Winter Fun

Sure, I'm getting a little sick of the winter too but there are occasional bright spots. 

Check it:

Snow-snow-snow

Sandi took a picture of my on-going effort to keep the driveway clear.  While not cleaning up outside, I've been experimenting with digital scrapbooking.  Click here to see the results georgeswebpage.com/photogallery

Snowy Day Activities (Besides snow blowing)

So what's there to do on a snowy day?  Plenty.  Here are a few things keeping us busy ('us' because Sandi and Linda wisely closed the office-even though it's tax season!)

To start I fed the birds, filled the wood box and moved the snow blower to the garage where I can use the electric starter and drive it right into the snow.

Then we watched two episodes of HGTV's Love It or List It show.

Now Sandi's is quilting.

I took care of some condo business and then switched to a digital scrapbooking project that will eventually be a compilation of the grand children's class pictures.  I'll design it so I can add to it as they get older.   I'll also post the pictures on the photo/video page of my website which can be viewed by clicking georgeswebpage.com/photogallery.

After lunch I'll give the driveway its first clearing. Then maybe again at about 5.  Then for a third time tomorrow morning.  

They're at it again

They don't get it.  They just don't get it.  What's it going to take for  Congressional republicans to realize they've lost this one.  They're hellbent on ruining the nation because they don't like someone.  Ideology has nothing to do with it.  It's personal.  But this too shall come back to bite them.

Second annoyance of the day

While town crews work hard to clear the roads (and knock down mailboxes which they did to mine), private snowplow drivers are right behind them plowing driveway snow into the road making it worse than it was to begin with.

Not right.

A (minor) dilemma

I try very hard to support local businesses.  I buy what I need as long as it's available from Newtown businesses.

But I have to say they don't make it easy.  After I cleaned the driveway from last night's storm, I went to Newtown Hardware to buy bags of rock salt.  It costs about $8 for a 50-pound bag.  I was told by the young lady waiting on me that it would cost $20 a bag.  I expressed my surprise and pointed out that I just bought some for $8.  She replied that that was for salt.  She was giving me Calcium Chloride.  She said they're the same. 

The teacher in me of course had to give her a fast mini lesson but it didn't matter. I learned that Newtown Hardware won't be supplying ordinary rock salt for the rest of the winter. 

So now should I spring for the more expensive alternative or go to Agway or Home Depot for the stuff I originally wanted.

I needed something now so I sprang for 3 bags but  there's enough of a cost differential to justify going elsewhere next time.  Too bad.  They couldn't give me a satisfactory answer to why they won't be carrying it. 

Snow Day

Monday, Feb 3rd was a snow day for Brooke, Courtney, Cole & Nicholas.  Since their parents still have to go to work, I had the good fortune  to spend the day with them.

So what do kids do when they have a snow day?  Well, lots of things and one of those things was to play school.  But that wasn't the only thing they did.  Here's a list of the other things:

-Play with cars, blocks and marbles.
-Play on Kindles and iPads for a short period of time.
-Build forts in the basement while grammy worked out and grampy cleared the driveway
- Brooke worked on her weaving project for a while while Nicholas and Cole played with cars & marbles.  Courtney and I played Words With Friends.
-Everyone ate their way through pretty much the whole day.

Teacher Evaluations

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy recently announced that the state would postpone for two years the implementation of a teacher evaluation program that would have connected teacher evaluations to student achievement. 

The reason for the delay is that many Connecticut school districts are struggling to get up to speed in what has come to be known as the common core curriculum.  It seems unreasonable to enact an evaluation program when the curriculum is still in development.

For as long as I can remember teacher evaluation has been a very controversial issue.  On one hand there are those who don't see any reason why a teacher should not be evaluated on the basis of student achievement.  After all, isn't that how it works in the private sector?  You're not doing your job?  You're out!

On the other hand there are those who insist a teacher's performance review should not be tied to the achievement of his/her students because there are too many variables over which a teacher has no control.  Things like poverty, uncooperative parents, learning disabilities and even a school administration who has it in for a given teacher makes that teacher destined for failure.

