An Introduction To Black And White Photography

February 2, 2022February 2, 2022 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

You know, there is something that is definitely more artistic about black and white photography. I know I am getting a little away from the overall concept of digital photography. But as a photographer, you will no doubt run into the phenomenon that is black and white photography.

I can remember vividly a photography named Michael Zagaris who is the team photographer of the San Francisco 49ers. He said that he was just captivated by the use of black and white photography. The way the light and the shading are so much more evident. This helps contribute to the overall feeling and emotion of the moment that the black and white photo captures.

Some of you may be saying to yourselves that color photography has surely taken the place of black and white photography, and I would say that for the most part you are correct. An interesting note here is that black and white photography still holds a degree of nostalgia in most photographers, amateur and professional alike.Perhaps one reason for this nostalgia is of course that photography was first taken on black and white film. Not only that, but many photography students are tasked with taking black and white photos when they are in their first photography classes. I know in my first digital photography class I was astounded at the very idea. Only later when the photos were developed did I truly start to appreciate black and white photos.

Therefore if you are an amateur or even experienced photographer, I would encourage you to give black and white photography a try. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the level of sophistication it takes to really pull off a great black and white photo. After that you may be able to take in some advanced photos such as adding one stream of color. You may have seen these kinds of photos before when the photographer allows one color to be very evident in a black and white photo. For instance I can remember a picture of a little girl in a black and white photo, but the coat she was wearing was bright pink. It was great moment to capture.

As for taking the black and white photos themselves, more advanced digital cameras have gray-scale mechanisms that allow to this. Also you can have the color picture converted by using a digital photography software such as “Photoshop.” Give yourself a chance in black and white photography. I think you will be pleasantly surprised in the results.

My personal favorite is Ansel Adams. Be sure to check out his work and photos taken in the National Parks.

Photography as a Hobby

Learning Photography – Basics For All

Some Important Principles Of Photography

Digital Photography Lessons

PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Finding The Right Photography Book

How To Choose Digital Photography Books

Beginning In Photography: Exposure Basics

Beginning In Photography: Composition

Beginning In Photography: Choosing A Camera

Beginning In Photography: Choosing The Right Lens

Using Filters in Photography

Filters for Landscape Photography

5 Tips To Help You Master Digital Photography

Fifteen Tips For Better Photography

An Introduction to Black and White Photography

Beermaking Basics

January 21, 2022January 21, 2022 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

Consider all of the styles and brands of beer on the market today. Now, add in all of the different beers from international brewers. The selection available can be mind-boggling; but what’s even more surprising is that all that beer is made from similar brewing systems. It’s a system that you can learn and perfect to become your own brew master.

The brewing process is fairly simple, but creating the perfect pint does take a little practice. Here are the beermaking basics:

1. Make a Clean Start: Wash, rinse and sanitize each and every piece of your fermenting and brewing equipment before you begin. Bacteria can easily spoil your home brew, and make you very ill.

2. Measure Carefully. Choose your recipe and follow the measurements exactly.

3. Mix It In: After the boil has stabilized, you’ll need to add hops, malt, moss and other flavours or additions that your recipe calls for. Be sure that you have enough of the right ingredients before you start brewing. Most recipes call for boiling water as the first step, followed by the additions of some ingredients. Using the right ingredients in the correct amounts, and adding them in the right order, will make all the difference to your final product.

Keep It Cool: Once your mixture has been prepared, you’ll need to let it fully cool. Once it has cooled, you’ll add yeast and any remaining ingredients. The mixture will be poured into a fermenting bucket, where it will stay for a period of time. Different types of beer require various fermenting times, so be sure to follow your recipe carefully.

Bottle It Up: When the fermenting process is complete, pour you home brew into clean and sterilized bottles, and cap them securely.

You now have tasty home brew to enjoy anytime you want.

After you’ve learned the beermaking basics, you’ll find it’s an easy process that you can master in your home. Once you’ve perfected your talents and your recipe, you may never go back to commercial brews again.

More Articles on How to Brew Beer at Adventures in Homebrewing.

My Other Articles on Brewing Beer

A Home Beer Making Kit Will Improve Your Popularity!

A Perfect Hobby for that Guy Who Loves Beer

Looking Before You Leap into Home Brewing

What is in a beer making kit?

