Happy Birthday

Today Jasmine turns 21!  It's hard to believe that she first came to stay with us when she was 16 and now she's turning 21.  Her birthday was about a month after she moved in, and we were in the middle of a show.  I picked her up some flowers and balloons for that first birthday to go with the gift we gave her.  This year, we took her out to the Cheesecake Factory, and she got to buy a fancy alcoholic drink, which she seemed excited about.  It wasn't her first drink, because she got off work and it was after midnight so she and a few people stopped by a bar before coming home so she could get her first drink.

I'm very proud of how she has grown up, and how hard she works.  She's killing it at school, and at work.  She's seemed to become very focused and centered and her life seems much calmer and positive than it used to be.  I love to hear about how she's doing in school, and the plans she has for her future.  With how hard she's been working I'm sure that she will succeed in anything she really wants to.  I'm thrilled at how her self confidence has grown, and her unwillingness to take shit.  She's grown up into quite a young lady.

So, happy birthday Jasmine!

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 192
We forgot it was a Sunday and with a 90 minute wait and no open stores, Sal spent most the time walking around the mall.  She literarily walked the entire perimeter, which is pretty impressive for her tiny baby legs.

Family Reunion

Today was my mom's annual family reunion.  Sometimes I'm not sure if you can really call it a reunion as there were only a few people who come.  That's less like a reunion and more like having some family over for dinner.  This year when I arrived there were quite a few people, and a number of them I didn't recognize.  Unfortunately, being bad with names, I couldn't tell you who they were.  I also really couldn't tell you how they are related.  I know they are all relatives on my gran's side, and they are the kids and grandkids of her brothers and sisters for the most part.  However, there were a few people who are related through my great grandma's brother.

This year I had the photo album that I made for my grandparents handy, so I decided to bring it along.  A lot of people were very interested in it, and were asking me a lot of questions about who was in the photos.  It was interesting for me to be telling people about the photos, because usually I'm the one listening about it.  With all the family from 11 siblings, you'd think more people would be around, but there were only about 15 or so.  Sal was also a big hit with everyone, as they had seen plenty of photos from Facebook.  She was at Stephanie's shower, so she showed up looking all glam, haha.

So, thus ends another "family reunion" though this year with all the new people it was a bit more interesting than usual.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 191

Sal was super tired while we were lounging at my gran's looking after my aunt while my gran had a doctor appointment.  She was 100% ready for sleep, but we had to wait a bit.

I'm With Her

The convention is over, and Clinton is the official nominee of the Democratic party, and the first time a woman has won the nomination of a major party.  This is big news in itself, and I have to say that her convention speech was pretty good.  She was not as eloquent and inspiring as President Obama or former President Clinton.  She doesn't get you fired up like Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders.  She's not as approachable as Joe Biden.  However, that doesn't matter, and her speech was good.  It outlined what she wanted to do, it set her vision and discussed the party platform.  It doesn't matter if she's as good an orator as anyone else, because the substance is what matters.

She is our nominee, and the only thing that stands in front of a Trump presidency.  That should be enough for all the Bernie blowhards to get off their entitled asses and stop fucking around with the Green Party.  However, they're not politically mature enough to do that, so you can't expect them to think of the big picture.  However, I'm getting sick of the naysayers and Hillary haters who try to act like she's not a good nominee, is unqualified, or unfit.  Let's remember that she is an attorney, a former first lady, a former senator, and a former secretary of state.  When they say that there is no one who is more qualified for the position.  With a resume like that she is in the company of men like Thomas Jefferson who have served in multiple branches and possibly has more experience than most people going for the job, certainly more than Trump.

I think people need to stop listening to the 25 year narrative that Republicans have been using to try and tear her down.  She lies no more than any other politician.  She' not the devil.  She's not evil.  What's more telling is that she's had very high approval ratings when she's not running for office but as soon as she's running the narrative shifts.  People need to get out of their Fox News or Bernie Bros bubbles and reject the false narrative.  Yes, policywise she may not perfectly match your ideas, but in all reality she'd be like a third Obama term and if you've been fine with Obama, then you have no excuse for ripping on Clinton.

In short, I'm With Her!  And I'm done with the bashing and I'm not going to let it idly go by.  Prepare for a lot of challenges to your bullshit assumptions on her.  She's qualified, she's ready, and she will make a great president.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 190
No Caption Needed

Park Adventure

Today we decided to take some time out to spend at the park rather than working on the to do list or projects.  Sara and her daughter Amelia joined us in the morning and we took a short walk to the park near us that we used to do our shows at.  At first she didn't seem to know what she wanted to do. She just kind of stared at all equipment and children playing before deciding that she'd just like to swing.  We did that for quite some time, and then I let her walk around on the ground where she decided that with all the fantastic options she wanted to sit and play with the wood chips.

Eventually she decided that she wanted to give the playground a try and ended up spending most of her time running in circles where she'd pull herself up onto the equipment then run off it so that she could pull herself back up.  She also found this bridge that was made of a sort of treadmill belt sort of material.  She found that when she walked on that it kind of bounced and called it a "boom boom" which is what she calls her trampoline.  She did throw a bit of a fit when I made her get back in the stroller so we could go get lunch.  In fact, she somehow managed to rip the entire canopy off her stroller in her rage.  However, lunch was a good idea because she was so hungry.  I ordered her french toast, and she ate nearly two whole pieces and some bacon as well.  Overall it was a nice morning of play time.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 189
Sal was way too cool for the rest of the kids at the playground.  She had to do her own thing and pose for these very artistic distant stares.

