New seatbelt that will insure accident rate to go down and insurance premiums to be reduced.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
A Letter home from a Marine Recruit farmboy
A friend sent me this and I thought I'd share it
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. But I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing. Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none. This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges They come in boxes. Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake . I only beat him once.. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry. Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter, Alice
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled. I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. But I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing. Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none. This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges They come in boxes. Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake . I only beat him once.. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry. Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter, Alice
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Esther Williams, Joe's Crab Shack and the Oscars
This Esther Williams is an expert on ADD and ADHD that I had the honor of hearing during a 6 hour workshop yesterday. Enlightening for me and I hope to use the information I learned to help those in my classroom who suffer from it.
Went to lunch today at Joe's Crab Shack. The coconut shrimp was great!
The Oscars are on and I find (as I do every year) that I have watched very few of these movies. I only went to 4 movies total last year, 2 of which will receive awards tonight.
I find that doing this blog is a fun experience and I think of wonderful things to write about when I'm out running around but am not next to a computer. Then when I get on the computer, I can't think of these profound things. Maybe they weren't so profound after all. Maybe I just don't need to say profound things on this blog. I'm not even sure why I want to do the blog or what direction (if any) I want to take it. I do think it may be fun to look back on it in a year and recall what I thought was important to me at this stage of my life.
Oh I got a really good deal on some shirts and a sweater at Penney's. I spent 30 dollars on 5 shirts and one sweater.
I think I want to see Slumdog Millionare.
I also want a bowl of Ice Cream.
I can take care of that right now.
Cookies and Cream........that's what I'm talking about.
Went to lunch today at Joe's Crab Shack. The coconut shrimp was great!
The Oscars are on and I find (as I do every year) that I have watched very few of these movies. I only went to 4 movies total last year, 2 of which will receive awards tonight.
I find that doing this blog is a fun experience and I think of wonderful things to write about when I'm out running around but am not next to a computer. Then when I get on the computer, I can't think of these profound things. Maybe they weren't so profound after all. Maybe I just don't need to say profound things on this blog. I'm not even sure why I want to do the blog or what direction (if any) I want to take it. I do think it may be fun to look back on it in a year and recall what I thought was important to me at this stage of my life.
Oh I got a really good deal on some shirts and a sweater at Penney's. I spent 30 dollars on 5 shirts and one sweater.
I think I want to see Slumdog Millionare.
I also want a bowl of Ice Cream.
I can take care of that right now.
Cookies and Cream........that's what I'm talking about.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Bella the snoring Bulldog
As I'm writing this, my bulldog Bella is cuddled up on a beanbag chair in my classroom, snoring away. She is dead tired after a day of attention from the many humans she came in contact with. She just turned five months old and she is just a hoot.
Listening to her snore is just so soothing. I logged on to rant about the pending housing rescue that is being considered in Washington and how I feel real angry that they want to take more money from me, my children and grandchildren to fund people that weren't responsible. I won't write more (and boy could I) because the sound of Bella is relaxing my soul. Thanks Bella.
I don't have any control over those idiots in Washington anyway. And I'm talking about 95 percent of them. They just aren't honest with us. The next great President will be honest. This one talks about transparency, then signs a 800 billion dollar stimulus bill that is 1,000 pages long, that no one has time to read. No wonder it wasn't bipartisan. The Elephants thought it must be bad but could go only on smell, not by what's really in it. Does anyone really want to read a 1,000 page document detailing how this money will be spent? Sounds depressing to me. Hope? Really?
Snore...........ahhhh.........thanks Bella.......it's time to go home.
Listening to her snore is just so soothing. I logged on to rant about the pending housing rescue that is being considered in Washington and how I feel real angry that they want to take more money from me, my children and grandchildren to fund people that weren't responsible. I won't write more (and boy could I) because the sound of Bella is relaxing my soul. Thanks Bella.
I don't have any control over those idiots in Washington anyway. And I'm talking about 95 percent of them. They just aren't honest with us. The next great President will be honest. This one talks about transparency, then signs a 800 billion dollar stimulus bill that is 1,000 pages long, that no one has time to read. No wonder it wasn't bipartisan. The Elephants thought it must be bad but could go only on smell, not by what's really in it. Does anyone really want to read a 1,000 page document detailing how this money will be spent? Sounds depressing to me. Hope? Really?
Snore...........ahhhh.........thanks Bella.......it's time to go home.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Too busy to think so why a blog?
Today in class while discussing a story about an eagle raised as a chicken, I told my third graders what I have told every third grade class I've had. Besides being a teacher to my kids, I take great pride in being a mentor, advisor, and all the other "stuff" they expect me to be to them. I told them something I heard some dozen years ago and wished I had heard when I was young. What I told them was this......."It's hard to soar with eagles, if you hang around turkeys all day". I then told them how it relates to picking their friends and how doing this will have a bearing on how they succeed in life.
I hope you haven't picked too many turkeys in your life. I didn't, but perhaps there were a few that I have visited along life's journey.
I knew I wanted to someday start a blog and today is the day. But I hadn't thought about naming it. So I hope this name works for me. I thought about "Rantings of a fifty something". I'm not sure if ranting will be the focus of this blog. Hopefully I will keep it primarily positive, but if something is bothering me I hope to use this venue to "let off some steam".
So this may be somewhat of a stress releaser. Cool.
I hope you haven't picked too many turkeys in your life. I didn't, but perhaps there were a few that I have visited along life's journey.
I knew I wanted to someday start a blog and today is the day. But I hadn't thought about naming it. So I hope this name works for me. I thought about "Rantings of a fifty something". I'm not sure if ranting will be the focus of this blog. Hopefully I will keep it primarily positive, but if something is bothering me I hope to use this venue to "let off some steam".
So this may be somewhat of a stress releaser. Cool.
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