End of Summer, Start of School

Saving Polly

We keep the windows and blinds open later than usual on cool evenings. Any of the day's heat that has accumulated in the house is tempered by the nighttime air. During these times it is not uncommon for winged insects to congregate on the screens; they presumably feel the warm air emanating from the house. Though small, the bugs aren't able to fit through the tiny wired squares and into the heated sanctuary.

This particular, remarkably cool, August evening, I saw a dark oblong shaped object on the patio door screen while I was standing on the opposite side of the kitchen. I walked over and found myself staring at the belly of a honeybee. She wasn't moving, just hanging on with all six legs. Sometimes her antennas wiggled a little. I called the kids over to take a look.

I told the kids that she must have gotten too busy buzzing from flower to flower and the cold sneaked up on her. She probably realized she wasn't going to make it back to her sisters or mother and so she sought someplace warm. The kids peered at her alternating gold and brown stripes and skinny black legs. I suggested we rescue her and let her sleep in the house for one night. Julia was all for it, but Finn wasn't so sure.

We scrounged for a small plastic container and, after we found one, poked holes in the lid. Julia and I went outside while Finn stayed and surveyed the scene from the safe side of the screen. Julia called out while we were walking on the deck toward the side of the house.

"I need to get some flowers for her!"

"She'll only be in there one night, she probably doesn't need any."

"She might!" Julia picked a few small yellow flowers from amongst the grass in the front yard.

"Okay, that's fine," I told her.

Once we were on her side of the screen, we examined the bee again from the new angle. I gently gave her a pet on the back with one finger. Julia watched me nudge her with the lid and into the container. She then placed the flowers inside and I pushed the lid on tight.

Back in the house, we set the temporary honeybee living space on the counter. We needed a name. Julia suggested "Pollinate". I suggested the nickname version, "Polly". The latter stuck.

Polly wasn't sure about being trapped in such a small space. She tried climbing the sloped sides but kept falling. She eventually calmed down and just sat still.

Before the kids went to bed, we checked on her and while it was difficult to tell for sure through the plastic and amongst the flowers, Polly looked to be laying on her side. I was afraid she wasn't going to last til morning.

The next morning Julia woke me up twice before I got out of bed. Back in the kitchen, we looked carefully at Polly through the plastic. She at least appeared to be sitting upright. The temperature outside was only in the fifties, but the sun was bright. We took our little buzzer outside and set the container on the deck table. Finn went back inside before we opened it. Within seconds of removing the lid, Polly starting moving a bit. She was using her front legs and pulling on her antennas. She looked like a cat cleaning its ears. Julia and I looked at her close. We commented on her large eyes and fuzzy back. I told Julia she could pet Polly if she was gentle. I demonstrated with one finger and Julia followed suit.

After more antenna fiddling, Polly began climbing up the sides of the container and falling over. She had a much better time of climbing over the flowers. I praised Julia for her flower idea as they helped provide our little friend some needed traction. After a short while longer of moving around, Polly fluttered her wings a few times and buzzed a bit back and forth in the container. I indicated to Julia that she might take off soon. Seconds later she buzzed straight up past us and into the sky. We watched her flit up higher and higher until she veered toward the sun and we weren't able to keep track of her any longer. Julia had a huge smile on her face and was truly excited that our plan to rescue the bee worked out perfectly. I was pretty excited too.

Though we didn't get to see which way she flew, I would like to think Polly made it home safely and got to experience more days of looking for flowers. But I hope from now on, she heads home a little bit sooner.

The Kinni and the Rocky Branch

The Kinnickinnic River flows south through western Wisconsin on its way to meet up with the mighty St. Croix. Before it reaches that point, it flows along Main Street in River Falls. The river slows down enough to form Lake George and a little ways downstream, Lake Luise. At that point, Glen Park is just behind and ahead is a popular spot for kayakers to put in. This section of the river, on the south-western edge of the city, has a series of trails that lead to the water's edge and along it. I hadn't been on the trails in awhile and had wanted to take the kids there sometime.