The truth is actually somewhere in between.  Lord knows that over my 32 year career as a teacher, lead teacher and department head I have encountered quite a few teachers who had no business being in a classroom.  Yet because of the difficulties in ridding the system of such people, they return year after year.

I also know of situations where very effective teachers are often given very difficult classes because it makes life much easier for a principal who would otherwise have  to deal with unhappy parents.  This very scenario has happened to me many times.  Would it be fair to base such a teacher's evaluation on the progress of a class full of troubled students?

It's a tough problem.  I personally don't think there are enough safeguards in place to be definitive about it.  On the other hand, there has to be a way to get rid of or at the very least retrain ineffective teachers. 

I know one thing for sure.  Teachers are under great pressure these days.  It's a very difficult job.  Yes, their job performance needs to come under scrutiny but let's do it right.

State of the Union

Did you watch the State of the Union address last night?  Neither did I but I saw bits and pieces of it and I heard several summaries of it. 

So the president is planning to finish his term by 'going it alone'.  He's planning to implement several initiatives without Congressional approval. 

On one hand this is good given Congress's intent to obstruct and destruct.  On the other hand I'm concerned that a president has the power to do this.  Oh, wait!  Isn't that exactly what George Bush did for 8 years?  Why, yes.  I believe it is.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Right? 

Fill 'er up!

Sometimes it feels like all I do is fill things.  Take today for example:
I filled the wood box
I filled the bird feeders
I filled the humidifier
I filled the car with gas
And then I ate lunch--more filling.

Flu, Snow, winter temps-It's enough to try one's patience.

 It is, as I write, snowing.  On top of that Brooke & Courtney have the flu, Becky & Jen while maybe not having the flu aren't feeling so hot and Sandi is up to her eyeballs with work and tax season hasn't even started yet.

I, however, feel fine....so far.  And I'm not even all that upset that the snow we're currently getting is going to require a morning of cleanup.

I've been reading a lot of Facebook posts where people are complaining bitterly about the snow, cold and illness but I remain upbeat because I am typing this in a nice warm house and I know sick family members are going to get better. 

Besides, there are worse things--far worse. So cheer up (if you haven't already). Spring is just around the corner.

Brooke's Birthday Party

Happy 10th Birthday to grand daughter Brooke

Click here to view a slideshow of Brooke through the years: http://georgeswebpage.com/photogallery

Updated photos-Check it.

Don't forget to check in on georgeswebpage.com from time to time.  I just updated the photo gallery.
Click here http://georgeswebpage.com/photogallery.

Good to be home

Chilly, rainy weather not withstanding, it's good to be home. 

A friend of mine sent the following post to me a short time ago and I think it's pretty clever. 

Last full day

Today is our last full day in Naples.  The weather has been mixed with some days hot and sunny and others cool and rainy.  What ever it was, it's better than what's been happening at home-especially last week.

I was pleased to see the long range forecasts call for seasonable temps and no major storms in sight so unlike our departure, our return should be reasonably smooth.

We had a good time here.  Friends from home who are down here also kept us busy but I for one will be glad to get home.  We miss the family and there are things to do.  So until May, adios, Naples.

*On a different note:  look for more content in this blogspot and a somewhat reduced web presence from my website:  georgeswebpage.com. I've decided to renew my domain name and hosting agreement for another year or two but I'm going to point my website in a different direction. Not sure just exactly what yet, so stay tuned.

Welcome to Naples

Our original plans were to leave Newtown on Friday the 3rd but weather forecasts made me realize that probably wasn't a wise idea since there was a significant threat of a storm so I moved the departure date to Thursday the 2nd.  That ended up being one of my wiser moves.

As it happens Friday and Saturday flights were cancelled so who knows when we would have finally gotten out.

So here we are.

Waiting in an airport surrounded by people who are experiencing delayed or cancelled flights is always an interesting experience.  We were sitting next to one lady who was cursing JetBlue up one side and down the other because her flight to Detroit had been postponed.  You'd think JetBlue planned the weather-the idiot! She wouldn't shut up the whole time we were sitting there and to top it off my wife kept engaging her in conversation.  I told her to ignore the idiot but she just couldn't resist.

