Having Fun with Music!

Residences within 1/2 mile of Sandy Hollow

The NRA recommends that shooting ranges be built in an area where there is 1/2 mile or more to the nearest residence. This map shows (in black) the approximately 25 houses, apartments, and businesses within a 1/2 mile of Sandy Hollow (proposed shooting range shown in yellow).

Exposure to noise can cause sleep disruption, increased stress hormones, higher blood pressure, and hearing loss. When describing the health effects of noise, the World Health Organization's "Guidelines for Community Noise" states:

Stronger reactions have been observed when noise is accompanied by vibrations and contains low- frequency components, or when the noise contains impulses, such as with shooting noise.

This means that impulse noises such as gunshots have a stronger effect (even physically) on people than the rumble of aircraft, traffic, or a talking crowd at the same decibel level.

Although the Sioux County Planning and Zoning Committee has voted approval of the planned shooting range, it is important that Sioux County residents (or frequent visitors such as myself) get involved in the effort to halt the plan.

Flood pictures at Sandy Hollow

At the proposed Sandy Hollow shooting ranges, 15-30 tons of lead shot would be deposited on the ground each year. The DNR plans to clean up the lead every several years. However, as you can see in these pictures from 2010, the West Branch creek that runs through the proposed shooting range can flood, covering the area of the proposed gun range. This would wash the lead into the stream where it could soak into the groundwater or harm wildlife. Both Orange City and Rural Water have wells downstream from this area. The EPA's Best Management Practices for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges states:

In areas of groundwater discharge such as river flood plains and most flat areas, the groundwater surface is often a few feet below the surface. Remember, the shorter the distance traveled, the greater the risk that the lead will migrate into the environment. Shallow depth to groundwater is indicative of higher risk for lead to reach the water.

Due to the flooding creek, the ground water being close to the surface, and the sandy soil, building a shooting range at Sandy Hollow would pose an unacceptably high risk of lead contamination.

Sandy Hollow Gun Range DNR letter

For the last few months my parents have been working hard organizing opposition to a proposed gun range at Sandy Hollow, near Sioux Center IA. My sister Heather wrote a great letter to the DNR expressing many problems with the gun range. She already said everything, basically, but I wrote a letter too, expressing my own perspective as a mom with a kid who eats dirt, drops things in the dirt, plays in the dirt, etc.

If this topic affects you, please contact Dale Garner (dale.garner@dnr.iowa.gov) to express your concern. Use the subject line "NIOSC gun range Sioux Center Iowa".

Here is a portion of my letter:

Lead poisoning is a dangerous problem, especially to children under 6 years old. The symptoms include irritability, learning difficulties, and fatigue. These symptoms can be easily confused with other problems or be ignored, meaning that children can suffer for extended periods of time without being diagnosed. Lead poisoning can cause miscarriage or premature birth for pregnant women.

Widespread lead contamination has been documented from shooting ranges. For example, the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware had contamination levels in the groundwater of 400 micrograms to 1 milligram per liter due to a shooting range in the area. The Sandy Hollow area is at risk for lead contamination since the west branch of the Floyd River runs through the area, and there are frequent floods that would contribute to the lead spreading downstream, soaking into the soil, or reaching the groundwater. The floods often reach over farmland nearby or downstream, and it seems that this poses a risk to farmers, livestock, and possibly even to the food supply. The EPA states that shooting ranges should not be near water for this reason.

As a parent I watch my child very closely, but as there is no fence planned around the edge of the shooting range, and guns might be shot very close to the borders and driveway of the property, I worry that my curious child might come into contact with lead pellets in the soil near the borders of the shooting area while taking a walk. I know that simply touching a lead pellet once is not likely to harm a child, but there is a definite risk for children who might accidentally ingest the lead. Even with close supervision, children tend to put objects and dirt in their mouths, or eat food that has been dropped in dirt. Children who live in the area could also be exposed to long term contamination through water or soil.

The noise level is another concern to me as a mom of young children, since the noise levels along the driveway at the edge of the property (estimated to be around 100 db) are high enough to cause hearing loss. Even in neighborning residential areas, the noise would be loud enough to disrupt outdoor activities, and would be concentrated in the times that people would want to spend outdoors.

If a shooting range is to be built in the Sioux County area, a site should be found that follows current expert recommendations: it should be a half mile or more to the nearest residence as recommended by the NRA (currently there are over 25 residences within a half mile of Sandy Hollow), the noise level should be 55 decibels or less at the property line as recommended by the NRA (at the Sandy Hollow site noise levels are estimated to be around 100 decibels at the property line), and the shooting range should not be near water, as recommended by the EPA. It would also be sensible to find a site that does not interfere with other healthy outdoor recreation and exercise such as fishing, biking, camping, running, walking, picnicking, photography, swimming and more.

The current plan would benefit only a few, while having a negative impact on many and causing risk to the smallest and most vulnerable.

The shooting range was designed by a DNR employee, and would depend on funding from the DNR, but as you can see it goes against the DNR's mission to enhance the quality of life and preserve natural resources. Please act to prevent this gun range from being built.

Tobias-isms

As Tobias learns new words and phrases every day, we find ourselves having plenty to laugh about every day. Here are some of my favorites from the past few weeks.

Turning onto our street for the first time when coming back from Italy: "Our room!". He had forgotten the word "home" but he knew where we were!

First manly sentence (while grocery shopping): "All done. Shopping. Back home!"

For awhile he would come to us with a banana or orange and say "Zip, zip!". I was almost sad when he learned the word "peel", because "zip" was so cute!

Me: "What does mommy have in her tummy?". Tobias: "Cereal." Well, the answer we were going for was "baby" but I guess cereal was also correct. On another occasion he answered "airplane" (which is not correct at all, for the record).

