Drumming with Copernicus

Josiah's astronomer of the week was Nicolaus Copernicus.  The assignment was to pretend he went back in time and interviewed Copernicus.  Instead of doing it solo, he paired up with his friend, Bobby, and they had a good time filming their interview.  Bobby was Alexander the Great Reporter from Good Morning Greece.  Josiah was Copernicus.  When they first started talking about the project, they were tossing ideas around, many with a Greek theme.  Then, when they looked up Copernicus and saw he was born in Germany and lived in Poland, they worked that side in as well.  When all was said and done, Bobby was a reporter from Greece and he was interviewing Copernicus there.  They wrote all the interview questions and answers themselves.  There was a lot of improv by Josiah, but they had good banter back and forth.  At the beginning of the interview, Bobby said he was going to speak with his good friend Copernicus and Josiah responded, "We're friends?  I  just met you!" When Bobby asked Josiah about his background, Josiah looked at the set behind him and said it was a brick wall.  Since it was set as a morning talk show, they had a commercial break.  Their first commercial was for Lil Augustus' Pizza (a nod to Copernicus' German roots).  Henry starred as Augustus, while Caroline was a pizza loving customer.  We froze a pizza the day before so we could get it to stand straight on the pole like Little Caesar's logo.  Between takes, Henry kept nibbling on the crust.  After their commercial wrapped, Henry asked to eat the whole frozen pizza.  After one or two bites, he realized it wasn't as good as it looked.  Their second commercial was set to be like those "Were you exposed to asbestos?  Call this number for legal compensation."  Since they were in Greece, they talked about still being afraid of horses because of the Trojan War.  They had a lot of fun and packed it all into two days of filming.  Bobby spent the next day editing their footage before presenting to their class.  

Josiah had a little dream come true this week when his drum set arrived.  We unpacked two giant boxes full of drum parts and not a set of instructions to be found.  YouTube to the rescue.  He was insistent that he wanted to build them completely by himself.  We watched the instructions with him to make sure all was done correctly, and several hours later, his drums were set up.  They said tuning them can take years of practice, so we did our best in that department.  Josiah is loving being a drummer.  He purposefully picked out the same brand that Ringo Starr uses.  His siblings were happy when they got to try their hand at them, too.  Ear protection is a requirement.  Not only for the drummer, but for all members of the household who need to stop the ringing in their heads...  They are loud.  We did offer him official drum lessons, but he declined saying it was a busy school year with mock trial (spring semester).  So, Todd signed up for instructional videos which will teach Josiah the proper technique.  

Later in the week, his friend Bobby came back over and they jammed together.  Bobby plays piano and they're going to work on Hey Jude together.  

Jiu-jitsu stripes were earned this week.  Smoothie King was consumed.  

Caroline read her first paper in her Essentials Class.  The topic was Justinian the Great.  She did very well and was happy to share all the -LY adverbs she added in her paper.  

Caroline also went grocery shopping with Todd.  She put all the items she enjoyed eating at the head of the cart.  The lesser food went in the main basket.  In her section she placed fresh tortillas, refried beans, and sushi.  

It has rained every day this week.  We have been so happy to have the grass grow again and things are back to being green for the most part.  Benson's favorite part are the puddles of nice cool rainwater.  He would bark and whimper at us to let him out.  We'd feel bad that he would have to go out in the rain to do his business, and then instead of taking care of business, he'd walk over to the puddle for a good long drink.  Our least favorite part has been the return of the mosquitoes.  They laid low throughout the drought, but they're making up for lost time at the moment.  

Benson has also tried to make friends with the new baby squirrels.  We saw them emerge from their nest one day - three of them scampered up the tree after their mother while the last stayed in the nest watching.  One keeps landing itself on the shed roof where he has staring contests with Benson.  He leans really far over the edge of the roof making us very nervous.  Benson watches with great anticipation, but fortunately this particular baby has kept his balance and not fallen off.  

It's hard to tell from the picture, but he's a little guy.

Much to Josiah's chagrin, we're working through Labor Day.  Once we get through this week, however, we'll have a break week from CC and take some days off.  I keep telling the kids it'll be worth it.  They're not buying it just yet...