East Coast Happenings

[Diane Amberg]

It's snowing again here right now and will all day. This is a big system. Why, they even cancelled bingo tonight! Now that IS desperate. I know you folks can use the water no matter how it comes. Some meterologists are worried about possibly severe drought patterns setting up your way and west. Sure hope they are wrong. Stay safe.

[Diane Amberg]

We're still struggling to survive the cabin fever effects of a winter that won't quit.Short school days with either late openings or early closings.At least those don't count like school closings do. We are out of snow days and the administrations are trying to figure out how to make it all work without still being in school in July. The Charters are looking into Home School days with assignments to do at home on snow days so they wouldn't lose time. So far it hasn't passed muster.I recently had an opportunity handed to me that was hard to resist...except I'm retired. A Charter School east of here specializes in public safety... All the typical academics, but also classes that police officers, firefighters and Paramedics would take. They need someone to teach the entire National EMT program  for the seniors.... full time job. I have all the credentials still and if I'd shown an interest it would have been mine for the asking.  The folks doing the hiring have known me for many years and know what I can do and how I teach.... wish I had today's technology, but was 25 years younger. I'd have grabbed it, I think. I was very flattered.
We're going out soon to get some errands run before the next storm, tomorrow, which may be another ice bomb.  We were very luck not to have had much damage or lost power in Newark. Some areas just north got slammed very hard. I think we'll stop at Alex's Seafood in  the New Castle Farmers Market for a fried oyster lunch. Fresh shucked huge local oysters with hush puppies and cole slaw. Yum.

[Diane Amberg]

We finally got Bingo going again. Only had 73 tonight. Still a lot of ice on back roads. One of the ladies gave me the cutest mouse made of two kisses glued together  back to back sideways with a pink ribbon tail and two little wobble eyes on the front. Now we're on storm watch again for Thursday. But then again, the second week in February almost always brings us a big storm coming up from the south. We're hearing anything from 4 inches to a foot or more of snow. We'll see.

[Diane Amberg]

Some times it just amazes me how rude people can be. People around here are  getting edgy about the coming storm. Some poor folks have just gotten their power back on and we may lose it again tonight. Anyway I stopped at our small local grocery store yesterday to do my normal shopping and take advantage of some sale stuff. I don't need to go every week.On Tuesday they discount most everything by 5% for seniors, so I usually stock up when I do go. So there I was with a heaping cart. I pulled into a line that had four people ahead of me, as most of the lines that were open had. Everyone was being very patient and many of us knew each other. Two of the checkers were out sick and most of us had fairly full carts...storm shopping, etc. An elderly man came up to my line, the last one in the row.   He had a hand basket with only 4 things in it. By now there were only two people ahead of me and none behind me. I asked him if he would like to go ahead of me. I said he'd be done and on his way home before I even cleared the conveyor belt! Just then a new cashier came in and said she'd open the next line. The man with the basket could go first and she's take me next. By then there was just one ahead of me in my line...but I moved over anyway.
OK, so now the fun starts.  As I'm off loading my cart, this angry looking man walks up to the end of the belt behind me and makes a few sour remarks and I asked if he was looking for something or someone.  He let fly with a tirade, at my checker, as to why they didn't have an express line open. She said she would change my line to express as soon as I was done, as nobody else had moved in behind me. He was still pitching a fit when I finally said I would have extended him the same courtesy as the other man...but his hands were empty. No basket, no nothing. He had left his few purchases sitting elsewhere in the store! So he finally collected his basket, still grumping,  and went to the line next to me. Everybody in that line and the one next to it jumped him! (verbally) and really let him have it. The young man just ahead of him actually challenged him to go finish it in the parking lot! WOO! He went on and on about how badly the store treated the customers. Again the young man ahead suggested he take his business elsewhere if he was so dissatisfied and special. By then we were bagging my order and he finally went stomping out the door. Everyone in the store had a few words to say about rude people once he had gone. Amazing.

[Diane Amberg]

It's here....again. The snow started about 8:30 last night, then changed to freezing rain for a time this morning, but will be back later this evening with several more inches of snow predicted. So far we have 14.1 inches of new snow on top of several inches that were already there, and it may be topped again by 4+ more inches. We may have at least 18 by the time it is over completely, with more possible on Saturday. Al and a couple of others got out mid morning and got our two car driveway and our long front side walk cleaned, along with several  elderly neighbors' driveways and sidewalks When do we get to be the "elderly'' neighbors? School is closed again of course and most likely will be again tomorrow. They may start having to have school on Saturday to catch up. They have already started lengthening the school day as it is. This snow is a record breaker for us. We had never had more than three  6 inch plus snow storms in one season. (Would someone please shove the jet stream back north where it belongs?)  This is number 4 and we may have more to come. I'm going to go watch more of the Olympics and look at seed catalogs.

