I wanna go back to high school~~

I have never ever wanted to go back to high school - college maybe, but never high school. Last night was 8th grade night at the high school. About 30 minutes into the presentation I turned to my friend and said "I wanna go to school here". Suddenly the dread I've been holding at bay with each thought of our baby entering high school became excitement at the very same thought.

The world will be opening up for him next year - he'll still be playing trumpet with the addition of membership in the Marching Band and with the opportunity to be in Jazz and Concert. But his major focus will be on Aerospace Engineering through a program offered by Embry Riddle. He'll earn college credit beginning in 10th grade.

There are various other "Academies" within the school, as there are in all the schools in the county - no teenager attending that school will lack the opportunity to come out with college credits or even full certification in an area that will walk them right down the aisle and into a career. You can walk out with certification to be a Para Pro in the schools or with certification to begin working with technicians at that local airport and so on and so on.....Internships at NASA, Cadet training in Sea and Land Rescue......what a world of opportunity is being provided to these teenagers - we can only pray that they ALL take advantage of it.

The energy and excitement that was evident in all the teachers could not help but produce the same in all of us parents - you could see on the faces of those listening and watching the same feeling that I felt.....

I wanna go back to high school!

A Triumph of Tone Deafness

It is to me a new and consolatory proof that wherever the people are well-informed they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights."—Thomas Jefferson January 8, 1789.

There was a lot of talk about whether or not the President would move center right after Scott Brown was elected to the People's Seat in Massachusetts - I was on the side of those who thought that there would be no movement in the position of this administration and sadly, I learned last night that I was correct.

"And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too. " - President Elect Obama November 4 2008

The answer to the question "can you hear us now?" was all too clear last night - no he didn't hear us either recently or when 55 million of us did not vote for him in 2008 - the elections in November 2009 and Scott Brown's victory last week are no more than "campaign fever" to the man who said he was our President too.

Never mind that it was the Independents who basically swept him into office (nationally and surely in Mass) and a majority of those same Massachusetts independents who raised their voices symbolically in last weeks vote to let him know that they were not behind the health care reform bill that's still on the table or his increasing the burden of debt on the head of every single American alive today to more than $30,000.

Never mind that nationally more than 50% of the people say the same thing. This President has shown the audacity of arrogance in that he still thinks that we're against it because he hasn't been out there enough; we just aren't smart enough to understand that its riddled with bribes and taxes on the middle class instead of true fixes to real issues we face; that we, as a nation and as individuals just can't afford this health care plan - that energy bill - a new jobs bill that goes into affect before that freeze on spending for 2011; and that we're gullible enough to keep believing that its the Republicans who keep on saying only "no" just because he and his pundits keep saying it over and over again.

He told his party "don't run for the hills" which was the same as if he had said to them "don't listen to your constituents - they just don't understand what is good for them....lay your head on the block if you're up for re-election - don't stand in the way of my legacy of "fundamentally transforming" this great nation ~ ".

We got the answer to our questions - in arrogance that he is right on every portion of his platform and in an ear deaf to the voices of more than half of his people - he will force through a health care bill that will burden the very middle class he claims he "hears" and he will force through an Energy Bill that will - in his own words - "skyrocket" electricity bills for that same middle class - he will continue to borrow from China while he explodes the debt this nation holds while at the same time he blasts the previous administration for that same sin.... we can only hope that the moderate democrats in congress will be as tone deaf to his call last night to lay their heads on block as he was to the voices of the people he took an oath to serve.....and if not, November is only 10 months away at least for a whole lot of those congressional members.

The "Next Time" theme in the State of the Union Speech.....

What I do and don't want~~~

to hear from tonight's State of the Union...........

I DO want to hear that some CUTS to spending are on the table as well as a "freeze" of non defense spending...I mean when you've raised spending by 12% in last years Omnibus Bill and by 54% in the Stimulus bill (also of last year) then a partial freeze isn't going to do much with our federal debt.

I DON'T want to hear about how George Bush is the one to blame for every thing that this administration has done - he shares the blame but the President might like to remember that a whole lot of the members of Congress were there during the last eight years (unless of course they spent their time on the campaign trail having ghost writers sponsor bills for them....but that's another story).

I DO want to hear an admission that back room deals were made not only by Reid and Pelosi but also in the White House (Big Pharma and the Unions) - you know, take some real responsibility for why the health care reform bill is opposed by the majority of Americans.

I DON'T want to hear about how the Republicans obstructed the health care bill from passage - acknowledge that Scott Brown's election to the peoples seat of Massachusetts is what finally stopped what had already stalled because of the inability of the progressives to come to a compromise with the moderates in the Democrat Party.

