Our Grandchildren

 

This is a picture of Campus Green at Kennesaw State College. Pam told me it is where the frisbee throwing happens on campus. I had no idea!  Our grandson, Z, will be starting classes there very soon.  He and Pam have toured the campus and hopefully he will be able to remember where all his classes are.  Good luck, Z!  Z is our next-to-oldest grandchild.

Our oldest grandchild just had a birthday and her college classes will restart in a couple weeks.  She's doing well, and getting close to the end of her classes.  Good luck, Jordan!

B will be starting her junior year of high school tomorrow!  I hope it goes well for her, and she likes her classes and teachers. The first of August will seem very early for some of you, but that's the way they do it there.  Good luck, B!

Cutie Girl will be going into fourth grade.  She is interested in so many things!  This is the first year that school has started before Labor Day here in Virginia.  But there are still several weeks to get ready.  Still don't know who her teacher is or anything.  

And last, but not least, is Little Miss E.  She will be starting first grade in the same school as Cutie Girl.  She is also interested in many things and has a great imagination.  When we saw her last evening, she was "French" part of the time.  "Bon Jour!"

For those of you who know "our kids" - - - - - if this makes you feel old, you'll just have to get over it!  😀

Take care of  yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  And God Bless America!

Yes, They Do

 

picture from I Can Haz Cheeseburger site

Stay safe, people.  God Bless America!

Huh, Have You Noticed?

Our country and a lot of the rest of the world are having some extreme heat and weather issues.  I hope everyone is being careful and staying safe.

Having said that, I have noticed recently that some of the new "experts" are giving suggestions on how to handle the heat and take care of ourselves. They are saying things like "close your blinds and curtains", "use fans", and the one that particularly got my attention was "put a large bowl of ice in front of your fan".  Now, I agree these are all good ideas.  But they are also old ideas.  And I can almost see my Mom and Grama rolling their eyes at all this!

When I was a little girl, I am pretty sure there were very few people who had air conditioning in their homes.  And even though we hear all the time now about global warming, it got HOT back then, too.  Mom and Grama did close the curtains and pull down the shades. And by shades I mean the kind that were a roll at the top of the window and if you didn't hold the string just right when pulling down or putting them back up they would get loose and roll and flap and flap. 😄 Of course the windows would be open so the breeze could get in, and the curtains flapped around in the breeze, but still, it helped.  We had fans, big ones that could go in windows.  There were also small ones that would set on a table or counter, and other ones that sat on the floor.  I don't remember very many ceiling fans anywhere.

One of my Grama's favorite things was to turn on her floor fan.  It was a large round one that sat on the floor and it had a flat top to it.  And she would get a large bowl of ice and set where the air would blow over the ice.  Then she would get single ice cubes, wrap them in hankies, and we would sit and hold those on our wrists.  I'm not sure how much cooler we got, but we tried.

Of course, we also would also just go outside and sit in the shade.  And we'd take a hand held fan out with us.  These would be given out at churches and funeral homes to those in attendance, and we could take them home.  I'm sure other businesses gave them out, too.  Honestly, they don't really cool you off, they just make you think you are doing something positive.  These fans usually advertised for the church or funeral home.

Now we have air conditioning, and generators, and community cooling stations.  I still like the idea of going out to sit in the shade.  But I rarely do it, we are in Virginia.  It is HOT and it is HUMID and we have biting bugs.  

Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  God Bless America!

Happens to Everyone!

 

Thanks to I Can Haz Cheeseburger site

Stay safe, people!  Life is good.  And God Bless America!

A Followup to Previous Post

The ads for Octoberfest are now showing up!

And the ones for haunted houses.

And for Halloween costumes.

And turkeys.

And Christmas ornaments and trees.

Meanwhile, our weather forecast is predicting a heat index of 110 degrees today and our humidity is almost 80%.  I'm staying inside with a good book.

Take care of yourselves.  Life is good, but slow down a little.  And God Bless America!

Really?!?!

You all know I like to be prepared, and I usually plan things out. I make lists.  I even make spreadsheets for some things.  But really, isn't it too early for Halloween ads and products in mid-July??

I love Fall, the colors, the crisp air. But come on!  When it's 90+ degrees and 80% humidity, I'm not in the mood to get Halloween decorations or go shopping.  All you marketing people need to slow down.

I'm just saying.

Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  And God Bless America!

School - A History

When I was a child growing up in a small town in Ohio, each small town in the area had their own school.  As populations grew and those schools got crowded, the towns had bond levies to raise funds for new schools.  Sadly, they didn't pass for several years.  So the towns decided to combine into one large district.  This also required voting and bond levies.  I remember our grade school teachers having us make posters and parade us around town encouraging residents to get out and vote.  That would be unheard of today and probably someone would be fired and arrested.  But then we were okay with it.

Eventually the levies passed and reorganizing began.  Each town kept their own elementary school, first through sixth grade. (no kindergarten then)  All seventh graders from each of the towns went to the Justus school.  All eighth and ninth graders went to Brewster.  And all tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders went to Navarre, my home town.  This actually worked well for me since Mom and I lived right across the street from the school then.

