Dad Writes a Letter Re: his Kids Absences from School

On Face Book, I saw a letter that has of course gone viral that a father wrote to a school Principal after receiving a form letter about how family vacations are not considered excused absences. The kids missed school to go and cheer their Dad on in the Boston Marathon and also visited historical landmarks. There is a lot of history, old and new, there for sure. The kids did miss the standardized testing window at school which as a retired educator I’d consider a major no-no despite the opportunity for experiential learning. Some of the readers’ comments portrayed the father, his actions, and response to the form letter in such a positive light I could honestly say they were convinced Dad was heroic. On the other side of the issue this same letter writing father was labeled by some as arrogant and perhaps a less than stellar role model for his kids. Perhaps it is one thing to disagree with a form letter describing the school’s attendance policy and another to send a scathing response to the school’s Principal that basically left me with the impression that the father didn’t have much respect for the school folks and their efforts to provide an education for his kids. I think he took his position too far because I know firsthand how much time and caring goes into that education. Teachers don’t get enough credit for the work they do from the parents’ and politico’s side of society. That being said, the testing window here has closed and my grandsons are going to miss a few days of the less than last four weeks of school for a family emergency, the details of which I will not reveal here. That will be the excuse they turn in. If and when we receive a letter regarding the schools’ attendance policy (and these absences) I will just accept it and give no written response.

Capsule Wardrobes

This is an interesting current concept I just might try. I have a closet filled with clothes I don’t wear and that doesn't even include the jeans just gathering dust on my over the bathroom door hanger. And looking at the big picture, the capsule wardrobe seems to encourage mindful clothes shopping which for many is probably a good thing. I am not a fan of shopping but I have managed to accumulate lots of clothes and after a year of focused fitness most of my clothes consist of items that are either completely out of style or don’t fit. Hence I have all the more reason to consider a capsule wardrobe now. Simply defined a capsule wardrobe is a fixed amount of clothing items (often one capsule for each season- which here in south GA, means basically two capsules- hot weather or cold weather). Shoes are included along with clothes but in my research I haven’t seen underwear mentioned so I won’t count undies. The number 33 (for thirty-three items, Google-Project 333) is a popular one so when I get my wardrobe pared down to 33 items (tops, bottoms, dresses, and shoes) for every new purchase over that number an old item must go. Simplifying my lifestyle at least as far as my wardrobe goes appeals to me and Goodwill and the Salvation Army can always use a donation. I’ll let you know how this latest venture works out for me!

The Hallelujah Rock!

While cleaning up the beach my husband found an interesting ‘rock’ today. It’s funny because I told him (via text) this morning when he was on his way out to the beach to be on the lookout for ambergris, which is of course I am hoping his rock is. Ambergris is something I blogged about back on March 16^th in 2013. It is excreted (vomited or through other digestive channels) by sperm whales and used in the perfume industry. In my previous blog I mentioned that it was something I was keeping an eye out for on my beach walks because of its value, upwards of $10,000 per pound and the fact that it has been known to be found on the beaches in the Bahamas. So I wasn't surprised when my husband sent me this photo of the ‘rock’ he found in the high tide wrack line today but I was excited. Then I read online about a lady that found a diamond the size of a pinto bean, 3.96 carat, in Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro. She has named it the Hallelujah Diamond and its value is easily comparable to that of a pound of ambergris. She is planning to keep it. Of course I figure my husband would prefer to keep money over a smelly beach rock, at least that’s what I think. If it isn't ambergris and hence it does become a keeper I’m naming it the Hallelujah Rock!

Cubs on the Rumor Mill

This is the only time of the year that I actually miss having cable TV, baseball season. In truth I have only turned my TV on once this month and that was last night to watch the Blacklist. But this morning as I was browsing MSN the 15 Major League Baseball Rumors that You Need to Know caught my eye and I knew I was going to click on it to see if any involved my lovable losers, the Cubs. The last and most recent four games I’d been to see in person rather than on the tube (three against the Rays at Tropicana Field and one in Atlanta against the Braves) were all Cub losses. In addition to seeing my favorite team play I got to go on a lost car adventure with a bunch of grandsons after the game in St. Petersburg which ended with a ride in the back of a police cruiser that the boys still talk about today. Then not too long ago Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, (a wonderful ballplayer and gentle spirit, one of my all-time favorite Cubs) passed away so after all my reminiscing, of course I had to check the rumor mill. There was one rumor regarding the Cubs and the possible trade of short stop, Starlin Castro. If they don’t trade him will he stay at short stop? These are the questions being tossed about but personally I hope the Cubbies keep him and maybe this will be the season I figure out how to watch some Cubs games on this computer!