Family History

I've been working on some family history stuff, and it was one of the projects that I wanted to get done over the summer when I had plenty of time.  One of those projects was to get pictures and locations for the burial sites of family members.  So, today I hopped in the car with Sal and we took a trip around Michigan to get some pictures for the project.

We started our trip by heading west with the final stop being Kalamazoo.  However, since we going right past we decided to stop in Albion to visit the sites of Grandma and Grandpa Berry.  I wasn't sure I was going to stop and considered it the entire way out there.  As most people know the Berrys are family on account of marriage. My last name comes from that marriage because my step father adopted me and my sister so that the entire family would have the same last name.  So I figured we might as well stop as I'm sure Sal or grandkids may wonder where the name comes from.

So, we stopped at a tiny cemetery across from a corn field outside of Albion to visit the graves. I was instantly reminded of my childhood as the smell was exactly as I remember it from childhood as we lived right near here.  I never knew grandpa Berry because he died shortly after I was born and far before my mom married my step father.  I did know grandma Berry, and as a kid never cared for her too much.  She was a little strange, and very vigilant for hooliganism.  She watched the buildings across the street, and was very wary of strangers.  I guess it had something to do with her upbringing.  She also collected things like milk jug rings.  I don't know why.  We didn't see much of her after my mom divorced my step father, and then we moved to Virginia.

Before heading out we took a quick drive through the trailer park that I used to live in.  There were a few trailers still there from when I lived there nearly 25 years ago. Everything had grown up so I didn't really recognize most of the places.  There were also a lot of vacant lots, and in my memory it wasn't as run down as it seemed to be now.  However, that seems to be the case of Albion in general.  I decided to drive through town too.  We went through the park, which still seemed pretty nice.  I considered letting Sal out to play for a while, but she was looking tired so we kept moving.  I will say that the downtown area seemed like they were trying to revitalize it, and it was in better shape than I remember, but overall the town seemed sad and run down.



After the short detour we got back on the highway and continued our drive to the Battle Creek/Kalamazoo area to Fort Custer National Cemetery to visit the grave of my paternal grandfather.  This was my first visit since the funeral, which was 13 years ago.  We also didn't go to the actual grave site, because they had a special area for funerals.  I knew from the online site that hew as buried in Section L and was grave 188.  However, I was a bit confused when I arrived because it looked like an empty field.  But as I walked out I saw that it was just all the sort of headstones that lie flat.

I'm not entirely sure why they decided to bury my grandfather here rather than closer to home, though I understand a bit of the reasoning.  My grandpa fought in World War II and actually trained at Fort Custer, so I learned from my genealogy work.  He volunteered for a group that later became known as Merrill's Marauders, which I've mentioned in a previous post.  This was a dangerous mission that lasted about a year, and on account of his service he and all the other members of the group received the Bronze Star.  I recall he showed me his medals once, and talked about being at Pearl Harbor when the war started, but he never talked about his time in India and Burma.  I regret that I didn't get to hear about this, especially since I'm not a historian and teacher.  However, my life is full of strained family ties, this is just one of the consequences of those choices my parents made.

Our next stop was to head out towards Hillsdale at a tiny cemetery where a number of people are buried.  I thought that I had visited this cemetery before, but when we arrived it was nothing like the memory in my head was, so I don't think that I ever had.  It is located way out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields and farms.  We actually saw two Amish men drive past with their horse drawn farming equipment.  Sal was intrigued and when she saw the horses she made the noises she makes for horses.   The cemetery is not large, but I had no idea where I was going, but quickly spotted one of the graves and found that all three were located near each other.

The first is the grave of my maternal grandma's sister Elizabeth and her husband Ardell.  We called them Aunt Liz and Uncle Joe.  Aunt Liz I remember as always being kind of quiet and proper.  She was very nice and soft spoken.  Out of the aunts she was probably my second favorite on account of we didn't see her often and we saw my aunt Helen all the time.  Uncle Joe I also really liked.  He was very friendly and just seemed like a nice guy.  I really liked both of them, I have good memories of them from when I was growing up.

Right behind them slightly to the right is the grave of my Uncle Claydewy.  We just called him uncle Clay, though my gran and great gran often called him Claydewy.  He was my favorite of the uncles, and he was my Gran's older brother (his twin sister Claydean is the only one of the 11 still with us, other than my gran).  Every time I remember uncle Clay I see him smiling and laughing, because it seemed like that was what he was always doing.  I was shocked when my gran told me that he lost a son at and was never quite as happy again after that.  His wife is still alive, she's in a nursing home somewhere, but I'm not sure where.  I haven't seen her since probably my aunt Liz's funeral where she saw me and said, "You're getting fat!"  Thanks, aunt Barb.  Haha.

Right to the left of my uncle Clay is my great grandma.  I feel very fortunate to have lived much of my life knowing her.  She died when I was 13, and because she lived with my grandma, and because we spent so much time there, I interacted with her a lot.  I was too young to really ask her about her life.  However, it's crazy to me to think about the way the world changed in her lifetime.  To think that I know someone who was born in the 1800s and went from horse and buggy to man on the moon and the internet is awesome in the original sense of the word.  The last time I saw her was right before we moved to Virginia.  She wasn't doing too well and I remember there was a sense that this would probably be the last time I saw her.  She was in bed because she couldn't get around much anymore and we said our good byes and gave her hugs before we left the house to drive down.  She died two months later and we drove back up for the funeral.  She was quite a lady, and I've been scanning old pictures and thinking about her a lot as I do it.

