Half Formed Thoughts

Do you ever hear or read something that makes thoughts start rolling around in your noggin? One thought leads to another and then you start to wonder what was so important about that little tidbit that got you to thinking so hard in the first place.

Well I ran across one of those tidbits of information the other day as I was scrolling through the minutes of one of our district school board meetings. I don't know why this item jumped out at me unless it was the fact that it was one thing stuck there in between Board Policies and Personnel Decisions.

"Mr. SoandSo discussed with the board the possibility of hiring a Mandarin Chinese teacher."

What??? There was no mention of the board's reaction to this little item on the agenda but I've been anxious to find out.

We're a rural district with, I'm guessing, 400 or so high school students in grades 7 through 12.
We're a mostly farming district in a mostly farming county; our 2000 census had our population at 26,445 (it wouldn't surprise me if this has dropped significantly). The percentage of persons of Asian decent in the county at that time was 0.32%. Over 59.04% of the population insist on speaking ebonics, another 39% is so tried and true redneck that their language sounds foreign, and they discuss the possibility of hiring someone to teach Chinese???

Hell, I'm thinking we need to hire a couple more English teachers cause I think in our English speaking country we should be making darn sure that everyone knows their country's native language. I know for a fact that we rednecks in the county would surely gain some benefit from additional English lessons.

I'm sure there are arguments that it might be a good idea to be able to communicate with one of the major rising powers in the world but I really don't think a rural high school that claims not to have the funds to cover all of the special education needs, or a bigger and better technology lab, should even consider hiring a Chinese teacher.

If there's money to spend on education buy computers, or something to benefit the entire student body for a change.

Ok, that's out of my system.


I've mentioned before that I pretty much dislike theaters because most of them smell like a musky, sweaty locker room, and I really don't care to be in a large, dark, room full of strangers. I much prefer to choose who sits near me when I'm laughing, or crying, or both. This is the reason that I love being able to buy or rent a movie on dvd and bring it home to watch. I also occasionally enjoy watching a good movie on one of the Direct TV Starz channels. This doesn't happen often because I swear Direct TV has more reruns than local TV ever thought about.

Anyway, when PopPop and Zach came home late Friday evening from a short fishing trip I was watching The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Pop grabbed the remote as he always does when he comes home from somewhere, because he's a man and it's like another body part, but I told him, "Turn that channel and you die!"

I happen to like many of the movies where they mix up real actors and animated characters. So after a bit of mumbling he settled down in his recliner and was soon snoring away (this is another man thing, grab the remote, turn the channel, go to sleep)

On Saturday when they returned from yet another fishing trip, I was watching Arthur And The Invisibles. I slapped his hand when he grabbed for the remote and told him I was watching something. He sat back in his recliner and said, "Jillian is starting to influence your television viewing choices."

Well, so?

Stuff

I picked Zach up from school on time for his monthy appointment with his doctor yesterday (he still hasn't gained his weight back from that icky bout with the virus durn it) and afterwards we rode around town taking pictures of doorways; lots of doorways.

We killed a little more time by stopping in to browse at a little shop I hadn't noticed before on Cherry Street in Helena where I spent too much for a bottle of lotion that just smelled TOO good. I wish I'd looked at the price before I sniffed it.

Then there was a quick trip to the administration office at the college to pay for his summer Tae Kwon Do, stopped for a snack and a drink, and then it was time for his Tae Kwon Do class where he tested for his blue belt. He passed so that made him a happy camper.

Last evening I filled out a registration form for him to attend the Gear Up ( “Gaining Early Awareness Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.”) program at school through the month of June. I asked the elementary councelor last week about summer school or any other program that might help Zach with math because I feel he's still very weak in some areas. She checked and called to tell me about this program. I had never heard of it; didn't even know it was going on at our school; but I feel like someone at that school felt the need to exclude most of the student body (as well as parents) from knowing about it.

Anyway, I sure hope he's accepted into the program, and enjoys a less strictly structured part of the learning experience. Keep your fingers crossed for him!

Where's the Sun?

Road washouts

Flooded fields (there's a farmer's soybeans or corn planted under that water)

Even some of the highways are flooded.

It's just been dreary and nasty around here. Brings your spirits right on down.

Krysten gave us a scare Saturday night. She came down with the same stomach bug that's been going through the ranks and a sudden fever spike caused a febrile seizure. The emergency room doc said it's a common occurrence but I told him it's hardly common for us if you've got 3 children and 8 grandchildren and this is the first occurrence of it that you've seen. Jami was scared to death! Nanaw wasn't there when it happened but was nervous just hearing about it at the emergency room.

I'm tired.

