A Second Look--October 24, 2012

Fall is here in all of its glory. The trees are really starting to turn while a few flowers are still blooming. The nights are cool and the days are warm. I'm glad that I got a chance to enjoy it this week.

See what I found this week during a Second Look.

We have a new color of mum blooming. (Notice the criss-crossing spirals in the middle.)

Most of the coneflowers have gone to seed, but a few are still hanging on like this one.

Fungus always grows more vigorously in the fall.

Most of the sweet gum trees, like this one, are in prime color.

I found a violet and fleabane both of which usually bloom earlier in the year.

We have a big crop of black walnuts this year. Too bad we don't like them.

Last week, only one of these mums was blooming. Now there are many.

Honeysuckle vine twisting around itself and a wild cherry tree.

File of Life

This File of Life information could save a life someday.

I was doing one of those rare clean-offs of the outside of refrigerator the other day and found something of importance that I thought I would share. A few years ago when were visiting a health and safety fair, we picked up some File of Life forms. The idea behind the File of Life is to record important information that an emergency rescue worker would need and that you may not always be able to provide.  This could be in a situation where you are unconscious or in a panicked state and unable to think clearly. The files include information about medical conditions, medicines, doctors, and insurance among other things.* Emergency workers are trained to look on the refrigerator for a document like this.

These forms are usually given out by the local fire department, so I suggest that you give them a call. If you can't find any, I would make up a similar document. Print it on bright red paper and hang it on the side of the fridge in a sheet protector. Who knows? The life you save could be your own. It is so important that I hadn't updated mined for two years. Oops! Out of sight, out of mind. I will do better in the future.

*Information that is included:

• Date
• Name, address, gender
• DOB
• Doctor name and phone number
• Existing medical conditions
• Allergies
• Medications
• Emergency contacts with addresses and phone numbers
• Religion
• Medical insurance information
• Living will on file at:
• Social Security Number

School Days--Wally's Field Trip, Part Two

  School Days is a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here.

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This week will be a little different with an account of Wally's first grade field trip instead of an interview. I wrote this soon after we returned from the trip so there's no looking back with nostalgia here. The story is fairly long so it will be posted in three installments. They will follow each other weekly on School Days Mondays.

Wally's First Grade Field Trip 

Last week found me unsure about going on the trip and the long bus ride to the zoo.

Read about the details here. 

Now for Part Two.

One of the highlights of our tour.

 We arrived at the zoo at ten o'clock and had forty-five minutes for lunch before we actually entered through the gates to look at the animals. Forty-five minutes seems like such a short time when I'm trying to run errands, but it seemed like an eternity when I was having lunch with my group of first graders. They spent the first three minutes eating the meat and sweets from their lunches. The next five minutes were spent feeding the pigeons everything else that was left. The remaining thirty-seven minutes were spent by me trying to control four very excited children. I was partially successful with my cries of “Stay out of the mud!” “Come back here!” “Get off of the railroad tracks! and “Where has the rest of the group gone?”

At eleven o'clock, we finally entered the zoo and had two hours to tour it at our leisure. As we started to explore the zoo, the personalities of the members of my group became evident very quickly. I had two boys, Wally and Andy, and two girls, Isabel and Jessica. Andy was somewhat quiet and wanted to look at everything very thoroughly. Wally, my son, was determined to always be in the front of the group. Isabel was very talkative and eager to tell every fact she knew about the various animals. Jessica was concerned with when we were going to visit the gift shop so that she could spend the money her mother had given her that morning. Also the girls decided that they were going to have aliases for the day. Isabel would only answer to April or Krystal. Jessica informed me that she should be called only Jasmine or Pink Feather.

We covered most of the zoo during our visit even though we didn't have a well thought out route. Pretty much whatever they saw ahead of them was what the kids wanted to see next. However, they all seemed to be looking in different directions. As we were touring, I got hoarse from calling out, “This way Isabel, I mean April, Krystal whatever your name is. Over here, Pink Feather. Slow down, Wally.” and “Come on, Andy.”

The highlights of our tour were watching a king cobra snake eat some white mice for lunch, and observing an orangutan watching us. As the orangutan came up to the glass and stared at all of the kids, I was reminded that she was close to the same developmental age as they were. I wondered what she thought about all of the little monkeys jumping around outside her cage.

After continually hearing I'm hungry, ...

Tune in next week when we go to the snack cart and the gift shop. See if the bus ride home is any different than the bus ride there.

Thankful Sunday--October 21, 2012

I am thankful apples--especially this time of year when they are tree ripened.

Apples from the Shanholtz Orchard in Romney, WV.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Oct. 19, 2012

 It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

Salsa, that didn't last long.

Another week of no waste. That's two in a row. I saved some ripe tomatoes. I made salsa from them. The salsa disappeared very quickly.

(Can you find the hidden pattern in the above paragraph. See the end of the post for the answer.)

This Weeks True Food Confessions

We ate well this week.

I think this cooking and eating at home is becoming somewhat comfortable to us. How do I know? Cooking is not such a big event now that I rush to get the camera to document it. Taking a picture is usually an afterthought, if we remember at all, so I will have some pictures for the blog. I hope next week works out as well.



Answer to Food Waste Question: All of the sentences have five words in them. Once again, I'm amusing myself.