The Heart of Home Brewing

Getting Started: Essential Home Brewing Equipment List

Homebrewing Kit Buyer’s Guide

5 Beer Recipe Kits Perfect For Beginners

Getting that First Batch of Beer Brewing

Finding The Best Home Brewing Kits

Home brewing kits – great holiday gifts!

Beermaking Basics

The BEST Homebrew KITS

Beginning Homebrew Kit

Beginners Beer Kits CLICK HERE

ONE GALLON BEER KITS Click Here

How to Brew Great Beer in 3 Easy Steps?

How To Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Great Beer Every Time

Our Neighbors In Space

January 20, 2022February 19, 2022 / stanholtzleiter6724 / 2 Comments

We have a special feeling toward the other planets that circle our sun. Maybe it’s all the science fiction stories about visiting the moon, Mars and other planets. But we love to think about those planets that make up what we call “the solar system.” that do what our planet does but do it very differently indeed.

The planets of our solar system have taken on personalities and mythical appeal in our literature and arts. It is easy to find artists who render their vision of the planets that make up our society of planets near our sun. The names of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all from our cultural past being gods from Greek and Roman mythology. But the solar system is not just made up of these planets. The solar system is a very busy place indeed.

In 2006, there was quite a bit of controversy as scholars and astronomers agreed to downgrade Pluto and remove its status as a planet. So you have to wonder, what is it that makes something a planet and what happened to Pluto? It didn’t just go away so it must still be out there. A planet, by scientific definition is any object in orbit around a sun, that has formed into some kind of round object is a planet as long as it has cleared away any other orbiting items around it. By cleared away, that doesn’t mean it has destroyed all space debris etc. For example, our planet has not “cleared away” the moon but it has captured it into its own orbit so we classify as a planet. That’s a relief huh?

There are many objects floating around in our solar system other than the planets we know of. It’s an interesting piece of trivia that in addition to the planets there are 165 moons orbiting around those nine planets. Some of those moons are so advanced that some scientists have suspected that they might have supported life at some point.

Earth and solar system planets, sun and star. Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. Sci-fi background. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. ______ Url(s): https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00271 https://images.nasa.gov/details-PIA01492 https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/17549/saturn-mosaic-ian-regan https://images.nasa.gov/details-PIA21061 https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/6453/valles-marineris-hemisphere-enhanced/ https://images.nasa.gov/details-PIA23121 https://images.nasa.gov/details-PIA22946 https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/good-morning-from-the-international-space-station-1 Software: Adobe Photoshop CC 2015. Knoll light factory. Adobe After Effects CC 2017.

In addition to the regular planets and moons, there are dwarf planets, asteroid belts and routine visits by comets that create a lot of traffic in our cosmic corner of the universe. The two known dwarf planets that exist on the outer rim of our solar system are Eries and Ceres. So when Pluto’s status was changed to be removed from the list of planets, it simply joined those two bodies as dwarf planets but still a solid citizen of the community of celestial bodies around our sun.

In addition to these larger bodies, there is an asteroid belt that exists between Mars and Jupiter that most of the asteroids that we see in our night sky come from. There is another belt of large objects further out called the Kuiper belt as well as a “bubble” in space called a heliopause and there is a suspected additional belt outside the known solar system called the Oort belt that we think is the origin of a lot of large asteroids and comets that frequent our solar system and come to orbit our sun.

As fascinating as these many celestial bodies who are our neighbors in space is the origin of our solar system. We have to break it down to simple terms to understand the terms but we know that the early history of the solar system and the universe was one of great bodies of gas and clouds of matter eventually cooling and heating, exploding and spinning off stars and other massive space giants that became more stars, galaxies and solar systems. It was from this erratic activity that our sun separated from the gasses and carried with it the material that became our solar system. The gravity of the sun captured sufficient matter that it began to go through the process of forming, cooling, exploding and separating. This is what happened as the planets all went through he same process eventually establishing stable orbits and small objects falling into orbit around them.

When you think of how powerful and out of control this process is, it’s amazing to step back and see the beauty of the organization of our solar system today. The more detail you learn about the history of our solar system, the more you will enjoy your explorations of the planets with your telescope. That that discovery is part of the fun of astronomy.

