Bad kitty! No biscuit.

[shiredancer]

Kidlet is an eighth-grader, and that means... science fair. So, she came up with a pretty interesting project (at least, I think so): she wanted to test the effects of caffeine on growing plants. She planted six snow peas in separate pots, watering one with plain water (as the control plant, of course -- see, I know some scientific terms!) and the rest had different dilutions of plain instant coffee, from half strength up to double strength. She's been carefully watching and measuring their growth, recording it all in her notebook -- counting the leaves, etc. Last night they had grown enough so that the little 2-inch pots were being outgrown (roots starting to come out the bottom), so we very carefully repotted them in the 6-inch pots and she figured out just how much to water them in the new size. The plants all looked very healthy and happy.

Then one of our cats ate them in the night.

Well, ate all the top leaves off of three of them, anyway. So, what exactly does this do to the experiment, I wonder? Invalidate it completely? I'm thinking she should just add it in to her notes as a small disaster or something, and carry on. *Crosses fingers that teacher will agree.*

I also think she should include a photograph of the culprit, clearly placing the blame.

Life -- it sure has its dilemmas, huh?

Comments

[realdaisygamgee.livejournal.com]

ARRGH!! The cat ate her homework! In our house, we live daily with the very real possibility that the dog will eat either Sam's or my homework. That pup has a real taste for lined loose leaf.

But yes, I think that your proposed solution is spot-on, I think a photo of the Perp would really add to the whole thing!, and oh, hell, I hate science fair projects.....

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

LOLOL! Yep, guard those assignments carefully -- can't have Holly Pup burping contentedly while you're left in the lurch.

Yeah, I couldn't think of a science fair project for the life of me -- think the one time I was required to do something, it ended up being the ubiquitous cop-out of a styrofoam solar system in a box. I'm quite proud that Kidlet thought of this all on her own and figured out all the parameters!

[rae-lindorie.livejournal.com]

This reminds me a lot of a project I did. Well I sort of did two. One was how would spider plants respond to being water with various amounts of salt water, and the other was growing them in different kinds of soil. One was just water, another sand, and another dirt, and I think the last one was a combo of yard and bought dirt.

And as for what to do. I think either just put it in, and go on,or... talk to the teacher. Find out what they suggest.

Could even just use the information she had up to that point as the basis for her conclusion and admit that she stopped the experiment early because of an accident.

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie! I'm hoping the teacher comes up with an answer. *sigh* So, how did the spider plants turn out?

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

Can you photoshop the photo of the cat to add manacles and one of those convict number plates? A convict suit would be good too, I think. She might get extra points for originality.

If not, just put "Act of God" in the report and carry on. If it's good enough for insurance companies, it's good enough for us. :oD

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

LOL! Yes, I was thinking we could at least put paper strips over the picture and a "Wanted" sign. Kidlet was just upstairs giving Sasha (the cat) a good piece of her mind: "You are a very, very bad cat! That was MY project! Don't you ever do that again!" I think she could get points by playing up the disaster a bit, too.

Thanks! *hugs*