Overheard and Observed
No one in the food production class is allowed to marry anyone else in the class, because if they do, all the knowledge they've acquired will be wasted, and the number of people who are able to survive disaster will be lowered. It would be much better for everyone to marry someone who did not take the class, so as to spread the knowledge around and get the benefits to multiply.
That's the gist of what I overheard after school today. Now you know.
***********************
When everyone at school is playing "In the Manner of the Adverb" and Mr. Schrock is to tell a joke in the manner of the adverb, this is what he does: 1) Carefully arranges his feet in spots precisely and flatly in front of where he is sitting 2) Adjusts his posture to a very upright position 3) Rises cautiously to a standing position, checks behind him to see that the chair is still where it was 4) Pronounces solemnly and carefully these words (as I recall them) :
There was a young lady of Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger.
5) Checks behind him again to see that the chair is in place, then carefully lowers himself into it. He was demonstrating the adverb "carefully." Everyone applauded spontaneously after his superb act.
I'm positive that I could not have thought of a single joke if the job had been mine.
******************
The composition class finally has a date for the promised party from last semester. Pizza Monday night at our house if it suits everyone. I'm glad that my life is crisis-free enough again so that I can look forward to this.
******************
Phenology is a fascinating study. It's a little problematic, though when one saying tells you to plant cucumbers and squash when the lilac flowers are in full bloom, and another tells you to plant cucumbers and squash when lilac flowers have faded. Full bloom and fading are consecutive, not simultaneous events, so I guess I'll continue to plant my cucumbers and squash whenever I jolly well please.
I hope to do some tracking of soil temperatures this year to see what they are at various phenological benchmarks, most of the time using the common lilac as a marker plant. Pam, from the extension office, gave me a good site to check for soil temps at the Hutch K-State experiment field.
*****************
Guineas are really, really exasperating sometimes. Like right now, with the blowing snow bearing down on us, I'm really eager to tuck them all safely into their overnight shelter. But they are acting as flea-brained as ever. Twice now they've huddled around the entrance and pretended they wanted to go inside, but all it takes to dissuade them of the idea is for me to appear with plans to urge them on a bit and shut the door behind them. Then they suddenly have lots of urgent business in the driveway or the cow lot or the flower bed--anywhere but inside the shelter. So they're off. I come back inside and set the timer so I don't forget to check them again in a few minutes.
Lowell tells me that they read an article on guineas in the Atlantic at Joel and Hilda's house where they're staying right now. Apparently it's a well-written narrative about one person's ill-fated attempt to keep guineas. They didn't want to be kept, and promptly vanished, only to reappear (a few of them) many days and many nights later.
If I had known there was good money in writing about guineas, maybe I would have set my sights on the Atlantic rather than the "Prairie View" blog. But then I would have had to do a whole lot of polishing that is not required this way.
Update #1: The blowing has been in progress for several hours, and now the snow has commenced.
When there were five guineas inside and one outside, I bundled up and hurried out again. End result? All six of them noisily headed again for the cow lot.
Update Nos. 2, 3, 4, & 5: Ditto. With slight variations in numbers
Update #6: 7:10 p. m. Finally all inside. Door shut. Loud protests emanating from within.
*********************
Elizabeth H. told me over hot lunch today that she didn't know her granddaughter Holli could sing. Holli says she didn't know it either, but "there it went," her soprano voice singing a solo at the high school program. Her mother says that when Holli switched from homeschool to a classroom school, at the first field day, she swept the field in all the running races. No one knew she could run fast, and with some surprise, Holli observed of her feet, "there they went."
********************
Elizabeth also confessed that last year, in a fit of foolishness, she announced that she's not having a garden this year. So Charity is stepping up to the plate, with plans for a garden. The seeds have been ordered, and some of the planting has already been done. Good for her.
********************
While weekly cleaning jobs were in progress--
Brandon (to Heidi, who was carrying a watering can): What's that?