I do want to hear more "our", "we", "us" in this speech;

I don't want to hear "I" and "me" and "my" more than those other words. Because he was right when he spoke in Ohio and said "its not about me"....it isn't. Its about us and our future; its about our children and their ability to live in a country where taxes are so oppressive that it affects their ability to increase their standard of living and whether our grandchildren will even recognize this country when they begin to find jobs and start families.

And, I plan on listening to this speech with the Lazy Boy in lounge position with my eyes closed.....so I don't have to watch the constant head turning required to use a teleprompter. I don't care that he uses one but he needs to spend less time on the head turning - its does a number on my vertigo.....

Life in the Country~~

Life out here surrounded by fields can become a bit insulated - we are sometimes more in tune with the seasons then with "real life" in the neighboring towns. Daily life mirrors to a great degree the Almanac...for instance, I've watched for the Cardinals to reappear in the gardens and suddenly as if on cue, they arrived on the 24th....suddenly the raccoons are much more active in the night hours. Venturing into our small town to visit the Meat Market or the Farmers Market or the feed store can sometimes be a jolting re-emergence into what's occurring close to us but not yet affecting us in any measurable way.

We've developed what may be a growing friendship with the owners of the meat market - discussions held while our orders are being filled have led to an awareness of the many things we have in common, not the least of which is a shared wedding anniversary date (and a tendency to show up at the same place and the same time for a celebratory lunch when that anniversary rolls around~~). We've been concerned for their small business since the price of gas first shot up to over $4.00 which resulted in the area restaurants suddenly experiencing a loss of their regular customers (their bread and butter so to speak) and then their ordering less meat from our friends. Our friends haven't said too much, but we noticed when they stopped accepting checks because of the number of bad checks they began to have to deal with; we noticed that too many times, we were the only customers in the shop where before there was an almost constant stream. Today's visit was just a bit different.

Although once again, we were the only customers in the shop, we were there very early in the business day for that store so at first we didn't think too much about it, but it seemed that today, our friend needed to unload some of the burden he carried. We learned that restaurants are bouncing checks or going out of business...and there appears there is a fear that our little meat market may not survive the year.

Things have calmed down for us a bit financially - Dave survived two rounds of layoffs at his job and our daughter - a casualty of the declining restaurant business two years ago and now having to work two jobs to survive, has gotten on her feet well enough to move back out. Dallas' student loan situation was solved (for the present term - we'll deal again with it for next fall). We've breathed a bit deeper and a bit more calmly and fallen back into the gentle rhythm of our life....

It's still bad out there though for way too many of the "main street" folks. Let's hope that the focus of the present administration is more on the jobs that main street needs then on jamming through a bill that the majority of Americans, regardless of political party, just don't want passed.

Rasmussen
Friday January 22 2010 - 58% oppose the present bills before Congress

Gallup
55% in favor of suspending the current bill and working with Republicans on a new bill.
Pollster.com
for a look at all of the January polls.

"Birthers, Baggers and Blowhards"

Some days blogging can be downright difficult; it could be due to some hardship that you're presently dealing with or simply a lack of anything important enough or funny enough or interesting enough to write about. Sometimes, there are too many things going on in the mind to even begin to get anything coherent onto the screen. I admire those journalists who have to come up with something every single day and whose job depends on it for their ability to wade through it all....if (sometimes) nothing else.

I'm about half way through my daily chores at the moment and while I worked on those I was trying to sort out my thoughts....it went kind of like this..........

Washing up the breakfast dishes and gazing out the kitchen window "I could blog about how brown everything is after our 11 days of freezing temps" which then led to "I could write about that electricity bill that just came in the mail".......followed by "shoot, everyone is experiencing brown everything and higher energy bills - that's not interesting, that's a downer".

Heading out to the chicken coop "I could blog about the de-worming process...never mind" or "...write about how silent it now is around here with only one rooster instead of five - no I'm not ready to blog about my four missing babies".

Then of course there's always what going on in politics which I was reminded of as I took a coffee break and watched a bit of news.....I could definitely blog about how one political "contributor" referred to those who were against the current health care reform bills as "birthers, baggers and blowhards"..........but if you want to read about that you'll have to read my other blog~~

Project Time~~

It's coming. I'm not certain I'm ready for it. But Dave's already talking about this springs projects and he's begun making his lists. I've begged for a bit more time and he's reluctantly agreed but I can see that I'll be lucky to get four weeks of rest before he's ready to begin.

It used to be that I was the one chomping at the bit to get started but that was back in the beginning of our time in this old farmhouse....back when the floors were either covered in horribly damaged lino or carpets that were way beyond their lifespan. We've since uncovered all of the wood flooring or put down new flooring where necessary in the main living areas of the house. And with the exception of our kitchen, I'm pretty much content with where we are at in our reno....not permanently content, but temporarily content.

