BAD LUCK

      Well, I ran into a little bad luck this week. I only had two issues of bad luck so I'm waiting for the third bad luck happening.

       I decide to change the ceru disks on my hearing aids. These disks are meant to trap the ear wax before it gets in the hearing aid. I've always had trouble with this procedure. You are given a device which is to take out the old disk and put in a new one. I tried and I couldn't get it and finally gave up. When I put the hearing aids back on the right one didn't work! The stress level went out the roof. Hearing aids are costly and I was much afraid that I had broken something. 

      The next morning I was looking in a drawer and found something that I was not familiar with. At first I couldn't even open it. When I did get it open I was surprised to find a different gismo to change the disks. I tried it and it worked like a charm. So the stress evaporated instantly. I forgot that I had been given this device as it would be better than the old one.

      Yesterday was a fine day so I decided to walk and take some photos. When I tried to take the first photo the camera didn't work. Lights came on and an image was in the view finder but the camera would not click and take the photo. This blew my stress level up as I thought the camera was finished. 

      When I got home I decided to check the batteries. What had happened was not like dead batteries. For dead batteries the camera turns off no warning. 

     Well, I changed the batteries and guess what? Problem solved. 

    Stress is over. So I didn't get photos for this post.

    So I'm anxious again. Isn't bad like supposed to come in threes?

I MADE A MISTAKE

     I pulled my camera out the other day to go hunting geese. Well, you saw the photos of the geese.

    But I heard a click when I was getting the camera ready. I had accidentally squeezed the button.

    When I was checking photos later , I looked at one photo and couldn't make out what happened. It took a while before it made sense. There were dark shadows. There was bright light and other things that were not recognizable.

    I will say the photo is interesting but that's all. 

GOLD RUSH

      Spoiler alert. This is a teacher story.

      In education there are many different philosophies  that come and go. Anybody remember the open class concept? Remember the pods? Pods were supposed to limit the number of different teachers kids were exposed to. 

     Well, our school was organized into pods and it worked quite well. The pod I was in had four gr seven classes. I had an assignment of three language arts classes and one math and some options.

    We got the idea that we would take all 120 kids out for an all day field trip. We decided to take them to Fort Normandeau which is a nearby heritage site on the Red Deer River. . This  was where the first white people came to the area. At that area you could ford the Red Deer River. You could walk across, ride your pony across or drive your horses and wagon across. 

     Today there has be development on the site so that there is a credible museum of western history, theater, replica of the old fort and stopping house. 

    We divided the kids into groups and assigned them activities to take part in. Of course , being teachers we made them record what they learned and thought. 

    One of our caretakers had the hobby of gold panning. Small amounts of gold have always been found on the Red Deer river. Glayde got gold pans from the club and showed kids how to pan for gold. Kids did find the odd fleck of gold or bit of gold dust. I can still see their faces today when Glayde showed them that they had a tiny piece of gold. Of course, we had not prepared the kids to take small bits of gold back home so there was some stress until we found some envelopes.  . 

    Of course , we had a big hot dog lunch and in the afternoon we took four bus loads of very tired and dirty kids back to the school. 

    This is just one part of the complex. This is a replica of the original fort and trading post. 

A GOOSE FIX TODAY

     Today was a beautiful warm fall day. It's the first time all summer that I've had a chance to get out to one of my favorite places. The geese were there to put on a show for me. About thirty geese were gathered in front of a bench. They stayed and chattered. I think they were commenting about me not giving them a handout. All summer people would sit at this spot and feed the geese.

     Since they clustered around the bench I took some photos. I always have to get a few photos of Canada geese. 

ON TURNING 85

      Recently I had my 85th birthday. So as usual for my birthday some reflection happens. I'm not sure if to laugh or cry! It's a time of some mixed emotions.

     I look back at some old photos and one would not get that the two photos are of the same person!

    Well, the good thing is that I'm still here. Not only am I still here but in reasonably good health. I don't have any medications that are crucial to keep me going except the seizure medication. When I went to emergency with my nose bleed, I was asked over and over if I was in blood thinners. I'm fortunate to have a blood pressure of 120 over something!

     I am also fortunate to be very physically active. I look after my own yard. But I do not do the handyman thing anymore. I'm not allowed to climb ladders anymore. Yesterday I walked 6 kilometers. 

    I still enjoy natural history activities. 

    I'm fortunate to have three wonderful younger brothers. I'm fortunate to have a Micro Manager who looks after things. I also have a son and daughter who I care about. It's very pleasant to look back at life with my family.

    So all in all, it's not bad being 85. Everybody should have the chance to be 85. 

I'VE HAD ENOUGH POLITICS

      This week the CBC has started "in depth" coverage of the American election. Now I had over kill a couple of months ago with the American election. No offense intended about the election.

     Now CBC is our national station and presents much different programming than commercial stations. I listen to it all the time.

    So teams of broadcasters have been set up all over the main areas of the US to "give us the background" on what they think are key areas and  policies.

    With that, many of the usual programs are cancelled. 

    What I find particularly offensive is the handling of the truth by the political parties. Parties have always skillfully used slant to make their policies appealing. Now they just plain out lie about things. 

    I saw a picture of an interesting cap that said Make lying wrong again. Wouldn't that be great.

   However in a short time all the shenanigans of the last year will be over and the fight will begin as to who won. So apparently counting of votes doesn't show who wins. Some people think that people can't count and for sure machines can't count. 

   Machine counting is very easy and accurate. You take the ballots and records  to head quarters. There are a few checks and balances and then the ballots are put in the machine and the count is spit out. 

   So I will have to enjoy some more election time. 

READING

           I don't think I would have much disagreement if I say that reading is a skill that all must have.  I taught at the middle school level and many think that the time to learn to read is long past. At that age each student has a different reading level. They have certain skills that are strong and missing or weak in other skills. 

        I learned how to administer one reading test. Mostly I tested the strategies kids. The strategies group activities  taught reading and the teacher wanted to know what areas needed work. 

       I think that all teachers and subject areas should make an effort to teach reading skills. 

      The odd kid in my school was a very avid reader and when the teacher wasn't looking they would read. I thought that for language arts if you let a kid read they would learn what was on the course of studies. Now the math teachers didn't like kids reading in their math class and it's true that kids wouldn't learn much math by reading. However , if I ask most adults today to divide fractions they are not able to do it. If I asked most adults to factor trinomials , they would look at me as if they had never heard about them. If I asked about grammar they would have very little idea. 

      So I'm getting to my point. I had one or two of those kids who wanted to read all the time. I let them. 

     Now one of these parents with a kid who always read came in for an interview. They were very concerned about this kid reading all the time. Other teachers had complained. I gave them my opinion that the kid would learn just as much from reading as following the class. It so happens that the Dad as our local MLA  (Member of the legislature) The Dad bought into this idea. But one look at Mom's face told me that she did not agree. A compromise was reached and I would make sure the kid followed the lesson. 

    For people who are avid readers life long learning happens for their  whole life.