Anyway, here we are until the 13th while our family back home tolerates the cold.  We'll be back there soon enough freezing our butts off along with the rest of them.

Until then, ta ta.

Another fine Christmas

Yet another Christmas has come and gone. It was my 71st.  They get better and better.  The grand children were their usual generous selves as evidenced by the neat T Shirt shown below.

An Invitation for Suggestions

A month or so before my retirement 9 years ago, I sat down and made a list of things I'd like to do.  One of the things high on the list was to keep this blog.  The other was to sharpen my skills designing web pages and have my own personal web site.

Toward that end, I took continuing education courses on a popular web design application called Dreamweaver.  I then went to a web based company called GoDaddy and purchased my domain name: georgeswebpage.com.  Then I paid for a two year web-hosting contract. 

Once I got my web site to look pretty much like I wanted, I uploaded it to GoDaddy's servers.  This happened in May of 2005. 

Since then I have been renewing my hosting contract every two years.  It's fairly cheap.  Less than $100.  Also, at some point after I had been up and running for a while, I learned how to add the code for hit counters.  As of right now (9:30 A.M. 27 December 2013) I have 34,879 page views.  Some of my other pages have much fewer since they were added later.

I am now approaching the point where I have to decide whether or not to renew for another 2 years.  I know my web site is not viewed as often as it once used to within my family.  One reason is because Facebook has usurped the need to keep a photo history of the grand children even though I know there are a number of people who view my website who are not on Facebook. 

So now I have to decide.  Keep the current format or try something very different.  Below is a picture of the index page with the navigation bar across the top.  Much of what I have is pictures, videos and my blog.  Even the link labeled 'odds and ends' is mostly neat little videos.  The problem is I don't really know how much interest people have in this stuff.  With grand children getting older, there are fewer and fewer photo opportunities.

I am therefore opening up this issue to discussion.  What, dear reader, do you think?  What would interest you?    I'm not even sure who accesses my blog from my web site as opposed to the Google Blogspot.  If you access it from my web site you can see a 'contact me' button in the navigation bar.  If not, you can reach me through my gmail address:  george.stockwell@gmail.com

One idea I had was to devote my web page to a favorite historical subject like the Civil
War or World War II but there's already so much out there on those kinds of things that it would be kind of repetitive.

So I need help.  Suggestions please.  Should I just keep going like I've have been or take a new direction?  Thank you.

Out of the mouths of children...

I've been spending a lot of time with 6-year-old Cole lately.  He was sick last week and he has no school this week so his parents needed me to watch him for periods of time.

It's amazing what goes on in his head.  For example yesterday we visited his kindergarten teacher to give her the Christmas gift Cole couldn't give her last Friday because he was out sick.

He noticed she had several presents piled under her Christmas tree and this aroused a great deal of curiosity about how they got there and how she managed to get on Santa's early-delivery list.  I fudged the answer as best I could which seemed to satisfy him-for a while anyway.

The next thing he wanted to know was how I liked being old.  I told him I didn't have any problem being old as long as I felt well and do things.  Then he wanted to know why people had to die.  I tried to explain in 6-year-old terms that life is a cycle and that nothing lives forever so that room could be made for new life to have a chance.  That didn't work because then he said well just move to where there's more room so I had to take a different approach and try to explain that as people age their bodies wear out and then new life takes over. 

Later on he saw a picture in my Reader's Digest magazine of a soldier who was smiling because he had just rec'd a new leg after having lost his real one in Afghanistan.  This prompted a whole series of questions.  Why was he smiling if he had no leg? Why do people fight? Why do countries fight and shoot and kill and hurt each other?  Why can't they stop doing things like that?  All excellent questions and extremely hard to answer.  Sometimes the best answer is "I don't know".  He doesn't usually buy that though.  He basically demands that I at least speculate on an answer which I attempt to do in a very clumsy way. 

Eventually he has enough to think about until the next time he hears or sees something that prompts a whole new round of questioning.  Hope I or whoever is there is ready.