The last stop was very short as I've been a number of times, and it's right down the road from us. I stopped off to visit my grandpa.  It's hard to believe that he's been gone ten years this year.  When I was tilling up the area for the garden my gran came out and saw that it was getting somewhat large, and she said to me, "YOU'RE AS BAD AS YOUR GRANDPA!"  That made me laugh because he did have a garden that was even bigger than the one that I put in.  He was big into that, and spent the last few months trying to fix his tractor.  Now that I'm gardening too, I kind of wish it hadn't been sold, though it always seemed to need work, and I'm not equipped for fixing tractors.

Knowing that it's been ten years, I think back on the time before that, and it doesn't seem like so long ago.  The first though I always have is walking up to the house and he'd usually be standing at the door in the basement looking out watching the birds and cars pass.  He'd usually say, "Hey Jason" as I headed to the front door.  He wasn't a big talker, but he'd always say hi, and he might talk about work or his garden, but that was about the extent of it.  I remember he took me and my friend Allen for a tour of the plant he worked in when I was about 15.  He seemed quite pleased to introduce me to everyone he worked with.  I enjoyed seeing the plant, it was pretty cool.

I also remember that not long before he died he had talked about wanting to go back to his hometown of Wellsville for a high school reunion.  He had asked if I'd be interested in going with him.  I don't recall why it didn't happen, I think it was because he got sick before hand.  I now wish that we could have gone and I could have asked about growing up and the town.  One of the stops on the vacation is to stop by Wellsville to visit the graves of his parents. It would have been nice to get a tour of the town he grew up in from him, especially since I've found some old things of his like certificates and awards, as well as some old year book photos.  It's a shame that my interest in family history has come too late, though perhaps that is what has sparked it.  Knowing that there comes a time when it is too late and trying to get what you can before you lose all connections to that past.

It was quite a day, we ended up driving nearly 300 miles, but Sal was a real champ, and we got some good information and photos for documentation.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 188

Sal wanted to make sure the flag was secure.

Thieves

Earlier today I got a call from my gran.  Well, I've had several calls, she's been calling a lot.  The reason for that is that earlier this morning on her first call she let me know that she went out to the barn because she noticed that the beam she leans against the door was moved.  She walked out to find that the lock had been cut off and opened the doors to find that her lawn mower was gone.  Someone broke into her barn and stole her lawn mower.  What the actual fuck?  This is crazy because it's the only think of any value in that barn.  The rest of the barn is literally just junk that needs to be thrown away.  So, it's that and a snowblower, and my rototiller.  But the only thing missing was the mower.  It's a nice mower too.  One of the large ones that lawn crews generally use.

I guess the other night she heard something but looked out and didn't see anything.  She said it sounded like a deer rubbing it's antlers on a tree.  Probably was the thieves cutting the lock off.  I think this is even more absurd because my grandparents have lived in this house for around 45 years and never have they had things stolen.  And for most of that time, up until about 8-10 years ago, the barn didn't even have doors.  It was just open and anyone could go in if they wanted.

It's also crazy because my gran usually has the windows open and would have heard a vehicle or a lawnmower driving away, which means they would have had to push it somewhere.  Now, let me tell you, that mower is not easy to push.  There is no neutral, it's either driving or it's not.  Once we had a belt break and my gran and I had to push it in from the field.  It was so heavy and took forever.  I guess they had all night. My first thought was that the neighbors took it.  They seem really shifty and seem to think their yard extends quite a ways into my gran's land and have been shitty about people "mowing their lawn" that isn't theirs.  I don't know, they just give me bad vibes.

I'm not amused by this.  Don't steal! It's not yours!

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 188
I was cleaning out our closet and found the hat I bought in Disney for our wedding to keep the sun off my face.  Sal saw it and decided she wanted to wear it.  This is generally pretty odd as she usually pulls hats right off her head, but not this time.  She's so super cute.

Garden Update

I don't have a ton of pictures for this update, as there's not a big change from the last one that I posted.  Things are going well, and it seems like the end of the zucchini are near.  I think in the end we're going to have ended up picking around three dozen zucchini.  I'm happy to say that so far we've only thrown one away, and that was because it wasn't really the best to begin with and then got all squiddgy so we had to.  That's a lot of squash off of only three plants.  At the end it's been hard to find people who want it, as I think everyone is all zucchinied out.  I will say that I've loved the stir fry and tempura zucchini that we made, it was very delicious.

In other news we are starting to get tomatoes.  The problem is that they weren't separated well and I'm not sure which are my Romas and which are my San Marzanos I think I know, but they look very similar.  We're also getting a ton of grape tomatoes.  Now, the one thing about me is that I enjoy tomatoes in things.  A few slices in a salad, made into tomato sauce, etc.  I'm not really one to just eat them.  However, these grape tomatoes are so sweet and delicious that I've just been popping them pretty quickly.  We've picked probably five pints, and I want to be sure we do them next year too.

The melons are doing their melon things still.  They're growing and getting larger, though the cantaloupes seem like they're going to stay really small, which is a bit disappointing.  They didn't do very well from the start, and I think they were planted a little too late.  The upside, the pumpkins are starting to come in, and I've got one that's already the size of a softball.  Right now I think I have around 6-8 pumpkins that I can find.  We're also starting to see corn that looks like it's going to be ready soon.  It's not that big, but that could be on account of how dry things were this year.