Let the Girls Run

Of course now that I have finished weeding my flower bed and am seated ready to blog about a school in Australia that has banned girls from running because running can cause injury that would sacrifice their virginity and/or make them infertile, the wifi is down here at my house. Internet service has been a bit sketchy here as of late much to the grandkids chagrin. I was just planning to go back to that article and give it a reread as I found myself incredulous when I did the first reading. Of course this is a Muslim school so the fact that girls are allowed to attend is probably remarkable in itself. Maybe because the school is in Australia a bit farther away from the Middle Eastern heart of Islam. Maybe I am interchanging my words, Muslim and Islam, incorrectly but I can imagine running in a burka would be deterrent enough so the female runners there must be truly dedicated to the sport. I actually had a friend of that faith long ago that ran and she didn’t wear a burka but managed to cover her skin and remain within her considered cultural norms with regular running clothes. This was back in the 80s. Nevertheless, I am still basically addicted to running (I call it running but in reality I AM SLOW!) and though well past the age where speed, virginity, and/or fertility would even begin to matter, I couldn't imagine my life without it. I was sweating over the weed pulling in the flower bed today but it wasn't the same as the sweat I get from running. Getting all those weeds out did provide a measure of satisfaction but weeding doesn't take one to another place like running can, even when you just run in your own neighborhood like I do. I hope the media attention given to this school in Australia shines a light on the ridiculousness of the reasons for keeping these girls from running and helps in turn to get the ban lifted.

Goodbye Cell Towers?

Depending on your age you might remember (or not) how when the power went out, your cordless land line phone went out too. Those phones and many other land line phones (the kind plugged into a jack in your wall) have been becoming obsolete with the technological advance of the cell phone and more recently the smart phone. Even I have ditched the land line thinking why pay for something I don’t use. Well the next obsolete thing down the proverbial technological road might be cell phone towers. There’s a new technology that allows smartphones to communicate with other mobile devices up to a range of 500 meters, bypassing cell towers altogether and it is called LTE Direct. This new stuff, already being used by the military, uses something called licensed spectrum and doesn't drain a phone's battery life. It will become commercially available in 2016, which given how time flies, is right around the corner. In the immediate future LTE enabled devices have the potential to become competitive for fallback public safety networks that must function when cellular networks are not available or fail too, like when hurricanes, earthquakes, or other disasters topple towers or clog up the system with more call than can be handled. But in the longer run this technology could mean goodbye cell towers. I think they’re eyesores in our landscape anyway so I know I won’t miss them. 

Teach Tolerance, Not Hate

How sad it is to me when I read about a group of high school kids in Pennsylvania putting hateful posters on gay kids lockers and writing up a lynch list. The homophobic students, mostly boys, all wore flannel shirts and wrote “anti-gay” and drew crosses on the backs of their hands. There was pushing and general scuffling with Gay-Straight Alliance kids and their supporters at the high school too. All this occurred in response to the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance’s Day of Silence that was organized to draw attention to and condemn bullying against gay students. It is hard for a school to provide a safe, supportive environment for all children when this kind of intolerance occurs and makes the school the antithesis of safe and supportive for ALL children. I’m not sure how big the high school is (Claysville’s McGuffey High School) but as many as 100 students at took part in the Thursday protest. The GSA kids and others tried to counter the Anti-Gay protest with signs that said “Stick with Love” and “It Gets Better” on the following Monday. Hope the parents, teachers, and students on all sides of this can find ways to replace hate with tolerance because people are people regardless of their sexual orientation and hate has no place in our schools.

