Friday is never an easy day at camp. It means it is the last day and it’s time to pack up and return home to our families. I know I had a few items on my ‘to do’ list for Friday as did the scouts. They had to wrap up their merit badge classes and a few of the younger scouts had to finish requirements for advancement to Tenderfoot, Second Class, or First Class – big moves for a first year scout. All I had to do was finish the Geezer merit badge and swim the mile. Continue reading Elmo gets it!
It is the very first day of summer vacation and I am resisting the urge to sleep in. Seriously, I know I can find better uses of the time than sleeping, though I will get to bed early tonight than I did last night. Yesterday was Tuesday, which is always a hectic night with sports and scouts and we often get to bed after ten. I am on the deck and I am a crossroads: Ivy wants to play and I want to write. It is the coolest part of the day and it is going to be another hot one. Yesterday the heat and humidity really through us all and Ivy spent most of the afternoon sleeping on the floor, where it was cool. Continue reading Chores and the first day
It’s here! The last day of school is finally here! Yesterday was hot, really hot, and today and tomorrow is going to be even hotter. If you don’t believe me, check the Weather Channel widget on the right side of the web page! Of course, if you are reading this after Tuesday 6/7 or Wednesday 6/8 it won’t tell you the story. Hot air, not me, has gripped the area and we are under heat advisories. After the kids leave today, I am going to take it slow and easy. There is no rush. Continue reading It’s here!
There are days when I ask myself this question; today is one of those days. I remember seventh grade just like it was yesterday, even though it was thirty-six years ago. Maybe it is because I teach seventh grade and I am surrounded by seventh graders most of the day; this year William is in seventh grade and I get to ‘live’ seventh grade all the time. It may also be because being a teacher, a really good teacher, is reaching out to kids who are struggling but having a difficult time like the one I was watching when I started writing this a while back. Continue reading Why I became a teacher…
I pulled into the driveway this evening after a long day at school to find no one at home. Ivy greeted me enthusiastically, as she always does, and I searched the counter for clues. I found none and called Beth’s cell, only to discover it lying on the kitchen counter beside me. No help, at all. Continue reading Railroading…
The other day, I went to the grocery store with a list, Beth made the list and it included everything I needed. I ran my errands and drove to the store. I got out of the car, forgot about the list and left it inside the car, where it was safe, and went inside to shop for groceries. I added items to my cart, remembering the items from the list, as I walked down each aisle. I checked out and drove home. Of course, when I walked in and unpacked the groceries Beth asked where the sour cream was and it was still at the store on the shelf, where I had left it. It was on the list but evidently, it never made it to the Iist, I used. If it were the first time, I suppose Beth could have forgiven me, but this happens all the time; I make a list or am given one and do not use it. Continue reading The List
It is the final day of February and the month’s answer was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States of America. I will need to call my model railroad dealer to make sure I get the car. The caboose and the Benjamin Harrison car arrived last Tuesday after I posted my last update. Here is this month’s question:
Question for March: Which President graduated from Yale ranking second in his class, taught his wife to speak again after she had a stroke during his presidency and is the only President to have also served as the Chief Justice of the United States?
*All answers must be submitted by email to mtl@micro-trains.com by the March 15th to be eligible.
Good luck and let me know what your answer is! Try entering your name with MicroTrains and see if you can be selected to win Presidential Oath of Office car. Making the Days Count, one day at a time and someday (soon), we will run our trains!
Most of the snow has melted leaving only pockets of grey dingy ice piles here and there. Fallen twigs and branches litter the backyard and deck leaving a carpet of brownish grey grass matted from the snow. That is what is left of the yard after twenty or more inches of snow and several days of late winter days in the forties. It is nice outside, thought the sunlight belies that temperatures in the thirties, which will probably remain there all day, at least that is the forecast. Continue reading Saturday – President’s Day Weekend 2011
I grew up in Sugar Land, Texas in the late 1960s and lived there through the mid- 80s. My mom still lives in the house we grew up in, though it is quieter today than it ever was when my brothers and I grew up. It was at the early age of eight in 3rd grade in 1970 that I became a football fan. I was a fan of the Houston Oilers, who were not very good in the early 70s. Our next-door neighbor was Tom Regner and he played for the Oilers. The 1970 season was his fourth as a professional after a college career at Notre Dame where he was a first team All-American in 1966. As a third grader, and even today, I remember him being big, Continue reading Allegiances
New Year’s Day is meant to be a day to watch college bowl games or at least that is what I grew up doing. I remember my first memory of New Year’s Day and it was New Year’s 1971. 1971 was the year that cigarette advertisements on television were outlawed and the Marlboro man was history. I remember the Cotton Bowl from Dallas and watched Notre Dame defeat Texas. I was in third grade; I remember watching the game with my dad and rooting for Notre Dame with my dad who was a rooting for Texas, Continue reading New Year’s Day