So far for a first garden we've been pretty successful.  However, at the same time I've learned a lot.  The most important is that we needed more room.  I followed the planting guide pretty well, but a few things are too close together, especially the tomatoes.  I also need something to help the peas stay upright.  I also think the corn was too crowded and needed a little more space.  Some of this is because I started a bit late and it took a lot of time to prepare the area for planting.  For the longest time we weren't sure we had the tools needed, so it was a bit slapdash at the beginning.  Next year it will be planned out much better.

So, many lessons learned, and many things picked.  I'm looking forward to doing this again next year, and hopefully what I've figured out will mean better results.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 187
A view of the garden from the other side.

The End Is Near

As I mentioned a few days ago, we are going to be taking some time off and doing some low key travels to New England and the UP.  This is going to eat up the first two weeks of August.  Looking at the calendar I realized that this means that this week will be my last week off at home, as next week will be spent traveling around New England, and the following week will be spend traveling around Michigan.  The week after that I start my new teacher orientation, and the week after that I start having to go into the school every day (possibly/probably details still coming).  The end of my summer at home is near, and coming quickly.  It went by so fast, and looking at the list of things I wanted to get done, I clearly didn't have enough time.  Well, either that or I had way too much on my list.  In all reality I did get a lot done, and a lot of what I got done had been on my list for way too long (I'm looking at you, guest room closet that I've been meaning to clean out for about two years and finally did last week)!

I'm pretty excited to be getting my own classroom this year, and I need to really start thinking about how I want to organize it, and what I want to have in the room.  I learned a lot about organization from the way the teacher I covered for in Plymouth had things set up.  I'm definitely going to have to steal some of her ideas.  That also means I'm actually going to have to go out to a store and find things that I need for the classroom.  I got to visit it a few weeks back to see what resources were there.  It wasn't much, basically just text books and a bunch of junk that had been left that I'm not sure I'm going to keep.  I certainly need to get stuff so it doesn't look empty.  I loved the very established look that the teacher in Plymouth had.  I feel like I also need to get some EMU stuff as I think most the schools I've been at seem to promote what college teachers went to as a way to encourage students to also go to college.  I've never been a big "GO EMU!" sort of person, but I suppose if it's for the children...

So, with this week comes the end of my task list, and a shift into August thinking about teaching things, and an entirely new to do list.  I've got a lot of books to read, lessons to plan, classroom to organize.  It's exciting, but a little intimidating as I'm not a sub anymore, and I'm going to be judged as a regular teacher.  Though given the difficulty they seem to have finding teachers, and the fact that I'm one of 3 (or possibly 4 as the jury is still out on that) new teachers in a middle school with only 9 teachers total, I'm sure I'll do fine.

Lots to do!

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 186
Sal decided all her books had to go "night-night" and I found her throwing them all into her crib one at a time.  Shortly after that she decided she needed to go to sleep too.  She's like a dragon with her hoard.

Pantry Precautions

For the past few weeks/month and a half, I have been a stay at home dad while I wait to start my new job in August.  The time is going much faster than I originally anticipated it would, and my to do list is going much slower than I really wanted it to. A large portion of that is that Sal has kept me quite busy.  She's quite demanding with my time, and insists that I read to her, or pick her up, or sit and watch Fraggles with her (and then throws a fit when I don't let her watch more than one episode.

At the same time it's also frustrating to try and figure out what she wants.  She hasn't grown a vocabulary enough to express everything she wants to convey to you, so there is a lot of pointing and "uhh!"  This is especially frustrating when trying to get her to eat and everything you show her she says, "no" and rejects.  She clearly wants something but I have no idea what.  Most the time I ask her to show me, and then most the time it turns out she doesn't actually know, she just wants to look around.  She's also taken to raiding the pantry and every time I turn around I find that she's grabbed a box of something and strewn it all over the floor.  Usually whatever she got has individually wrapped things inside so they aren't ruined.  But, the dogs can get into wrappers, and have no problem eating it all, as evidenced by their wrapper filled poops in the back yard.

The solution to this problem is that I had to buy a handle with a lock to our pantry.  This is only a temporary solution, as she's already figured out that something around the center of the circle is what does the locking, and is trying to figure out how to turn the little locking switch.  I figure this will mean one of two things.  Either, she will stop going to the pantry at all because she knows she can't get in it and just find other things to do.  Or, she will be compelled to try harder and figure out how to unlock to door and liberate all her snacks.

It's probably going to be the second option.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 185
Sal turned on the TV and Bluray player and had Fraggle Rock going when I walked into the room.  She seemed pretty proud of her accomplishment.

Vacation

It's been nearly a year since our last vacation, and thanks to the stability of having a job this fall we were able to decide on taking some time off in a few weeks.  Becky was able to swing two weeks off, which is good because once school starts I'm not going to be able to take any time off that isn't off school already like Thanksgiving or winter break.  The question became, what do we do with the booty princess.  Do we take her?  Do we find someone for her to stay with?  What do you do with an 18 month old?  If we take her how are we going to plan our day since she needs her two hours of sleep in the middle of the afternoon.

We decided to split it up and the first week we are going to New England and taking Sal to the ocean.  Becky has also been wanting to visit the ocean for some time now, and our friends in Rhode Island would love to see Sal, so it seemed like a really good choice.  We're going to break up the drive out there so that there are lots of stops that we can let Sal get out and enjoy some time that isn't strapped into a car seat.  We're not sure what we want to do while we're out that way, but the beach for sure.  I wouldn't mind stopping on the way out to visit the FDR home and presidential library becuase they have a special exhibit on Pearl Harbor since this December is the 75th anniversary of the attack.

