July 15th, 2010

It’s a Stander!    

Posted by Peter.

Jon in his stander

PeterYes, it’s a very sturdy, orthopaedic stander. It will help stretch Jon’s hamstrings and hopefully inhibit further progress of his scoliosis. Jon did some standing in class this past year, and it turns out he’d prefer to stand and learn than sit. It was especially effective for teaching math, and we walked into a class where Jon’s teacher Denis was basically giving Jon the “stand and deliver” treatment. The whole class was involved, but if any of the other students were having trouble, Jon was called in to suggest assistance. Wow.

He quite likes it, and can do about 30-50 minutes in it out of the gate. With any luck, as we continue he’ll develop some musculature to support himself for even longer.

Jon in his stander with his computer on boxes at his height

Comment by Bev — July 16, 2010 @ 5:00 pm

That’s great. Stand up and be counted, Jon!

July 10th, 2010

What the…?    

Posted by Peter.

Peter The other day, we took delivery of this, and then learned—kind of—how to carefully adjust it. It’s more complex than you guess. But what’s it for?
Complex mechanical apparatus in a large frame

July 7th, 2010

Heat wave coping strategy    

Posted by Laura.

Laura Peter’s mom sent this to us today. At first I casually glanced at it and said “awww, baby raccoons in a fridge—how cute”; then I noticed that the butter dish looked awfully familiar—holy cow, it’s the fridge at the family cottage!

Raccoon babies in fridge

Grandma reports that the raccoon family (mom + three kids; only two pictured here) got in through an open sliding door at around 1:30 a.m., first tried the cupboards and garbage (no luck), then popped open the fridge. Aside from crackers and blueberries dropped on the fridge and kitchen floors, and a Kolbassa sausage eaten, there was no damage. The masked intruders made a clean getaway.

Comment by JHGRedekop — July 7, 2010 @ 9:08 pm

That butter dish looks like the ones my mother used to make…

Comment by Peter Cook — July 7, 2010 @ 11:51 pm

I’ll add that Mother Raccoon and Kit #1 cleared outta there as my Mom approached, leaving Kit #2 and #3 at the back of the fridge! A tap on the shelf got them scampering out too.

Comment by Luisa — July 8, 2010 @ 10:39 pm

What an incredible picture. They are so amazingly smart. I had a staring contest with one a while back, and I couldn’t believe the intelligence I saw in its eyes. Reid tells me that when he was young, there was a raccoon that opened their garage door by simply sliding its paws under it and lifting.

Haven’t been to the site in a while (seem to be swamped lately!). Ronnie and I have been enjoying it this evening, while I caught up. It’s a great joy to read!