Thursday, October 12, 2006
Seth's Birthday
Well the boy is 2 years old today. What a happy guy he is. His mom and dad have done a great job raising him.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
School
I was thinking, this morning, about being a kid and going to school. My first school was a one room school about a tenth of a mile from my home on the farm. When I was in first grade there were 9 kids in the school, 3 of the 9 were my sister, my brother and me. Another family also had 3, another 2 and of course there was a single kid from one family to make up the 9.
Inside the school was the main school room, two cloak rooms , one for the boys and one for the girls, and an entry hall where there was a rope through the ceiling attached to the school bell. In the center of the main room was a big coal stove. An American flag with 48 stars stood in one corner and the State flag in the other. There were also pictures of Washington and Lincoln above the blackboard. Because we had no electricity, we had no lights in the school and on some dark winter days it almost got too dark inside to read. We didn't have a water well or spring at the school, so we had to take a bucket and walk to the neighbors spring to get water to fill the water crock. Every one drank out of the same dipper so when anyone got sick it went through the whole school pretty fast. One of the worst days I had in school was when my friend, Beaver, actually his name was Frank, barfed all over me at lunch time. I was really angry. The teacher sent me home to get cleaned up and I didn't go back to school that day. Funny thing though, I didn't get sick.
Outside the school was a coal house and the toilets. The toilets were outhouses, one for the boys and one for the girls. They each had 3 holes and the boys' had a trough.
The school ground was about 1 acre, which was enough room for a softball field. With 9 kids in the school we took turns coming up to bat and took turns at each base and in the field. You move from position to position as the batter changed.
Every morning we had to say the Lords prayer, do a reading from the bible and recite the Pledge to the Flag, which, at that time, did not contain the words "under God".
I spent a lot of time listening to the older kids reciting their reports and the poems that they had to memorize. They also had to read the "classics" out loud so I heard the "Tale of Two Cities" and the "Last of the Mohegans" plus a lot of poetry.
Inside the school was the main school room, two cloak rooms , one for the boys and one for the girls, and an entry hall where there was a rope through the ceiling attached to the school bell. In the center of the main room was a big coal stove. An American flag with 48 stars stood in one corner and the State flag in the other. There were also pictures of Washington and Lincoln above the blackboard. Because we had no electricity, we had no lights in the school and on some dark winter days it almost got too dark inside to read. We didn't have a water well or spring at the school, so we had to take a bucket and walk to the neighbors spring to get water to fill the water crock. Every one drank out of the same dipper so when anyone got sick it went through the whole school pretty fast. One of the worst days I had in school was when my friend, Beaver, actually his name was Frank, barfed all over me at lunch time. I was really angry. The teacher sent me home to get cleaned up and I didn't go back to school that day. Funny thing though, I didn't get sick.
Outside the school was a coal house and the toilets. The toilets were outhouses, one for the boys and one for the girls. They each had 3 holes and the boys' had a trough.
The school ground was about 1 acre, which was enough room for a softball field. With 9 kids in the school we took turns coming up to bat and took turns at each base and in the field. You move from position to position as the batter changed.
Every morning we had to say the Lords prayer, do a reading from the bible and recite the Pledge to the Flag, which, at that time, did not contain the words "under God".
I spent a lot of time listening to the older kids reciting their reports and the poems that they had to memorize. They also had to read the "classics" out loud so I heard the "Tale of Two Cities" and the "Last of the Mohegans" plus a lot of poetry.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Required Reading
The End of Iraq by Peter Gaibraith
State of Denial by Bob Woodward
Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean
State of Denial by Bob Woodward
Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean
Saturday, October 07, 2006
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