We'll see what we end up doing.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 184
While eating breakfast Sal saw the lei hanging and insisted that I put it on.  She then ran around the house away from me laughing like a madgirl.

GOP-Con

So, the Republicans just wrapped up their con.  As with all cons they were out there super excited to see the speakers, I'm sure were enjoying the merch room, and were all cosplaying as white racist Americans pretending they aren't really racists.  Though, you'd think that with the rhetoric they'd feel comfortable brushing the dust off the ol' Klan robes and taking them out for a stroll.  Maybe next con.

In all seriousness, the Republican convention just finished and they have nominated not only a terrible candidate, but an outright dangerous type of person.  In any other year talk like that would be hyperbolic, much like how Obama is Hitler, or Bush is Hitler.  However, this year is different.  Donald Trump has real fascist and authoritarian tones.  He silences those that challenge him, such as pulling the press credentials from the Washington Post.  He praises dictators like Saddam Hussain, and is promoted by dictators like Kim Jung Un.  He talks highly of Vladimir Putin.  He talks about purging the government of people who were appointed or hired by Democrats to ensure everyone is on his "team" which is what authoritarian rulers do.

This is not your normal candidate.  This isn't a Mitt Romney, or George Bush (W or HW).  In fact, none of those men will endorse Trump.  It seems pretty telling that there is no living ex-president who is endorsing Trump.  The men who actually know what the job is like and probably have a better idea of what it takes than anyone else.  None of these men will endorse him.  That says a lot.

It also says a lot about what this party is all about to watch the convention and see what they say.  Fear is the thing that they are selling, or more aptly, preying upon.  He discusses "law and order" an blatantly lies about crime in this country (which is at the lowest level since the 1960s).  He vilifies immigrants, Muslims, people of color, and tries to divide us.  He talks about "making America great again" (incidentally the Nazi's used "Make Germany great again") and does nothing but tear out country down and talk about everything wrong, going so far as to making things up that are "wrong" to be angry about.

When you watch this snake-oil salesman speak, it completely blows my mind when people try to equate him to Clinton.  To try and say there is no difference seems to me to be purposefully ignorant and obstinate.  There are worlds of differences between the candidates, and without even seeing the Democratic convention that should be obvious.  This man is dangerous and disgusting.  This isn't a normal election and in the end you are either helping to defeat him, or you are helping him gain power.  People like to say that what happened in Europe in the 1930s could happen in the U.S.  That fascism and authoritarianism couldn't possible take root here.  Well, here is your chance to prove that.  Here is your chance to make a difference and stop that kind of threat from power.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 183
It'd be really nice if she'd go back to eating her PB&J like a normal human being instead of taking it apart, using her hand to scrape out all the insides, then ripping apart the bread and eating it in little pieces.  It makes a terrible mess.

The Great Spider Massacre

I've been steadily working on my to do list, and today while Sal was napping I decided to start working on some of the basement related tasks, which included mopping the floors.  Well, my office has been a bit nasty because we have a spider problem in our basement.  Now, as you may be aware I don't like spiders at all.  Though, I will say that the spiders we have don't really bother me.  They are small and have very thin tiny legs.  Because they're small I can't see the gross features that bother me most, such as the larger spiders with nasty hair, and thick legs, and gross eyes.  I did have a giant one running around the office once, I thought it was something that had died due to the spiders but then we got too close and it decided to Jessie Owens it across the floor, which made me Javier Sotomayor it and head for the hills.

Well, in order to mop I had to suck up all the gross spider droppings, webs, and unfortunately for them, the spiders.  Part of me feels bad, they're there minding their own business, going about their day, eating tiny bugs.  Then I come up and suck them into a vortex of spinning death.  At the same time they really skeeve me out, and I hate walking somewhere in my office and have spiders dangle down to greet me, or have spider webs get all up in my face like an angry baby-mama on the Jerry Springer show. THEY KNOW I AIN'T THE FATHER! Plus, there are plenty of spider-appropriate places that they could live in the basement and not be disturbed.  They could Harry Potter it under the stairs.  They could gay republican it up in the closet.  They could live about anywhere in the utility room.  But no, they want to live where I will have to suck them up with a Dyson.

The internet hippies tell me that if I make a solution of water, dish soap, and peppermint oil, it will drive them out because it will be the equivalent of a teen boy with his first can of Axe body spray and the obnoxious smell will send spiders packing.  I suppose it's worth a try and I do love peppermint, though I wish those damn hippies would get a haircut.  Damn hippies.


Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 182
The hydrangea have gotten to their full bloom, and this year they're looking good.  Last year we only ended up with one bloom on one of the plants, and it didn't show up till August.  This year we have probably half a dozen of these blooms on one plant, though the other has nothing.

Some Additional Comments

Yesterday I was rather critical regarding the idea of a third party that I think require some additional commentary because as a whole the idea of multiple parties is not a bad idea and there are many benefits to having additional parties.  However, the reason I am critical of that idea is because of the political landscape that we live in.  Unfortunately our political system is where the person with the most votes wins.  That seems to be a great idea when you first think about it, because if you got the most votes then you should be the person that wins, right?  Well, the problem is that if you have multiple parties this means the person that gets the most votes could easily be in a position where a minority elected them.  Say you have three parties where one party wins 40% of the vote, one gets 35% and one gets 25%.  In that situation you have 40% voting for the party that "won" but 60% of the people voted for someone else.  This is why I'm critical because the only way that it works well is if there are two parties, and people then compromise a lot and choose a party they want to win rather than what they believe in.

