Monday Musings

My husband's family has new members.

His two nieces and his nephew(his girlfriend)

have had babies recently.

The oldest is Avery.

She is 8 months old

and newly baptized.

They had the ceremony this past Saturday 

evening with family and friends present.

There was dinner in the church hall

afterwards.

The pic below was taken 

after a flood of tears

when the pastor took her

and gently laid his hand with a tiny bit of water

on her head.

Oh my, did she get mad!

Chad, Avery, and Kelly

Chad's mom, Robyn is the middle sis of Mike.

Aunt Ruth with baby Tucker.

His cousin Taylin looks on.

Tucker belongs to Megan, the daughter 

of Mike's older sister.

We got to meet two other babies

at Taylin's 3rd birthday party.

  Taylin and Kinsley belong to  Elizabeth,

the daughter of Amy, Mike's youngest sister.

Below is her sister Kinsley.

Here, Taylin's cousin Jenner 

watches with his mom Carli.

His Aunt Jill holds his baby brother (name starts with a J,

but I can't remember it.)

     I didn't hold any of the babies.

I used to take my turn,

but now find that it is physically uncomfortable--

my shoulders, neck, and arms will ache

for quite awhile afterwards.

Were they my grandchildren,

I'd gladly bear the discomfort,

but they are not.

 Besides, their grandmothers and aunts 

were there  

to gladly take a turn.

Aunt Ruth turned 85 yesterday.

Mike, two of his sisters, and I

had a pizza and ice cream cake supper

complete with flowers, balloons,

and other gifts.

She was pleased.

(She lives in Emerald Point,

an assisted living center here.)

Last week's  Ohio PARCC testing

went much better than we had dared hope for.

The first day was rocky,

as 30 of our computers

froze midtest and it was a problem

with the test and not our computers.

A few kids got bumped out

but we were able to get them back in.

Only two kids got themselves booted out

by hitting the wrong button and moving ahead.

That's not bad out of  80 students.

I had the best of my 4 classes---

my  Advanced English I, 8th period.

They were wonderful.

Now this week is scheduling for next year.

My thoughts --- on education and fracking beside our park lake.

Thoughts.

I miss writing here, but often am not sure what to say

or whether to say it or how to say it or to just stay hidden.

It has been one of the roughest winters for me

physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Nothing that cannot be worked through,

which I am doing.

Spring is teasing us

and winter must really love us,

because he just won't let go!

 Or no, wait, that's possession obsession,

isn't it?

We begin a week of PARCC. It is the new test

that Ohio is saying it is going with.

It is supposed to be in place next year,

but I guess, the powers to be are reconsidering.

  Whatever they decide, 

you can bet

new hoops 

will be designed

for us

 to jump through.

 Yes, sir!

How high, sir!

To the moon, you say?  Yes and then some.

Where? In your substandard computer labs.

Never mind that you don't  have enough computers!

 When? Soon.

But while we're deciding, have your freshmen

take a preview test.

Let it take up four mornings of class time.

Oh, we're sorry---did you say you were busy teaching?

Don't let a little thing like that bother you!

Your kids will be happy to be guinea pigs. . . 

all for the sake of better education.

(No. Because someone wants to make even more money

redesigning 'the wheel'.)

 How?  Take these work shops.  Invest lots of money. . .

oh and lots of time, blood, sweat, and tears,

and you might figure it out.

 Our job is to only appear to be helping.  After all,

we are incredibly busy designing new hoops!

Why?  Didn't you learn anything

 from your parents? Because we said so!

Now get going!

March!

Two teachers, the librarian, the guidance counselor and I 

will be administering PARCC all this coming week.

Hmmm, administering.  Sounds sinister.

Me thinks it just might be!

More thoughts:

If a powerful seven-men committee has their way,

a huge pad for a fracking drill

will be placed up the hill to the left I think.

It will be very near our town park.

The men and equipment 

will destroy our hiking paths.

We pray, that's all.

After all, that isn't just any lake you see.

It's our reserve water supply!

But, hey, they'll be careful!
Yeah, let's ask those folks in WVa
what they think.
(They still haven't fully recovered from a major leak
that made their water unusable for anything.)

Corner View: Close By

 We went for a drive this past Sunday 

and came upon some mother cows and their calves.

They were keeping the 'young-uns' close by.

Check out Francesca's Fuoriborgo for more views on "close by."

Corner View: in the distance

What I 'see' in the distance is retirement.

It will be at the end of the  2014/2015 school  year.

What I'm looking forward to: 

Taking Dillon to soccer and watching him play.

Playing dress up with Abigail (and Addison).

No longer having to take a personal day to get ready for

Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

Having enough energy for the extra things like swimming.

Playing games.

Painting.

Watching Colton play football.

Taking a grandchild on a trip to DC or Gettysburg.

Listening to Abigail play my mother's piano (and sing--she's hilarious.)

Flying to Texas at any time of the year

instead of the hottest month (August).

Visiting with my daughter and her family.

Going to the Pumpkin Patch with son and his kids

(shown here with his step-brother and daughter).

Growing more lilies and other flowers all around the farm house.

Reading, of course(as much as I want).

Lots of activities are hovering "in the distance."

They're called 'Retirement'.

Join Francesca for Corner View.

Dillon, Grandpa Mike, and Tractors

We had Dillon for the day this past Saturday.

I picked him up.

We had lunch at the local DQ,

stopped by the house to pick up Ginger,

and then went to 'The Barn.'

Grandpa showed him around

and eventually they came to the two antique tractors.

Both were his father's.

The first one still runs.

{A little story on it: 

This 1954 tractor was

a favorite of Bud's (Mike's dad).