The Wow Hobby

The Science Of Astronomy Really Is Fascinating

Tips For Getting Started In Astronomy

The Night Sky

Look Up In The Sky

The Best Sights for Astronomy

Moon Fever A NEW WAY TO VIEW THE MOON

Astronomy Binoculars A Great Alternative

Moon Gazing

Space The Final Frontier

Comets Visitors From Beyond

Shooting Stars

Useful Information

BOOKS INTRODUCING ASTRONOMY

Night Sky – A Field Guide to the Constellations

Patrick Moore’s Guide to Astronomy

Patrick Moore’s Pocket Guide to the Stars and Planets

Guide to the Stars

Scenery – Six steps

December 15, 2021April 4, 2024 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

Part 2

There are many methods and articles for scenery. I have read many articles, attended a few seminars (classes) and and discussed these methods at our club meetings. We have come up with our own methods for scenery. The six steps that work best for us. These steps are not hard and fast rules, merely a suggestion that will help you get to the point where you are not looking at a train running on plywood.

In part 1 I demonstrated how I use the plaster cloth over the styrofoam or the crumpled paper to create a contour on the land. Then I used the fine turf after lightly painting the surface to simulate the earth. At this point I am ready to start with the addition of the grass. Return to read Part 1.

Since the area has been idle for several days to allow it to dry I sprayed spray adhesive on the area to be covered with grass.

Step 3 is fine green Grass, Woodland Scenics and Scenic Express make several shades of green and burnt grass. Again sprinkle lightly covering all or most of the area. Again if this appears too thick is some area you can work a brush to lightly smooth or let it go.

In the photo above you will see more grass on the top and bottom (flat surfaces). Grass isn’t very thick on the slope we’ll fix this shortly. The white areas will be covered with ballast as will the cork roadbed. I’ll cover track and ballast in a later post. I have used several methods and I will demonstrate what I do. I believe in easy.

Step 4 is coarse foam. Again this product is available from both companies. Sprinkle SPARRINGLY. LIGHTLY.

At this point I want to introduce wet water. I prefer water with several drops of dish soap (Dawn or something similar). This is applied with an eye dropper or a spray bottle. This is applied to the area prior to applying a 50/50 mix of water and white glue (Elmers). The wet water helps the glue saturate the the material and hold it to the painted base. You can see this work by first placing a drop of the 50/50 mix on you grass, it will sit there. Put a drop of wet water on the glue and it will penetrate the material.

Cover the area you just completed with wet water followed by the 50/50 glue mix and let it dry.

Step 5 Clump foliage. This clump foliage can be placed or not, it resembled small shrubs. If you do use it, place a small circle of white glue where it will be placed and place the clump there. The glue should be about the same size as the clump and dries clear. Again this step is a personal touch, use it or not.

Above you will see a scene I have on my layout where all the products I have mentioned in part 1 & 2 have been used. In addition to the use of small rocks/pebbles the various trees will be discussed in part three.

Step 6 Trees to be covered in a future article (Part 3 )

Till the next post on trees.

The History Of Model Railroading

Model Train Scales

5 Top Model Train Accessories

Discover Model Trains

Deciding a Track Plan Before Building Your Model Railroad Layout

How to Add Excitement to Model Railroad Scenery on Your Model Train Layout

Inexpensive Ways to Make Trees and Ground Cover For Your Model Railroad Layout

A Train Set For Christmas

Scenery – Six Steps

Woodland Scenics Scenery Supplies and Kits

A quick easy way to a stunning Layout CLICK HERE

Fifteen Tips For Better Photography

November 24, 2021February 19, 2022 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

Keep an eye on the weather
Weather conditions can play a big part in setting the mood of your shot. Rather than waiting for the bright light of the midday sun, a misty morning in a forest can be the perfect time of day for that mood-shot.

Take your time to choose the subject
Take your time to choose the subject, then spend time walking around the subject looking for the best angle and lighting.

Take your time to set up the shot
Don’t be afraid to take your time to set up your shot. Although it can get a bit frustrating if you have your loved ones tagging along and they’re sitting and waiting impatiently for 20 minutes for you to take a single shot of a piece of driftwood on the beach!

Don’t always choose brightly-colored subjects
Subjects with muted colors can sometimes produce excellent results. A field of wheat of similar yellow-brown colour can produce striking results when accompanied by a low-sun and long shadows.

Movement diffusion
If you have a camera that allows you to shoot with a manual shutter speed – try slowing the speed and increasing the F-stop. Then move your camera when taking the shot. Some very effective arty-type images can be produced with blur effects.

