Month: April 2014

Buffalo Bill Museum LeClaire, Iowa

The Buffalo Bill Museum is a surprise gem in LeClaire Iowa. Le Claire is known for its beauty and history which is reflected in the museum. It is a must visit to know how the local history is connected to the entire country.

The Buffalo Bill Museum is established in 1957 and is located by the Mississippi river in LeClaire Iowa. It has many artefacts and galleries which are unique. The displays are very old but neatly organized. One would be astonished by the collection. The museum is named after William F Cody who was also known as Buffalo Bill. He was born in LeClaire, Iowa in 1846 and was a frontiersman, US Army Scout, and later a showman for his show named ‘Wild West Congress’ show. The museum has a special gallery dedicated to his life.

Galleries

Here are the galleries and interesting things at the Buffalo Bill Museum:

  1. Unique paintings hand drawn – Hand drawn sketches catch your attention as soon as you enter the galleries. You will be surprised by the details the artists captured just with a pencil and paper!
  2. A chair donated by Lincoln – Lincoln gifted a chair to the donor who donated to the museum
  3. Old unique musical instruments – the instruments of Cecil Fletcher, a local musician who wrote the ‘LeClaire Song’ are on display. The visitors are cautioned not to touch the instruments but can only see them to maintain their condition.
  4. The map of USA showing the original colonies – The map is worn out but catches your attention due to its size and the years in which the states have been merged with the USA.
  5. Old washer and soaps – You will be surprised to see the original clothes washer and the Lux soap.
  6. Traditional cooking utensils – You can see the old pots and pans and the different cooking utensils and china.
  7. Civil war encampment – the display has a typical items that a soldier would carry during the civil war. You will be astonished by the minimum luggage they carried and still carry their lives.
  8. Earlier schools settings – A small school setting to display the traditional books and tools used by the earlier local students. Graduation photos of earlier LeClaire students are on display. You can try out the slate and the original black board. 🙂
  9. Lone Star Steamer – the best part of the museum. You can have an experience of a pilot and see the original cabins. The internal view of the working of the steamer is a rare experience. It is a National Historic Landmark and is free with admission. Make sure you visit all the three floors to experience the sounds and sights.
  10. Life on the Mississippi River – the gallery showcases different paintings and artefacts of the lifestyle of the river rider.
  11. Native American – See the Native American clothes, pictures, utensils and the tribe details.

Venue and Times

Buffalo Bill Museum is located at 199 N. Front St., Le Claire, Iowa 52753. It is open up to 4pm on most days and the admission charge is minimum. The museum visit will take two hours. Do enjoy the Mississippi river and its birds during the visit. Check out the free tour of the Mississippi River Distilling Company and enjoy the free wine sampling. Do visit the local restaurants and my favorite one is the Blue Iguana. 🙂

Middle Schooler Equals Smart Cranky and Sensitive

You never understand whether to appreciate a growing up middle school kid or to resent the cranky argumentative. The sharp contrast signs of a smart child versus aggressive debater of a pre-teen child is a normal.

Elementary school leaves behind a world when your child enters the middle school. Now, your child is capable of handling more work and responsibility. Has grown up physically and is able to handle more physical and mental challenges. Middle school provides opportunities for the child to explore more about self and know the strengths and weaknesses. They are now smart enough to make their own decisions and choices. They are able to handle the changes in their bodies and minds. They can acknowledge the changes happening to their friends too. Everything seems perfect. Not yet.

Middle school success also brings a lot of confidence in children. This may cross the boundaries some times and may lead to questions. Such as, why I have to brush my teeth, why I need to take bath, why do I have to do the work, why I have to listen to you and blah blah blah. Voila, welcome to the new child. These questions would have been made sense from the elementary child perspective. But, you may wonder why a middle schooler is asking these questions. Well, now you may have to take some patience stand and repeat the answers carefully as you would to do the elementary child. You may have to remind the basics again and review the guidelines again. Remember, now you can no way shove the questions or hush the child. You may have to reason and explain more to the now grown up midde schooler.

Mostly, there would be no difference between the elementary child and a middle school or a high school child. But, they may show some extremely adult like choices and conversations in the pre-teens. And sometimes go back to the elementary child like arguments. Sometimes, you may be bewildered by their explanations and overwhelmed by their accomplishments. And yet sometimes you will be shocked as why you have to explain the little things. Remember that they are now more smarter and equipped with better knowledge and skills. So, you have to take a firm approach on the rules and consequences. Do not let your love for them influence their ability to get-away with the mistakes. However, it is equally important to appreciate the good behavior and achievements to encourage further.

Watch out for any signs of abuse, depression or bullying. You can give positive suggestions and neutral feedback to help them take better decisions. Pre-teens are emotionally more vulnerable and susceptible to anger. They need your love and support more than ever. Show some concern and care and shower some hugs and kisses. They will be your sweet kids again. 🙂

Improve Ad revenue by showing only 1 post on WordPress main screen

The WordPress 3.9 installation comes with default setting to show recent 10 posts on the main screen. This slows down the page load in case you have lots of those ads :-).

Anyways, you cannot show more than 3 ads on a single page if you’ve only Google AdSense account.

Overall showing multiple pages also hinders the users enthusiasm on the contents. Instead you can have the Tag Cloud and Menus.

Considering Pros and Cons its a better idea to set it up for showing minimum possible posts on the main screen.

 

You can set to any number of posts from Dashboard -> Settings -> General screen.

Hope you liked this tip…leave a comment or click an ad 🙂

Happy Wheels

So, last night, I was messing round on the Internet (ya know, Chrome Games, Computer Games, Research,) and I found this one game called Happy Wheels. I was really curious, hearing from my friends that it was a awesomesauce game. (awesomesauce is a way of saying that it is very cool) So I downloaded it.In less than 15 minutes I was addicted. The only time I would stop is to either take a bathroom break or to eat. I recommend this game to anyone who has a really good, solid, computer but does not have anything but work to do on it. This game is also a great time-passer. 1 hour will go by like 15 minutes.

I kind of ad libed here, but here is a pros and cons list:

         Pros:                                                              

  • very addicting
  • great soundtrack
  • educational (on what not to do)
  • fun
  • gives you second chances
  • has easy and hard levels

 

Cons:

  • bloody
  • rated 10+
  • educational (on what not to do)
  • very addicting
  • gory
  • has very little mercy

Now, I made this blog to share a game that I like personally. Please do not take it like I’m comparing, oh, I don’t know, Team Fortress 2 to Happy Wheels.This is my opinion and my recommendation , not my comparison.

To top it all off, here is a picture of the title screen.happy-wheels-09-700x388