the added benefit of pissing off congress and greedy developers.

- He was a naturalist and scientist. He traveled all over the word observing nature and collecting specimens for science. His trips included months in Africa collecting big game specimens, mot of which are still in the Smithsonian, and spending months in the Amazon. He actually was the first person to explore 1500 miles on a river in Brazil, which was then named for him

- He was a patriot. As a Rough Rider he became a national hero in the Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

- He was tough as nails. One of my favorite stories about him was that one time he was giving a speech when someone tried to assassinate him He was actually shot, but refused to leave the podium, and finished his speech for another hour and a half before leaving the stage and seeking medical help.

He was by all accounts a pretty amazing guy. I have a couple biographies of him but haven't had a chance to read them. I think this trip will help me to find the time.

We wanted to see his grave in a nearby cemetery, but it was closed because the walkway was iced over and dangerous.

Anyway, I hope if you ever get the chance, you'll go see this park. It was beautiful and we had a great time.

Weekend in Long Island

We spent last weekend in Long Island with our friends Ed and Jeanette. We got up their Friday evening. When we got there they had a few inches of snow on the ground! That evening, we pawned Jackson off on Mrs. Glenn (Jeanette's mom - actually she insisted) while we went to a barbecue place. It was pretty good for yankee barbecue, and HUGE portions.

This weekend was the coldest weather in a couple of years. The highs Friday and Saturday were in the mid teens, with lows in the mid single digits! It was awesome! I love the cold weather. The colder the better.

Saturday we went to Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, but I'll write about that in the next post. On the way back we went to Moe's for a late lunch - Christa (Jeanette's sister) loves Moe's. We just hung out that evening (Jeanette cooked an awesome dinner) at their house.

Jackson & Christa

That evening we went to Jeanette's brother's (Tommy) house. Tommy and Marissa have a little boy, Shane, 1 day older than Sarah's brother's little girl, Isabella. I know, I'm confused too. Shane's pretty cute.

Marissa with Jackson

Jackson watching Shane.

That evening back at the Glenn's house, Jeanette cooked a great dinner and we just hung out. Jackson was bushed.

Jackson with Ed.

Sunday morning Ed, Lincoln and I enjoyed the snow. Lincoln loves the snow, but he loves Ed even more.


We put Jackson in his new snowsuit for the first time and laid him down in the snow. He didn't like the snow falling in his face.




Ed and Jeanette are looking for a house in the area, so we stopped at one open house. Beautiful house, but you would not believe the prices and taxes up there! It nuts! That afternoon and evening we watched the NFL playoffs. Ed's a big Eagles fan, but they lost. Too bad, because he was growing a beard until they lost. It was looking good, too.

Each night we were there it snowed a couple of inches. They have a beautiful house and yard, and Lincoln and I had a great time playing in the snow. It was too powdery for a snowman. Lincoln loves the snow!

Here's my awesome truck with 1 night's snow.

Monday we drove home after having lunch at a great Greek place. The drive was long because it snowed pretty hard nearly the whole trip. As it turns out, there was about 4" of snow on the ground when we got home - the biggest snow in 2 years. Everything was beautiful, but other then walking Lincoln that evening, it was too late to enjoy it.

We always have such a great time up there. Jeanette's family is always so fun and hospitable.

Jeanette with Jackson

New Posts below.

There are new posts below (Christmas, Hopewell Furnace, etc.), so don't forget to go down. Lots of pictures and video too.
Jason

Darwin Articles in National Geographic

Crap! This post was supposed to go on a blog I belong to with some of my paleo-colleagues at school. I put it here accidentally. But, it's still pretty cool, so I'll leave it.
Jason


Everyone,
I hope everyone will get a chance to read the newest articles on Darwin in the latest National Geographic. I got mine today. There is a 2-part article on Darwin and Evolution. I read the 1st tonight, which was fantastic. I don't want to give it away, but it focuses on the importance of Darwin's time in Argentina and Patagonia and his experiences there with fossil mammals and modern inhabitants, like Rheas and armadillos, in the formulation of his great theory. The article is linked in the title. Check out the photo gallery and other features. The photo gallery has a nice picture of one of our friends from the field, or at least a close relative.