Don’t always choose brightly-colored subjects
Subjects with muted colors can sometimes produce excellent results. A field of wheat of similar yellow-brown color can produce striking results when accompanied by a low-sun and long shadows.

Overexpose your subject
Not too good to do all the time, but experiment with results by over-exposing the subject.

Try macro photography
Grab a magnifying glass and see if you can focus your camera through the glass onto a small subject. It just may work! And may open up a whole new range of subjects for you!

Shoot through wet glass
Try spraying water onto a window, then take a shot through the window to a subject outside. (wet the outside of the window – not the inside of your home!)

Color balance
Try balancing color by having subject and the surrounding detail in similar colors.

Silhouettes
Silhouettes usually have a small range of colors, but can produce some of the most beautiful images. Shooting a silhouette involves having the background brighter then the subject in the foreground.

Experiment with patterns
We’ve all seen those amazing images of the red and orange leaves of maple trees in the fall/autumn. Thousands of leaves – all of a similar shape and color – but very awe-inspiring and beautiful.

Compliment colors
Two strikingly-different colors can be beautiful too. Picture an image of your girlfriend or wife in a red dress sitting on a field of green grass. Or your boyfriend or husband in a red shirt walking through a field of waist-high wheat stalks. Complimentary colors that will bring more attention to the subject.

Use a color filter
If your camera can be fitted with colored filters – try your hand. Although this effect can be made quite easily these days with photo and image-editing software.

Sunrise is better than sunset
Wake up before sunrise one day and go on a photography expedition. If you’ve not done it before you’ll be pleasantly-surprised by the contrasting light and shadows. But remember you’ll only have a very short window of time in which to shoot (usually less than an hour) before the sun rises too high and you lose the light.

Use a flash in daylight
Use your flash during the daytime to fill a close subject with light. This will produce better results where the background is brighter than your subject and the automatic shutter speed on your camera shoots too fast to effectively show the detail of your subject.

Photography as a Hobby

Learning Photography – Basics For All

Some Important Principles Of Photography

Digital Photography Lessons

PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Finding The Right Photography Book

How To Choose Digital Photography Books

Beginning In Photography: Exposure Basics

Beginning In Photography: Composition

Beginning In Photography: Choosing A Camera

Beginning In Photography: Choosing The Right Lens

Using Filters in Photography

Filters for Landscape Photography

5 Tips To Help You Master Digital Photography

Fifteen Tips For Better Photography

BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY CLICK H ER E

The Beginner’s Photography Guide: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Manual for Getting the Most from Your Digital Camera

A Train Set For Christmas

November 17, 2021March 1, 2022 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

I received my first model train set when I was just 11 years old. It came at Christmas and was set up around the tree like a silver train track wreath. There were two engines (although if I remember correctly one was just for show), five boxcars, two flatbeds and a caboose. The engines were old black CN locomotives with that bold red CN logo on the sides, while the boxcars were nondescript brown and black. The Caboose, now that was a deep rich red, as they should, be and was my favorite car of them all. To me, that Christmas will always be remembered for that red caboose.

Of course you’d think that at that moment I began to love trains and became a model train enthusiast. Well not exactly. I played with that oval track and those model trains for a good while, but as all thing in childhood, I moved on to, to me, bigger and better thing: my new bike, the pogo stick, girls, and of course cars.

It wasn’t until I had my own kids that the memories of that HO train set came flooding back to me. How I would sit there and watch it go round that oval click track! How my father seemed to always be there, sitting and watching my fun! How I felt as I pretended to be the engineer lugging a load to the next town on the route! I even imagined how my father must have felt as he picked out what he hoped was the perfect model train set to go around the tree that year.

It was these memories that prompted me to get my own kids their first HO model train kit for Christmas this year. To see their faces light up as they see that train going round the tree will be priceless and to watch them pretend to be engineers is going to lighten my heart.

Of course, this is the moment that made me a true model train enthusiast. So as I buy my children their first model train set, I will be looking for my second. The basement corner is looking to me more and more like that train yard near my old home out west. I really cant wait to get to work on my new HO model train layout and conscript the boys into helping. Maybe they will become model train enthusiasts like me. I certainly hope so.

