Screen free Tuesday update

Well, first things first, these are my seed starts this year. I love the cooperation shown by all the stuff I planted. Some stuff hasn't come up yet, but a lot has, and some of that was from seed packs labeled "Packed for 2006". I mean they're seeds, what's a few years in the big scheme of things?

I especially liked how the zinnias came up in seemingly a matter of hours (it was probably 3 days) and are growing so fast one can almost watch it.  I still need to find a cover for the tray; I end up watering a lot and I'm sure the conditions could be a little more consistent if I did have a clear cover. I am thankful my kid likes broccoli. We were eating dinner (which included broccoli) and I showed him the sprouts. He said he knew that we ate the unopened flowers, but what would happen if you let the plant go? My scientist heart quickened.

I knew I had him for about 15 seconds, so I quickly explained what bolting was and told him we'd let one of these broccolis bolt in the garden this spring. "Cool". Yes it is.

Due to parenting schedule changes, I hadn't had Mr W for a couple of Tuesdays, so my screen-free Tuesday nights campaign had to start from scratch and included moping, tears, and outrage. They've got three (!) weeks of standardized testing that started yesterday, so he thought he deserved a reward. I held firm, and on the way home from the dog park he asked if we could go out after dinner and get ice cream. At that point I knew he had surrendered to his fate, and he was good company for the rest of the evening.

He wanted to see SFTs as a punishment, and I told him he could do that, although I considered them an opportunity for us to do something together. And for him to think of other things to do instead of defaulting to the screened things. I hope he eventually gets that. I think he will.

We did get ice cream, and went into the Culver's instead of using the drive through. I ran into a former student working the counter, and she acknowledged how she didn't do so good in the class, but was going back to school in the fall after taking a semester off. I told her I thought that was great, and later thought how very many things community college students often have going on in addition to school. I think all of the students I had in my classes worked, many of them had full time jobs. A lot had kids or other family obligations. So, bully for her. She's a smart cookie and can go into whatever she wants.