Cloth Diapers in Italy

I know, I know. I need to be writing posts for my own blog. Don't worry, I have some in the works.

But, hoping that others could get ideas from my experience taking the cloth diapers along to Italy, I wrote up a guest post on what I took along and how the washing went, etc. for a cloth diapering blog. Washing the diapers was a little harder than at home, just because I had to haul the wet laundry out of our basement and through the other apartment to get to the drying racks and sunny terraces. But the view while doing so was gorgeous so I shouldn't complain!

Ups and Downs of Being a Toddler

Ups: Playing with friends at church, getting cool packages in the mail, wearing cute hats

Downs: Falling on head and visiting emergency room

Ups: Being silly while eating peas

Guest Post at Happymoneysaver.com

Recently I enjoyed getting to write a guest post for a favorite blog of mine, Happy Money Saver. It is a blog that helps people get good deals on groceries, online purchases, and fun freebies and samples. After seeing several posts with excellent tips on how to combine coupons/sales to get good deals on disposable diapers, I asked Karrie if I could write a post for her on saving money with cloth diapers. Some of the tips I learned from experience, and some I had heard from friends. I had a lot of fun writing it up and I hope it was helpful to lots of readers!

Knows letters, prefers trucks

Don't worry, we don't have him doing "big kid" schoolwork all day, but he likes guessing the letters I draw on the Magna Doodle or iPod. T is his favorite letter so far and he likes to find all the capital Ts in his books.

Books!

Next Up: Brain Surgery

These toys are meant to blink, spin, or ding when you connect the matching colored other half. For a new challenge, Nate taught him to push the tiny buttons directly with a chopstick.

Somersaults and Spins

The things we do to wear him out before bedtime...

Silly Dance

(17 months old)

Drummer Boys

Saver

Cloth Diapers: Part 1

Over the past couple months I've had 3 people ask me "I know you use cloth diapers. We are thinking of using them with our baby. Do you like them? What kind do you use?" and other questions. I thought it would be helpful to write up a little information about it so that I can include some pictures for those people, and perhaps it will prove helpful to others as well.

Why?

We have saved a lot of money compared to full-time disposable diaper use. I've spent about $250 on diapers. That includes having a small set at both sets of grandparents' houses. Even if I add in detergent and water/electric costs, I am coming out ahead. They work better; I have never had poop leak out onto his clothing, and only rarely a pee leak. I also keep the environmental and health costs of disposable diapers in mind. It just makes sense that re-useable diapers use less resources (money and natural resources), just like re-useable clothing, dishes, and towels do. We line-dry when possible and plan to save the diapers for future children, which increases our cost savings and lowers the amount of energy and resources used.

What kind(s)?

We use mostly prefolds and covers. Everyone has different preferences on what type or brand of cloth diaper works best. There are lots of amazing new types of diapers out there, many of which go on like a disposable. These pocket diapers and all-in-ones are great for on the go changes, wiggly babies, or caregivers who may not be familiar or comfortable with cloth diapers. Many people have a whole stash of these types of diapers. However, they are a bit pricey for me and I actually prefer being able to use the outer waterproof cover for several changes. You only need 4-8 covers (and 2-3 dozen diapers to put in them), whereas with pocket diapers or all-in-ones you can be spending $15+ per diaper because the waterproof outer layer is part of each diaper. The prefolds aren't as picky about what kind of detergent they're washed in (wrong detergent + synthetic fabric pocket diaper = rash for Tobias), and there is no elastic or velcro in the diaper to wear out so they are supposed to last through several kids. Another benefit of prefolds is that you can use them for other purposes in a pinch, such as a changing pad, towel, or burp cloth. There are many occasions that I have been glad to have an extra in my diaper bag.

When Toby was little, we would use a snappi fastener to hold the diaper closed, and then velcro the cover on over top. This held in the poop better. Now we just fold the diaper in thirds and lay it in the cover and velcro (or snap) it on.

For overnight I use some longer prefolds. I fold them to make them fit into the cover, and to put the extra absorbency in the front. There are other folds but I like this one because I can do it ahead of time and it stays folded up well (when I fold the second side in, I tuck it into the slot made by the first side, so it can't unfold itself).

Here (click to see it) is a picture of my changing table and the diapers on it.

In Part II, I plan to talk about wipes, washing, and short and long trips out of the house with cloth diapers. If you have other questions or things I forgot, please post and I will try to answer your questions in part II.

He's still so little

Tobias at Grove of the Patriarchs in Mt. Rainier National Park

A "From the Wild" Road Trip

Tobias loved having a few days with his Grandpa VW at home, "helping" with oil changes and other outdoor chores. We really liked seeing DadVW too, and appreciated the help he gave us towards being ready to move. For the weekend we packed up and headed to Lynden to meet Jenna and celebrate her baptism! On Saturday we went to Semiahmoo beach at low tide. In the video you can't see it so well but Tobias and his Grandpa made it a long ways out! Tobias spontaneously fell asleep while sitting up on Grandpa's shoulders, so it must have been pretty peaceful out there. Later the kids (maybe the adults too) had lots of fun with streamers. We were blessed to be reminded through baptism of God's love for us, and also blessed to spend time relaxing and enjoying family!

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. -1 John 4:10

Fork lifter

We didn't deliberately teach Tobias to use a fork (although I believe he got a short tutorial from some of Rebecca's friends?). One evening he swiped one off the table and proceeded to stab his food with it. I guess it is one of those examples of how much kids absorb just from watching! It is fun and pretty amazing to see him learn so many new things.

The Great Outdoors....and Associated Equipment