SOME GOOD SOME BAD

       We have  been extremely dry for the last three summers. Because of modern farming practices, farmers were able to grow crops.

      However, when it comes to ornamentals there was a challenge. Many of these plants have not been developed for dry conditions. Most people stopped  watering grass. If you walked over my  grass for the last three years it was crunchy.

     So seven days ago it rained...lots of rain. the first day we had 3 and 3/4 inches of in. It rained

 more until we  had about 5 in. of rain. Rain like this benefits the whole system.

     Well, wouldn't you know it, there's a down  side to the rain. Mosquito eggs have been sitting there waiting for moisture so that they could hatch. So seven days after the rain we have mosquitoes. I wear hearing aides  so when mosquitoes land on the hearing aides or come close to them the buzz  is amplified.

    So tonight on my walk I had many mosquitoes land on the hearing aides.

THE RETARDED SQUIRRIL

       I told the retarded squirrel story in the seventies. Today you would never use a term like retarded , but at that time we did use retarded.

      On a wintery day I noticed a squirrel that was apparently trying to cross the alley by jumping from one tree to the other.

     The squirrel would run up one branch and then another looking for which branch was the closest to his target across the alley.

    Finally he chose a branch and went as far as possible to the end which would still support him. He rocked back and forth three times trying to find the best jumping off place. He tried this a few times and then gave it his best push.

    He missed. He didn't get to the branch in the other tree. Instead he fell about 10 feet and landed in a soft snow bank. He was stunned for a moment . Then shook some snow of and jumped through the snow until he got to the fence.

     Only middle school kids would think this is funny. They seemed to like the squirrel falling in the deep snow.They kept asking about my squirrel,   but I did not see more  squirrel  incidents.

   It was  odd as we think of squirrels  running through the trees with little effort..

SHUT UP

      When I went to teacher's college in 1957 we were told to be very strict with students. There was to be no fooling around . If kids were being noisy  according to the definition of rowdy in those days they were to be dealt with severely. There was a tremendous change during the 40 years I was involved in education. We tried to make school enjoyable so kids would like to come to school.

     There were times when very funny things happened. Two of them involve the term "Shut up"

     I did not give much homework. I thought it gave kids a reason to not like school. One day it was close the end of the class and I heard. Shut up. He's telling another story. They were hoping to make the class last to the end and it would be too late to assign home work.

    I learned that yelling at kids was the wrong thing to do but it did happen from time to time. So one time I yelled and I heard "We better shut up because he never yells.

    Needless to say that there was much more noise in most classrooms. We had much group work. This work was highly organized but there was noise. I taught science for a few years and we used a lab approach. There were four kids at each lab table and they had to do experiments and come up with answers.

    These incidents were brought to mind when I met a 43 year old woman who had been at my school. I got the feeling that she really didn't like school. 

MORE RABBIT

       Can you stand another jack rabbit story? Well you're going to get one.

       Jack rabbits are very often in my yard. Sometimes one will visit my   yard daily for six weeks in a row. Jack rabbits are mainly nocturnal so they find a safe place to hang out in the daytime. They  doze, groom, nibble and take short walks. They also have an instinctive way of positioning themselves for safety. They make sure that their back end is up against something like a rock , fence or brush. This protects them from a predator attacking from the rear.

      The other hot evening a rabbit was peacefully laying on the loose soil in my garden. Two magpies showed up and were picking up food. The rabbit sort of watched them but when one magpie got too  close the rabbit got up  and the magpie moved away. The magpie came back again and this time the rabbit got up and moved a few feet. The rabbit leisurely stretched and the magpie saw the opportunity to line up behind the rabbit in the blind spot. As quick as lightning the magpie moved to peck the rabbit on his behind. That got the rabbit's attention and he made haste to leave my yard.

    I have never heard about any incidents such as this.

AN OLD BLOGGER

              I started Hiawatha House in 2008. My daughter set up the basic account and I had to fill in and add the bells and whistles. My source of information  was Blogging for Dummies. This reference helped me set up the side bar. I fact the first few years I made many changes. 

             So  slowly over the years I didn't add anymore to the blog. You can see that I haven't changed the front page for many years. I don't know how. My son set up what I'm using. There  are other things that I haven't used and have forgotten how they are used.

          I had to think  the other day how to manage my blog.   

         So from time to time bloggers pull a post from a long time ago. It makes for some interesting posts.

        So I thought that I should look back and see if I could get some topics from a long time ago.

       So  My first problem was how do I go back. I didn't know how to go back and find old posts. One day I accidentally clicked on archives. That did it . I could easily go back and look at older posts. I found that for the first 50 or so posts I didn't get comments. John Robinette from John's Island was the first  commenter. John is still a follower. I shamed my daughter into making comments hoping that her comment would bring in comments.

     So the story for me is that  there are things I haven't used so I'm losing them.

ANNIVERSARY

         A  few days ago was our 60th wedding anniversary. Ya I know. How did that happen? One never thinks ahead to numbers such as 60 years married.

Many people along the way support you. Helping to  get you to these anniversaries.

So this was day one.

BOYS

         Since I started teaching in 1958, the topic of boys and their behaviour and success in school has always been a topic. The topic was very likely discussed long before 1958. 

      Yesterday I listened to an interview which covered the topic. Yes and the interview was  of someone who has just written a book on the topic. One wonders how many books have been written on this topic.

      Many suggestions have been made about causes and solutions and nothing seems to make much of a difference. 

      So some boys seem to have trouble sitting still. They get up and wander around disrupting other students. Sound familiar? I attended a one room country school from gr one to nine. I remember being out of my seat and going to an older student's desk and just watching. I didn't know what they were doing but it was interesting to watch. In my teaching experience I have had boys get up and chase each other around the class room.

     Some boys have more difficulty learning to read. Many reasons have been given for this problem. Many suggestions have been made for a solution.

   In the days of retention most were boys who repeated a grade.

   One o the good things on this issue is that most boys seem to have caught up to girls in the  later teen years.

    So when I listened to the interview I thought, well, I have heard this for many years. It's a familiar topic. How much  longer will we hear this same topic.