The state of the floors when we moved into the house in 2004.

If David was ready to do our kitchen, then I'd be right there with him. I'm constantly saying to anyone who cares to listen that it is NOT a cook's kitchen. It's not even a good kitchen for those who don't do much cooking but still have to have cupboards full of food and bake stuff and staples. Usually the family hears my mumbled complaints after groceries have been brought into the house....the cabinets are too shallow and not tall enough - regular sized dinner plates don't fit well, tall bottles of Olive Oil or bags of bread flour have to be laid or leaned to fit. I'm not sure where the P.O's got these cabinets but they're NOT standard cabinets. If you walked in and just looked at my kitchen you would think that all is well and I've got lots of storage space...but you would be fooled.....as I was until I began to move in our kitchen things. Counter space is also deceiving...we've already extended the counter space once and I still need more....I'm so ready to redo the kitchen...but, we can't do the kitchen yet for a variety of reasons.

Although there were no major issues with this 100 year old house when we moved in, there were issues that needed to be addressed - things that aren't visible to the naked eye. As we tackled each of these jobs, we also designed the room where the work took place. This next job is one that's been on the "list" since we moved in but it, like the kitchen, was way down at the bottom - until last year that is.

It's not even going to be a huge job - my office resides in what was once the front porch of this house; you enter it either from what was originally an exterior door to the kitchen or from what used to be the exterior door to the living room (a french door now separates it from the living room).


This photo was taken before we moved in - look how young Hunter was - sorry -
I'm using it to give an idea of the doors - looking through the office, you can
see the door into the living room.

A wall of windows now exists on the exterior wall that was put up in the 80's. You step up from the office into both those rooms because the flooring in there is still the sub floor of that original front porch (the ceiling is the original bead board of the front porch). The project includes putting in a layer of insulation and then real wood flooring over the sub floor. We'll also be going into the interior wall to handle some minor electrical issues that we learned about during the insulating of the attic last year (when suddenly my ceiling fan quit working~) ... but I'm just not ready to empty out that room and find temporary homes for two large and one small bookcases, a large roll top desk and three chairs.....My little office that looks out over the fields and where the Camellia's are in bloom right now...the room where I write this blog, read my books and magazines....it's bright and its sunny and it helps me get through the winters. And I will feel the loss of using it daily.....

Looking into the office today (from the living room)

It's been a pretty rough year for us both emotionally and financially; our sanity has been saved to a large degree by the peace that we find both inside and outside this old farmhouse. Four more weeks of that peace isn't too much to ask......is it?

Calm after the storm....

We don't worry about tornado's in Florida too much; even when we do have them, they're usually quite small especially since I have memories of the huge tornado's of Indiana and Ohio...but yesterday, well, I have to admit that I was pretty darn shaken up.

I had my annual hair appointment yesterday morning - cut and color and as most women know, that is several hours worth of sitting in the salon (and I'm exaggerating only a little bit about it being an annual thing with me~~). Yesterday, we all knew the weather might get a bit rough but I don't think most of us expected it to be quite that bad....I began to wonder as I watched it turn dark as night out the salon window and watched the street lights turn on one by one at 1:30 in the afternoon. Driving out of the parking lot about 15 minutes later to head out to pick up Hunter from school, I turned on talk radio to get some weather news.....! Tornado's and funnel clouds were being reported from Duval, to Clay, to St. Johns county....school dismissals were being held for bus-ers and walkers and they were asking the parent pick up folks to wait a bit to head out for their kids. Twenty five minutes from home and only about 10 minutes from the school, I decided to get to the school asap...and then decide whether to drive on home or take shelter in the school.

In hindsight, I should probably have remained at the school (where they kept all the kids for an additional hour and fifteen minutes~~) because as Hunter and I raced home, they were reporting tornado's heading our way from two different sides of us....we saw one funnel cloud as we crossed over I95......

We made it home just before the rains and winds hit our place...driving up the country road and looking at the sky our little house appeared to be in the middle of a circle of clouds.....all the dark and dangerous looking ones seemed to be circling us......I know that part of it was the illusion of safety that came because I could see the end of our rather harrowing drive home but the house looked sheltered in some way from the chaos that surrounded it....

We stashed our stuff and shut windows and doors as the first bit of rain came down, we watched as debris began to fly and hit those windows and we listened to the silence of a house in which the power has failed making us more aware of the howling winds just outside......Two hours later, it all calmed down and we ventured out to check on the chickens equipped with our raincoats and mud boots.....and spent the remainder of our day talking to family and friends and being grateful that when all was said and done, not too much damage was being reported......the only thing we lost yesterday was a few hours of Internet connectivity......I wish the Haitians had been so lucky.

6 reforms I'd like to see in America's heath industry