However, that's the system we have and that is why I'm very critical about voting for a third party.  Because of our most votes wins system a third party will never work out well, and will in the end make sure the viable candidate loses because votes were redirected to the third candidate thus making the opposition win.  Because of this a third party is self-destructive until we alter the system we have, and there are some far better ideas out there, for example there's the alternative vote, which is like a runoff election where you get to vote and put the candidates in the order you'd prefer, and if your first choice doesn't win and is eliminated then your votes will go for someone else.  So in the current situation say you voted for the Green Party, but put the Democrats as your second choice.  The Green party loses (as we all know they will), but in the Alternative Vote model you didn't waste your vote and your vote gets transferred to the Democrats.  This makes a lot more sense because it can be more reflective of people's beliefs, but you don't have to be afraid of voting for your beliefs because if in the end your person doesn't win, you can make sure your voice still is counted.

Multiple parties could be better for democracy, and my criticism of them is because of the system that we are currently in.  It should also be noted that this wouldn't help solve the problem of corporate and financial control and influence because it doesn't address the way we fund elections or the insane idea that money is the same as speech and that corporations are people.  This is a different set of worms, but the alternative vote would be a step in the right direction.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 181
This is slightly cheating because this is the sunset from Sunday not today, but it was pretty and I wanted to use it. Sometimes we get some really pretty sunsets.

Third Party Sour Grapes

I unfortunately have the misfortune of knowing a lot of "Bernie or Bust" people who have started talking a lot about the Green Party since he endorsed Secretary Clinton. This is somewhat amusing given the track record of the arguments I've had with them from the beginning where in conversations I said that Sanders would do well, but not win; that he'd stay in the race till all the voting had ended; that he'd then use the political capital he had to influence the party platform; and finally that he'd endorse Mrs. Clinton as soon as that happened.  In each of these conversations I was told that I was wrong, or that I was cynical.  As it turns out I was right, and being realistic isn't being cynical.  I supported Sanders and promoted him despite my understanding of the realities of the political landscape.  When I was told that this time would be different I said that I hoped that was true, because historically that hasn't been the case.  I use the past to understand the world and it informs me on my predictions on the future.  I have a lot of past to go on, and therefore I came to the conclusions I did.  Turns out I was right.

However, this conversation isn't about being right about those things.  It's about what we're doing going forward, and I have to say that the political immaturity of a lot of these "or bust" people is kind of absurd.  I mean, I get it, they are young so they are immature.  I don't hear older Sanders supporters promoting the "or bust" mentality.  It's mostly the Gen-Y group that is somewhat fresh to this whole election thing.  They want things done their way, they don't want their feelings hurt, and they don't want to compromise.  They're strongly idealistic, which is all well and good, you need ideals of what they want, however they also need to be pragmatic.

One of the things they're all on about now is how we need a third party.  Now, in all reality we have at least four parties that are regularly heard form when elections come about.  There are the two main parties, Democrats and Republicans, but you also have the Green Party and the Libertarian parties.  So right from the start I'm not really buying the "we need a third party" argument because we already have more than three parties.

The next argument is that the problem is that the two main parties are too big and we need a third big party.  However, there is where the trouble lies.  These third parties don't do well because the two main parties cover enough that it speaks for the majority of Americans. The reason these other parties are small is because the people advocating other parties are on the fringe of things.  The green party is far left, the libertarians are far right.  They aren't bigger because more people aren't down with those beliefs.  Most people are more moderate.  There could be a case for a moderate party that takes the independents from the main parties but even that doesn't seem necessary because moderates (or independents as they are preferred to be known) aren't bound to any party and will switch (i.e. Reagan Democrats).

A third party is not going to solve the problems we have today.  A third party isn't magically going to be immune to "corporate control" because the election system we have now with gerrymandering, Citizens United, super pacs, and the cost of elections all works the same regardless of the party.  A third party has to work in the system that is already present, and that's the real problem.  A corporation could just as easily influence a third party as it could one of the current parties.  A third party also isn't going to magically get people working together.  We can't get two parties to agree and work together, a third party to the mix isn't going to change that.  Imagine how hard it is to find somewhere to go out to eat, and then think about when there are more people involved in the decision.  It becomes more complicated and even less likely to get it sorted out.  A third party isn't going to change that.  A third party isn't going to make the Republicans move on liberal issues any more than it's going to make Democrats shift on conservative issues.  A third party would just be a wing of one of the parties which would dilute their power and benefit the other party.

This all just comes down to math, and unfortunately Americans are terrible at math.  A third party will draw voters out of the party that it is based in.  For example when people talked about Bernie Sanders running as an independent, that would not have benefitted anyone except the Trump camp again because it would split the liberal vote while the conservative vote does what it always does, and sticks together.  They all lined up right behind Trump.  The "Never Trump" movement quietly and quickly disappeared.  This is what a third party does in the sense that these people promoting the Green Party are talking about.  It will siphon away liberal votes from the Democrats which is basically giving votes to the Republicans.

I often see these graphics on Democratic causes that quote Elie Wiesel about staying silent in the face of oppression only benefits the oppressor.  Well, effectively that is what all of these sour grape Bernie or Bust supporters are doing.  They are silencing their voice by voting a third party.  Their voice will not matter because they are throwing their vote to a party that has zero chance of winning.  Thus, they are saying silent in the face of the oppressive and disgusting Republican platform and their racist leader, Donald Trump.  This does nothing but help the oppressor.  They want to hold their nose and act like Clinton is this terrible, unrcontionable evil, but it's really just some bologna.  She's too moderate on a few issues, but so is Obama.  What's the difference?