-One negative about the article - there is a picture of freakin Neil Shubin taking credit for Tiktaalik again. Some things never change.

Apparently there was an article on Sir Alfred Russell Wallace in the December 2008 issue that I must have missed. Check it out.

Free at last, free at last, thank god almighty, bush is gone. Not a moment too soon.

I wasn't there, but I sure wish I had been.

The whole day was pretty amazing. One of my favorite parts, though, was when Obama was speaking about George Washington's remarks to the nation in preparation for crossing the icy Delaware River. As Obama was saying this, I was looking out my office window at the view below - the ice covered Delaware River, at the spot where Washington actually crossed the river from Pennsylvania into Trenton to attach the Hessian fort here, turning the tide of the Revolutionary War. Even more amazing, this river doesn't freeze that often any more - only a few days out of the year, if that.

Hopewell Funrance National Historic Site

On Saturday, January 3, we went to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, about 45 minutes northwest of us.

The first thing we noticed was the weather. We weren't far from home but it was significantly colder, and there was still snow on the ground from some flurries we'd had a few days prior. Our corner of the state always seems to be significantly warmer than the rest. We're always right at or just south of the rain / snow line. I think it's because we're very low in elevation and closest to the Atlantic.

Anyway, we got there and it was a beautiful blue sky, apple trees, and farm fields. Neither of us really had any idea what this park was all about - it's not exactly one of the most well known. So, we went in to check out the building and find out. A very nice ranger there showed offered to show us a 10 minute video, which was very informative, and then we walked around the small museum. It is very small as far as ranger station museums go, but nice regardless.

We wrapped up Jackson in his clothes, thick coat, hat, gloves, and his stroller fleece sleeping bag to walk through the park. It was cold, but he was as snug as a bug and slept the entire time.

So here's the story. In 1771, a man named Mark Bird built an iron furnace here, which became extremely important in 1775 when the Revolutionary War broke out. The furnace started out mostly making casting stove plates, but when it became clear that war was inevitable, the furnace became a a major supplier of cannons. After the war, though, he had a hard time collecting debts from the new government and the recession didn't help. In 1788, he auctioned off Hopewell Plantation and fled to North Carolina.

After several more owners, it eventually ended up in the hands of Clement Brooke in 1816. He was owner and iron master and became very successful by focusing the operation on making stove plates and other iron products. Hopewell became in important supplier of these items to many of the major cities on the East Coast.

Hopewell continued operations until 1883, but really struggled throughout most of that time. Its most successful period was between 1816 and 1831.

Anyway, enough history. The park featured a lot of original and restored building, including the furnace and homes. Here's how it worked:

To melt iron, you have to have a lot of fuel, and for them, that was charcoal, but they had to make it. They had teams of men who did nothing but make charcoal, which was an incredibly labor and time-intensive process. I'm not going to go into all of the details, but essentially, they had to cut down several (~12) trees, split the wood into very specific sizes, stack it into a very specific shape following very specific steps, cover this huge pile with leaves and dirt, and then burn it very slowly over a period of 10 - 12 days. But, the wood has to burn very slowly and under controlled conditions, so 1 or 2 men had to spend every minute of those 10 days watching it. They build wood and dirt huts like these next to the burn pile so they could watch the burn.

Blast furnaces burn very hot, so the charcoal didn't last long. It is hard to imagine how much charcoal, and therefore forests, they must have gone through to operate for more than 100 years. This park still does charcoal making demonstrations and classes in the summer. Looks pretty cool.

Once the charcoal cools, they put it over in huge wagon with huge draft horses to a large building where it is stored until it is needed.

So, to make iron, they dump iron ore and limestone into the top of a furnace with charcoal at the bottom where it is burned. To get the charcoal hot enough, they had enormous bellows blowing hot air into the fire. The bellows were powered by a waterwheel.