If you are reading this article and thinking that you and your children might want a model train set for Christmas, then I recommend you follow my lead. The HO model trains are the most popular scale with model railroad enthusiasts. This 1:87 scale allows you to fit a good sized track into an average size space. There is also lots of accessories and scenery available for this model. If you have limited space you may want to consider an N scale layout. This 1:160 scale is small enough that you put a fairly complex layout in a small space. Of course your focus will be more on the layout and not the locomotive and cars themselves. However if you have lots of space, you may want to use the larger O scale. At a 1:48 scale your focus will definitely be on the engine and rolling stock and not the layout. However you really need a large space for these train sets. Whatever you decide, I hope you and your family soon discover the joys of model railroading!

The History Of Model Railroading

Model Train Scales

5 Top Model Train Accessories

Discover Model Trains

Deciding a Track Plan Before Building Your Model Railroad Layout

How to Add Excitement to Model Railroad Scenery on Your Model Train Layout

Inexpensive Ways to Make Trees and Ground Cover For Your Model Railroad Layout

A Train Set For Christmas

More Information

A quick easy way to a stunning Layout CLICK HERE

Home brewing kits – great gifts IDEAS!

November 10, 2021January 8, 2022 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

Are you always searching for a special gift for that person who seems to have everything? I would bet that they don’t have a home brewing system of their own! If you can give the gift of creating something to someone, a home brewing kit is going to be something that will be laughed about and used for weeks and months to come. Your friend might even stumble upon a fantastic method for make beer that all of you love.

Holidays, birthdays and special occasions are all a great time to give the gift of a home brewing system to make beer. Most every one just loves to have a great time, enjoy a beer, and sit back and relax. The hobby beer maker is one who can make the beer dark, heavy, light, sweet or sour. The gift you are giving to a person, with the gift of a home brewing system is one that will create a new hobby for that person. Hobbies are how we pass the time in life, and enjoy our time. Giving someone this new hobby is not only going to give them a hobby, but something new in life to talk about with others at the same time!

For the holidays (or for those birthdays, special occasions and even retirement parties), you most likely know someone who has everything they need or want. Yet, you still need to find that perfect gift that is going to be personal and useful at the same time. A home brewing kit is going to be the answer. It is going to show that you know that person likes beer (or wine as there are wine making kits too!) and you are giving the person something they can share with others who visit their home.
What types of special equipment are needed for home brewing?

No special equipment is needed. The home brewing kit is going to give you all the information, and ingredients you need to get started on making a batch of beer. The home brewing kit is even going to give you information about how to make larger batches, and what types of household things you can use to do this. You will find that if you are purchasing a gift of a home brewing kit for someone, you might even want to purchase one for yourself and get in on all the fun that is to be had. You can make brews at home; share with your family and friends, and all while enjoying your time by the fireplace in the summer or in the winter!

Making your own beer is easy. There are no hard to find ingredients, and you don’t have to wait long for the final product either. The beer you make is fun, easy and good tasting all at the same time! As you enjoy making beer, and find that special flavor you want to re create all the time, you could even bottle and give others your own beer as a gift when you head to their home for a party or get together.

Making beer as a hobby

A Home Beer Making Kit Will Improve Your Popularity!

A Perfect Hobby for that Guy Who Loves Beer

Looking Before You Leap into Home Brewing

What is in a beer making kit?

The Heart of Home Brewing

Getting Started: Essential Home Brewing Equipment List

Homebrewing Kit Buyer’s Guide

5 Beer Recipe Kits Perfect For Beginners

Getting that First Batch of Beer Brewing

Finding The Best Home Brewing Kits

Home brewing kits – great holiday gifts!

The BEST Homebrew KITS

Beginning Homebrew Kit

Beginners Beer Kits CLICK HERE

ONE GALLON BEER KITS Click Here

How to Brew Great Beer in 3 Easy Steps?

How To Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Great Beer Every Time

5 Tips To Help You Master Digital Photography

November 5, 2021February 11, 2022 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

Have you already mastered the art of taking photos without red-eye syndrome? Are there some pictures that you know you should have turned out a lot better than they did? It happens to all of us even the expert photographers.

Here are five tips to help you move from beginner to master of digital photography, whether youre using your cell phone or a point-and-shoot camera to snap shots.

Compose Carefully

One of the most basic digital photography tips is to pay attention to whats in the frame of the viewfinder. Fill the frame. Nothing but blue sky, for instance, behind a single subject throws off the proportions of the photo and decreases interest. You can also turn the camera sideways to see if a vertical photo might have more impact than a horizontal shot of the same subject.

