The Acid Test

I spent much of yesterday working. Partly on my own class lessons and partly on the administrative stuff that makes up the rest of my work day.

Yes, yesterday was a school holiday. Yes, I was home. Remember that the next time someone criticizes teachers for having a short workday / year.

With my trip back to the classroom this year has come some seriously teachable moments at home. Yesterday, I was preparing red cabbage pH indicator and decided to run through the lab exercise with Squidette and Little Squid.

The deep purple in the lower left is the unadulterated cabbage extract. The bright red was extract plus lemon juice, the fuscia was vinegar, the green -- baking soda. The pale pink was some lemon-lime soda and the pale purple was milk. The sudsy one? Dish soap.

The rest of the extract was absorbed into melita filters, dried and sliced and readied for today's lab.

Yes, I did spend more time prepping the lab then my students will spend doing it.

We didn't, however, just spend the day in the house prepping my lab. A walk was taken uptown to see the U.S.S. New York.
The New York is an amphibious transport dock, the first I have ever seen in New York Harbor. Usually we see battle ships and aircraft carriers for the annual Fleet Week.

The New York has, incorporatated into it's structure, 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center.

Mike and Squidette were lucky enough to see her sailing upriver when she came to town. (She sailed right past their school after making a brief stop opposite the WTC to give a 21 gun salute.)