Because of the heat approaching 100 degrees and because Finn was being fussy, I decided to just bring Julia. Like I did the summer before with Foster Cemetery, I decided to try it out with the older kid before bringing the younger.

We found the start of one of the trails and headed down the hilly trail towards the river. The heat was oppressive but we were mostly shaded, there was a slight breeze, and we had water. After the path leveled off, we caught glimpses of the river.

Julia and I took a few steps off the path to take a look at an old limestone kiln.

Back on the trail, we were getting nicer views of the Kinni. Along with the views came glimpses of wildlife. We saw two blue herons in the river.

The second one ended up flying into a tree to wait out the passing kayakers.

I was hoping to get Julia and me into the water, but there wasn't a good place where we were. Instead of the Kinni we found a babbling little tributary - the Rocky Branch. We walked up it a ways and thoroughly enjoyed the cold water during the sweltering temps.

Julia posed on a rock before we called it a day and hiked the steep trail back toward car.

A week later, the temperatures were at least ten degrees cooler and the five-year-old better rested. This time I took them both. They did the hand holding completely on their own.

After coming to the Rocky Branch again, I decided to take the kids farther along the Kinni to explore a bit. We came to another, meandered stretch of the Rocky Branch and so that's where we got our feet wet. It took a few minutes to get Finn moving - he saw a water bug and insisted on going home. Eventually he gave in and things were fine after that.

Just around the bend downstream we hopped back out and found a perfect, shallow, sandy area on the shore of the Kinni. We stayed there and the kids played for nearly an hour.

The three of us then went back to the same area Julia and I had gone the week before. The kids played a bit and then we had a snack on the sand along the Rocky Branch before heading home.

Brushes with Fame

A "welcome" self-shot by Julia:

In May, Julia sent a letter to President Obama about the rainforest. In school she learned about deforestation and the many important things that come from the rainforest.

About a month later she received a large envelope from the White House and she was beyond excited! We were hoping she would be offered a cabinet position - Secretary of Rainforest Saving - or plane tickets to the Amazon so she could personally fix things, but the things she got were nice too.

The next event came in the form of some conversations between Amanda and PR people from Children's Hospital and Great Clips. The two organizations were getting ready to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the school re-entry program. A press release was sent out to the Twin Cities media outlets and WCCO was interested in doing an interview. We stayed downtown Minneapolis on Friday night in order to make the early-morning interview easier to handle.

We didn't arrive until Friday evening so we lounged in our room and ordered pizza.

The view from the 22nd floor was a good one! Directly below us was the WCCO studio. The black door behind the giant TV was where we entered.

After getting security badges, we were shown to the Green Room. It was comfortable, but not-so-green.

It didn't bother the kids that the room title was a misnomer; they found a makeup room in the back.

It wasn't long before an intern came and took us to the studio where the interview would be. The anchor would be interviewing Amanda, Julia, and Regina - one of the people who had started the school re-entry program.

Finn did some exploring while we waited for things to get going.

The anchor came running in, everyone got mic'd, then they got started.

The 3 minute interview can be seen here. Amanda and Julia just made short comments, but it was a unique thing for us all to experience.

Back at the hotel, I posed with the kids. Then we all went swimming before heading home.

Our weekend returned to normal after that. Amanda was at a conference for the rest of the weekend and the first part of the week. I took off of work Monday and the kids and I went to the Great Clips Bubble-a-thon at Children's Hospital. Bubble machines were setup all around the tent and the kids thoroughly enjoyed playing in them.

WCCO was at the event too and one of the reporters wanted to talk to Julia and me about the specifics of how it helped Julia to have the Child Life Specialist come to her school. I was pleased that Julia got so much camera time when we watched it later that evening. You can see it here.

There were lots of activities: hair coloring, face painting, food, hula-hooping, giant bubbles, and shampoo mascots!

Our last bit of exposure was when I wrote a short blog post that was put onto the Children's Hospital's Kids' Health blog. Read it here.

A "goodbye" self-shot by Julia: