A nickle is not worth much today.
When I was in the 4th grade it was magical. On "ice cream" days a nickle in your pocket could be traded for a fifty fifty bar.
A fifty fifty bar was a half orange flavored popcycle half ice cream novelty. Those kids with a nickle got them from the cafeteria people that were dispensing them out of a container kept cold by dry ice.
Such a delight. We always wished that some other flavor other than orange was on the popcycle side.. but in that era .. no such luck.
I just remembered that from the pile of nickles and quarters that I have floating across my computer desk tonight. Somehow they don't quite seem so important.
: ) Pat
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Goodwill to Goodwill
Today Sus and I did the grand tour of goodwill stores.
I was looking for another project to do for the Christmas gift give. I found it and it will need some work. It is something that all of us could use.
Sue found some cool stuff. She is always looking for some books. She found a new royal family book.. she is happy. She also found a couple of new teapots. I was unable to hide them out of sight while she was looking at the clothes rack.. ha. But three escaped her attention.. yeah.
I made a quick breakfast this morning after my walk. She was ready to go. Modesto was beautifully warm this afternoon. It ws on of those quintessential California warm fall afternoons. I was running out of gas and needed some food when we hit the last goodwill in Turlock. Man there is some nasty furniture out there that they want a good price. Luckily at Turlock before the blood sugar dropped to zero, I slipped over and had a subway sandwich while she continued to shop.
Her greatest find today was a couple of Christmas themed tea pots. One is a Christmas house with the fireplace as a spout. The other is a Santa on a Christmas sled with a spout coming of Roudolph's nose.. oh my..
I hope that your weekend is full of treasures of delight.
Pat
I was looking for another project to do for the Christmas gift give. I found it and it will need some work. It is something that all of us could use.
Sue found some cool stuff. She is always looking for some books. She found a new royal family book.. she is happy. She also found a couple of new teapots. I was unable to hide them out of sight while she was looking at the clothes rack.. ha. But three escaped her attention.. yeah.
I made a quick breakfast this morning after my walk. She was ready to go. Modesto was beautifully warm this afternoon. It ws on of those quintessential California warm fall afternoons. I was running out of gas and needed some food when we hit the last goodwill in Turlock. Man there is some nasty furniture out there that they want a good price. Luckily at Turlock before the blood sugar dropped to zero, I slipped over and had a subway sandwich while she continued to shop.
Her greatest find today was a couple of Christmas themed tea pots. One is a Christmas house with the fireplace as a spout. The other is a Santa on a Christmas sled with a spout coming of Roudolph's nose.. oh my..
I hope that your weekend is full of treasures of delight.
Pat
Friday, November 14, 2008
Its Friday.. after a Long Short Week
Sometimes a short week can seem longer.
The usual rhythms of the week are distorted by a day off in the middle. Writing Wedneday continued as usual except that some classes had not seen the end of the movie.. which was what they were going to write on. So.. they watched the movie on Wednesday (the last 10 minutes) and write they papers on Thursday. Not true with the morning classes which had seen the movie.
Today the morning classes got to play 15 questions with analysis. The other class(first period) was into talking about parties and choosing to smoke or not to smoke or drink or not to drink. We were without one of the hot heads so progress was made.
The afternoon classes got a summary of bakery terms. Batter vs dough. muffins and cakes and doughnuts. Baking powder vs yeast. Pans and sheets and mixes. What is in a mix? We looked for some similarities.
In one afternoon class a student brought in a StarWars DVD triva contest.. it didn't get used. He did learn that the voice for Darth Vader was James Earl Jones... It took revisiting 5 times.. it wasn't on his agenda.
The artic senior with the S had a good dance experience at Sadies with the girl from Merced High. In his conversation he only had 4 s distortions in 5 minutes.. (using the dysfluency model to measure) Next time I will chart hashmarks and Os for accuracy and mistakes. Then we will have a percentage. He is happy with his progress and he claims his mom is too.
Have a great weekend
Pat
The usual rhythms of the week are distorted by a day off in the middle. Writing Wedneday continued as usual except that some classes had not seen the end of the movie.. which was what they were going to write on. So.. they watched the movie on Wednesday (the last 10 minutes) and write they papers on Thursday. Not true with the morning classes which had seen the movie.
Today the morning classes got to play 15 questions with analysis. The other class(first period) was into talking about parties and choosing to smoke or not to smoke or drink or not to drink. We were without one of the hot heads so progress was made.