[Diane Amberg]

We made it! No power loss. About 16 inches of snow total and some ice between the layers. Al went out early and did a second go 'round of snow blowing up and down our street. Al had already redone ours, but the city guys came around and cleaned out the ends of the driveways they had replowed back in.... really super cooperation. They will get a thank you note once winter is gone for good. Snow showers are due back tomorrow  again. Happy Valentines Day to all my friends, you know who you are.

[Diane Amberg]

It's snowing again! Not very hard, but it just doesn't go away. We've had lots of deer and critters coming up from the woods. The snow is so deep they can't find food very well and are just about begging at the door. Hopefully we'll have a warm up next week or they may start starving.

[Diane Amberg]

So, I've been reading bits and pieces that are being witten about Common Core. It reminds me a lot of the big flap over the "new'' math which raised it's head when I was a new teacher. As with most things, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the answer to teaching math to all kids. The slower learners still learned it slow and it took longer to teach the concepts in the first place. The idea was that if the kids were taught how the system works, they could figure it out for themselves. But when kids are still learning HOW to learn, it doesn't work. Knowing that 4x 4 is four groups of 4 each and then counting them up is fine, but it is slow as molasses and slows down the whole process. Better to be mean to the kids and make them do some memorization. 4x4 =16 once learned, always available and much faster. Can you still do casting out nines?
Now we've got people up in arms over Common Core who don't know a thing about it, except that "somebody" objected. Also some of the gripers are insisting that some information be put into high school that always has been college material. There are whole semesters in wonderful English literature, but there is no time in high school to put it all in.   But, ya can't take 8 years of French in 4 years of high school. How about adding 13th grade like Canada has?  Why limit school to 12 years if the kids need more to make it in today's world?
Now the critical thinking parts are going to throw some people. In some cases parts of a question are missing...that's the whole point! ...learning what information one needs to answer the question.The answer it's self really doesn't matter. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. 
Now in the case of Kansas, the ultra conservatives won't trust anyone to write a curriculum no matter what.They still don't even acknowledge that those kids in other countries who are supposedly doing "better" than ours, whatever that means...are using government written materials. They have no choice! Some want to rewind the clock so their kids take what they themselves took. In a few cases that might be fine, but for most it wouldn't be enough....especially in reading, deep comprehension and prediction. It will all be interesting to watch.

[Diane Amberg]

Oh well. I had heard that Pat's body had been found at Fall River State Park. Guess it wasn't him after all. Perhaps it was Bullwinkle and they haven't identified the body yet. yuk,yuk. Just kidding.

[Diane Amberg]

 We got another couple of inches of snow last night. If this doesn't stop soon I think some heads are going to explode. The city managers and county equivalents are running out of salt and the winter budgets are busted.
  I can't wait to hear the climate change skeptics use this weird winter to disavow the long range predictions. Australia, who is having their summer now....( Ordinary people forget to include the southern hemisphere in the climate change research predictions)... is very hot, more so than usual. They are being affected too.
It's not so much how cold the individual winters are that matter, it's how hot the summers are trending,  the coldest parts of winter may start later and be shorter. Of course none of us will be around to see the worst of whatever will happen.
Poor California is having a very,very serious 500 year drought.Figure out the long range effects of that, if anyone wants to argue food prices and the politics of mother nature. There are even considerations of residential water rationing and letting some water hungry crops like cherries and almond trees die in favor of more important crops like carrots and tomatoes .I'm sure Larry knows even more about it . The food growing  co-ops there are watching very carefully.
Al has a planning board meeting tonight. They hope to finish up the new Newark Comprehensive Plan,at last. I suspect our version of the CCTP's will insist on being there too, with a useless petition to save a building that is in such bad shape it can't be saved, and nobody will buy it to save it.The family that did buy it is going to tear it down to build a combination building with shops on the lower floor and apartments above. It was already approved after much discussion.The opposition will have to take their complaint to City Council, not the Planning Board. I saw the drawing.Very nice and will fit in well with the neighboring buildings and our typical college town style. That builder has done several others in town here and always does a good job.
I just can't believe one of the worst of the self important forum nasties just can't remember Anwar being subjected to really nasty verbal attacks while they were showing off for each other...wouldn't even acknowledge he was male. tsk,tsk.Which means they will never admit to ripping up anyone else either. So their plan to take over so just a small group of ultra conseratives and totally anti Gov't types has it all to themseves has worked. They can bolviate to each other with nothing and nobody to give another opinion wit out severe consequencies. How sad.