Duck Dynasty and the History Channel

Did you hear about the controversy swirling around the Duck Dynasty patriarch and his comments regarding homosexuality?  It seems the History Channel has deemed the remarks too controversial and they've removed him from the show.  The rest of the family along with many vocal supporters of the show have expressed their outrage over the decision.  As it stands now, the future of the program is very much in doubt.

First of all, I do not watch this show.  I have heard of it and I know it has a strong following-principally in the south and midwest.

The whole thing brings to mind a number of questions.  First, what on earth do people find entertaining about a family who makes duck calls and preaches bigotry and exclusion? 

Second, and more fundamentally, what on earth is happening to the History Channel?  Between Duck Dynasty, God, Guns and Automobiles, Pawn Stars (which I do watch from time to time) and a whole host of other similar shows I think the History Channel has lost its way.

I used to watch the History Channel more often before it turned to 'reality programming'.  It used to be much more informative with shows that were, well, history.  I guess some programming director somewhere has determined that there are more reality show fans than there are old people like me who actually enjoy learning about history.

I think the trend is unfortunate but not surprising.  All of television is going in this direction.  Thank goodness for books-enjoy them while we still have them.

A New Day

It's a new day, and psychologically,  a new year.  Time to move on and focus on the holidays.  Mother Nature-in the form of nasty winter weather-will do her part as well in helping us to refocus.

One Year

 Exactly one year ago today there occurred the worst possible thing that can happen to a person.  Worse than poor health, financial ruin, divorce, just about anything you can think of.  People lost their loved ones-20 of whom were children which in my mind is the worst of the worst.

Since that time a deep hole has opened up in the collective spirits of an entire town and to a lesser extent the state and nation.

Yet, people move on.  They do their jobs, enjoy their families and generally carry on with their lives but of course never forgetting.

Such is the strength of the human spirit.  The will to keep going.  May it never be extinguished. 

More of Life's Little Annoyances

Everyone has days when a number of things occur to add to their 'annoyance factor'.  I recently had such a day.  Here's the list in no particular order:

1. The Handshake:  The fuss conservative media made over Obama's handshake with Cuban president Castro was over the top.  The solution to these kinds of idiocy is of course not to watch shows like Fox News.  I never watch Fox News yet the comments boiled over to what one would think are more reasonable news outlets.  How ridiculous.

2. The Jogger (two actually):  As everyone knows yesterday was a very wintry day.  A snow storm occurred serving to create very slippery roads.  Schools were cancelled.  Wouldn't you think that under such circumstances  jogging along a hilly, curvy, snow-covered road would be ill-advised?  Well, not to two such people who I encountered slipping and sliding their way along the road.  I admire their quest to live a healthy life, but I think they may have missed the mark in this case.  Instead of being healthy, they're going to be in a hospital with multiple fractures.  Idiots.

3. The Realities of Life:  This morning I read that the husband of a couple with whom we used to play golf passed away. He and his family were long-time residents of Newtown.  When he retired, they moved to Hew Hampshire.  His daughter is a former fifth grade student and interestingly his father who was a surgeon removed my tonsils when I was 13 years old.  He was 'only' 73 so his death is not only sad but a tad close to home.  Years ago when I was 'young' when I heard of someone dying at the age of 73 I would think they lived a good, long life but now that I'm very close to 71 it doesn't seem so old.  My father had just turned 72 when he died but I think he would have lived much longer had he taken care of himself. 

Final annoyance of the day:

4. ME.  Yes, me.  I cleaned my wood stove yesterday and as usual the bucket was full of ashes and hot coals.  Now and then you hear about someone putting a container of hot ashes near combustible materials and the next thing you know they have a fire.  Not me.  I'm smarter than that.  I put the bucket on the driveway during the snow yesterday thinking the snow would serve to put out the coals and the bucket was far away from anything that could ignite.  Sometime later I got into my truck to go to Lockwood Lodge, backed out of the garage and, yup, backed right over the bucket.  That almost matches the time I backed through the garage door which I had forgotten to open.  Smart, huh? I manage to bang the bucket back into shape but the bottom is separating from the sides.  Think I better get a new one?  Of course I will.  After all, I'm not stupid!

