SURPRISE!

       The micro Manager had her cataract surgery on Monday and everything went very well. You are left feeling somewhat fatigued from the anesthetic. You  go to the surgeon the next morning at 8 AM for a check up. He pronounced her as very good.

      So we had planned ahead as  to how things would be done. I would do the cooking and put in the eyedrops. It's not really working that way but things are being looked after. 

     I was out shovelling today  when next door neighbor D crossed the fence. She was carrying a few containers and she told me that they were for the next too suppers. What a gift. It beats the beans on toast that was my menu. So there was a container of pasta and one of beef dip. So taking one look at the containers I said there's enough for 2 meals in each container.

    There's always a great visit when D comes over.

    So I asked how D knew that the surgery had been done. We didn't tell you. She said "I read it on your blog." Well that just blew my mind. I am always surprised when locals read the blog.

   While I was shovelling I noticed D take some containers to her truck. I thought  some people are going to be treated with some of D's treats. Two minutes later D was at my door with the containers.

TOUGH WEEKS AHEAD.

         I'm expecting to have three a tough weeks ahead for me. Okay , I'm going to whine about  a few things.

      The Micro Manager is about to get a cataract looked after on Wednesday. Well , what's that got to do with me? The hospital where cataract surgeries are done is about 20 miles away. So what's the matter? Can't you drive? Well, I can drive. It's the passenger that is the problem. The Micro manager is an extremely anxious person. It's very hard to drive when she's in the car. She sees all kinds of problems that aren't there.

    Eye drops are required four times a day for 3 weeks. Let me tell you my experience with giving eyedrops is zero. I'm also up against the Micro Manager's record. Three years ago I had both eyes done with cataracts. It was over a period of 6 weeks with close to 500 drops...474 to be  more precise. 

    Cataract surgery is quite routine but it's still somewhat stressful; They did my second one without an anesthetic.

    The Micro manager is a poor patient so I'm not looking forward to things.

MORE READING

      The comments from my last post about reading has made me think about a few other things. I often think about how people learn to read. 

     When I attended school in the late 40's and early  50's we  had  a system that was very limited.  We had one room rural schools. We had people teaching with little or no training. Correspondence courses were developed but how do you expect a six year old to learn to read taking correspondence. These rural schools met their end in the late 40's  and  early 50's , The school I went to called Hiawatha, closed in 1955. There were 6 student enrolled in the last year. They were all boys consisting of three sets of brothers. My two brothers attended the last year.

    My first year of teaching in 1958 ,was in a rural school that had nine students. It was closed the next year. I had three grade ones. One little guy knew how to read but jumped through all the hoops. The other little boy was never going to read. I think the little girl learned from my efforts.

     I don't ever remember learning to read. I remember going through the work books and doing assignments but it was nothing I learned. I liked the work books.

    So after all this rambling , I'm wondering about how the learning to read makes life long readers..

    I think there are good programs to teach reading but do they fit all students? Do life long readers come from people who know how to read well? Or are the readers just curious people? Do life long readers find reading stimulating for a number of reasons such as entertainment?

    What do you think?

READING

      At one time I did a lot of reading. I wasn't someone who read 50 books a year or  anything like that. I would read about 25 books a year.

     When I first retired a read many of the books I had been missing. I read Clan of the Cave Bears. I read most of Rutherfurd's books. I liked historical fiction but not mysteries.

    Then I found I was reading less and the last few years ...reading close to nothing.

     I had an idea what was causing the decline in reading.

     Blogging was taking my reading time.

    In the couple of months around my surgery I had time to think of  a few things. I was off blogging for about three weeks. I thought about closing the blog. I decided to keep blogging but at a lesser amount. I cut out the replies I made to comments. That gave me much more time, However, responding to comments was a very positive part of blogging. I miss it.

    But guess what? I found myself reading much more right away! Well, I wouldn't give up blogging because it's very interesting. I might even start back with replies to comments. I might find I have time.

    One thing I have to do is change a few things on the blog. I tried to add a reader and found out that I had forgotten how. 

MY BEST VALENTINES GIFT

       I think I've told this story before but I like it so I'll tell it again.

      My youngest brother was born on Feb. 14! I Remember when Mom brought him home and showed him to us. As 11, 14 and 15 year old farm boys we were surprisingly excited about this new brother. In no time we held him, fed him, changed diapers and rocked him to sleep. There was a competition as to who would look after him

     He was born in a small local hospital about 20 miles from home. Dave grew up with big brothers and cousins as there was no one his age in our community.

    Later on in life Dave became a nurse. You guessed it. He went back to nurse in the hospital he was born in. He looked up the records of his birth. There was nothing surprising. Everything was normal. Dave happened to be the head nurse in that little hospital. Dave spent the remainder of his career in health administration.

    I am sorry that I never got to spend much of my life with him. I left home at age 17 when Dave was only 2 and a half years old.

   So Happy birthday Dave.

   No pictures here as I'm still working on getting my photos on to a memory stick,

IT RAINED TODAY

        Rain for us in the winter is extremely rare. But today we had a very refreshing shower around noon. When I came outside it smelled fresh.

       Our winter temperatures are usually well below zero for highs and lows so rain isn't possible. We have had 10 days of well above normal winter temperatures so I guess it thought that it might as well rain.

     So for Feb.8 our average high is minus 3.9 C. Our average low is minus 16.2 C. Today our high was  plus 10  C and the low was minus 4 C.

    What  we usually say about pleasant weather is that we might as well enjoy it when it comes..

     Pleasant weather will be over tomorrow as it turns colder.

SAD LOSS

          Yesterday a former colleague was instantly killed in a car accident. What a shock!  

       Ted influenced students, fellow teachers, parents and the community at large.

          Ted  started his career at the school I was teaching in. Throughout my career I made it a habit to keenly watch new teachers who came out with the latest teaching techniques. I learned much from Ted.

         Ted was super organized so the kids had excellent material that was well presented. Parents were always well informed as Ted was an excellent communicator.

      Ted came from a very promising professional hockey career.  Ted decided to leave hockey and enter education. We were lucky for that choice. Through  out his career he found time to coach competitive hockey teams in the community.

     Ted was the best family man I ever met. He thought his wife and kids were the greatest and treated that way.

     Ted became a school administrator and put his incredible effort and ideas to that leadership.

     What a shock! Ted was just a few months away from retirement.

     I will miss him greatly along with all the other people he came in contact with.