Photo Challenge - Circles

Thank you kindly Miz Jeanette for choosing our challenge prompt for this round. I've been looking high and low for circular objects over the past week and a half.

See the 4 little circles at the top of this track? Is it a bear? A cougar? I followed the track down the turn row and right into my garden where Molly, that huge St. Bernard from next door, took a shortcut to her house. So there you go, it's a Molly track!


The tires on an irrigation pivot are circles. This pivot also makes a circle in the field as it waters the crops.


The unbroken circle is an age-old symbol of eternity so perhaps that's what was originally meant when rings were given during Wedding ceremonies.

This was fun and I'm looking forward to visiting the Brenda Photo Challenge Blog to click the names in the comments to see all of the other challenge photos. Now, don't forget those cameras! Keep snapping!

Challenge Reminder

Don't forget the photo challenge tomorrow! Miz Jeanette has chosen "Circles" for us so I'm expecting to be able to see loads of circles when I visit our challengers tomorrow. Click on the Photo Blog to see who's up for "Circles"!

No Excuse

Old Man river is overtaking his banks again.

All this rain we've been having around here has made me sleepy, so that's what I've been doing, a lot, sleeping. The sun finally came out in the afternoon yesterday, and it's been nice today; it would be nice if it stayed that way for awhile.

As if it's not bad enough that everything is totally saturated, all the rain has also caused all the creeks and rivers to rise. So now, every drop of water that comes pouring down will be very slow to drain away; there's nowhere for it to go. I crossed over a drainage ditch just outside of Lexa where the water is right under the bridge and the fields on both sides are covered in water the ditch will no longer hold. I noticed a backhoe crew working near the bridge so I hope they are keeping a close eye on it.

Zach was finally able to return to school on Monday. That child lost about 5 lbs the 4 days he was home sick with that stomach bug. He's got his appetite back now so he'll be gaining that back again in no time.

That's about all the news around these parts for now,,, well,,,except for Beans giving the baby kittens a hair cut to "cool the kitties cause dem was hot",,, but we won't go in depth about that right now, she doesn't like to talk about it.

Water and Pups

Water was almost in this person's house.

This was our road on Saturday afternoon. We went out for a few supplies in the big 3/4 ton farm truck.
This is just inside the Lexa city limits. I haven't seen water across the road here in about 35 years.

It rained.

And it rained.

And it rained some more.

I think we ended up with about 7 inches total, or thereabouts.


And Dempsey had puppies, which is the result of her escape with Tee back several weeks ago when they escaped out of their kennel and we looked for them for 3 days before we found them. We didn't know Dempsy was in heat but we began suspecting that she had been a month or so ago when she started looking like she was carrying a load of puppies.

Dempsey is a German Short hair pointer, the little chocolate brown puppies resemble her. The papa of the litter is unknown. Anyone want a puppy?

PARENT

Job Description


POSITION TITLE:
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Dad, Daddy, Dada

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Long term, team players needed, for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment.
Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work
variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.
Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and

endless sports tournaments in far away cities!
Travel expenses not reimbursed.
Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.
Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat
in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets
and stuck zippers.
Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
Must be a willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.
Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.
Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION:

None.
Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills,
so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:

None required unfortunately.
On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:

Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.
When you die, you give them whatever is left.
The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more, but the reason for this is by this time you're in total denial and are demented.

BENEFITS:

While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered;
this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.


** AND A FOOTNOTE: THERE IS NO RETIREMENT -- EVER!!! * *

Jose`, Take Me Away!

MeriKate was sick Thursday and Friday with a tummy virus. Beans had it too but she only had the diarrhea part of it. It hit Alexis on Saturday. Zach came home sick today. This stuff is bouncing around like crazy around here. I'm wiping everything down with Clorox wipes, washing my hands over and over, and bleaching the toilet, because I don't want the bug; I don't need the bug! And noone else wants or needs the bug either!

Now I'm worried that most of the 6th grade has been exposed to the bug.

TV is filled with news of the Swine Flu virus that's moving all over the world, I sure hope all this cholorine bleach will keep that bug away. I hope all of you will take precautions to keep that nasty bug at bay too! It's mighty scary.

***

Now, a Beans story.

We were all outdoors the other day playing and Beans went up to Jerri and kept asking her something about "cycle". Jerri kept asking her, " what did she mean, what did she want?" Our patient little Beans (not) finally said, in a calm voice, "Ok." Then she got right in Jerri's face and yelled, "CYCLE!!!" Jerri still didn't know what she was trying to tell her but started laughing over the expression of exasperation that Beans had on her face. I was sitting on the porch steps and Beans marched over to me, held up an almost fully eaten pear, asked me, " where do you cycle", and started to throw it next to the porch.

Then it hit me. She wanted to "RECYCLE" her left-over pear.

