A Day In The Life


A Must Read? I just have to share this editorial f…
January 26, 2007, 4:16 am
Filed under: Odds and Ends
A Must Read?

I just have to share this editorial from my local newspaper.

“Women without husbands

All right, ladies, the gig is up. It’s time for all of us to get married, including you. I refer to The New York Times’ recent report. After sorting through the U.S. Census data, The Times determined that for the first time in American history the majority of women, 51 percent, are living without a husband.

The story tore through the media like a lightning bolt. A slew of ‘I am woman, hear me roar’ stories hit the airwaves. The storyline was clear: women are finally free and independent now, and the last thing they need is some sloppy spouse who leaves his socks lying all over the house.

Well, nuts to that. Look, ladies, deciding not to marry for your own well-being is one thing, but it is we you’re not marrying in the process. Your decision is killing single men–literally.

Single men partake in more risky behavior than married men. We eat badly, smoke more, and avoid doctors’ offices. We die younger. And we’re far more likely to wake up in a pile of crumpled newspapers still clutching the tequila bottle we began sipping from two days before.

The reason why is not complicated. We are social animals. Men and women are very different creatures, but we were made for each other. The Catholics call it complementarity–a man and woman, in union and harmony, round each other out.

Men need to be rounded out, too. Take dust. Because our brains take in less sensory detail than a woman’s, we don’t notice dust the way women do. Thus, married men tend to live in orderly, dust-free homes, whereas single men, says P.J. O’Rourke, clean up their place about once every girlfriend.

Though it’s not like single women are faring much better.

The Times article quoted independent women raving about their freedom and flexibility. a 32-year old woman had already lived with two boyfriends and said that if she ever did marry, she might opt to keep her own place. Another said she likes being able to sleep on either side of the bed.

Oh, just admit, ladies. You need us, too. Sleeping next to a burping, snoring lug of a husband may not be the stuff dreams are made of, but it sure beats sleeping alone. And when you hear a prowler rattling the door knob in the middle of the night, whom do you send to investigate? Your cat?

I know The Times is eager for a more progressive society to take hold–one in which the stodgy traditional marriage is kicked to the wayside–but the fact is marriage, imperfect though it is, is good for us.

Married people are happier, says the Pew Research Center. They enjoy life more–they enjoy sex more, too. Children raised by married couples fare better. Society fares better. Successful civilizations are built on the stability that traditional marriage brings.

But despite these simple and obvious truths, we keep trying to reinvent our nature. We keep trying to prove there are better ways to fulfill our simple needs–keep trying to leave every option open, so that we can be ‘free’ and ‘independent’ forever.

And we end up alone.

I can’t imagine what old folks homes will be like 40 years from now. There will be an unprecedented number of elderly single people living alone. No children or grandchildren will visit them–no spouse will care for them. I wonder if The Times will do a front-page piece on that trend, too.

All I know is that my life would certainly be better if I woke every morning in a full home in which my children are laughing and my wife is smiling, rather than the way I often wake now–with a throbbing noggin’ because my single friends and I over-enjoyed our freedom and independence at the pub the night before.

Like I said, it’s time for all of us to get married.”

Well, how about it all you single women out in blogland? Anyone want to put this guy out of his unmarried misery? I certainly won’t fight you to be first in line…or second….or third….come to think of it, I’ll just pass. I think he makes a very convincing argument for remaining single.
15 Comments


Welcome to Third Grade Music!! In today’s lesso…
January 24, 2007, 3:18 am
Filed under: School Buzz


Welcome to Third Grade Music!!

In today’s lesson, we will sing an African American spiritual, learn about the Underground Railroad and ride on our own rhythm train! Our musical vocabulary words are: beat, rhythm, spiritual and tempo. Let’s begin with reading the paragraph at the top of page 44 in our music books.

“Many African American spirituals were used to send messages along the Underground Railroad. What message does the song below send? LISTEN to ‘Train Is A-Comin.’ SING the song and learn all the verses.”

Before we listen to the song, who can tell us what the Underground Railroad was?

That is correct! The Underground Railroad was actually a network of many people who helped runaway slaves escape and helped them through their dangerous journeys from one point to another until they reached their final destination and freedom.

(Play the recording of “Train Is A-Comin’.” Discuss the words and their message. Have the students sing the song with the recording and learn all the verses. Then ask them to sing the song from memory.)

Now it’s time to ride on our own rhythm train! Remember that beat is the steady pulse felt in music and who can give me a definition for rhythm? Right again! Rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds found in music. Today’s new vocabulary word is tempo. Our tempo will be very important as we ride our rhythm train because tempo is the speed of music.


Our rhythm train has five different colored stations. Each station has a rhythm written on it and an instrument for you to play when your station color is called out by the conductor. I am the rhythm train conductor. I will set the tempo by keeping a steady beat. You are the train and you will move around the track as I say the rhythm train chant. Don’t forget to play each rhythm twice keeping a steady tempo and beat!

Chugga, chugga, choo, choo, movin’, movin’
Chugga, chugga, choo, choo, clickety-clack.
Chugga, chugga, choo, choo, movin’, movin’
Ride the rhythm train on down the track.
Stop the train, it’s time to play.
Find a station, don’t delay.
Blue train box cars, lead us now,
Play your rhythms, you know how!

(Repeat the rhythm train chant at different tempos calling a different color station each time until all students have a turn playing a rhythm. As a grand finale, have all train box cars play their rhythms together.)

What a great job you did playing your rhythms! It’s time for our rhythm train to move on back to your regular classroom. As I call your station color, move to the tempo and beat I am clapping and line up at the door. Pamela, you will be the engine and Swampy, you will be the caboose. See you all at our next music lesson!

9 Comments


The View From My Front DoorHere it is!! The view f…
January 22, 2007, 2:55 am
Filed under: Odds and Ends
The View From My Front Door

Here it is!! The view from my front door. Not the world’s greatest photography, but certainly not the worst either. The top picture is what I see when I stand in my house and open the front door. I have a screened porch that runs the entire length of my house so you are looking through screen, not a dirty window. Looks real green outside for January, huh? What you are seeing is pine, cedar and a lot of honeysuckle vine. The little willow gate in the center of the photo says “herbs” across the top. My porch is crammed full of collectibles. I have wind chimes hanging from the beams all across the front of the porch. That is a hickory tree on the right and you can see one of my three bird feeders outside on the left.


This is the view from the front door of my screened porch. There is the backside of my snowman banner, my storage shed, my very wet drive and lots more pine, cedar and honeysuckle vine out in the woods. I tried to get my dogs to pose out in the drive for you, but they said, “Are you crazy?!!! It’s raining and too cold!”

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