Hello APRIL!

About the month of April

Holidays

April Fools' Day

Autism Awareness Day

Easter

Earth Day

Arbor Day

National Poetry Month
National Arab American Heritage Month

Teacher Appreciation Week

Jazz Appreciation Month

Alcohol Awareness Month

Cancer Control Month

 

Symbols of April

Birthstone:Diamond

Flower: Daisy and the sweet pea

Zodiac signs: Aries and Taurus

In the initial Roman calendar April was the second month of the year until January and February were added in 700 BC. It is thought that the name April comes from the Latin word "to open" and describes the trees opening at springtime. It could also be that the name comes from the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

 

Fun Facts about April

It is the second month of spring.

It is a time of planting and spring cleaning.

In the Southern Hemisphere, April is the same as October in the Northern Hemisphere.

The diamond of April symbolizes innocence. The Boston Marathon is held during April.

In Ancient Rome the month of April was sacred to the goddess Venus.

The Japanese fiscal year for most businesses starts on April 1st.

In England there are many cuckoo festivals.

The arrival of the cuckoo bird in April is a signal that spring has arrived.

April is the month when the professional baseball season begins in the United States.

“Just for Fun” Days

• Apr. 1: Sweet Potato Day
• Apr. 6: International Pillow Fight Day
• Apr. 7: National No Housework Day
• Apr. 17: Blah, Blah, Blah Day
• Apr. 21: Go Fly a Kite Day
• Apr. 26: National Richter Scale Day
• Apr. 27: National Sense of Smell Day

April Astronomy

The Full Pink Moon

April’s full Pink Moon will rise on the night of Monday, April 26, reaching peak illumination at 11:33 P.M. ET. This full Moon is one of two supermoons this year.

 

A Problem That Just Won't Go Away

President Biden got off to a strong start with the passage of his COVID relief plan-no thanks to the republicans.  Now, however,  he's up against the wall (no pun intended) with another sticky issue-the massive influx of undocumented people over the Mexican border-many of whom are children.

So...what should he be doing?  Here are his choices: 

Turn everyone away. No exceptions. Adults & children
Let everyone in.  Review the reasons for wanting to be here. Act accordingly.
Do what he's doing now.  Only let in unaccompanied children.  Care for them as well as possible until they can be returned to their parents.

Many republicans are calling for a return to Trump era strategies, i.e. separate children from their families and deport the adults while housing the children in detention camps.

Personally I don't see that he has a choice but to do what he's doing now.  It's the humane thing to do.  The question is what should be next.  What is the long term solution? I'm guessing it will end up being something like allowing essential workers through, reviewing cases where people are seeking refuge from oppressive regimes or drug gangs  and insisting children be accompanied.  Couple that with cooperation from Mexico and other countries south of Mexico and maybe the situation will improve.  Maybe.  

It's a very tough problem.  Cruel, inhumane solutions should not be part of the discussion. Period.  People are people.  It doesn't matter the color of their skin. 

Good luck with this one, Joe.  It could be your undoing next time around.  It is after all the main reason why Trump was elected to begin with.

Spring is here!

Here we are, approaching the end of March and the temperature today approached 60.  Same yesterday and it's going to be that way throughout the rest of the week.  When it's this warm, I do not use the wood stove.  It heats the house too much so instead I'll turn the central heat up for a short time in the morning to take the chill off.  That usually takes care of it for the rest of the day.

Later in the week and next week it's supposed to cool off a little and there are a few days of rain and temps in the low 50s.  Those kinds of days are perfect for a nice little fire going but for all practical purposes I'm pretty much done with using the wood stove for the rest of this year.  This is especially true considering we're going to be either in Aruba or at our condo in FL for most of April.

With this in mind I took inventory of our wood situation.  I started the season back in September 2020 with 6.75 cords of wood on hand.  I now have about 3.5 cords on hand.  So for the season we used a solid 3 cords of wood.  About normal.  We have the same amount on hand for the coming winter but I need to get busy for future winters. 

The thing is since I turned 78 about a month ago the question is how much longer do I want to keep doing this?  We've talked about the possibility of converting our fireplace to a propane powered insert.  This wouldn't be difficult to do since we installed a 500 gallon propane tank for our generator.  We could use it also for the fireplace.  The downside is propane is not free-nor is it  particularly cheap but my wife is pushing hard for it.  

For myself I still love wood heat.  Especially in view of the fact that the fuel is free since there's so much around.  I just have to cut, split, haul and stack it!  That's a lot of work and I'm not sure I'm still up to it.  So this is an issue that needs to be resolved soon.  We'll probably decide this summer.  We'll see.

ZOOOOOOOM!

 Ah, the world of technology.  Virtual classrooms, Face time, conference videos.  It's the second best thing to actually being with someone or a group of people.  

My grand children have been using two particular platforms to do their distance learning.  One is called Google Classroom and the other is one I recently discovered.  It's called Zoom.  You can video chat with one or more people, together or separately.  They're both amazing.

I've been using Zoom to do my weekly discussion groups with a group of seniors in an assisted living home.  It can be done from anywhere with any computer, iPad or notebook that has an internet connection. 

The other thing I use Zoom for is to video chat with a group of former colleagues who are spread all over the country.  Six or seven of us got together recently and reconnected from the comfort of our homes.  

The part of  Zoom that I especially like beside the technical features is it's free for a 40 minute meeting.  More than that and you have to pay a monthly fee.  I find 40 minutes to be quite sufficient.

Can you imagine the fix we'd be in were it not for these technologies?  Schools and businesses would be completely shut down.  Some companies are thinking of continuing with this format even after the pandemic.  

Not so the schools.   Distance learning is no where near as effective as being in a classroom but it's definitely better than nothing.

Who knows what the future has in store for these kinds of technologies?  That's the challenge for our children and grand children.  For now I find Zoom  plenty challenging-and fun!

About those masks-part two

 Just recently Texas and Mississippi announced the removal of all restrictions previously in place during the pandemic.  Since then numerous other states have followed.

The most notable of the dispensed rules is the one requiring masks in spite of CDC and other health officials' recommendations.  The point is that just because we now have vaccines it is way too early to be letting down our guard.

My wife's niece who we are very fond of  lives in Texas and she recently shared an article on Facebook supporting the governor's decision.  I replied to the post that it was a mistake and the governor was very foolish to encourage irresponsible behavior.

Someone picked up on my comment and said he  didn't need government telling him what to do and because he got his vaccinations he has to reason to wear a mask.

Against my better judgement I  pointed out that he can still be a carrier and that a mask isn't to protect himself.  It's to protect others.  He responded that that was unproven and that there was no science behind it.  Others (all Texans) jumped on his bandwagon.

I went on to point out I can no longer have a reasonable conversation with someone who has chosen ignorance over knowledge and signed off.

And therein is the problem.  I don't like government telling me what to do any more than anyone else but when we have a country full of so many incredibly irresponsible and stupid people it's necessary to take extreme measures.  

I'm going to be watching the situation in those states that have opened up.  I'm willing to bet their positivity rates are going to increase a great deal.