It really amazed me that the process is nearly identical to the way pig iron and iron processing was done so much more recently in places like Sloss Furnace in Birmingham.

When this place was in operation, it was basically it's own little village. There was the iron masters house, which you can go in. It was very big and nice inside. There was also a general store, where you could get just about anything you wanted. You could go in that also, and it was pretty cool. On the grounds there was also a big field with sheep and a couple of ENORMOUS draft horses. They are used to getting fed by visitors, so one of the horses walked right up to us and Lincoln was so excited!

Around the field there were houses of the furnace workers, which again, you can go in. They're furnished as if they would have been in the 19th century. Pretty cool.

In all, it was a beautiful day and a beautiful park. There are lots of trails to walk and its a great place for dogs. We had a great time.

Along the road on the way out, there was this beautiful tree - perfect for family pictures.

After we left, we were driving slowly around the remainder of the park and pulled off the side of the road to look at the map when someone pulled up next to us, rolled down his window, and yelled War Eagle! Here we were in the middle of nowhere PA and we met an Auburn fan. He said he was from here, but lived for a time in Alabama, and being a Penn State fan (and rational person), he had to hate Alabama. Good for him. Join the club. f-bamma

Happy New Year and Year in Review

Sarah had to work New Year's Eve and the day after once again, so we didn't do much. Actually, it wouldn't have mattered if she didn't have to work, because we don't really care at all about New Year's. It's just another night. Nothing to get excited about. We were in bed pretty early.

Anyway, Happy New Years woo hoo . . .

Well, it was a pretty eventful year. Sarah turned 31 (yikes). We had Jackson. Lincoln turned 5. We visited 6 or 7 National Parks or Monuments in only ~4 months. A pretty good start for the 1st year, but each of us has still only visited about 12% of the parks. We've got a long way to go, and I can't wait. What else was there - oh yeah, we sucked in football. I still like my job and Sarah is ok with hers. We'd like to start lokoing for a house closer to my work, but we'll see. Anyway, happy new year.

Christmas 2008

Well, Christmas wasn't extremely exciting this year. The best parts for me came before Christmas.

On the 14th, we went explorig Eastern PA and looking for Christmas tree farms. Here's Jackson and I and Lincoln at the farm. It was freezing.

Here's Jackson getting in the Christmas spirit. We actually bought these antlers years ago for Lincoln.

On the 20th we went to the Philadelphia Orchestra's Christmas Concert. We didn't have a baby sitter, so we were pretty nervous that Jackson wouldn't be good, or even if he was, he'd make a lot of noise. We really got nervous during dinner at an Indian restaurant around the corner from the concert hall because he started to get fussy. But, as usuall, he was perfect, and not just because he was asleep. He slept for the 1st 1/3, but then was awake the rest of the time - just perfectly quiet. He's so good. On the way out it was late and freezing, but we stopped on the street to take this picture.

On the 21st, we took Jackson to see Santa at the mall. Afterwards, we carried him around the mall in his outfit and we got lots of great looks. Some Chinese people even stopped us to take his picture.

Sarah had to work Christmas eve, so Jackson and I cooked a big Christmas dinner - turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, etc. Most of it turned out pretty well. We also rented a chain saw we hadn't collected any wood for our fireplace yet - we're really late this year.

Bath Time

Christmas Day!
On Christmas morning, I had my traditional bagel and lox. We had breakfast and opened presents slowly because we didn't have much - we didn't do much for presents this year because of the economy. Plus, Jackson is too young to care, so we mostly wrapped up things he already had just so he could open stuff. I did get Jackson a few books. I also got Sarah a few books and other stuff. We talked with my family and Sarah's sister in Costa Rica on Skype.

In case you can't see it, Jackson's shirt says "Dear Santa, It Wasn't Me"

We spent the afternoon cutting and collecting firewood nearby. I spent a couple hours splitting that wood, and then we went to Sarah's cousin's house for dinner.

It was a good Christmas season, but it would have been more fun if we'd been with family. Next year will be more fun with Jackson anyway, since he'll know what's going on a little better.