Where were you?

September 11, 2001, nineteen years ago, the United States was attacked by terrorists.  Every adult remembers where you were and what you were doing when it happened.  

 Aside from personal milestones there are certain things in ones life that you'll always remember.  For me personally it's Kennedy's assassination, the first space shuttle disaster and 9/11.  For my parents the first was the bombing of Pearl Harbor thus putting us in World War Two.  

 How about you?  Think about where you were and what you were doing-and don't forget to set aside a few minutes between 8:30 A.M. and 10:30 A.M. to acknowledge the loss of all those people and the sacrifice of so many others.

Happy Labor Day

Labor Day-a tradition started in the late 1800s.  It was kicked off in New York City when 10,000 people marched in the first Labor Day parade.  It is supposed to be a day to honor those who work for a living by giving them a day off.  There are of course many people who are still required to work-holiday or not.

The day also marks the end of the summer season.  I, myself, have already started fall chores like pruning shrubs and clipping flowers that have past their bloom. But some flowers are still blooming like the dahlia pictured below.  The rest should be blooming shortly.

Autumn is my favorite season in spite of what is to follow.  The cool evenings and warm days and the changing of the leaves make it beautiful for walks and picture taking. 

I have lots of fall chores to do.  Pruning everything, splitting and stacking a fair amount of wood and eventually leaf cleanup will keep me busy.  Then there's a whole other set of chores for  the preparation of winter. 

And before you know it spring is here and it all starts over again.   I guess that's why living in New England appeals to me so much.  As soon as you get tired of one thing, another comes along. 

And so it goes.  Happy Labor Day.

Hello, September!

September Full Moon-Wed. September 2^nd.

• September Gemstone: Sapphire
• September Flower:: Morning Glory or Astor
• The Autumn Equinox is September 22
• More people are born in September than any other month!

Labor Day
Grandparents Day
Patriot Day
Constitution Day and Week
Rosh Hashanah
Talk Like a Pirate Day
National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep 15 through Oct 15)
National Potato Month
National Chicken Month
National Piano Month
National Biscuit Month

A new low!

First he attacks a free press.   Then he attempts to slow down the mail.  Actually never mind slow it down.  He wants to stop it.  You see, it's well known that the easier it is for people to vote the higher the probability that Herr Trump will lose by a landslide.  His solution?  Make it hard-make that impossible-for people to vote by mail. 

Don't let him destroy our country any more than he's already done.  Vote.

Back to the future?

I've been following the comments on Facebook of a large group of people in town who are experiencing various levels of anxiety regarding their kids returning to school. Most of these folks want to know how on earth they're supposed to help their kids with distance learning while trying to do their jobs from home at the same time.  It's a very fair question.  Most parents are not trained to teach.  Being able to read or perform mathematical functions of one kind or another doesn't by any means mean you can teach them.  Plus where's the time come from?  So those folks have a legitimate issue.

But there's another group of parents (frankly mostly mothers) who are stay-at-home moms to begin with but they can't figure out how on earth they could ever be expected to help 2, 3 or even 4 children of different ages with school work.  Since they're not teachers I see their problem but being a former teacher myself I immediately think back to the 'old' days of the one room schoolhouse where there were as many as 30 kids in a room ranging in age from about 6 to 14. Somehow, they did it.  Granted, education was much simpler then but still....

Along those lines I dug up an old picture of what I had in mind and posted it to the Facebook group dealing with all of this.  It has drawn quite a response.  I love starting trouble!!

Here's the picture.

Hello, Hurricane Season and other news

On Tuesday August 4 the state of Connecticut and surrounding locales were blessed by Hurricane Isaias. Actually by the time it got to us it was a tropical storm but it packed a powerful punch.  Our state utility, Eversource, was totally unprepared.  We lost power that day at 1:30 P.M.  We didn't get it back until last night at 10 P.M. August 10.

The good news is we have a standby generator which kicked in and ran nonstop for about 152 hours.  It was as though we had power from the street with two exceptions.

First, it was noisy (which we would have to deal with anyway with our old portable).  Second it cost us about $100 a day in propane.  We have a 500 gallon propane tank and we used slightly over half of it so do the math.

So the upside is it's convenient and efficient.  The down side is it's expensive.  Our portable generator which we passed on to our son cost much less to run but it didn't do as much.  For example we didn't have A/C.  Plus with the whole house generator there's no getting up early every morning, filling it, starting it, letting it run 4-5 hrs, turning it off until later in the day and doing it all over again.  Then there's the waiting in gas lines to get fuel for it.  None of that so in my mind it's well worth it.

The second thing to report is a new chapter in the Stockwell family saga.  Sixteen year old grand daughter Brooke borrowed my truck this morning! That's one more person on the list to borrow it from time to time.  Oh, well. I had no where to go anyway!

Hello, August!

·  August was named to honor Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar (63 BC - 14 AD)

·  August Flowers: Gladiolus and the Poppy

·  Birthstone: Peridot-green but lighter than emerald

August 3^rd-Full Moon

 

August is...

Admit You Are Happy Month American Adventures Month Audio Appreciation Month Black Business Month Cataract Awareness Month Catfish Month Children's Eye Health and Safety Month Children's Vision and Learning Month National Eye Exam Month Family Fun Month Get Ready for Kindergarten Month Goat Cheese Month Happiness Happens Month Immunization Awareness Month National Back to School Month Neurosurgery Outreach Month Panini Month Peach Month National Picnic Month Psoriasis Awareness Month Romance Awareness Month Sandwich Month Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month Water Quality Month