Thursday, September 21

The State of Education

Quite often, when my husband is interviewing a high school student for a position in his restaurant, he will ask about school. A recent conversation went like this:

"What's your favorite subject in school?"
"I like History."
"Great! What period are you studying?"
"Third."
"No, I mean what period in history?"
"The Civil War."
"So I guess you're learning about the President during that time. Do you know who that was?"
"We haven't got that far."

Just a few weeks later, he interviewed a young man:

"So what's your least favorite subject in school?"
"History."
"Sure... but I bet you know quite a bit about history."
"Oh, yeah."
"Like the President during the Civil War. Who was that?"
"I don't know that one."
"How about the first President of the U.S.?"
"No, I don't know that one either."
"George Washington."
"Oh yeah, that sounds about right."

Now granted, one can make sandwiches without knowing the names of previous rulers of one's country. But this is "Kentucky, where education pays!" Makes ya wonder.

Seriously, as an educator, I feel compelled to give these students the benefit of the doubt. Surely they are learning something. It just isn't what he asked them about. I wonder what it is.

Wednesday, September 20

It's Treacherous Under the Oaks

One night last month, we lost a tree in a storm. It landed on our power line and took out our whole meter assembly. The tree hovered precariously over our garage. I believe it was held up by a limb... or more likely, angels. The next morning, the tree fell the rest of the way. Rather than crashing through our garage roof, it slid off the back. The only damage to the garage is on the outside of the three corner panels.

A few days ago, we had another storm. We lost a large oak halfway up the driveway. It took down a second tree completely. The limbs shaved off about half of a third, small tree across the driveway. And a fourth tree, another oak, is arched to the ground, pinned under the huge tree that fell. I will be interested to see if it springs back up when cleanup commences. I hope it does, and safely.

I had just turned my concerns from the tree situation when the water meter readers paid me a visit. They noticed a jump in our usage. I had no explanation for that, but knew it meant a whole lot more stress and likely a whole lot more money flowing from our bank account. After testing inside the house and finding no leaks, I sent Toby to investigate under the house. We had a river flowing up from the dirt under the house, and a pond in the yard several feet away. (sigh)

We've had a VERY hard time getting repair people to come out in a timely manner. Now I'm trying to get a plumber who's willing to work under our trailer AND someone to remove trees.

Have I mentioned lately that Loren will be moving to the Duluth/Cloquet area in mid-October? At this point, I don't know how. It'll have to be orchestrated by God. Homeowner's insurance is great, but there is that deductible.

In other news, my jaw is out of whack. My bite is messed up. The up side to this is that I cannot clench my teeth as I usually do when I'm working under stress. The down side is that it's very difficult to eat. I suppose some of my readership might be wondering if that's truly a down side, considering.

I should probably get that checked out, but can't imagine finding the time to do it this week. And anyway, sometimes it provides a distraction from the rest of the devastation.

I can't wait to see how God works all this stuff out!

Tuesday, September 5

Ten on Tuesday

Inspired by Nancy...

Ten Favorite Characters From Your Childhood
  1. Grover
  2. Ernie
  3. Laura Ingalls
  4. Mary Jemison
  5. Goat Peter
  6. Heidi's grandfather
  7. Dickon
  8. Mary Lennox
  9. Marty Davis
  10. Matthew Kneeland (not fictional, but definitely one of my favorite characters)
Can you tell I spent many years without a TV?

Monday, September 4

Downer post with a silver lining

I'm deeply saddened by the news of Steve Irwin's death. He will be sorely missed.

I'm disturbed, but not surprised, by the position of Focus On the Family in Carmon's pro-choice post. James Dobson's psychological worldview is showing. Again.

I find it very interesting that the obesity pandemic "is not about gluttony." Gee, I think my self-esteem just increased.