Inquisitive Preceptor

03/21/2022

New project coming soon! This is a late 1970’s Yamaha 200 that my father has owned for as long as I can remember. It hasn’t been started and run in over 30 years! Together, with my son Alex, we hope to give this old girl a new lease on life! I love the excitement of a new project!

06/19/2021

I have a fascination with bringing old and forgotten items back to life. In today’s throw away society, it makes me feel like I am doing my part to reduce rubbish; but it also brings me intense satisfaction and joy. This camper was my latest project. My father picked this 76 Coleman Camper up from a customer at his auto repair business. It was well cared for and stored covered for years so the bones were solid. Unfortunately, we had a slight mishap, we had it stored in one of the bays at the shop and a hydraulic lift malfunctioned; crushing the camper to the ceiling and ruining the supports. With a little love, lots of reading and research, (and a lot of time, sweat, and maybe a few tears), the camper came back from the dead and just in time for a little Father’s Day weekend trip. I can not wait to continue to update this old girl and travel with family.

03/08/2021

Every day is a day to learn something new! It’s especially fun when you get to tap into the knowledge of family members. Today’s adventure was in sewing! My maternal and paternal grandmothers have on numerous occasions sewn Halloween costumes, repaired torn pants, and created amazing outfits, pillowcases, etc. I was always amazed at their handy work. Being a complete beginner, I had to teach myself how to use the sewing machine, measure and cut the materials, and then somehow put it all together. Time will tell if my work holds up!

03/06/2021

Knowledge and Know-How starts with curiosity, and is fulfilled by a belief that you have the ability figure out the unknown. I’m driven by this desire even when it leads me to One Man’s Trash. There is nothing more satisfying to me than being able to resurrect something old and forgotten; bringing life back into items destined for the rubbish pile....

Knowledge and Know-How starts with curiosity, and is fulfilled by a belief that you have the ability figure out the unknown. I’m driven by this desire even when it leads me to One Man’s Trash. Ther…

08/28/2020

It happens every year as soon as the month turns from July to August. The undeniable turning, rolling, and feeling of angst in the stomach of a teacher who begins to prepare for their next class of students. It’s a feeling that comes with the job for so many teachers that, I believe, stems from the intense stress we educators put on ourselves to do right for these students; to ensure we do absolutely everything we can to reach and teach each and every one of them. [ 246 more words ]

Photo by Jenny Matten. It happens every year as soon as the month turns from July to August. The undeniable turning, rolling, and feeling of angst in the stomach of a teacher who begins to prepare …

06/14/2020

This is very interesting.

"Angel's Glow" was a phenomenon of the Civil War in which soldiers' wounds seemed to glow in the dark. It took 139 years to figure out why.

04/26/2020

Daily office setup...Note: current picture was staged at my house, but shows my daily arrangement. Today marks day...(I don’t remember), since our school building closed due to the global pandemic. During this time many thoughts, frustrations, and yes, even exciting moments have happened. There is no way I can capture it all here but there are several considerations to share. [ 608 more words ]

Teaching and learning in times like this is rooted in challenges. No challenge is less than or greater than the other; each challenge is unique to the one who meets the challenge.

04/13/2020

Cool opportunity to learn about Beekeeping!

04/06/2020

Inquisitive Preceptor Junior and I embarked on an awesome project/experience today! We milled a baseball bat! We had 36” sections from an old ash tree we took down a year ago. I used my chainsaw mill to create a 3.5” x 3.5” billet, then we slowly worked it into a bat using one of his favorite Mizuno bats as a template. Unfortunately the wood wasn’t the greatest and it broke at the handle as we were 3” away from finishing! As disappointing as it was, we had a great time working on it together. I’m already scouting my logs for our next attempt!

03/20/2020

02/23/2020

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” What a cool learning experience taking this older solid wood door, repairing it, and installing onto the back of our house! This awesome 9-pane door adds an exquisite amount of light! Next is to finish painting.

02/13/2020

Waaaaaay back at the beginning of the school year our K classes collected acorns, performed the float test, and packaged them up for stratification. Today we FINALLY got to see roots sprouting and put them into soil!