Passages

I'm not surprised why many people go through periods of depression at this time of year.  Life doesn't put things on hold just because this is supposed to be a festive time. Several things come to mind that remind me of this. 

The first is the deteriorating condition of a 90-year-old friend of mine who lives in a nursing home in Southbury.  I visit with him every week and there's been a noticeable decline.  Also, his brother reports that he's been having 'mini' strokes.  I don't think he has much time left.

The second may seem trivial to some but not to me or others affected.  A family dog is very ill. I'm afraid it won't be long for her either.

Finally, we approach the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy.  That event is weighing heavily on the minds of just about everyone in Newtown and even elsewhere.

Nevertheless, there's plenty to be happy about. A recent trip to our condo in Naples over the Thanksgiving weekend with the entire family serves as a constant reminder that we have much to be thankful-and happy-for. 

Good bye 16 degrees. Hello 80 degrees

On our way to Naples, FL until Dec. 5th.  Future posts from there.

Fifty years ago-What were you doing?

Exactly 50 years ago-I had just returned from lunch and I was sitting at my desk in the credit department of the Bridgeport Brass Company.  Arlene, the department secretary, came running into our offices, tears streaming down her face.  She was so hysterical she couldn't talk.  Just then the department manager, Jack, came in and gathered the whole department around him (about 8 people).  He then told us  what had happened.  The entire company was closed down for the rest of the day.  I went home and watched events unfold on TV. 

That's where I was and what I was doing the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Did you hear about the Brookfield Board of Education member-elect who commented on Facebook that his 26 acts of kindness would be to purchase for his gun-enthusiast friends a box of ammunition every day.

There was understandably a loud chorus of outrage and calls for his resignation.  But there were also a few who defended his right to freedom of speech and noted that there should be a distinction between ones private and public life.

Here's the problem.  Too many people think that just because they have the right to do or say something no matter how unethical, immoral or insensitive, then it's OK to do it.  After all the Constitution of the United States says they have the right.  What's the problem?

The problem is that having a 'right' doesn't mean it IS right.  That's the problem.  That man's remark was so wrong on so many levels it defies logic that anyone would step up in his support.

Calls for his resignation are right on the mark.  Anyone who would display such a lack of judgement has absolutely no business making decisions that could affect children. 

He's got to go.  Period.  Then, once he's gone he can slink back into his hole and say whatever he wants.

Tales of a Fourth Grand Substitute

My fourth grade granddaughter would be proud of me!  I made it through a day of subbing relatively unscathed.  With the exception of some volunteer work in my grandson's kindergarten class, it's been over a year since I've been in a classroom.  Yesterday I subbed in a 4th grade class.  It's ironic that I would be there because it was exactly 40 years ago that I began my teaching career as a 4th grade teacher.

Much has changed in the average classroom these days-even within the past year. The emergence of technology is evident everywhere.  Chalk boards have been replaced by SmartBoards and encyclopedias have been replaced by  iPad carts which students use for research purposes.

There are still plenty of books of other kinds around but more and more students have personal eReaders they use during idle moments.

One thing has not changed much at all-the kids.  They're still the same.  They still play the same games at recess like football, soccer, playing on the equipment and tag.  They're also still vulnerable to fads like the one many of the girls have discovered:  weaving bracelets on a little loom-type contraption.  Even my grand daughter has discovered this one having made bracelets for the folks I visit at Masonicare.

I have another subbing date coming up in December and another in February.  I would have more were it not for a couple of trips to Florida scattered over the next few months.

Substitute teaching is not for everyone but it suits me-especially to be doing it where I started and where one grandson goes and the other next year.  So I guess I'll stay with it until they decide I'm too old.

Veterans Day

This morning I along with several other veterans will attend a breakfast at Sandy Hook School to celebrate Veterans Day.  My 6-year-old grandson Cole will be with me. I'm looking forward to a very nice morning.

Find a moment at some point today to quietly acknowledge the sacrifice our veterans  made in the service of our country.