Heidi: It's fertilizer water. So if you want to grow taller, you can just open your mouth, and I'll put 28 drops of fertilizer into it.
At least I know she's got the ratio right--7 drops of the Shultz liquid fertilizer mix to one quart of water. She mixes up a one-gallon batch every Friday.
********************
I got the numbers today for last week's glucose tolerance test. I had the last one in 2003, and the results were better this time. I'm writing them here so I can find them again. (I plead ADD.)
In 2003: Fasting: 102
One-hour reading after ingesting the "syrup": 171
Two-hour reading after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 150
In 2010: Fasting: 89
One-hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 131
Two-hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 148
My weight this time was 2 lbs. lower than in 2003. I have been both higher and lower in the interim.
None of this has anything to do with any good food supplements I've taken for about seven years. I have this on good authority since the US Government and the Attorney General of Texas both would be happy to join me in making this proclamation.
The nurse tells me to keep on doing just exactly what I'm doing now.
******************
Tomorrow is Mother Iwashige's 95th birthday. That's what Hiromi has always been told, at least. The fact of the matter is that someone seems to have at some point merged her birth date and that of her oldest child, a daughter. Hiromi can't remember which one's real birthday is on March 20.
******************
I looked up the score last night on KU's college basketball tournament game. KU was ahead, and I saw this morning that they won. What I found more interesting, though, was reading through the roster for the strange names some of them have. Tyshawn, Sherron, Markieff Xavier, and Tyrel are among them. More familiar names include Brady, Marcus, Elijah, Jeff, Thomas, and C. J. On the Lehigh side were Marquis, Holden, Zahir, along with another Cj, a Dave and a David, John, Michael, Justin, and Gabe. Some of these names may be more common in the African American community than elsewhere. They are for sure not so common here, to my knowledge. The spell checker doesn't like them.
******************
Hiromi brought home some Vitamin D-3 pills tonight. With a winter storm warning in effect now and 30-40 mph winds, and up to 5 inches of snow in the forecast, I expect the only kind of sunshine nutrients I'll cash in on tomorrow are the kind that come in a bottle.
That's the gist of what I overheard after school today. Now you know.
***********************
When everyone at school is playing "In the Manner of the Adverb" and Mr. Schrock is to tell a joke in the manner of the adverb, this is what he does: 1) Carefully arranges his feet in spots precisely and flatly in front of where he is sitting 2) Adjusts his posture to a very upright position 3) Rises cautiously to a standing position, checks behind him to see that the chair is still where it was 4) Pronounces solemnly and carefully these words (as I recall them) :
There was a young lady of Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger.
5) Checks behind him again to see that the chair is in place, then carefully lowers himself into it. He was demonstrating the adverb "carefully." Everyone applauded spontaneously after his superb act.
I'm positive that I could not have thought of a single joke if the job had been mine.
******************
The composition class finally has a date for the promised party from last semester. Pizza Monday night at our house if it suits everyone. I'm glad that my life is crisis-free enough again so that I can look forward to this.
******************
Phenology is a fascinating study. It's a little problematic, though when one saying tells you to plant cucumbers and squash when the lilac flowers are in full bloom, and another tells you to plant cucumbers and squash when lilac flowers have faded. Full bloom and fading are consecutive, not simultaneous events, so I guess I'll continue to plant my cucumbers and squash whenever I jolly well please.
I hope to do some tracking of soil temperatures this year to see what they are at various phenological benchmarks, most of the time using the common lilac as a marker plant. Pam, from the extension office, gave me a good site to check for soil temps at the Hutch K-State experiment field.
*****************
Guineas are really, really exasperating sometimes. Like right now, with the blowing snow bearing down on us, I'm really eager to tuck them all safely into their overnight shelter. But they are acting as flea-brained as ever. Twice now they've huddled around the entrance and pretended they wanted to go inside, but all it takes to dissuade them of the idea is for me to appear with plans to urge them on a bit and shut the door behind them. Then they suddenly have lots of urgent business in the driveway or the cow lot or the flower bed--anywhere but inside the shelter. So they're off. I come back inside and set the timer so I don't forget to check them again in a few minutes.