You can also try positioning your subject off to the side, rather than in the center of the photograph.

Take Great Close up Photos

Your digital camera has a macro mode think of it as a super magnifying glass. An extreme close up of something like flower petals can bring out textures that you never knew existed, and will add excitement to your photos. Play with this feature, you will find dozens of ways to use it to enhance your pictures.

Buy a Tripod

Digital cameras are prone to blurry photographs if your hands shake even a little bit. Several companies manufacture light, portable, inexpensive versions. Digital photography tips like this can save you hours of frustration and preserve otherwise perfect shots.

Get Active

Take your shot from the top of a teeter-totter, off the side of the boat, or standing on your head. Thinking outside the box can really pay off in unexpected ways. You will truly get once in a lifetime shots by adding a bit of creativity to your thinking.

Take a Class/ Read Books or Articles

Are you still hungry for digital photography tips? There’s nothing like practice to improve your photography except practice plus experience gained by learning from a pro. You can find photography classes online, at your local recreation centers, and community colleges. There are any number of books and articles available, many of which I have links to on this article and other related articles. These books are for the beginner to the advanced hobbyist by many great photographers, providing a wealth of information.

BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY CLICK HERE

Becoming an expert at digital photography takes time; you wont become a professional photographer in your first week. Just keep trying new methods each time you use your camera, and before long, your friends and family will be admiring your newfound skills.

Photography as a Hobby

Learning Photography – Basics For All

Some Important Principles Of Photography

Digital Photography Lessons

PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Finding The Right Photography Book

How To Choose Digital Photography Books

Beginning In Photography: Exposure Basics

Beginning In Photography: Composition

Beginning In Photography: Choosing A Camera

Beginning In Photography: Choosing The Right Lens

Using Filters in Photography

Filters for Landscape Photography

5 Tips To Help You Master Digital Photography

BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY CLICK HERE

The Beginner’s Photography Guide: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Manual for Getting the Most from Your Digital Camera

The pleasure that kids find from books

November 1, 2021November 1, 2021 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

Kids have the impeccable attitude to get preoccupied in the delight of a great book. Books for kids are ultimately the inspiration for healthy imaginative play, long term reading skills, and even the springboard for theoretical conversation at the dinner table. While kids are often on the go and don’t take the time to slow down for a good read, introducing your kids to the joy of reading a good book isn’t as insurmountable as it seems. A little creativity on the parents behalf, and you will have a budding reader reluctantly putting their book down to move onto life’s other demands.

Books for kids help to develop their already active imaginations. There really is no such thing as an unimaginative child, just kids with varying imaginative qualities. While one child might be able to imagine underwater cities and create friends from thin air, other children might be conjuring up the next Windows application or mentally developing the technology to hook up 12 gaming systems to a single television without ever unplugging a system again. Developing your Childs unique imagination through books starts with what they are already showing you on a daily basis.

The reasonable argument for enticing kids to read books that are outside of their element includes expanding their horizons. Of course, over time, that’s a fabulous idea. For the immediate enticement stage, it is more likely to be a successful venture if kids are reading books that interest them from the title to the back cover. Let them choose their own books. Nearly all American children’s presses are highly selective about child and young adult reading material. Children who read age appropriate books are not likely to run into objectionable material. However, parents can usually read a thick young adult book in a few hours if there is any concern relating to material.

For the obstinate television watching child, a family reading hour is a great way to entice your children to read books. Start small. Give the entire family a half an hour to read their book and then twenty minutes or so to talk about what they are reading. Chances are, by the end of the first week, the kids will be requesting a few more minutes to finish their chapter or will even take the book into their bedroom to continue after family reading hour has concluded. Younger children will benefit from being read to from books for kids.

Books for kids that stay within their vocabulary limits (with a few challenges for good measure) are more likely to hold their attention than books written on an adult level with language that is too hard for children to grasp. An over achiever may want to break out Shakespeare at the age of eight, but they are not likely to get much out of it, even if they wont admit it. If children are being read to, it is acceptable to bump up the language a notch or two, as children can often hear the language used and understand it much faster than if they are trying to read it and comprehend it.

