Monday, March 30, 2015

The Laissez-Science-Faire Policy

The Pony just re-entered the Mansion after draining 16 two-liter bottles of soda. No. He doesn't have a powerful thirst. He's preparing the equipment for his science project that he will be taking to the local junior college Science Fair in 11 days. That's my Pony. No need to rush into things. Wait until the last minute. It will all work out.

We have had all the necessary tools for at least three weeks now. He needs the bottles to fill with different types of soil, a funnel to get the soil in the bottles and water into the soil, aquarium tubing to insert at four different levels, a graduated beaker or cylinder to measure the water output per minute after pouring it into the soil sample, and modeling clay to seal the tubing to the bottles. He is testing D A R C Y ' S  LAW with Missouri soils. I spaced that out so nobody can pop in here unwantedly and read about The Pony's experiment. My BFF Google ain't gonna play us for no fools!

So anyway, Farmer H, of all times, could not buy soda at the auction, but instead drove around to three separate Dollar General stores to pick them up. The only problem was the contents. Now the bottles have been emptied and rinsed, and await the soil this weekend, and subsequent testing. The Pony is a wizard at whipping up charts and graphs for his data. He took pictures of the area where he got the different types of soil. The #1 son hooked up my new used laser color printer last week, so pictures can be printed easily. Crunch time will come as The Pony has to apply the details to his display board. I figure he's got Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday nights for that. Thursday is pushing it too close to Friday's fair.

As for the disposal of the soda, 13 bottles of Orange, and 3 bottles of Root Beer (apparently, Farmer H is not well-versed in the "constant" component of experimental design), The Pony came to my dark basement lair to say that the deed was done.

"I poured out 16 bottles of soda. Actually, I poured out 15-and-a-half bottles of soda, and drank half a bottle of Root Beer. When I burped, foam came out of my mouth."

Yeah. Let's hope he doesn't feel the need to share that detail when he writes up his procedure.

4 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

So, he's foaming at the mouth?

We all know what happened to Ol' Yeller when HE started foaming at the mouth.

Good luck at the Science Fair, Pony.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Sioux,
In secret. The Pony is not ready for a public foaming. We shall not speak of Ol' Yeller.

I will relay your message to The Pony when Science Fair draws near. At this moment, I believe his reaction would be, "Meh." He lives in the moment, that Pony.

Kathy's Klothesline said...

If only we lived closer! I could have supplied the empty bottles easily! I have about 100 right now. I am thinking to create a buoyant "rope" to go under a tarp over the pool. Perhaps I should farm out my idea to a hapless student looking for a project ..... He Who does not think before he acts wanted to drill holes in the bottles and run a rope through the open bottle. Maybe I should have specified that I wanted it to float. I thought I did with the word buoyant .....

Hillbilly Mom said...

Kathy,
I think you should use your buoyant rope to get the mower out of the pond.