Stray Thoughts

The spring before last my sister trapped a litter of four nearly newborn feral kittens. Cats in general are just domesticated enough to have trouble making it in the wild and just wild enough to cause trouble in one’s domicile but these particular tiny ferals were totally wild. We took the four to First Coast No More Homeless Pets for a group discount on shots, spay and neutering, and there discovered that two were male and the other two female. I kept the females in hopes of taming them and the males were released back into the neighborhood in which they were born. It has been a little over two years and Stubby and Tubby (not the girliest cat names, but perfect for a pair of manx kittens) are still not the friendliest of felines. The males didn’t fare as well. They quickly became part of the food chain in the wild. Meanwhile Stub and Tub entertained each other and did solitary cat things most of the time when they weren't in hiding, intimidating the family dogs, or scratching up furniture their first year. For the most part they were only pettable while occupied at meal time and that’s where the taming began. Today Stubby decided it was time to sit in my lap as I began to work on my blog. In all fairness she has darted on and off my lap in the past to snatch a yarn ball while I crochet. She finds yarn irresistible but this time she snuggled in for the duration and some ear scratching. This is the day I am finally convinced that she has decided it is time to be a regular house cat. Here is the part where I’ll tell you that I am not yet nor will I ever be a ‘crazy old cat lady’ but I will admit that I am a collector of strays, namely stray thoughts, things, critters, kids, and even grown people. I have found that all require patience and time for taming but there is the satisfaction of discovering a friend that changes and enriches your life as you change and enrich theirs. When all is said and done there is that.  

The One Investment You Need Most For A Successful Retirement

I got the title for this blog post from MSN Money but where they advise putting most of your money into low-cost index funds and ETFs as the one investment one needs most for a successful retirement, I beg to differ. When I saw the picture of a smiling gray haired couple with golf clubs on their shoulders and smiles on their faces I thought for sure I could predict the obvious answer to what the one thing would be but I guessed wrong. Be that as it may I think MSN is incorrect on this one, investing in your health is what you need most for a successful retirement, according to me! Income from those low-cost index funds and ETFs is nice and all but you need good health to enjoy retirement and spend the money you earned by investing or saving. This leads me to another headline, one I saw yesterday and noticed once again today in the (as a hint maybe?)… Never Too Late: 10 Ways to Get Active at Any Age. This list struck a chord with me because it took me till retirement to get really focused on improving my health risks. Work, family, and stress derailed my efforts many times but now I hear comments on how retirement suits me (meaning I look healthier now rather than my old coworkers just seem happy not to see me at work anymore!). Anyway, I believe the second title to be true. It’s never too late to embrace and benefit from a healthy lifestyle. So log off, shut down, and go!

Swimming with Manatees

It was snorkeling actually, with no fins and no splashing that might startle the manatees during their rests. This was the second time I’d actually had an opportunity to swim with manatees in Crystal River. The first time was on my checkout dive for scuba diving certification some 30 plus years ago. That day we saw the manatees munching on what I thought was either hydrilla (native to Asia, Africa, and Eastern Australia) or elodea (native to South America) both considered invasive water plants here. FL Fish and Wildlife officers patrolled the area where we were making sure the manatees weren’t disturbed in any way. On this more recent (Spring Break at Three Sisters Springs) manatee swim the manatees, we saw manatees that were not resting but rather shoveling vegetation from the river bottom that looked like bright green hair when we pulled some up with the anchor. Although we saw no Fish and Wildlife peeps on patrol this trip our captain and guide, Fred and others plying the waterways did a good job of making sure kayakers and swimmers alike stayed out of restricted areas. They had all of us (my husband, myself, and a couple of grandkids) view a video about the rules and regulations regarding manatees and manatee etiquette in general. The wet suits we wore helped make the swim more tolerable but once we saw the manatees all thoughts of the cold dissipated. I swam parallel to a big mossy backed fellow and when he rose for a snoutful of air I let my palm slide along his back. All in all snorkeling with manatees in their natural habitat is an amazing experience. I know I won’t forget it but having underwater video and photos (including some serious footage of someone’s thumb) are great ways to keep the memories of this kind of trip fresh too.  

Pennies from Heaven

Found two while Fiff and I were out for our early morning run. Not sure where they came from but they somehow managed to land right where I could find them. Besides being the title of a song, Pennies from Heaven are sometimes considered a portent or sign. I’d always heard, See a penny? Pick it up. All the day you’ll have good luck! But the common meaning is one of unexpected benefits, especially financial ones to come. With this week’s IRS filing (and if owing-paying) deadline it would be nice if the pennies signified a big return. Not good luck for me because they don’t signify any tax refunds so on to another meaning.

