Thursday, April 27, 2017

Saturday Science

Saturday was Science! day.  I delivered posters from The Child's class to the UO Science Fair; which required being on campus around 10AM.   And reconfiguring the car.  And packing enough snacks and umbrellas and hats and coats to be prepared for the day.  Mark walked to campus and The Child and I drove everything to Willamette Hall, where the fair was.

We helped set up a little, and then looked at all the presentations.  The Child's project (he was the lead investigator) was about testing herbicides; he had control grass, and other hapless pots of grass that he or his team had poured salt or boiling water or vinegar on.   Other kids had exhibits like, what interferes most with WiFi signals, which car will go the fastest, and how much mechanical advantage do different ten-speed bike gears give.  Various groups--like the library--had demo booths.

The Grandparents and my sister came down and looked at everything.  Mom wasn't feeling so mobile, so we found some chairs and had a nice chat.  We managed to get pictures of The Child being grilled by the fair judges.  Other events called them back to Corvallis, and by then it was time for the Eugene March for Science.   I met up with Ray V. and all the other marchers in front of the Knight Library, and after the rally was finished, every turned and marched toward the student union building.  Mark and The Child were walking the other way to get some food, and briefly joined the march... but somehow we missed each other.   Ray and I chatted about writing and critique groups as we walked... neither of us is an actual bona-fide scientist, but we were marching anyway.

All day was a raining then sunny then raining again day, but during the march, it warmed up enough that I took off my coat.  About halfway through, I snuck out of the parade to get back to the Science Fair.  More friends of The Child had shown up, so they were running around looking at all the exhibits.  Around 3 PM there was a science demonstration and awards, and The Child's project managed to get first place (in the life-sciences devision, we think; there were so many participants this year that the judges created several divisions).  

Sunday I was tired.  Rain fell most of the day, and I think we all wanted to lie around the house, curled up with a book and hot cocoa by a fire.  Except all we really had were some books and the Internet.

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