And then construction began on a new high school, out in the middle, in Justus, on top of a small hill.  The new high school would have ninth through twelfth grades.  Everyone would ride a bus.  Or if you were one of the rare ones with a car, at a certain point, you could drive.  I did not, Mom did not own a car until I started to learn to drive.  As I have mentioned before, we lived in a small town and could walk most places or take the Greyhound bus if we needed to go somewhere.

By the time the new high school was finished, I was ready to start my senior year.  My class was the first to graduate from the new school, Class of '67!  Exciting times!  The principal, Mr. Cain, was very proud of the school and very protective.  Every morning he met all the buses and checked to be sure no one was wearing any shoes that would hurt the new floors, and that no one had cleats on their shoes.  And God forbid if you tried to go into the new gym and were not wearing canvas and rubber tennis shoes!

Of course, Mr. Cain was also checking other things besides our shoes.  Things like if the guys had any packs of cigarettes rolled up in their shirt sleeves.  Mr. Cain carried a yard stick with him and also measured to be sure girls' skirts were not too short.  Again, this is something that would never be allowed now and I'm sure a principal would be fired if they tried it.

I recently saw a Facebook Post from a friend about the school.  There is going to be a gathering and tour of the school for alumni before it is torn down. How sad.  It's great that a new, more modern school is being built for the current students.  But it seems like just yesterday that the old high school was built.  

Time flies too fast.  Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  God Bless America!

Just Some Updates

Well, it has seemed busy here.  And obviously I have not posted a lot, but here are some updates.

One of our smoke alarms started beeping loudly and we attempted to changed the batteries in each of them.  Of course, the one with an issue was the one at the top of the stairs and neither of us does ladders well any more.  But Les got the batteries changed in both.  Unfortunately, that one upstairs continued beeping, although it was a bit quieter.  We had to call an electrician who came and replaced both of the detectors for us.  Neither of us had ever considered that the things had an expiration date and should be changed every ten years.  Please check yours!

Les had another appointment with the Neurologist.  More tests were ordered and as far as we can tell they were okay.  He will be having some PT and the evaluation appointment is scheduled for next week.  We are still hoping for a diagnosis and some answers.  But we're doing okay.

The generator service did not happen and was rescheduled due to emergency cooling calls.  We can understand that; it's been really hot and humid here.  They will come later this month.

That same day, our tree guy called and asked if they could come.  Since our neighbor had a few trees removed, we could see some dead limbs on a couple of our trees.  We decided they should be removed and of course, they were too high for us to do anything.  The trees have been cleaned up and that is done.

Next week we have our termite company coming to apply the termiticide (sp??) around our home.  FYI, that also has a time limit, so check on yours.

We both have dentist appointments next week and Les has another lab appointment.

I've been keeping up with things around the house and checking things off my to-do list. I got the windows all cleaned in the past week.  The next bigger project for me is to do some touch-up painting and a little yard clean-up.  Not sure about the timing on that as I am inclined to have a bit cooler weather for both projects.  And I started Christmas shopping!

So, here we are.  Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  God Bless America!

Just a favorite picture

Just Some Wishful Thinking

😀 

Acura is working on developing a pickup truck.  When it actually comes out, if anyone is buying me one, I'd like bright blue or bright red.  Thank you!  

Stay safe and take care of yourselves.  Life is good.  And God Bless America!

P.S. And yes, I do remember that Les and I have a policy of not purchasing a new vehicle as soon as a new model comes out.  We like for the "kinks" to be worked out. 😊

What Next??

Seems like every Summer there is a new pest to watch for.  Today's paper says to be on the lookout for the Spotted Lantern Fly.  All you wine drinkers be extra vigilant!  The thing really likes to destroy grape vines and other plants and vines, fruit trees, etc.!

Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  And God Bless America!

Happy July 4th!

 Make it a safe one and take care of yourselves.  God Bless America!

An Early Wish

Seems like a lot of folks are having a long holiday weekend.  Stay safe!

The news did the usual 4th of July warnings on fireworks of all kinds.  Made me have memories of childhood.

There were always picnics and lots of family gatherings of all sizes. I remember Grama's deviled eggs and her pies!  Lots of flags, sometimes parades.  My sister would take her two girls and Mom and me to the Massillon football stadium to watch fireworks.  That was a big event at the time.  Especially so because Mom didn't have a car until I was old enough to learn to drive.  We lived in a small town and took the bus if we needed to go somewhere out of town.

Among the things now banned many places are sparklers.  I loved sparklers!  And those little black pill-like things you put on the sidewalk and lit with a match that made long snakes!  Yes, we were allowed to use matches!  I remember we also used to put a strip of caps on the sidewalk and hit it with a stone and it made a "bang"!  Ahhh, the good old days; and we survived.

Anyway, take care of yourselves and have a happy and peaceful 4th!