"Mamma, Roy said I'm a Horse!"

So many questions arise from this picture.  I'm sure there are proper explanations for all of those questions.  

If you are interested in this type of humor, you will like the website Crummy Church Signs.

'If I had to hear one more of them say "It's all about the kids," I'd have barfed.'

I came across this from a new group Maureen has come across, FriendsNot Dabbling.  It is a group with ideas like ours of independence, food production, etc.  Quite a different group as a whole.

This post is from a woman in Reading, PA and sums up what I think of education from time to time.  Sometimes more than time to time.  I probably could put names from my district to the "labels" she uses.

Enjoy

Ignore If You Please

In this season that begins after Halloween and extends into the new year, I mean the Winter commercial shopping season, which is almost as long as an NFL season; I have been thinking again.

In the few months of our No New Clothes No China commitment, I have come to think much about how things are used even more than before. I have many items that just sit and do nothing. Things should be used. I am in a contracting mood, because I have too much and it is getting in the way. We also are starting some new projects and paring down will help enable those projects. Now, will I have the follow through?

A List

I saw this and like the idea. I did a food one Maureen showed me, but this reminds me of The Bucket List without the cost, though some of the places do seem a bit "normal" for this sort of list. I added some of my own. I'm not telling which they are, you'll have to guess.


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Moved by an event to tears
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Attended Easter service on a hill with a cross
8. Climbed a mountain over 10,000 feet
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Rode a bicycle over 100 miles in a day
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch-the guitar
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked--picked up hitchhikers
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run--At Beiden Field at FSU
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen a Master's painting in person
36. Taught yourself a new language--Does Spanglish count?
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke--horribly
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Driven across the U.S.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Rode a bike in the snow
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching--Off the coast of NorCal
63. Got/Gave flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Telemarked skied
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House--the outside
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life--part of a group that did
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby--my wife did
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone--vicariously through my children
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Swam in a lake over 10,000 feet
101. Skied a chute
102. Watched an avalanche in person
103. Watched a lightning storm at sea
104. Visited India
105. Stood in Times Square
106. Seen an Amish community
107. Been to Disneyland
108. Played in a band
109. Truly loved someone
110. Gone deep sea fishing
111. Taken a martial arts class
112. Walked a dog on a frosty/snowing day
113. Been in a movie
114. Been to Yosemite Valley
115. Walked on a glacier

Dickens Then, Exeter Now?

After going with no post for a while, I have three in one day. But here goes.

I have been having these same thoughts lately with my students. How does one help those that don't want help?

Where is the Mouse?

This article is long, but worth the read for history and what we are doing now. Are we in the midst of the change as he asserts?

"Too Hip for the "Room"

George Carlin on George Carlin. We may not like all he says, we may not like some of what he says. we may not want our children to hear what he says, but his work ethic is to be admired and copied. This is a bit about that.

P.S. And maybe we should watch him more.

Ours is the Same, but White

Another cheap post, but a good one. Susan Issacs is a wonderful writer and actress. Maureen pointed me her direction. Her post captures much of what many of us are thinking.

Art? Enjoyable?

I don't generally approve of destruction of public or private property that isn't your own. The video below is good on many levels. Think of the effort, time and planning it took to complete this. What a mind.



The teacher/adult in me cringes though. Why does someone have to paint anothers property?

Thoughts From a Scattered Mind

Rambling thoughts on almost anything.

High school sports should not be about getting a college scholarship. It should be about playing and learning to appreciate a sport, and learning to compete. Life will teach you to compete. Get a headstart with sports.

Winter in the San Joaquin Valley and its fog is cold in a different way than snow. That should get a great big "DUH" from those who have lived here. Moist cold that seeps into your internal organs.

Why high school soccer played in the winter I will never begin to understand. The only people warm are the players that are playing. Everyone else is cold to one degree or another, and in one stage of hypothermia or another.

I wish and pray that someone will come along and buy our black truck or maybe even the van.

What are the Giants thinking of when they signed Edgar Renteria? Why not develop a young player?

My first vote for president was for Jimmy Carter. Good man in a bad situation. I hope the country fares better in the next four years than we did then.

Cars are over rated and over valued in our country. They are a tool. Would you buy a gold plated shovel with a cd player attached?

I've come to appreciate Bill Belichick's fashion sense. Hack up your clothes to make them work for you.

We have three dogs and a fourth temporarily. Each is so different in temperament and I like each one in their own way.

Cats remind me of a baby at times. Devouring food at one end and no desecration at the other.

I really like coming home and pushing my bike through our side yard. Maureen has created a wonderful walkway with a multi-plant, layered effect that calms the soul.

The greens coming out of the garden are something I am grateful to eat each day.

It has been fun to watch the interaction of our children as they get older. Especially when they are all together.