SCHOOL BELLS

     Today school started in our neighborhood. 

     I was a teacher for more than 37 years. The start of school was a very significant part of the year. I would start going into the school about mid August to get things ready in my classroom. I had to make sure that I had all the supplies I needed so that I didn't have to run around looking for things. Textbooks had to be brought in. 

     Then there were unit plans that had to be fine tuned. It all took time.

     Of course, other colleagues were there so some visiting took place. 

     When I was department head there was more work. I was responsible for planning so that everybody was on the same page.

      What I really wanted to say is that since I've been retired for 25 years I no longer think about the start of school . That is, until I read in the paper about our teachers participating in a back to school welcome. 

     So the school system is back in business for another year.

      Things are much different compared to when I retired. 

      So school bells are ringing but they don't get my adrenalin flowing. When I went to school a  hand bell was used to time the periods. The first year I taught, 1958-59 I used a hand bell. The school didn't have electricity. After that it was buzzers that kept us organized. 

I'M NOT READY FOR FALL

   There are small hints of fall but I'm not ready for fall. 

    We have had a heat spell for about 6 or 7 weeks. Not a really uncomfortable hot but hot none the less. Our highs have been mostly 28C to 30 C. For many people this is not hot at all.

    But what I'm trying to say is that with warm summer weather ,it's hard to get your head ready for fall.

    If fall comes quickly your head has to adjust to things very quickly. Today our high was 19 C. Most of the day it was 13 C with sometimes a strong wind. So definitely a touch of fall. 

   However, there are other signs of fall. All of my garden flowers are finished blooming and the plants are starting to look pretty ragged. 

    Leaves are falling but they are the ones that have been damaged over the season. Insects have chewed much of the leaf and the leave has quit functioning so weakens and drops. Some leaves have been eaten by leaf miners. 

So no matter what I'm going to have to be ready for fall. I have to be ready cooler temperatures and changes in leaf color and leaves falling. 

    After all that whining, I do like fall. 

LOST COMMENTS

      From my last post I found out that the lost comments was fairly common. 

      So if you put information out there , you can always hope that someone will help you. Steve from Shadows  and Light   Gave a clear and concise direction. Thanks Steve.

Steve ReedTuesday, August 23, 2022

If you're checking your spam comments using the method below, I'm not sure what else to suggest. Sometimes my comment on anothers' blog will just vanish and I can tell it didn't get submitted. If I wait and try again in 20 minutes or so it often works. I have no idea why.

Here's how to find comments in spam. (You probably already know how to do this, Red, but I'll put these directions here in case anyone else needs them.)

Go to your Blogger dashboard and click "comments" on the left side. You'll get a list of comments, and you can filter this list with the drop-down menu at the top by choosing "ALL" or "SPAM" or "AWAITING MODERATION" or "PUBLISHED." (At least, those are the options on my account.) If you click SPAM it will show you all comments that are classified as spam and not published. You can mouse over each comment and you'll see a check mark appear on the far right -- click that check mark to approve and publish the comment.

Hope this helps!

      As a blogger, I don't know my way around the system. You always learn something new. 

THREE TOPICS

       I don't usually write  post that has several topics but with a post I could respond to  number of issues.

      LOST COMMENTS

Two of you have noticed that your comment was not published on my blog. There may be others. I never check to see if my comments are published. I've checked spam and looked around but cannot find where the comments have gone. I still must look to see if I actually got the comment. 

      It there's someone who knows about this issue , and how to correct it, let me know .

      LIES

Some of you reminded me that there have been some long ago liars in the political world. The Richard Nixon suggestion gave me a giggle. 

      There were some good suggestions as to what to do to liars. Some how people have to see a big enough reward to tell the truth. Liars have to be punished at the polls.

 BRAGGING RIGHTS

I found out that many others have the same thing to brag about. It seems that quite a few cataract surgeries are done without anesthetic. They certainly freeze the eye ball. 

    It was interesting that there were so many different procedure for cataract surgery

    I'm doing well and only have one more day in jail. I find the seven days of restrictions after surgery a bit hard to handle. The eyedrops are a challenge. I have three more weeks of drops. The eye drops given and routine are very different. Across the country and beyond. 

LIES

        More than a few lies are being told by politicians today. 

        I can think back to the late 1940's to a politician by the name of Tommy Douglas. Tommy Douglas didn't tell lies to further his cause. He just stood up and supported his cause until all his opponents had had enough. His cause was to help people. Tommy Douglas brought in Medi-care to Canada. 

       In Canada, John Diefenbaker was an honorable man who knew how to support his cause. Lester Pearson was instrumental in bringing in Peace Keepers. These were two Prime ministers in the 50' and 60's in Canada. 

      Over the years , I guess, politicians wanted their own things so had to play fast and dirty to get what they wanted. 

     Somewhere along the way telling lies slowly entered the political scene. 