The afternoon classes got a summary of bakery terms. Batter vs dough. muffins and cakes and doughnuts. Baking powder vs yeast. Pans and sheets and mixes. What is in a mix? We looked for some similarities.
In one afternoon class a student brought in a StarWars DVD triva contest.. it didn't get used. He did learn that the voice for Darth Vader was James Earl Jones... It took revisiting 5 times.. it wasn't on his agenda.
The artic senior with the S had a good dance experience at Sadies with the girl from Merced High. In his conversation he only had 4 s distortions in 5 minutes.. (using the dysfluency model to measure) Next time I will chart hashmarks and Os for accuracy and mistakes. Then we will have a percentage. He is happy with his progress and he claims his mom is too.
Have a great weekend
Pat
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Parental Involvement
Somehow they don't get it.. the folks up in the office.
In my 6th period class came tromping along was a mother of one of the students. This parent had a history of having a problem with what the son was doing in school. So volatile and somewhat pushy was the rep.
We were writing about the ending to the movie Pay it Forward. Luckily she loved the movie and thought it was a good one for her son to see. Everything she saw in my class was nothing but positive. But:
1. Privacy of the other students needs to me considered. She now knows the other students names in my class (3)
2. Notification of attendance would allow for a more representative lesson. Which puts me in an awkward position.
3. Information gained in the classroom could be used in a negetive light against the district without a filter.. what was on the boards, how the students reacted, how the education is for a 15 year old and not adults.. etc.
So it probably worked in my favor to have the parent in the classroom. But it might not have to.
Your world is always at risk.
: ( Pat
In my 6th period class came tromping along was a mother of one of the students. This parent had a history of having a problem with what the son was doing in school. So volatile and somewhat pushy was the rep.
We were writing about the ending to the movie Pay it Forward. Luckily she loved the movie and thought it was a good one for her son to see. Everything she saw in my class was nothing but positive. But:
1. Privacy of the other students needs to me considered. She now knows the other students names in my class (3)
2. Notification of attendance would allow for a more representative lesson. Which puts me in an awkward position.
3. Information gained in the classroom could be used in a negetive light against the district without a filter.. what was on the boards, how the students reacted, how the education is for a 15 year old and not adults.. etc.
So it probably worked in my favor to have the parent in the classroom. But it might not have to.
Your world is always at risk.
: ( Pat
Watercolor and Framing
Dad has become a very good framer.
For those who dabble in the water media, you know that framing is essential for bringing out the best in the colors and presentably of a work of art. It is not an easy task for anyone. Dad says it takes some serious time to do it well.. sometimes 4 hours per.
He has just done a great job on some of my summer works. They mostly center around fishing. I took some of the subjects from fly fishing magazines. These gems have some really nice backgrounds since fly fishing usually occurs in the most pristine environments. Unfortunately working the painting was a priority over casting the rod.
Current watercolor play is over some landscapes around Gunnison Colorado. Every time you work you learn something new in the process. I have been using some beautifully soft caran de arche watercolor pencils to do the drawing. Then for significantly larger areas, I use some tube paint in my butcher's pans. I really like to use them because they are seriously metal (they don't crumble like plastic does) and they do not let the watercolor bead.
Have a great day... Pat
For those who dabble in the water media, you know that framing is essential for bringing out the best in the colors and presentably of a work of art. It is not an easy task for anyone. Dad says it takes some serious time to do it well.. sometimes 4 hours per.
He has just done a great job on some of my summer works. They mostly center around fishing. I took some of the subjects from fly fishing magazines. These gems have some really nice backgrounds since fly fishing usually occurs in the most pristine environments. Unfortunately working the painting was a priority over casting the rod.
Current watercolor play is over some landscapes around Gunnison Colorado. Every time you work you learn something new in the process. I have been using some beautifully soft caran de arche watercolor pencils to do the drawing. Then for significantly larger areas, I use some tube paint in my butcher's pans. I really like to use them because they are seriously metal (they don't crumble like plastic does) and they do not let the watercolor bead.