Pennies from heaven are also sometimes thought to be sign from a spirit, sometimes a deceased loved one letting you know they are okay or sent from an angel that’s been missing you. I recently joined a running support group, Megs Miles, a group that runs to honor the memory of a runner, Meg Menzies, who was killed by a drunk driver last year while out on a run and left behind a husband and three young children. Her story has inspired many and often I read posts written by runners who feel her presence motivating them to keep going. Maybe Meg was sending Fiff and me reminders to keep on keeping on as we had been on the run for 40 minutes and still had a ways to go.

Or…Maybe those two pennies were somebody giving me back my two cents, thinking maybe I’d lost it. I do have a habit of putting in my two cents on a pretty regular basis whether people want it or not so if that’s it, thank you! 

Giant Methane Cloud

I know I've included methane madness in my blog somewhere before but there is more methane news, for real, maybe even right on our horizon. There is a big (half the size of the entire state of Connecticut) cloud of methane out there in our atmosphere and scientists have lost track of it. The source of the methane is unknown (though I have a few ideas after enchilada Tuesdays at our house) and the cloud has been present over the southwest (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) for six years (2003-09) as tracked by a European satellite. Methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide and can be quite a threat to the environment. I already knew the latter; once again I think enchilada Tuesdays. How has a methane mass of these proportions been lost, one might wonder? Well unfortunately, the European satellite used to collect the data “is no longer in commission.” However, Japan has agreed to capture images of the region where the methane mass was last located with their GOSAT satellite. Hopefully it has dissipated rather than moved on!

Second Place in the my Age Group for the Men’s Division of a 5K

Just when I get used to being recognized as a woman, albeit with almost a man’s first name-Jo, middle initial E, once again I was mistaken for a man and declared the second place age winner for men in a 5K I ran a couple of weeks ago. I had left as soon as I finished, before the race results were announced, to go to the local Peter Cottontail Express, yet I’m sure I put an X in the blank for female on my race application. Over the years I have found with a name like mine mistakes happen. I received plenty of mail and phone inquiries for Mr. Jo E. Mount. Once when I went to Armstrong University in Savannah to interview for an adjunct professor position, I was asked with eyebrows raised in surprise, “You’re Jo E. Mount?” After the confusion was cleared the interview went on and I did get the job. Nevertheless, as I recounted the story about coming in second in the male age category in my most recent 5K to different people the reactions varied. A female friend of mine of a similar age at the pharmacy was quite happy to hear I’d beat the men in a race and heaped on words of encouragement even when I told her my husband let them know about the mistake and I lost my title. Still it gave me a good feeling to know another woman supported my effort. Men chuckled at my retelling, especially when I mentioned my daughter made hints to my husband about how others might wonder about whether he had a  wife or perhaps more politically correct, a partner since he got third place. Love has no gender bias but either way I am running another 5K tomorrow and whether or not I improve my time or place in my age category I’m looking forward to showing my support for another good cause (this time Autism Awareness-CASA the time before) and just running for the sheer joy of it. 

Dang Video Games Make Kids Smarter!

Of all the things I read online today, I had to find playing video games in the top ten things that make your kids smarter. Of course reading and eating a good breakfast were also on the list but those wouldn't be the things that my grandkids would notice right away! Nor would they place any emphasis on fitness and team sports (also made the list!) but instead they would JUMP on the so called ‘fact’ that playing video games could make them smarter. They wouldn't care about the caveat included warning that the games should be those of strategy and creativity vs violence. They’d skim right over that because they love video games. Every school night the playing and viewing of all screens (all electronic) ends an hour before bedtime and reading actual bound books along with the brushing, flossing, and laying out of clothes for the next day commences. This has been grudgingly accepted as routine but this latest on MSN (if discovered by the grandkids) could be the beginning of a new argument for playing video games right up until bedtime. So here I am working on my blog, forced to minimize MSN every time one of them comes by. That’s right, just like an employee playing computer solitaire on their bosses’ dime! Okay I know I am dating myself with that one. I guess it is time to finally say uncle and admit that video games are back in my house to stay at least as long as grandkids are here.