Finding books for kids that they will love and you will enjoy having them read can be easily done online. Bookstores are great for titles that are unknown and new authors. Online bookstores often carry out of print books, significantly reduced books, and books that are a little out of the way and unique for the hard to please child. Online book selections are easier for parents to determine than for kids. Often kids need more than a page of text to know whether they think the book is perfect or not. Encouraging them to read a series of books for kids can keep them reading for a long time, and then the habit will be well established and moving onto the next title is simple.

Books for kids have a lot of competition these days. Television with 24 hour a day, 7 days a week cartoon and specialized children’s programming, computer games, video games, gadgets that fit in their pocket, DVD players in the car, and there’s probably a few kids out there with electronic gizmos on their bikes are all competing for a kids attention. Turning them into an avid books for kids lover takes a little disciplined creativity at first. Rules about the electronic gadgets and gizmos can help establish reading time and story time before bed (what kid doesn’t want to delay bedtime?) can help offset the chronic competition that books for kids face. Parents who love to read are more likely to have kids who love to read. Parents who can at the very least appreciate the books for kids and delve into a book for an hour a day can teach their children to love books. Parents who read to their kids help establish a great vocabulary, better communication skills, and have a marvelous and special bond centered around some very special books for kids.

Helping Kids Become Good Readers

What are Your Kids READING

The pleasure that kids find from books

Inexpensive Ways to Make Trees and Ground Cover For Your Model Railroad Layout

October 24, 2021February 27, 2022 / stanholtzleiter6724 / Leave a comment

One of the most exciting aspects of model railroading is creating the scenery to enhance the landscape of a layout. The scenery is what adds the personality and interest to a layout to make it truly unique.

There are all sorts of scenery accessories you can purchase from online model train stores, but many things can be made from everyday items around the home. You do not always need to spend money when there are things around you for free.

Twigs from your back yard are a good example. They can be used for making small trees and shrubs, or be cut to resemble logs. There is no need to paint them, because they are already the right color. Small wooden meat skewers (from the supermarket) can also be used to make logs and they are very inexpensive to buy.

The same goes for adding grass to your layout. You can purchase some very good products such as “Static Grass Flock” to provide ground cover, or you can make your own. Some model railroaders use a mix of ready-to-use grasses from the hobby store, and combine this, with there own home made grass recipe.

Gather some fresh mulberry leaves and dry them in a microwave oven. After they are dried out, drop them in a kitchen blender and you have instant ground cover. The best thing is; it costs you virtually nothing to make. Store it in a plastic bag for when you need it.

The only disadvantage with making your own ground cover is you will not necessarily know how long it will last when compared to the bought stuff. Many of the ground cover products from a hobby store will have been treated to help them maintain their color and withstand temperature and humidity variances over time. Some of them are non-flammable and nontoxic, so you need to decide what is important to you.

A lot of model railroaders use dried kitchen herbs for leaves and ground cover. They mix different herbs (eg. thyme, oregano and parsley) for different effects. When doing this it is best to lay some newspaper underneath, as it can be a messy process. That way you can catch and reuse any herbs that do not stick the first time.

Sea Foam (also called “Forest in a Box”) is a popular material for making small inexpensive trees. You can bend it to look like trees and then spray on some adhesive and sieve on some flock. It is usually best to mix a few little pieces together rather than use just one piece for an entire tree.

Click here for lots more clever model train layout ideas.

Fine brass wire can be used to strengthen the trunks and branches. Torn up pieces of masking tape can be wound around the tree trunk to add some width. This can then be sealed with a mixture of wall filler and PVA white glue.

You can even add sprinklings of kitchen herbs as mentioned earlier. You can then spray the trees all over with matt varnish, or spray them (upside down) with a mix of white glue and water. You then leave them to dry overnight.

Lichen is also ideal for making shrubs and trees. It is very versatile and looks good as mass foliage and undergrowth on a train layout. It is also inexpensive and easy to work with. You can purchase it in a range of colors that can be used separately or mixed together.

So, there are many, many ways to make ground cover and trees for your model railroad layout. It is a lot of fun and you might want to try some different options to see what works best for you. The point I am really making here; is that things on your train layout do not always need to be expensive. You just need to be a little creative in your approach. Have fun!

Join Robert Anderson’s popular online Model Train Club to get lots of clever model railroad ideas to help you build the model train layout of your dreams!

Robert Anderson is the author of Model Railroad Scenery & Layout Construction Ideas. CLICK HERE to learn more.

For more Scenery visit WOODLAND SCENIC PRODUCTS