Have a great day... Pat
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Wonder How to.. Thanksgiving Plans and Christmas
I was looking for connections to get dad a 4 in one pluot tree ordered and I came across a really cool short video of the field farm somewhere around Hickman in the valley where they were thinning and spring pruning their fruit trees. The Wilson nursery, which only sells wholesale had this video on their website that hooked to a flickr type site of mostly how to videos. It is called WonderHowto. As a plug in to your firefox.. you are using firefox I hope.. it sits as a contextual add on. whenever you are on a web site, it automatically scans through its libraries of how to movies and offers them as viewable short flicks with a single click. One click backward transports the viewer back to where they were. Some of the videos are about some mundane things.. but some.. like how to kiss are really funny. All of the videos are rated.. with the classic school settings.. A through F.
When I first agreed to have this as an add on to my firefox it took an overnight for it to configure.. so I used Safari during that period. I think that I will keep it on my browser for awhile.. If it gets too annoying.. its out of here.
Its nice that Kelly mentioned the cool Thanksgiving Party we had at grandma's last year. Considering that the BKs will be in San Diego, and Linzi has commitments with Sean's family for Thanksgiving.. it might be better for all if we met this year down in Morgan Hill for the Thanksgiving. We would like to be the folks in charge of the Christmas party however.. So get your presents in hand. Or as Bob would say.. gear up!
Come on over to Merced for Christmas.. This year we would like to propose the same set up.. but no food as it is gone too quickly. We would be happy to help any family member that needs support for their gift creation.. ha.. we had such a successful one last year.
Love
Pat
When I first agreed to have this as an add on to my firefox it took an overnight for it to configure.. so I used Safari during that period. I think that I will keep it on my browser for awhile.. If it gets too annoying.. its out of here.
Its nice that Kelly mentioned the cool Thanksgiving Party we had at grandma's last year. Considering that the BKs will be in San Diego, and Linzi has commitments with Sean's family for Thanksgiving.. it might be better for all if we met this year down in Morgan Hill for the Thanksgiving. We would like to be the folks in charge of the Christmas party however.. So get your presents in hand. Or as Bob would say.. gear up!
Come on over to Merced for Christmas.. This year we would like to propose the same set up.. but no food as it is gone too quickly. We would be happy to help any family member that needs support for their gift creation.. ha.. we had such a successful one last year.
Love
Pat
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Vets Day!
This is always a good holiday. October is drags on and on. This day from a purely holiday perspective is wonderful. It is just one day. In this year's case it was not hooked up to a weekend. The weather is very nice in the afternoon. Today we are in the 65 degree range. I had a chance to get out and plow through my front yard pluot tree. It is always good to prune a plum (or a pluot) when the leaves are still on. this year I pruned it for strength and lowered its height. We had a huge crop of golden/green pluots this year. The last of them were eaten by the girls a couple of weeks ago. The tree needed to be opened up in the center. The lengthy branches had to be wheedled down. The overall effect should be a good crop next year but not one that will have me pitching them at everyone that I know. The pluot is a Flavor Queen. It has wonderful fruit. This is the first year I had enough to wait until the fruit got completely ripe. Boy they did get ripe. Sweet Sweet Sweet.
Sue is not happy with the amount of white peaches that I had last year. Again way too many.. can you imagine that? So I have been hacking it down today as well. This summer we should have just enough. The Sugar Lady peaches are ripe around the middle of July. My peach hedge with the redhaven (the most often planted peach), the
Babcock, (another white peach) and the standard Elberta are ready for some production this year.
Still left to manhandle is the apricot tree in the back. It give a miserable crop last year (only 8 quarts) but this year the foliage looks really good and it will produce a ground breaking crop if I don't lower its top branches to a more reasonable height. It is the oldest tree on the property.. almost 28 years old.
The pomegranates are pumping out ripe fruit this fall.. and the lemons are almost ready for harvest.. Yes there will be lemon delights at the Thanksgiving table.
Check the flickr steam for the latest lemon photo.
Pat
Sue is not happy with the amount of white peaches that I had last year. Again way too many.. can you imagine that? So I have been hacking it down today as well. This summer we should have just enough. The Sugar Lady peaches are ripe around the middle of July. My peach hedge with the redhaven (the most often planted peach), the
Babcock, (another white peach) and the standard Elberta are ready for some production this year.
Still left to manhandle is the apricot tree in the back. It give a miserable crop last year (only 8 quarts) but this year the foliage looks really good and it will produce a ground breaking crop if I don't lower its top branches to a more reasonable height. It is the oldest tree on the property.. almost 28 years old.
The pomegranates are pumping out ripe fruit this fall.. and the lemons are almost ready for harvest.. Yes there will be lemon delights at the Thanksgiving table.
Check the flickr steam for the latest lemon photo.
Pat
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