Re: Feeding the mind......

The reason I tried to get as many comments as possible about eating in the classrooms of the school you attended was this. After having been associated with the BI School in my very MINOR capacity as the steering wheel for the cleaning and maintenance crew, I noticed events that have not yet ceased to amaze and confuse me. To wit; the carrying out of food of all descriptions, from the cafeteria and into the classrooms!!

After watching this for a few months, I finally asked, "what's the deal with this practice"? I was told that it had been allowed to happen, kind of by acts of omission. There are some children that because of monetary constraints weren't getting to eat breakfast before coming to school. There is a State mandate that says that if you accept money from the state for your school, you must provide a nutritious breakfast for those children, a mandate that I am in FULL ACCORD with! Over time more and more children began eating there and paying for it out of Mommy and Daddy's pocket. It became more expedient for the 'rents to send the kids to school with a couple of bucks than a lunch bucket, and that is also just fine with me. Where it becomes a problem is when the food leaves the confines of the Cafeteria! This is because when they, as well as others came as "late arrivals", they couldn't finish eating before it was time for class, they were allowed to carry it to their classrooms to finish.

Enter now the fact that a lot of this food sits in the classroom from early AM till at least noon and even till dismissal time at 1421 hours. Many times during the day, small to large bits of this food get dropped on the floor to be ground into it and the spaces between the flooring. There it sits, becoming the incubation nurseries for who knows what kind of little germies!

One day while discussing with a School Committee member the possible different floor covering options to be used on the elementary room floors, I asked that we consider reverting to carpets as had been done in the past. Immediately came the reply about the fact that there were a lot of children that had allergies and that the carpets "MIGHT POSSIBLY" exacerbate the problem. That particular problem can be seen as a non-starter as hospitals routinely have carpets installed and the allergy problem mitigated by the types on carpets installed! And riding atop that small hitch was the problem of food being constantly dropped and ridden into the carpet and all the associated ills(no pun intended) that go with those occurrences.

My come back too that was to obliquely make a comment about NOT eating in the classroom. Apparently it wasn't heard or was silently dismissed out of hand.

So after doing a few days of searching through all the maintenance magazines that the school regularly receives, and doing a lot of hours of on-line searching and reading, I personally came to the conviction that a carpet was the only way to go to rectify all the ills connected with the conditions of the rooms as presently constituted. In this vein, I have written a short discourse to be presented to the School Committee on the reasons why I, as the Steering Wheel, recommend the switch back to a high end carpet, and how we as the, "implementers of cleanliness" would go about maintaining that level of spotlessness!

Referring back to the top of the rant, parents have got to take back some of the responsibilities of raising their children. That would include making sure they are adequately fed before school if they are financially able, and if they are not,
getting them to the school early enough for them to consume the food in the cafeteria! The food ALL OVER the building has to stop! Besides being unsanitary, it makes the place look like a shit-house as food is ROUTINELY dropped all over the place! TIFN

Boneless Wonders

After reading quite a few blog sites this AM I came across one that discovered that Grandma Pelosi and her lapdog Reid have come up with another way to to speak out of both sides of their mouths at the same time. I had always thought that was a physical impossibility.
We hear every day from them that they don't support the war in Iraq and WON'T send in more troops. So when it comes right down to the part where it says in the Constitution that," Congress shall vote to fund or not, any wars",(wording is not exact, but the gist is there), they are just to GD chicken shit to actually vote for their convictions! So what do they do? They decide to introduce a NON_BINDING resolution regarding sending more troops! And this will do what? Oh yeah, if things turn out bad in Iraq in the next two years, it will perfectly position them for the '08 Prez run by saying look how GWB F***** up THAT idea of more troops on the ground. Conversely, if things turn out well, why then you will hear loud and continuous bloviating about how they NEVER did cut funding for the war and were the greatest supporters of the "absolutely needed conflict in order to establish democracy in the middle east".
You would think that their mouths as well as their brains would HURT after all the doublespeak emanating from them. Let's see, did I not hear grandma P speaking about a Congress filled with "Transparency and Bi-partisanship"? Well it sure is transparent in some respects! Bi-Partisan? It appears to be well and truly on it's way down the tubes also. Wait and see I guess! TIFN
PS Don't forget the previous post. I need lots more input of any kind! Thanks
PPS: Go over to the right side of this page and click on Michael Yon Online Mag. Then navigate around so that you read the three section,"Walking the Line" post in order. This will give you a sense of what's going on "over there"!

Feeding the mind, as well as the body

I'm about to use this blog spot to run a poll. One of the duties of the job at the school is to find better ways of keeping the place clean and neat, and in the greatest shape possible necessary for the filling of the young occupants minds. Along these lines I would like to pose this question to readers of all ages. When you respond, if you do, add the decade that you were in school please. This applies to all readers from wherever you went to school, not just BI. The question is:

Were you allowed to take and consume any food what-so-ever into a classroom? Or were you required to eat it in a cafeteria or a room designated just for that purpose?

I'm going to leave it at this point for right now. After a couple of weeks, I'll come back and tell you why I ran this post. TIFN

What's happening in '07

Well for starters, this is the second anniversary of my attempt at blogging.

It was,4 days ago, the 45th year anniversary of attempting to make a marriage work.

In about two to three weeks there will be the addition of grandchild number six! Of all the events that will happen this year, this is the most anticipated!

With regard to my third attempt at running away from permanent retirement, the job at the BI School is coming along nicely albeit slowly. Lots of niggling things need fixing but because of time and money constraints they move at a laggardly pace.

The miniscule part of my life now that is called Littlefield and Sons Ltd., has updated it's bookkeeping system from one called Real World that has served us well for about 26 years to a new one from Quicken. So you will see a different kind of invoice in the mail if you are one of our most valued customers. And BTW, thanks too all who have sent cards and gifts over the years!

As a part of keeping up with the times, in the near future there will be a new LPG delivery truck cruising the highways and byways of the Island. I wanted it to be painted orange and black but was vetoed by the whole clan!

Model plane building and flying has slowed to a virtually non-existent pace as involvement with other things vie for the time. As in, spent 1/2 the day Sunday running sheets of old paper through a blender with lots of water and turning it into raw pulp to make more paper! That was a granddaughter project she received for X-mas. Whew, glad that is over! Lots of time and labor involved for not much return.

Have been informed by the parents of the soon to be New Granddaughter, (Ha HA, I know what her name will be!), that she, the baby, wishes for Mama-san and myself to be available for consulting, hugging, kissing, etc. when she is old enough for such things. So within the parameters of trying to remaining a viable entity when she comes of that age, we have been asked to do all we can to make that possible. That would include trying to reduce the body mass from huge to something approaching svelte! So in the interests of same, please, "Do Not Feed The Dieters!".

And the last but significant event to happen around here will be the demise of the over two hundred year old house of Kirk's out front. The old place has really begun to show its age even with the not so recent rehabs. So it will shortly be coming down to be replaced by a modular that will look virtually the same on the outside, but with a drastically modified interior floor plan.

That's it for now. From all of us to all of you readers, the extended family wishes each of you a very happy and prosperous new year. Will expect you all back here in 365 days for the 3rd anniversary of the blogging experience. TIFN