In the end, I'm not overly concerned.  This wing is a fringe of the fringe, and they couldn't even get enough people out to vote for him in the primary.  I think in the end enough mature people will do what they need to and make sure that although their ideal candidate didn't win, there is a clear distinction and path that these two candidate will take us.  Third parties are unpopular because they are fringe groups with very specific beliefs that aren't mainstream enough, which is why they remain small.  This is why they've never been a major player in politics, and generally won't except in rare circumstance.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 180
Sal was enjoying the view of the falls.  When we first looked over the edge of the gorge before the falls were in sight she said, "oooooooooooo!"  Very adorable.

Garden Update

The garden has bene progressing quite nicely, especially in the corn and tomato department.  The corn is now about 4-6ft tall depending on the stalks that you look at.  They've all started to get the tassels on the top, and it's looking pretty nice and healthy for the most part.  I think that some of the stalks ended up a little too close together, but it seems to be doing ok overall. I think that given what I've learned this year from doing this it should be spread out a bit more and be put in a different location.  However, that's not a big deal, we can make changes next year.

The most exciting is that we are getting a lot of ears forming on the corn. Just looking out onto the field I could see the silk on at least a dozen ears of corn from where I was standing.  I didn't do a close examination of it so there is surely a lot more than that, but it's looking pretty good and in a few weeks we should have some nice, fresh, and hopefully delicious sweet corn!  I think we probably should have planted a bit more because I think we're going to go through it all pretty quickly.  But again, lessons for next year.

The pumpkins have also seen a lot of growth lately.  They had been doing a lot of upward growth but recently they decided to start branching out and despite having plenty of space in one direction they're all going toward the corn.  I think perhaps they have some sort of treaty with the watermelons to attack and start a war on two fronts with the corn.  You have to watch out for those melons and gourds.  They're very crafty.

In addition to the growing outward the vines have also started to flower, which is good news for getting pumpkins forming. We actually have a few already starting to form, and the flowers are going bananas, so I'm not sure how many pumpkins we're actually going to have.  I mean, they were planted from seeds, so it cost me all of $1.50 or something for the seeds, so they can grow as many as they like and we can give away extras, or just have an amazing number of pumpkins to care when Halloween  rolls around.  I mean, who wants to spend $20 on pumpkins when I can grow them for freaking $1.50 plus my labor (though my labor is really free as I enjoy doing the work and watching everything grow).  So far I think I've seen at least three pumpkin forming and a lot more will surely come over the next few weeks.

The watermelon are about the same as before, I'm not counting a ton of new melons forming, just the ones that had already formed.  However, they are getting quite large.  This one is a bit hard to see because they tend to blend in all camouflage style.  It's entirely possible there are a lot more than I think there are because they're just blending in with the plants.  I think I've got at least half a dozen of this variety growing right now, in various sizes.

I also have another variety of watermelons growing, though they're aren't doing quite as well.  I've only counted three of this type, and they aren't as easy to hide as the other ones are. Though, if they all do well, at the prices it takes to buy them at the grocery store, the entire garden will pay for itself simply with the watermelon.  Though the zucchini have already paid for a quarter of the cost of the garden, and it's still going even after harvesting about 15, and there are still a ton of baby ones growing.

In related melon news, the cantaloups aren't doing great.  we lost a lot of them when we planted them, and the ones that survived have not done great.  One seems half dead, another has a lot of flowers but looks kind of sickly.  The third one is doing alright and has two large melons formed and a third smaller one growing too. Only having three is sad, but it's possible some more will form on the super bloom one, if it is able to make it without kicking the bucket. I think they didn't get in the ground fast enough and didn't get enough water directly after.  Lessons learned for next year.

In tomato news, we've got ripe tomatoes! I planted a few different varieties and the grape and Roma tomatoes are starting to turn red and we're picking them.  I generally don't care to just eat a tomato, but the grape tomatoes are incredibly sweet and delicious.  I ate probably five our six like that, which is very out of the ordinary.  I've got a lot of nice Romas that I need to put on a salad or a sandwich.  I probably could try making salsa with them?  Perhaps?  I've got a green pepper and could buy something spicy to put in it too.

Overall we've been getting a ton of zucchini, and also cucumbers.  This week we got some tomatoes too, as well as a number of snow peas and sugar snap peas. It's also been a good learning experience because I've also got a number of things that I determined that I need to do differently next time. I didn't add the green onions to the picture that we picked, but we have a couple of those that we've been using in stir fry and fried rice.  So far, it's been delicious.


Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 179
The sunset tonight was quite lovely!

Adventure Day!

Today we decided that it was a nice day and we should head out and do something fun.  The good news about this is that it means that I'm going to be able to check an experience off of my new experience list.  After a short bit of planning we headed down to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is located just outside of Cleveland.  There aren't too many national parks near us.  We have one in Michigan, but it's way up in the UP on an island in the middle of Lake Superior, which is a bit of a hike.  Therefore this is probably the closest one to us, and was about a two and a half hour drive.  Amazingly we've technically driven through the park countless times because the park is right off of the Ohio Turnpike and in order to get to or from Virginia you drive right through it.  Indeed, there is a bridge that goes over the Turnpike that has always been an unofficial maker in my mind that separates the flatness of the midwest with the hilly eastern area that we used to live in.  Turns out, it's in the park (and we actually drove over it).

