GARDEN CHATTER.....here comes Fall

we'll change your name from Moonrock to Tinman ;)
it's beautiful here...sunny & cool. Supossed to warm up this afternoon.

Jordan is pretty good about homework during the week, but really resents weekend work....new attitude came with high school. I think he manages pretty well given the ADD and general dislike for regimentary schedules....and this is the kid that is excelling in NavyJROTC.....grin.

I am amazed at the rather cavalier attitude folks have were the flu is concerned....had four confirmed deaths in La. One of them in our area, a 19 year old girl.....flu developed into pneumonia...so sad.

the typical classroom isn't very accomodating to kids with ADD....each kid should have the opportunity to learn in the style that suits them best, but that's an ideal that will probably never be reached.
(please excuse my typo above...suposed instead of supposed...haha almost put an extra p lol)
the "regular" flu is dangerous enough to warrant the flu precautions that are bein gput in place for swine flu...every institution should have had a flu protocol long before this.

Scary when a principal tells a parent that even though one child has been diagnosed with H1N1, it would"be okay to send the other three back to school". Here, a positive ID requires full house quarrantine for 2 weeks....that is a two edged sword, as some folks won't get med attention cuz they can't afford to miss two weeks of work. I fear that as it gets colder there will be many more cases and probably as many deaths as with the flu viruses in the past.

Jordan did not complain at all when I handed him hand sanitizer for his book sack....just said Thanks, there is no soap in the boy's bathroom.....SIGH....such a simple thing that could save so many from grief.

I was elated that he remembers to wash his hands.....grin

Here there is a 20% guideline....when 20% of the population of a school has confirmed H1N1, the school will be quarrantined/shut down for a two week period for fumigation.......no school wants to lose 10 days....cases must be confirmed by DR report to school.....just don't see it as a very viable method of control.

agree on the H1N1 control thing, Moon.

Lynnie, where is 'home"? I always made my kids do their homework after school. Still in the mode. My daughter always gave me a problem with it, though. Now at 16, she does it after school, but has 1 eye on the TV. Can't win.

At least neither one of mine liked missing school. They have a lot of friends who have "mental health" days, which I never agreed with. They say it only puts them behind, so if they're sick, it's tough to keep them down! Now, I only have the guurl to worry about. Boy is on his own.

PS) don't razz me tomorrow when The Bills get their butts kicked on national TV. After "wide right" and "no goal", Buffalo is cursed in the sports arena. Whoever did the schedule, putting The Bills against The Pats, 1st game of the season, must have wanted a good laugh.

(( Do I sound pessimistic? ))

yes, the school doesn't want to shut down, the parents can't stay home for 2 weeks because school is shut down, the teachers don't want to work 2 weeks later...and there's ignorance about how it's spread & how long you're contagious...but these concerns are trivial when somebody dies.
Just saw a big tomcat sunning himself on my boulders lol

Jordan says he thinks the idea of year round school would be okay, He thinks they need to go for 9 weeks and have 3 weeks off as a semester break, but still wants 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week for Thanksgiving and 1 week for Easter....
and of course regular breaks throughout the summer. I am just thrilled he sees the value in it.

Julie, No way would anyone hold you responsible for the Bills....grin

lol Smiley...I barely pay attention to sports....I keep up enough to make vague comments at the watercooler hahaha you can tell me Buffalo wins tomorrow I'll buy it
Home is where the heart is...just kidding, MA is home....home of the Pats lol...husband was just saying how the games are earlier now.

I totally agree Moon, CA does it that way (well not the whole state, but a few districts), wasting the month of Sept on review irks me.
I'm teaching my 7 yr old fractions & she's counting coins at school.

How kind of you to provide such a lovely rest stop for the kitties....grin. Kassy would be proud of you.

We taught Jordan to use his shoulder as a cough/sneeze catcher when he was tiny. Keep a packet of tissues in his backpack and a small container of hand sanitizer. He said all of his teachers have set up an area in the classrooms with tissues, hand sanitizer and additional trash can and most of them have rearranged seating to put as much distance between students as possible....not a bad idea anytime....grin

I was thinking of Kassy when I saw the tomcat lol
My kids' classes have that handwashing station too, but there isn't much room to separate desks....they face each other in small groups ACHOO! thank you very much lol

I'm going to run a few errands...I'll see you guys in a bit!
have a good morning! :)

We had to teach our middle son to read...by the time the last grading period rolled around when he was in first grade, none of the children were anywhere near on level. He had had 5 teachers that year, and the principal took over the class for the final 6 week period. we couldn't understand why all he ever had for homework was copying alphabet and color /shape recognition and very basic math...."if I have a dog and you have a dog" type problems.

I believe in good communication between school and home.

Catch ya later....off to do a little playing in the mud before the rain starts again....have a good day off Lynn.

Julie, so sorry you are at work....I will think of you as I muck about outside....literally. Grin

I also think they spend too much time trying to make it fun to learn. Not that it shouldn't be fun... but my kids both did better with a stricter, no nonsense teacher.

Lynnie, we're big Sox fans in my family. Went to Boston for a game this summer (3rd time we've done that!) We love Boston! (That's MA, right? I always get MA and ME confused. ME is Maine, right?)

Good morning.

OH my gosh...When my eldest was in the middle school, my first year to not work in the summer. i was thrilled to do summer school lessons at home with them.
Part of what I wanted them to do was keep a daily journal. They printed everthing! So I asked them to handwrite the next day, goodgosh, at the 5th grade, they didn't know how write in script!! Almost fell on the floor...So i tought my kids how to write the alphabet in script.

