The last blogging opportunity of the year and I have nothing to write about. Until you find yourself obligated to write something nearly every day, you don't realize how boring your life can be. I follow several blogs and am amazed at the ability of some folks to be creative, funny, interesting, and thoughtful, day after day.
It will be another subdued night for us, New Year arrival, or not. We have a movie to watch, so that will probably take us up to the midnight hour. It’s no use trying to get to sleep earlier, as one neighbor usually fires a shotgun and another launches fireworks as the clock strikes twelve. The dogs will panic and bark, so sleep will have to wait until everything quiets down.
Here’s hoping that by this time next year we will find our Republic on the road to recovery…without blood in the streets.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
One Year Almost Gone and Another Approaches
I might be crazy, but I can already feel the stirring of spring about this time of the year. Despite the daylight hours being only seconds longer, it's noticable already. Even the Cardinals are singing their spring mating song.
The hydrangias are expressing similar optimism, as fresh, green growth is already showing. Ditto for our mutant weeping cherry. As I was removing the Christmas lights, I saw new buds that weren't there three weeks ago when I put up the lights.
I did manage to get all the Christmas lights down and packed away. Only the tree remains to be stripped and banished to the attic for another year.
I've been working on the replacement engine for my convertible. It's been sitting in a corner waiting to be assembled since before we moved to East Texas and I finally got around to putting the pieces together. I'm missing some small parts that are on order, but when they arrive, I should finish in a couple of hours. It sure is nice to have a warm, brightly lit shop to work in.
The hydrangias are expressing similar optimism, as fresh, green growth is already showing. Ditto for our mutant weeping cherry. As I was removing the Christmas lights, I saw new buds that weren't there three weeks ago when I put up the lights.
I did manage to get all the Christmas lights down and packed away. Only the tree remains to be stripped and banished to the attic for another year.
I've been working on the replacement engine for my convertible. It's been sitting in a corner waiting to be assembled since before we moved to East Texas and I finally got around to putting the pieces together. I'm missing some small parts that are on order, but when they arrive, I should finish in a couple of hours. It sure is nice to have a warm, brightly lit shop to work in.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Folklore or Fact?
It doesn't show very well in this photo, but there is a bright ring around the moon tonight. According to the experts, it doesn't mean bad weather is on the way, but according to the achy muscles and joints in my body, we're in for a storm. The Weather Channel agrees with the experts, as they are calling for only a slight chance of showers on Tuesday.
I guess we'll see who calls it right, and if I'm wrong, I can always blame it on impending senility. If they're wrong, they'll have to blame it on bad science.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmases Past
Our schoolhouse was slightly larger than this one. It had three windows on each side, but it was much the same design.
As some of you know, my first eight years of formal schooling took place in a one room country school bereft of such luxuries as electricity and running water. Toilet facilities consisted of his and hers outhouses a hundred feet from the schoolhouse and water was hauled from farm wells to be carefully rationed out by the teacher.
The intense cold of the North Dakota winter was kept at bay by an ancient pot-bellied stove that the older kids kept stoked with chunks of locally mined lignite, and the glowing ashes from the coal stove were spread outside the door to help melt the ever present packed snow and ice in winter.
Despite rustic accommodations, the rural schools were the social centers of the townships and some type of event was held there on every major holiday during the school year. Christmas was no exception. In fact, it was the biggest celebration of the year. The modern issue of the separation of church and state was non-existent in a part of the country where the right to worship, or not worship, was respected and tolerated by everyone. There was even a framed copy of the Ten Commandments hanging on the schoolhouse wall and the ACLU might be disappointed to learn that religion in our schools didn’t turn everyone into Christian fanatics bent on denying Atheists their right to not believe.
Immediately following Thanksgiving, the teacher and students would begin preparing entertainment for the Christmas party that traditionally took place on the last day of school before Christmas vacation began. A play was always the main event and every student took part, often reciting their part from a simple script written by the teacher. I seem to recall that every year it was a story about the birth of Jesus, presented in different ways, which gave us the opportunity to sing different Christmas carols.
The day of the Christmas party, we would create a stage and curtains at one end of the room by hanging borrowed sheets on stove pipe wire strung across the room. Fathers would bring planks and concrete blocks from home to make benches for the audience to sit on. They also brought gas lanterns and kerosene lamps so we could hold the party after dark, which fell very early at that latitude, only a day or two after the winter solstice.
All the students would go home after classes, change into their best clothes, and return to the school for one last practice to see if everyone had learned their lines. The parents and neighbors would arrive early, each bringing casseroles and trays of goodies to be shared by everyone.
The play would last perhaps 10 minutes, then the kids would sing secular carols, and the best readers might read a poem, or short story. Then it was time to dig in and visit with friends and neighbors for the last time before the new year began.
No matter how long I live, I will never forget the sights, sounds and scents from those simple gatherings. Christmas was unapologetically called Christmas and people celebrated the birth of Jesus without a concern for political correctness. It was a good time for our country, and I was fortunate to have lived it.
Merry Christmas, Everyone.
As some of you know, my first eight years of formal schooling took place in a one room country school bereft of such luxuries as electricity and running water. Toilet facilities consisted of his and hers outhouses a hundred feet from the schoolhouse and water was hauled from farm wells to be carefully rationed out by the teacher.
The intense cold of the North Dakota winter was kept at bay by an ancient pot-bellied stove that the older kids kept stoked with chunks of locally mined lignite, and the glowing ashes from the coal stove were spread outside the door to help melt the ever present packed snow and ice in winter.
Despite rustic accommodations, the rural schools were the social centers of the townships and some type of event was held there on every major holiday during the school year. Christmas was no exception. In fact, it was the biggest celebration of the year. The modern issue of the separation of church and state was non-existent in a part of the country where the right to worship, or not worship, was respected and tolerated by everyone. There was even a framed copy of the Ten Commandments hanging on the schoolhouse wall and the ACLU might be disappointed to learn that religion in our schools didn’t turn everyone into Christian fanatics bent on denying Atheists their right to not believe.
Immediately following Thanksgiving, the teacher and students would begin preparing entertainment for the Christmas party that traditionally took place on the last day of school before Christmas vacation began. A play was always the main event and every student took part, often reciting their part from a simple script written by the teacher. I seem to recall that every year it was a story about the birth of Jesus, presented in different ways, which gave us the opportunity to sing different Christmas carols.
The day of the Christmas party, we would create a stage and curtains at one end of the room by hanging borrowed sheets on stove pipe wire strung across the room. Fathers would bring planks and concrete blocks from home to make benches for the audience to sit on. They also brought gas lanterns and kerosene lamps so we could hold the party after dark, which fell very early at that latitude, only a day or two after the winter solstice.
All the students would go home after classes, change into their best clothes, and return to the school for one last practice to see if everyone had learned their lines. The parents and neighbors would arrive early, each bringing casseroles and trays of goodies to be shared by everyone.
The play would last perhaps 10 minutes, then the kids would sing secular carols, and the best readers might read a poem, or short story. Then it was time to dig in and visit with friends and neighbors for the last time before the new year began.
No matter how long I live, I will never forget the sights, sounds and scents from those simple gatherings. Christmas was unapologetically called Christmas and people celebrated the birth of Jesus without a concern for political correctness. It was a good time for our country, and I was fortunate to have lived it.
Merry Christmas, Everyone.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
When I Need a Music Fix
In my opinion, there has never been a better singing voice in the popular music field than that of Roy Orbison. His new website has a great feature called Roy Orbison Radio that features all of his music, as well as interviews and interesting bits about his life and career.
Roy Orbison Radio
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