B is for Buckeye!

This weekend on the way back from a wedding, Dave and I stopped to see the "Historic 'S' Bridge" in New Concord, OH. Well, we actually stopped to see the John and Annie Glen Historic Site, but since it was closed, we decided to tour the bridge. Which turned out to be...well, a bridge. Supposedly it was easier to build back in the 1830s, a bridge shaped like an S rather than one that went straight across the stream. Now, I did graduate in Civil Engineering, but for the life of me I can't imagine a scenario where building something squiggly could possibly be easier than building something straight. Maybe someone can enlighten me on that one. Anyway, while we were walking across the bridge, we noticed a Buckeye tree, and the nuts had fallen everywhere. We were just finding the pods, though, no seeds. So, we decided to go ahead and trespass into an alfalfa field bordering the stream where we saw there was a HUGE Buckeye tree with buckeyes hanging low enough that we could swat them with a stick and knock them off. We left with a whole grocery bag full of buckeyes. I think it might actually be illegal to take them like that, but luckily for us, the Buckeye police were off on Sundays. We thought it would be neat for the kids to tear the pods apart and dig the seeds out. Of course, being Buckeyes ourselves, we plan to dry them and make necklaces by alternating them with pretty scarlet and gray beads strung on a leather cord. What else would you do with Buckeyes. That's why they're grown, don't ya know? To make necklaces. :) Two things. 1) Please tell me I'm not the only person who did not know that Buckeyes actually grew in pods, and 2) Buckeyes are poisonous. Don't eat them. More importantly, Buckeye 'juice' is will burn the piss out of your eyes if you rub them after you've been digging Buckeyes out of their pods. Ask me how I know. The kids and I dug out some Buckeyes today, and they're drying. Since we're doing the letter B this week, I thought it appropriate to do a little Buckeye craft. By the way, there are absolutely NO free Brutus the Buckeye coloring pages on the internet. None. Draw a Buckeye on a piece of construction paper. It doesn't have to be wonderful. Then, tear or cut some small pieces of construction paper, and have the kiddies glue them on the nut. Tearing would be good for little hands, I thought. But, Owen wanted to cut his, so naturally everyone else had to cut. Even Bodie. He needed a little help with the scissors, so I held the paper and told him when to open and close. Just keep adding the brown paper pieces until the nut is as filled in as you want it to be. Some kids like to use a lot of glue. Like Maggie, for instance. Then, cut out your leaves. We talked about how the Buckeye tree has groups of five leaves. We also talked about how the Buckeye is the state tree and it was named by the Native Americans because the seed looks like a buck's eye. We did not talk about how the pattern of the leaves looks vaguely like marijuana, but you can if you'd like. Draw a branch coming off your Buckeye, or use another piece of brown paper. I gave the kids a choice and they preferred to just draw it. Then, glue on the leaves. At this point the whole project becomes anatomically incorrect as the seed you just did really grows not on the actual branch, but inside a pod which looks like this: See, not so attractive. So, we'll just be anatomically incorrect. Work with me here. Then, you can color the B if you want. Or not. And there you have it. All done. Wasn't that easy? Now, if only beating USC could be that easy.