Lowell tells me that they read an article on guineas in the Atlantic at Joel and Hilda's house where they're staying right now. Apparently it's a well-written narrative about one person's ill-fated attempt to keep guineas. They didn't want to be kept, and promptly vanished, only to reappear (a few of them) many days and many nights later.
If I had known there was good money in writing about guineas, maybe I would have set my sights on the Atlantic rather than the "Prairie View" blog. But then I would have had to do a whole lot of polishing that is not required this way.
Update #1: The blowing has been in progress for several hours, and now the snow has commenced.
When there were five guineas inside and one outside, I bundled up and hurried out again. End result? All six of them noisily headed again for the cow lot.
Update Nos. 2, 3, 4, & 5: Ditto. With slight variations in numbers
Update #6: 7:10 p. m. Finally all inside. Door shut. Loud protests emanating from within.
*********************
Elizabeth H. told me over hot lunch today that she didn't know her granddaughter Holli could sing. Holli says she didn't know it either, but "there it went," her soprano voice singing a solo at the high school program. Her mother says that when Holli switched from homeschool to a classroom school, at the first field day, she swept the field in all the running races. No one knew she could run fast, and with some surprise, Holli observed of her feet, "there they went."
********************
Elizabeth also confessed that last year, in a fit of foolishness, she announced that she's not having a garden this year. So Charity is stepping up to the plate, with plans for a garden. The seeds have been ordered, and some of the planting has already been done. Good for her.
********************
While weekly cleaning jobs were in progress--
Brandon (to Heidi, who was carrying a watering can): What's that?
Heidi: It's fertilizer water. So if you want to grow taller, you can just open your mouth, and I'll put 28 drops of fertilizer into it.
At least I know she's got the ratio right--7 drops of the Shultz liquid fertilizer mix to one quart of water. She mixes up a one-gallon batch every Friday.
********************
I got the numbers today for last week's glucose tolerance test. I had the last one in 2003, and the results were better this time. I'm writing them here so I can find them again. (I plead ADD.)
In 2003: Fasting: 102
One-hour reading after ingesting the "syrup": 171
Two-hour reading after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 150
In 2010: Fasting: 89
One-hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 131
Two-hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 148
My weight this time was 2 lbs. lower than in 2003. I have been both higher and lower in the interim.
None of this has anything to do with any good food supplements I've taken for about seven years. I have this on good authority since the US Government and the Attorney General of Texas both would be happy to join me in making this proclamation.
The nurse tells me to keep on doing just exactly what I'm doing now.
******************
Tomorrow is Mother Iwashige's 95th birthday. That's what Hiromi has always been told, at least. The fact of the matter is that someone seems to have at some point merged her birth date and that of her oldest child, a daughter. Hiromi can't remember which one's real birthday is on March 20.
******************
I looked up the score last night on KU's college basketball tournament game. KU was ahead, and I saw this morning that they won. What I found more interesting, though, was reading through the roster for the strange names some of them have. Tyshawn, Sherron, Markieff Xavier, and Tyrel are among them. More familiar names include Brady, Marcus, Elijah, Jeff, Thomas, and C. J. On the Lehigh side were Marquis, Holden, Zahir, along with another Cj, a Dave and a David, John, Michael, Justin, and Gabe. Some of these names may be more common in the African American community than elsewhere. They are for sure not so common here, to my knowledge. The spell checker doesn't like them.
******************
Hiromi brought home some Vitamin D-3 pills tonight. With a winter storm warning in effect now and 30-40 mph winds, and up to 5 inches of snow in the forecast, I expect the only kind of sunshine nutrients I'll cash in on tomorrow are the kind that come in a bottle.
posted by Mrs. I at
3:19 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home