I let her take it over to one of the rose bushes and put it underneath.

I reckon we need to see about starting a "compoat" (that's what she calls compost) pile around here so this child can do her "cycling".

***

We have 2 elementary graduations in May! Alexis is graduating from Kindergarten, top of her class, and Zach graduating from 6th grade. He'll be in Jr. High next year! I felt pretty old when my youngest child graduated from highschool; I wonder what I'll be feeling in 6 years when my oldest grandchild graduates?

Dear Lord, I'm not ready for this.

Happy Birthday Abby!!

Photo Challenge - Anything Metal

A big thank you to Miz Jan over at Murrieta365 for giving us our prompt of "Anything Metal" for our photo challenge this time and don't forget to click over to our Photo Challenge Blog and click on each of the links in the comments to see what all the other wonderful challenger's photos.

Each of my pictures for this challenge came from the The National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis. I visited the museum last weekend after I found out that it was only a short distance from where James was working on President's Island and thought it would be a perfect place to take pictures for this challenge.

They wouldn't allow pictures to be taken inside the museum but did allow them to be taken of the sculptures and displays located outdoors.

So I did.

I took this inside Schering-Plough Smithy area. I thought it was an amazing metal cast of a child's hand.

This sculpture was titled "Gnaw Bones". I looked it over and had to come to the conclusion that I'm fairly certain I wouldn't want to be inside the artist's head,,,nope,,,not for any reason.

Here is a closer look at old bones up there.

This funky bird sculpture was much more appealing to me. I love the colors and fun of it. I'm not very good at interpreting art work that isn't blatantly self-explanatory.

This display was sort of peaceful and serene once you got past the half of a head peeking out of the top and the metal alligator hanging around at the bottom.

I so much fun doing this challenge and I look forward each time to the new prompts and to seeing how everyone interprets the prompts.

Photo Challenge Tomorrow!!

Miz Jan over at Murrieta365 is our hostess for this challenge round and she chose "Anything Metal" as our challenge prompt. Y'all don't forget to go over to the Photo Challenge Blog and leave a comment saying you want to join us for this round.

I'm sure glad Zach told me today was Friday and it was the 24th of April, (I hadn't even noticed the day or date when I posted earlier today) or I'd have been late.

I can't wait to see everyone's pictures!!

Roses and Talents

I guess the fact that it's been in the 80's here for the past couple of days means the threat of frost is done. Every bush is blossoming except for the climbing red in the back yard.

I snapped a picture of the reddish orange blooms above to share my astonishment about this little climber. The photo in my previous post with the lighter orange rose is from the same bush!
Isn't it strange to have such a variety of colors from one plant? I don't know if it's grafted to be like this or if that evil farmer <-----over there has gotten chemicals on it already this year. I really should keep up with the varieties but I really don't have it altogether enough for all that.


This morning, while all the kiddies were reclining all around my living room as they waited for the school bus, we had a conversation about talents. Jerri and Alexis were talking about softball and how each team member had a talent. Jerri told Alexis that Calaeb's talent was catching and Alexis could stop the ball good so that was her talent. Alexis caught on and said, "Oh yeah! Everyone has a talent! Abby's is pooting!" She went through everyone naming their talent (notice one of Jillian's talents above). No one said anything for a minute or so, then Jillian came over, climbed into my lap and said, "And you're a good Nanaw."

I don't care what happens for the rest of the day, that was the highpoint!

First Rose Blooms and The Chick Plays Ball

I've been waiting and waiting for a rose to bloom and finally the buds on some of the bushes started opening a couple of days ago. This orange beauty is a climber but I've forgotten the name.
I've forgotten the name of this one too, but I love the old fashioned look of it.

This rose looks so delicate but is really a hardy bloomer. All of my bushes are loaded with buds so the first bloom will be a riot of color. I noticed the pink bush and the Peace have just opened their first buds today so I'll get a shot of them tomorrow and check the red climber out back too.

Alexis, aka, the Chick, swinging away during her time at bat this evening. She's does a fine job on the ball field. We have 7 granddaughters and so far Jordan, Jaylen, and Alexis have shown an interest in playing ball.

Well, I'm pooped. Time for bed and my book. Hope everyone had a great day!

Farming in Memphis

A friendly snake sunning on the farm.

Wild turkeys

A tug on the channel coming from the Mississippi River.

Farm Owner

A view of Memphis across one of the fields on the island. Click to enlarge and you can see the bridge, the pyramid, and some of the tall buildings downtown.

Zoomed in shot of the same view as above.

Zach's watching the soybean bean seeds unload.