     The smart guys knew how to tell a lie that sounded like the truth and got away with it. Then they started telling lies about each other. Elections brought lies to a much higher level. Others could tell blatant lies and didn't care if people recognized it. Trump fits that category. 

     For the sake of simplicity let's divide things into left and right. I admit that I'm a lefty. Oh boy, I just lost a bunch of followers! So I could spot  lie from the right wing from miles away. Of course, the lefties were the good guys and didn't tell lies, so I thought!

     So politicians of all stripes are using lies to get elected and further their causes. 

    I have recently begun to recognize that both sides tell lies. I should have known this a long time ago.

    What about religious denominations? Are they squeaky clean when it comes to the truth?

    It hit me when the Ukraine war started. Both sides were making good use of propaganda. 

    I lived in a time when politicians were somewhat reliable. I would like to go back to that time again.

BRAGGING RIGHTS

      I acquired some bragging rights this week. 

      I've had cataract surgery on both my eyes. 

      For the second eye it was done without an anesthetic!

      The first thing they do is give you a series of eye drops...four or five, I don't know. They also give you a funny hat that covers all your hair. You also get a gown to go over your clothing. 

      Then they take you to the room where they prepare you for surgery. This consists of more drops. The eye has been numbed before they put in the freezing. They put something on your eye and you're told to look up, down and to both sides. You also get an oxygen tube attached. You get an IV attached and you're ready to go except that you wait for a long time. 

    Yesterday , I was wheeled into the operating room. They got organized with their equipment. Then they told me to look at a blinding light and they were ready to go. I couldn't see anything except for this bright  ugly orange light. For the first eye they used an anesthetic. It was nice. No fuss . NO mess. Yesterday they started work on me. I was waiting to conk out. I soon realized that the conking out wasn't going to happen. So I had my cataract surgery with out anesthetic. 

   You've heard of blinding light. They ask you to look at a bright light and then you can't see anything. They start to work on you. Your head is rolled around. You feel pushing and pulling on the eyeball. Then you hear the laser and you know that they are making a slit in your eye. You can feel them take out the original lens. You can feel them slide in the new lens. A liberal amount of water is used in the process so there must be some mess that they wash away. 

    So I'm proud of my self for having the surgery without anesthetic even if I didn't know it was going to happen. They didn't tell me the surgery would be done without anesthetic. They didn't ask me. They just went ahead and did the surgery without anesthetic. 

     So there you are. All you need to know about cataract surgery. The surgery went very well and my vision is much improved. Now I just have to take three kinds if drops , four times a day for six weeks. 

BLOCKED FROM THE INTERNET

   This week, one evening, I went to my computer intending to read blogs and comment. To my horror there was a message that  said that I was blocked from the internet. I was shocked as I know little about correcting such issues.

    Later on I found out that only my access to publish was blocked. Sometimes I could read posts . All of my other sites were not blocked like face book twitter etc.

    I found  blogger help site but after three days I've not had a reply.  

    Then I started to think if there was a blogger I could contact. Jennifer from from Cottage Country Reflections is a face book friend. She's also very savvy when it comes to computer stuff. So I contacted Jennifer. Her suggestion was to log on from another browser. I did this and there was my blog instantly and I was not blocked. 

    So I've been absent from blogland again . Maybe I needed a break from blogging!

ANYBODY NOTICE I'VE BEEN ABSENT?

      Well, I've ben busy . So busy that I've not been able to read the posts on some days.  

       It's not pleasant getting so far behind that you don't have enough time to read blogs or make comment. 

     We've had some nasty weather so some of the jobs outdoors in the yard cannot get done. It's been hot. Too hot for an old guy to be out in the afternoon. 

      But what has really taken my time is cataract surgery. In my case I have to arrange rides because the Micro Manager doesn't drive. The eye clinic hospital is about 30 km away. 

    Two days before surgery you have a regime of eyedrops which keep you close to home. Then you have to arrange the necessary materials to take along to the hospital. The total time for the procedure is about four hours.

     You have several people come around with charts and ask questions. You get eyedrops about six times. The anesthetist has a little visit with you. 

      Then they actually prepare you for surgery. An IV is hooked up. Oxygen is applied. You wait and finally you are wheeled into the OR. The surgeon says hello. He asked me to look at a light. I looked at ceiling lights instead of the one in his machine. Then it was lights out for me. I woke up and was in recovery and then wheeled to the Micro Manager. My ride was there and we went home. 

     When I got out of the car I was very dizzy and it's a good thing my driver caught me before I did an eye plant. 

     The next morning I visited the surgeon and he pronounced that it was good and took off the eye shield. Vision was disappointing but I found out later it takes some time for everything to adjust. 

     So now I'm on three sets of drops four times a day. There are many restrictions on activities for the first seven days after surgery. 

     I'm amazed at the new vision I have. Things are bright and clear. Needless to say I am pleased. 

     On Aug. 16 I get the right eye done.

    A heads up for any prospective cataract patients. Have a very good look on the web for information on cataract surgery. You will get all kinds of information that the surgeon likely won't tell you.