I'm Just Wondering...

Momma Bird is home safely in San Diego after a nice, but quick, visit here to my neck of the woods. Of course she manages to come the week we have the "hottest temperatures of the year", according to all the beaming weather guys on the local news. Although she lives where it regularly hits the hundreds in the summer, she doesn't have the humidity we have. However, like me, she's an early riser, and fell quickly into the routine of getting up early to garden and walk, then spend most of the day knitting, reading, doing genealogy (we have recently discovered a Revolutionary War soldier and her friend is encouraging her to apply for the DAR), and then going outside in the evening. We had a wonderful time.

This week I'm getting ready for summer camp which begins after Independence Day. I'll be heading Up North for two weeks to teach at a day camp for gifted kids. I usually teach the 3rd and 4th graders because they make me appreciate my 7th graders that much more. It's a chance to visit old friends, make some money, and score some school supplies that I can use in my own classroom.

One thing Momma asked me about while we were running errands around town were the large tents that were all over the place. These tents appear two times a year (before Independence Day and New Years) and sell fireworks, which are legal at these two times of year in my community. Like her, when I first moved here I didn't know what they were for the longest time. They appear, empty, about a month before they are stocked with all sorts of things that you can buy and blow up. Then all of a sudden their signs go up, the doors open, and they're ready for business.

However.

There is one thing that has always bothered me about these fireworks tents, especially this time of year.

We have thunderstorms here. Lots of thunderstorms. And where you have thunderstorms, you have lightning.

(Can you see where this is going?)

With four tents on just about every single corner in town, how come we don't hear about them getting struck by lightning and setting all the fireworks off?

Makes me wonder...

Chillin', or at Least Attempting to...

Yeah, I'm alive. It's just that I've been, well, busy.

And right now, with the heat index at 101 freakin' degrees, I'm just trying to stay cool and not run up my electric bill at the same time. This involves lots of ceiling fans, not leaving the house, if possible, after ten a.m., and doing anything that needs to be done outside before nine a.m. And lots of sweet tea. Lots and lots of sweet tea.

Done some traveling...Ashville and Raleigh, North Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee, Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia. Road tripping with hubby is one of my favorite things to do. We travel well together - we both like going to museums, and checking out local wineries, and just hanging together - so tagging along on some of his business/research trips is pretty fun.

When I've been home, I've done a lot of things I don't get around to during the school year - trying to clean out the garage (this will have to wait for completion when the weather is bearable), visits to the dentist and the skin cancer doctor (I get a check every year, just to be on the safe side, what with my family history and sun exposure history), file some of my civil war research, work on the family tree project for mom, and just stuff.

Then there's the yard work which, due to the heat, must be done before 8 am in the morning and even then I'm a sopping wet mess by the time I finish. It's not doing too well this year and that's aggravating me beyond belief. First the rabbits did a number on most of my plants and we put up a rabbit fence we seems to work, but then ground squirrels, or something, is still working at digging holes all over the place. Four out of the five tomatoes look fine, the fifth looks like it's on its deathbed with yellowed leaves. The bean plants are limping along, most of them looking like they've been burned up by too much fertilizer, but since I haven't used any this year outside of a tiny bit of compost, I have no idea why they're looking so bad.

The weeds, however, are kicking butt.

So, I'm knitting, reading, and getting things ready for next year. I've been reading our new science book, plus a Kagan book on cooperative learning. I do have an in service this week, so there's that to look forward to. The new standards will prove to make it an interesting year. Mrs. Eagle and I are going to try some new things this year in terms of group work and other activities, so we'll see how that goes.

For fun reading...catching up on magazines, reading some classics I've never read (finished Around the World in 80 Days and now I'm working on Black Beauty), reading some thrillers, plus some good history books.

And then there's catching up on movies and sports on television. I've been enjoying, tremendously, the College World Series. I don't have a favorite team, I just like watching these kids play ball - it's so much more entertaining than the pros, (with the possible exception of the Cubs). And since hockey is over for a while (thank goodness the Penquins won!), I'm pretty much left with baseball.

So that's it. It's not exciting, it's nothing to really write about, but hey, I'm alive.

Sweet tea anyone?

A Time For Courage

D-Day.

Sixty-five years ago.

I'm not going to listen to speeches by politicians. I'm not going to watch ceremonies. What I will do is read the words of the men who were there and try, try, try to fathom how they went through that. Because, quite honestly, they are why this matters.

If you know a veteran of WWII, and sadly they are passing on so very fast, listen to his or her stories.

And remember.

And thank them.

Because truly, they saved the world.

Summer Carnival Time!

Mister Teacher is taking us all out to the movies! Head on over for his summer blockbusters at the Education Carnival!