Category: Uncategorized

Years ago – and, I do mean YEARS AGO – Larry, Lee, and I went elk hunting every autumn.  Years before that, Larry and Lee would go, and I would buy something expensive “to get even.”  Even for what?  I don’t know, but I guess that I must have felt put-upon for some reason.  Then, after we started camping and motorcycle riding, I decided I’d join them for hunting.

Lee and Larry set up the camp (tent, porta-potty, etc.).  Larry and Lee made a shepherder’s stove.  It was a barrel with a stove pipe that went through the roof of the tent.  They welded a grate to separate the wood fire from the ashes.  It kept the tent toasty warm.  I cooked.  They did the dishes.

When I was forty years old, I decided that everything I had learned in the last fifteen or so years was academically oriented.  BA degree.  Master’s degree, with an intent to work on a doctorate.  So, I thought I would learn something non-academic.  Like horseback riding.  Or motorcycle riding.  It didn’t take too long to rule out horseback riding.  I could not keep a horse in my back yard.  A horse takes food every day.  And, clean up.  And, to ride a horse, one must have a saddle, and the horses head gear to direct it in the path you want to take.

A motorcycle,  on the other hand, is self contained.  It can sit in the garage, and eats only gasoline and a little oil, occasionally.  Of course, a helmet is advised.  The decision came in overwhelmingly for learning to ride a motorcycle.  The next thing was to beg someone to teach me.  A friend, Lee, had motorcycles, and he agreed to teach me to ride.

You may remember that I’ve described my neighborhood in glowing terms.  People help people.  It has a relatively quiet nature.  Albeit, one of our houses was used to cook meth, but that was taken care of by our local police, and after the house was gutted and cleaned, another family lives comfortably in the house.

Within the past six months, another of the houses has changed ownership.  The house is to my immediate east.  It is a corner house and faces the corner in a somewhat catewampus fashion.  Faces neither one of the streets nor the other.  Just faces the place where both streets meet.

“A hundred years ago” in 1959, I graduated in the summer from Western State College (college, then; university, now).  My BA degree came with certification as an elementary school teacher and, fortunately, the teacher in the Sargents School was retiring that year.  I would have eight grades with about twenty-eight children.  Usually a class with that number of children would be considered “normal,” but twenty-eight students in eight grades were a complicating factor.  The three-member school board was really taking a risk by hiring a fresh-out-of-college teacher to teach that many students in that many grades.  Of course, because the school was very rural – isolated, even – and not connected with any other school where the teacher could get assistance, as needed, may have influenced their decision to hire anyone who would take the job.  And, that turned out to be me.

Okay.  You all know that I really love this little creature who came to live with me in March.  I promise not to make every article about her.  But, there are some things that I can’t resist telling you about.  You also know that she is four years old. A four-year-old … puppy!  Her previous living situation did not allow for socializing, but she was a mom twice.

And, now, she lives in a home with no babies.  No collection of other schnauzers.  She doesn’t know how to chase a ball, fetch a stick, eat meals on a set schedule, or always “take care of business” outside.  She is definitely a four-year-old puppy.

What do you know about the plant-based diet?  I have friends who are following a strict plant-based diet, and it seems to be effecting their health in a positive way.  She has diabetes as a health marker, and she told me that her A1C (the three-month indicator of sugars in the blood stream) is now 4.9.  The desired number for someone with diabetes is under seven – or, maybe, six.  My A1C hasn’t seen seven for a long time.

When and why was Mother’s Day thought up?  We’ve been celebrating Mother’s Day since before 1959 (for his mother and my mother),  Then, when my first daughter was born, Mother’s Day brought new meaning to Larry and me.

I’ve admitted to making mistakes in my life.  I’ve come to realize that one of the greatest mistakes was when I said – at about age 50 – that if I knew “then,” what I know “now,” I would never have children.  What a bone-headed statement that is!  I have learned, now that I’ve grown up, that having children is a joy that “makes the world go round.”  It makes

 I tell you what.  I was going to use this article to whine about the ugly houses that are springing up in my area.  But, spring is too beautiful a season to whine about ugly houses.  I’ll do that in a later article.

 On my way to a medical appointment, this morning, I had occasion to look – really look – at what has been developing in our spring air.  Yesterday, Bryan started clearing the flower beds in the front yard to make way for this year’s vegetation. There is still way too much grass that has encroached into the beds, but removing it will need to wait a week or so.

Earth Day 2021 is Thursday, April 22.  My granddaughter Rose wrote this month’s poem for Earth Day 2019.  I decided it was better than anything that I could write.    Marj

Still There

A glacier moves across a plateau.
It flattens the land until it comes to a halt, bringing a rock with it.  Then it recedes.
But the rock is still there.

The snow and ice give way to a cycle of seasons; warm and rainy, hot and humid, cool and breezy, cold and dry.
With each step in the cycle, the plants and animals grow, then flourish, then die.
But the rock is still there.

Note:  I’ve included a few outdoor spring flowers for your enjoyment!

Last September, when I began writing this blog, I promised that religion and politics would not be part of it.  Well, this blog does have some religion in it.  But, it is mine, alone.  There is no proselytizing, here, I promise.  There used to be an ice-breaker game that people played at the beginning of a conference or workshop.  “Who are you in three statements,” was the challenge.  Since middle age, my answer has always been:  “I am a child of God.  I am a wife and parent, and, now, a grandmother.  And, I am an educator.”