When we changed curriculums last year I really liked how it gave Cass so much more control over her learning. How much I didn't quite realise until we hit the first brick wall. Cass is what's known as an immovable object. Amundsen was the Waterloo. See Amundsen was smarter than Scott, which is how come he got to the South Pole first & lived to brag about the fact. He ate his dog team.
At this point Cass gagged & refused to learn anything more about the race to the pole. I can't say I blamed her. Dearest didn't help by contributing unsavoury facts about vitamin A in dogs' liver & its effects on humans. I am NOT going there.
Everyone knows about Scott & Amundsen ~ except Cass. Cass can hold her own though. She can tell you what the only land Animal of Antarctica is; the anti~freeze mite for the curious. Or about the plant life ~ moss, fungi & lichens ~ & more about krill than I ever wanted to know.
What really got me though was, having refused point blank to dicuss the ethics or lack thereof of eating your dog team, she promptly moved into South America & did an in depth study of Aztec religious practises! For those of you who have walked this exceedingly gory path Amundsen pales into insignifigance by comparison. Definitly not for the squeamish but Cass didn't batt an eyelash.
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Almost a year and a half ago, I read the headline that "Norman Vaughan" age 100 had passed away. What especially interested me was the fact that he was the last surviving member of the Byrd expedition (1928-1930).
I bought his 2 books, "My Life of Adventure" and "With Byrd At The Bottom Of The World". They were great books detailing how he lived more in one lifetime than a dozen men! His job was dog handler for Byrd and he tells the story of how he had to calculate the number of dogs and resources. He tells of the special bonds that came from the interaction and dependence upon one another in such an isolated place.
He tells of how he was part of a survey team that were out in a remote area. One dog was injured and his job was to "put it down". The dog was a camp favorite and an appeal was made to spare its life. The leader agreed and the dog was left to follow them, if it could. Every day, the dog got further & further behind until eventually, it came into their camp as they were packing up for the next day's journey. Norman was furious that the dog was enduring such agony and begged once again to put it down. Instead, one of the men picked the dog up, along with his 40-50 pounds of gear, intent to carry it back to base camp. Others stepped in, split up the weight from his gear and they silently trudged on. That man carried that dog for 18 days!
When the expedition returned to the states, he (not Vaughan but the fellow that carried the sled dog) ran a guide service, flying people into remote areas and the dog was right up front, in the passenger seat with him!
I LOVE stories like that!
Connie
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