Received the April edition of the "Trailmark (the subdivision in which we recently bought) Tracks" on May 7th. Better late than never. After reading all the covenants under which we reside (furnished to us when we signed the contract), this the most anal group of enforcers I think I have ever encountered. I'm not used to a Home Owners' Association. We will live on the edge of an open space park which should stay in that stage so among the topics found in Tracks:
1. Tips on what to do if you encounter a coyote
2. How to avoid having your car stolen-three recent thefts all involved cars with the keys in them, Duh!
3. Animal poop smells, pick up
4. You can park your RV or trailer no longer than 72 hours in a 7 day period. I don't own one. Does this include horse trailers? I can't argue this one.
5. You are limited to certain colors you can paint your house-apparently you can't have hot pink. I'm against hot pink myself so there is no problem on that one.

This would never fly in Wyoming. Enforcers would be greeted with rifles.

Yesterday when I arrived at our house in Littleton and when I opened the door, I heard a series of beeps. I figured it was the alarm system and unfortunately I was right. I went to the control box, entered what I thought was the password, but nothing happened and the beeping went on. I called the former owner and she couldn't remember what to do since it hadn't been armed in quite a while. I finally found an 800 number on the box and called. The guy at the other end walked me through and it shut off. I was about five minutes away from buying a wire cutter or using a hammer to shut it off. Of course I was paranoid waiting for the thing to start beeping again but it's silent so far.
I think I am being punished for putting the snowblower away before June. BTW we did get a skiff of snow here in the Denver area.

I knew I had defied the gods when I put the snowblower in the shed yesterday. This morning it is snowing like crazy.

"You might be a Redneck if...You broke a toe when you dropped your belt buckle on it."

In cleaning out drawers I found another paper I wrote for a class. This one was the results of a survey of junior high students on discipline and grades. In December 1974 I surveyed 60 students per grade level at the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Summer 1975 I was taking a class at the Univ. of Wyoming and thought the results would make a good paper and nobody could question them.
To make a long survey short:
DISCIPLINE
1. boys preferred swats (these were unenlightened, dark ages of discipline) to sentences, detentions, automatic suspension after a certain number of transgressions and last by a mile notifying the parents.
2. girls preferred detentions at all three grade levels
3. sentences were the second choice of both genders because they could always get friends to help write sentences over the lunch hour (no, we weren't stupid).
4. The least favorite punishment (both genders) was to have parents informed. That's back when society wasn't blaming teachers and education in general for everything.
GRADING:
1. At all three grade levels student preferred an A,B,C,D,F grading system.
2. The least favorite was parent conference (guess which direction we went on that one, right-at lest three to five times a year). Remember these are students responding.
3. 7th graders compared to 9th graders by a slight margin (91% to 84%) replied that grades were important to them. Ironically 9th graders are working on high school credits and GPA's.
4. About half at all three grade level said grades were more important to parents than to the students themselves.
5. The big one: 7th graders (68%), 8th graders (65%), and 9th graders (81%) believe that too much emphasis is put on grades.
REMEMBER:
A. This survey was done over 35 years ago.
B. I did get an A on the paper. The UW instructor was in Casper and visited me to see if I wanted to do a follow-up (was this a hint of dissertation?), but I said no that I want to go on to other things.
C. The sample was pretty small and I did it just out of curiosity.
D. 55% of 7th graders compared to only 21% of 9th graders thought the counselor should administer discipline. I must have really fooled them in 7th grade.

Sent by a friend-senior bumper stickers:
"I'm so old I don't buy green bananas."
"And under no circumstance take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night."

Went to the car wash this morning. The guy ahead of me was a rancher who brought his pick-up in for its annual spring cleaning. I knew it was a rancher by the way the truck was decked up and he was wearing a huge cowboy hat. It took the two guys with hoses almost ten minutes just to get the pick-up ready to go through the automated portion of the wash. I could follow which options he chose as he went through. Other than the basic wash, he got the undercoating. It took another 5 to 10 minutes to wash the mud off the floor so I could go through. I don't believe car washes like to see the oil company and ranch pick-ups come through. They must use three or four times as much water and time on each of them. Luckily I drive a town vehicle and I tip.
I have to thank my daughter for referring readers from her blog to my blog. Readership took a real leap. Thanks, Keri.

In August, 1967, as part of the requirements for a Philosophy of Education course I was taking while in grad school at Colorado St. Univ., I submitted a paper with the title "The Pros and Cons of the National Assessment Test." At this time, during the Johnson administration (I think), it was a totally new concept. It was so new that my bibliography has seven sources.
National testing began with the AFQT (Armed Forces Qualifying Test) which was limited to the military and mostly male. This was followed by the National Merit Test. I think I was still in high school when this one came around.
What came out of this was the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) which later led to testing as part of No Child Left Behind.
Ironically as the US was getting in the testing business, in Europe, where national testing (group and individual results) was a way of life, countries were doing away with much of it. They used the same arguments we hear today which are spending too much time teaching to the test and it curbs creativity.
Since I, as well as most educators, knew so little about what the effects would be, I tried to be fairly neutral about national testing and the emphasis and misuse of results. Having administered the NAEP for a number of years, I now would oppose any testing that would be used to evaluate states, districts, or teachers.
At that time the Federal Government was just beginning to fund public education. People feared the government would try to run the schools if they were paying part of the bills. We didn't realize how true that would become.
BTW-I got an A on the paper.

Spring time in the Rockies: It took me two days to mow my lawn. OK, there was a snow storm on the first day. I thought I could beat the snow, donned my ski cap and ski gloves, and mowed like crazy. I did get the front done yesterday before the snow forced me to stop. I finished the back this morning. Grass was still a little wet.
Speaking of twins-I finally got the watch the Minnesota Twins last night but the game was in Cleveland so I couldn't see their new stadium.

From the calendar:
"You might be a Redneck if....Your underwear is older than your wife."