When Bud died, Mike  pulled his coffin on a trailer

from the funeral  home to the Catholic Church

where the service was held.

All the folks, who really knew Bud,

thought it was the coolest tribute.}

Dillon is pumping the pedals

and working the gears.

This tractor is from the 1930s

and does not presently have an engine.

I love this picture of Dillon---

just hanging out with Grandpa.

The barn.

It is up the road from our home

and on an acre of land that we own.

The land is next to his sister's house,

which was originally built for their parents

when Mike was 13.

I have been out of touch for a month.

It doesn't seem that long!

A combination of reasons

with the prevalent one being pain.

The fibromyalgia detests extremely cold temperatures.

It also does not do well with constantly changing weather and temps,

and that is what we are still having.

It was in the 50s yesterday

and is in the 20s tonight.

Snow is expected, but with zero accumulation.

I also need to check out my hands 

with my rheumatologist---

they are not bending well, especially the knuckles

and they ache most of the time.

This is new.

I thoroughly enjoyed time with 9-year-old Dillon,

but am moving slowly today.

It was absolutely worth it.

Corner View: Slow

My drive to work and back used to be relaxing and beautiful.

Now that Utica Shale fracking has begun,

it has become stressful and tedious.

I have to leave earlier

so that if I get behind a big vehicle,

I can still get to work on time.

It takes me ten to fifteen minutes longer to get home

regardless of heavy equipment.

When the pipeliners' and  fracking men head out for their temporary homes, 

it's not unusual to end up in a line of six to 12 vehicles.

The ones that are particularly irritating

are the semis hauling huge equipment

on Rt 147's two lanes.

We regular-vehicle folks have to pull over.

However, the water and brine bearing trucks

are the ones that can momentarily take my breath away

and cause me to come to a slow-rolling stop.

The reason?

They are heading my way and are across the yellow line.

In other words, they hog the road.

The photos below are courtesy of online photos

of the fracking industry.

Here are some photos of the drilling tower sites -

the reason why 'slow-moving' has become

a part of my daily life.

They are lit continually and it's like high-noon 24/7.

Folks have to buy black-out curtains

and no longer can sit out in their yards and gaze at the stars--

the blazing light blankets the stars.

We have many similar sites throughout our farm community.

I think it would be tough to live so close to one

because someone else owned the land next to you

and allowed the drilling site to be built.

Money talks.

However, one of the nice outcomes

is that farmers have been able to fix up or completely restore

their old barns, thus saving part of America's heritage.

They have also been able to buy much needed equipment.

 For more views on 'slow', head over to Francesca's.

Taking care of God's creatures

 We have been keeping the bird feeders full,

as well as tossing out seed and corn on the snow.

The deer 'pert near' clean us out every night,

but we're cool with that.

We grow quiet and tip toe closer to the window

to watch them.

Tonight we counted nine.

There were three groups; 

two of the groups were not the usual ones.

Mama and her two young ones

did not take kindly to the intruders.

She was quite territorial and ran them off.

At times they were on their hind feet

 with their front paws slashing the air.

"Resident Mama' always won.

My camera was charging, 

so, alas, no photos.

The birds seem appreciative of the bounty 

that hangs and lies in front of our window.

Only sudden movement frightens them off.

I never tire of watching them.

I don't know what they all are;

our bird books were packed several years ago

when Mike moved up here from Cincinnati.

We have not found them yet.

Further down, after the bird pictures,

you'll see a visitor who started coming yesterday.

He loves the corn kernels. 

Here's our latest 'client'.

He's cute to watch.

Here are my two favorite 'snow birds'.

Ginger is the only one here who is truly loving all this cold.

She loves to burrow in the snow.

She licks and eats it.

She buries her nose in it.

She is content to lie in it,

even in single digit temps

and often does not want to come inside.

That's a husky for you!

But she also likes to curl up on the couch.

George does too, but he does not snuggle with Ginger.

Notice all the hair - twice a year,

huskies molt, not shed.

They have two coats and they rid themselves of the top one,

and a new one grows in.

There is white hair everywhere.

And no, I did not research that before we got her.

We clean this blanket regularly,

but within thirty minutes it is covered.

However, we still love her!

 We are staying warm and safe.

[We have now missed 15 days of school!!!]

Corner View: Vision

 The phone awoke me this morning.  

I had set my alarm for later than usual, so I was not up yet

when the all-call went out through our school district.

The superintendent did not try a two-hour delay; instead,

he went straight to " N . . . L . . . .  schools are closed today."

We had known it was coming since last week,

but last night the storm had been down-graded by some weather reporters.

Their downgrade was in relation to inches in snow, 

but that was not the danger; it was ice, ice, 

and more ice raining down on us non-stop.

So instead of what I had planned for this topic,

I chose to highlight our icy landscape.

Mind you, I took photos

from inside the house!

The birds were a bit frantic this morning,

because the deer had eaten a bunch of corn and seed

the night before.

Their anxiety seemed to have lessened considerably 

after Mike refilled the feeders.

The photo below is a close-up of the bush featured in the first photo.

I did walk two steps out on the front stoop.

This was taken after a snow storm.

This same bird (or a close relative--Ha!) is shown after our ice storm.

(My camera was set on a more sensitive dial.)

I like this little guy who somewhat sheltered in that bush

for awhile.

The bird feeders exhibit the ice well, don't you think?!

Last, here is a set of handy 'tools' to enhance our vision.

My husband leaves a pair of his reading glasses 

throughout the house - literally every room that he's in at some point.

The above is on the stool by where he sits in the living room.

For more corner views on vision,

hop on over to Francesca's place.