I arrived home around 11:30 Saturday morning but was just too tired to sit down and look through all of the photos to get a post ready. I spent most of the day on Friday being James' farm gofer. I went to pick up lunches and went to pick up supper, stuff like that. I did get away for over a hour to visit the Metal Museum but they only allowed me to take pictures of the outside displays. But, that was ok, I got some pretty good shots for the "Anything Metal" Challenge I think.

Being on President's Island is a total contrast to the rest of Memphis for sure. I went from pavement, to potholes and gravel, to dirt turn rows in just a matter of minutes after crossing the old I55 bridge.

It was raining when we woke up on Saturday morning (Zach and I slept in while James went back to work), but it didn't rain enough to keep them out of the fields until much later in the day. Zach stayed all day with James and I came home!

I think he said he'll be through planting up there in a day and a half if he can get back in the fields by Wednesday.

Overnight Trip

James left early yesterday to spend a couple days and nights in Memphis to plant soybeans on Presidents Island and I was supposed to go up today to take Zach to spend the day and night with him. He called just a few minutes ago and asked me if I wanted to stay overnight with them. The conversation went,

James: You could stay too.

Me: What on earth for? What would I do all day while you're in the field, I don't want to be in the field all day. And I don't want to spend all day in a motel room.

James: Brenda. You'd be in Memphis. I think you'd find something to do.

Brenda: Oh yeah....(brain wakes up a bit and thoughts of shopping, museums, bookstores,,,taking my camera,,,there's a METAL Museum not too far from the farm,,,) Oh, Ok. I may be able to find something to do for the day.

So, we're out of here for the day and the night. And if it rains I may be able to wrangle James into visiting a museum or two with us tomorrow before we come home. See y'all when we get back!

I've Got a List and I'm Gonna USE It!

Easter was a disaster.

I've spent the past few days mulling it over and over and although my first instinct was to disown my two youngest offspring, I guess I will keep their names on the family tree for a little while longer if they will just get their SHI* together!

I gave Odie away last week. To Abby; She spent the night on Thursday night and asked if she could have him. He'd been Squawking and making my life miserable every time I tried to settle in to watch a Life Time movie so I had had enough of him by then so I said, " YES, YES, Take HIM, but you might ought to call and ask your Momma first." Zach came in and was angry with me for giving Odie away so I told him that I was getting rid of all of my aggravations so he'd best tread lightly or he'd be next on the list!

Things better improve around here or I'm gonna keep adding to that list and I'm gonna start checking stuff, and people, and animals, off.

Last Week in Pictures

Photo Challenge - Your Favorite Color

I thought and thought and thought some more about this challenge and finally came to the conclusion that I don't have a favorite color, I love them all! Right now my favorite color is Spring in all it's tinted and glorious dressings, tomorrow it might be blue,,,or purple,,,or salmon,,,or peach,,, or SUMMER.


I love the delicate purple of the wisteria vine in my front yard. It hides that horrible utility post fairly well. Last week when it was in full bloom, before the winds and rain wrecked havoc, it smelled so wonderful.

I love the deep, cool, greens of Spring, and what a beautiful background it makes for even the tiniest of blooms. You wouldn't know by looking that this tiny white and yellow bitterweed bloom has a really unpleasant scent.

I even love the carnival colors of the corn seed in the planter hoppers.

I love the contrasting colors in this shot. The Bermuda grass hasn't turned green yet but the clover has greened up nicely. Browns can be just as relaxing as greens to me.

JD Green is a favorite color here in my part of Arkansas. These are important colors in my life because they generate our livelihood by way of a job for my husband so that we can eat and have a roof over our heads. I'm thankful that the farmer he works for likes JD green. :-)

I love the deep orange color of Miz Ladybug crawling on my yellowish orange shirt; another dot of Spring color when the ladybugs come out.

Miz Donna was kind enough to be our challenge hostess for this round and she chose Your Favorite Color for us. Don't forget to take a look at all the other challengers by going to the Brenda Photo Challenge Blog and clicking the comment links for each one.

I'm Back!

7 days down and it wasn't even my modem, good thing they sent a new power supply cable with the new modem cause that was the problem. HUGHES NET and their customer service and tech support, that's located WAY over there in the far east, or wherethehelleverelse those folks with limited English abide, don't do a very good job at much of,,,well,,,anything, if the truth be known. OH Wait, they do a fine job of billing every month, gotta give em that.

Anyway, here I am, back in the nick of time for the next photo challenge being hosted by the delightful Miz Donna this time. Her choice for the challenge is for us to do shots showing our favorite color so I hope everyone got busy snapping up all kinds of colorful stuff.

I'll get busy in a bit sorting through my challenge photos and try to clear my muddled brain so I can recall some of the events of the past week. I'll also be working hard to catch up with what all of my blog buddies have been up to.