Magic School Bus at the Mayborn

The Magic School Bus Special Exhibit has been at the Mayborn for a few months now, and is only around for a few weeks more (til April 12).   It's all about weather!

There's the bus!  (One of them).

What you see up there are clouds that you could shoot with air
cannons to make them move.

There was a lot of great things to learn from, but unfortunately, a lot of what's there to learn requires reading the little signs next to the exhibits to really get it.  And would my child stay long enough for me to read ANY of them to him?  Nope.  Oh well.

The snowflakes needed no description though.  They used mirrors to
turn one section into a beautiful snowflake.  You could change up the
way the pieces looked.  (I enjoyed this one too!)

My cool weather man, dressed for sun AND snow.

It was a fun exhibit..  If your kids like Magic School Bus they will probably enjoy this.

Learn more here.

Do Fishes Get Cold In the Snow?

My youngest and I went to visit the fishes at Barrera's this morning, while we were out romping  through the snow.  My son wanted to know if fishes get cold.  I'm sure they do...they were all huddled up on the bottom in one corner of the pond...and didn't come up to the top to greet us like they usually do.

It's times like these I'm really glad I homeschool...well, at least one of my children.  My other two were in school when the snow hit.  After taking a walk out in the white stuff with my youngest, I hemmed and hawed about whether to go get them out of school.  I finally looked at the weather and it said it would get warmer later so I got my youngest re-bundled and got in the car.  It was still snowing when we left, but half way to their school it started to rain.  Alas, no point in them missing a day to play in slush, so we turned around.

But, they tell me they at least got to get out in it for a few minutes.  At the intermediate school the whole school got to go outside for 10 minutes first period.  The elementary school stayed in side for recess (Ptttth!), but during library time the kids were taking pictures through the window, and the librarian had pity on them and let them go outside for a few minutes...though they didn't get to play in it, my son tells me.  

I really wished I had come and got them as soon as the snow started.  

So, what did you do in the snow?  Did you get a chance to enjoy it?  

GARDENING: When is the Last Spring Frost in Waco?

Instructions on seed packets will often say "plant after danger of frost." Well, ok, when is that? And how cold does it have to get for that frost to kill my plants.

Well, I looked it up and found that a frost of 29°F to 32°F will kill tender plants, but not damage most other plants. 25°F to 28°F is destructive to most vegetation, and frost 24°F and colder is REALLY BAD.

In Waco March 15th there's a 50% chance of temperatures dropping to 32°F, so if you want to take a risk on an early garden, you can try planting now. Otherwis, wait til April 10th, when there's only a 10% chance of 32° frost.

(The National Climatic Data Center has info on the likihood of 36°F and 28°F frosts too.  I went with 32°F because that's the one to watch with most plants). 

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Picture by Tambako the Jaguar used under Creative Commons.