This isn't a park like the ones we've gone to out west or out east.  This one is a lot of forests and paths like the others, however it's also very residential around it, and seemingly in the park as well.  I did some research last night on what to do in the park and found that one of the things I'd like to see is the Brandywine Falls.  This is a small creek that has worn away the sandstone to create some very pretty falls.  since that looked pretty cool we decided that would be our first stop.  The area had a nice parking area and some nice walkways and stairs that took you up pretty close to the falls to create a splendid overlook.  There was also a ranger there who could talk about it and also had some skins of animals that live in the area, which included raccoons and fox.  Sal though they were cats and pointed and said,
"MEOW!"

After checking out the falls we decided to take the gorge hike that goes around the falls area.  It was an easy choice since the overlook is part of the trail.  The first part was paved and went along past a small farm house that was adorable and had chickens and goats.  However, then it branched off into a dirt path that was a bit rocky and went down hill. It was nice because it was very shady and pretty cool.  We walked down the path and Sal insisted on walking a lot too, though holding my hands for balance.

A bit down from the falls there was a bridge to get you across the creek, however the bridge was closed and there were signs saying to cross at your own risk.  There really wasn't much risk as the creek was maybe an inch deep and flowing around solid rock.  Sal had a nice time throwing rocks into the water.  We also saw (though I told Becky not to look) a snake sitting on a rock getting some sun and then slithering into the water and swimming way in a deeper section of the creek away from where we crossed.  It was a pretty nice area and we spent a good time enjoying the breeze and the water.

Sal did a lot of walking, which was pretty impressive given how small she is.  However as time went by she became less interested in walking, and more interested in sitting in the middle of the path and playing with rocks, leaves, and sticks. She seemed totally uncaring that we are walking and leaving her behind.  She was just thrilled as long as she had her sticks and rocks.  I actually had to pick her up and take her with me because none of the, "come on, let's get moving" tactics were working.  She's a stubborn baby who wants to do what she wants to do.

By the time we got to the end of the path, which was about a mile and a quarter, we had spent a lot of time and it was getting close to nap and lunch time.  She was totally done with things and starting to get really fussy.  I had to pick her up and carry her uphill the last 20 minutes of the hike.  Talk about a work out! When we made it back to the car we gave her some lunch and plucked her down into her seat and decided to head home since she needed to take a nap.  Conveniently the drive home would be about how long she would need for a nap.  Within five minutes of leaving the park we looked back and she was already soundly asleep.  Unfortunately she only slept for about an hour before she woke up, but being tired she was actually really good the rest of the way.  It was a fun day and a nice new place visited to add to my new experience goal.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 178

Logan, Jasmine, and Sal sitting on the bench after viewing the falls.  Or as Sal calls them, Sissy and Gen-Gen.

My New Class

Guys.  I have my own classroom! A few days back I e-mailed the dean to see if I could get into the school and pick up the books that they use so I can start reviewing them and seeing what exactly I have to work with.  After exchanging a few e-mails we finally determined that today would be a fine day for me to come in and pick up what I needed since the dean would be at the school anyway to participate in an interview for one of the open middle school positions.  So, I headed up this morning so I would arrive right after the interview and got to see my room!

It's a pretty standard room, but it's crazy to think that this is now my classroom. I feel like it hasn't really sunk in that this isn't just another long-term subbing job, that this is actually a real, full-time teaching job that I have as long as they like me and I like them.  The dean actually hung out a bit and chatted with me about what's going on in the middle school.  Everything in my room is in the center because they are doing their summer maintenance, which includes repainting my room.  I was also able to go through all of the cabinets to see what resources I had available.

The resources are pretty slim, and the books are from the company I had last fall, which I didn't love.  Though, they came with workbooks when I was there, and this school doesn't have any work books or worksheets that go along with the books, which seems very odd.  It's not a huge deal, I can make things for them if I need it.  I can also go away from that sort of thing completely, as I don't need them doing worksheets (I generally just use them to reinforce other things anyway). Now that I know what I have to work with, I can start planning for how I want to arrange things, what I want on the walls and around the room.  It's becoming real, and that's exciting.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 177

When I was at my Gran's yesterday to watch my aunt while she went to sign some legal papers I followed Sal into what we called "The Candy Room" because when we were very small my mom had a candy "business" and that's where she did all the work.  It was where we kept all the toys and as Sal was getting some of the toys still stored there I realized that my Gran still had this light switch cover on, which I had forgotten about until I saw it.  It's a big creepy.

New Ride

Well, it's been nearly 13 years since I bought the Focus, and as you know it's been giving me some trouble lately.  Trying to figure out had me really paralyzed with options and it was making me pretty cranky. Well, last night we decided to go up to the dealership and test drive a car just to see if I liked it.  Becky e-mailed earlier in the week about pricing and they talked to her a bit and ran her credit and said she qualified for 0% interest, which is a good deal.  Well, she also went back and forth a bit on price and ended up talking to the manager.  We went to take a look and got a new sales guy who was very nice and low key about it.  We took the car out for a test drive and liked it and ended up buying it.

Today we got to go pick it up after Becky got off work because they had to prepare it and take all the stickers and plastic off of everything.  So, after 13 years of driving a car that I didn't really like I now have a car that I do actually really like.  I ended up getting a Prius and in a color that think is quite snazzy.  It's got so many computer things to help show you how you're doing with your gas mileage (it's supposed to get 56 miles to a gallon, so we'll see).  It's basically like I've been driving a Model T and now I'm in a spaceship.

I have to say I'm really happy about my new car.  In the past I've never been overly excited, but this is really cool and I'm happy I have a car that isn't a POS and that I got a car that I wanted instead of just what was the cheapest option.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 176
This is a bit of a lame picture, but here is my new car.