Then just recently I heard on the radio, they will only teach the kids how to handwrite their names, nothing else, now how incredibly stupid is that!!

grrr, I better not get started...
OK gotta go read
Hope you enjoy the morning!

When the new abbreviations for states came about, we used mnemonics to help Jordan (and me) remember them....

MA went to Mass, Me is my Maine name....nonsense rhymes and the like, but he did learn them.

I think the method has to be geared to the subject matter. Jordan learned more in his Civics course from a teacher who held discussions infused with humor, but also learned more in his math class from a no nonsense approach.

Okay...out the door....see ya later

Hey All, just jumped in to say Hi! Sorry I can't remember everybodys real name so will have to stick with logon names for now.Still busy here but did manage to get about half the plants in the ground yesterday. I washed the filter to fish tank yesterday now it sounds like a freight train going through the house lol. Gone to knit one pearl two (what ever that means lol) Have a wonderful day and will catch up later if I can. Love all the pictures. Moon don't "Prune Up" in all that water!!! We are supposed to get it here starting Wed. so got to finish getting plants in the ground. Cya

Morning Judy. My 15y/o grandson still can't handle cursive script. He prints everything....my how times have changed. Have a great day.

Welcome to the Gypsies seedthrower think your gonna like it here

Hi Karen, wondered what happened to ya....glad to hear you are getting plants in....have fun at your knitting lessons....you may need to knit a couple blankets if this foolish weather keeps up....grin Have a great day. Jean/Moon

Well if my flowers don't make it maybe I can send all of you some slippers. One size fits all.... lol

Sounds good Karen....I like green....lol Have a great day.

Green it is with pink bows....Catch up later

wow...I'm not even gonna try to catch up!..What do I do with all that seed I package it up and give it away...this year the theme of the baskets that I am making is Breast Cancer Awareness

let me explain a little better...evrywhere year there is a certain list of people, that I make gardening gift baskets for....usualy I put in some gardening gloves, some seeds, a little fact/planting sheet on each type of seed that's laminated so they cen keep it in a binder,maybe some hand tools...like a new pair of pruners, and if I have one maybe a start for a plant of their preference if I know what it is and a start from one of my miniature roses...

this years baskets have the following:

Pink gardening gloves with the Breast cancer ribbon on it
5 blank Breast Cancer note cards and envelopes
1 BC Awareness pencil
Pruners (sorry couldn't find pink)
Marigold Seeds
Zinnia seeds
Dianthus seeds (thanks Kassy for showing me how to collect them)
1 jar rooting hormone
1 Miniature rose start in a cute little pot
1 Spider plant
and a T-Shirt with this picture on it

Oh and thanks to Kassy this years seeds will be in cute little printed envelopes instead of regular (ugly envelopes)!

That's really nice of you to do that, Trina.

My daughter had a teacher that taught them how to knit. All she can do is scarves!

I give one to my mom, one to my sister and the rest go to the cancer watd at the hospital...I wish I had enough to do more than 6 this year...but it has taken me that long to get all the stuff, living on a fixed income sucks sometimes,

And I take them to the hospital at christmas time...mom says I should make them up and sell them for some extra money, but I like I told here I'd have to have some "extra" money to start with....I wish I could do that...I bet they'd sell good, especially with the spoon river drive coming up

I'm sure they would, but your way creates better Karma. Or the Rule of Three, I think it was?

You've sent coleus in the mail before, haven't you? I was trying to figure out how to pack up the witch doctor coleus I said I would send. If you still want it.

maybe I'll blip over to the coleus forum for a bit.

Nice work Trina!
Smiley I had to go to MD to see a game, couldn't afford one in MA hahaha

My kids do learn handwriting in school....they have to write their papers that way, upper schools type them out....

Flowers my mom tried to teach me to knit...everything got long & skinny & I couldn't figure out how to knit wider *grin*

I bought a couple plants...2 azalea silver swords and a Praire Fire crabapple tree...well I know that's a tree not a plant but I needed a big pot....
still gotta finish my "real" errands..

Lynnie, it's amazing how expensive Fenway is compared to other ballparks. We went to Baltimore for a game 2 years ago, got actual good seats for less than what it costs for SRO at Fenway.

But if your a Red Sox fan, gotta go to Fenway!

We've been going to a Sox game for the past 6 years, are trying to see different cities, but everyone ends up voting for Boston. Next year we're hoping they play Cincinnati. Almost went to Detroit (my hometown) last year but I told everyone I didn't know if I could handle seeing the old neighborhood. I've never been back since we moved out in 1969.

Well here I am rambling on & on. You can tell I love baseball. Sorry everyone!

One year I made little lap quilts and a small pillow, with a bag and pockets it started cause my mom said she was cold while doing chemo, so that year I made 7 including my moms....its just I know there are morepatients than that up there going through the same thing and I wish I could do more

And yes smiley I still want the coleus....but pop over to the coleus forum...they have a thread on how to mail them

But to sell I'd like to make them for kids or teens, you know try to get them intrested in gardening

that's a good idea. Some of them have pretty cool names. my son bought me 'pink floyd' dahlia's one year because he likes 'floyd, and thought they would be cool.

that was easy.. damp paper towel, open baggie.

I was thinking about going to the bank and getting a small loan for start up costs, but I am too chicken

Trina, What a beautiful thing to do!

just uploaded, here is our fire from last night.
That was was fun to chat with you all.

yep very easy...what did you want in trade for that smiley?

You might try pitching your cauze to a variety of stores, maybe they will donate or give you a discount!

I think Joannes does this for blankets for kids.