How To Unpeel A Banana
When going to an 8th grade graduation, you plan on seeing some nice moments, including a speech or two and the actual ceremony of handing out the diplomas. At least that’s what I was expecting yesterday, little did I know that bananas would be involved.
The middle school social studies teacher talked about how the students were well prepared to enter high school. He said they know two things that will help them in the future. As he was talking, someone handed out bananas to all the graduates. His first item was that the students learned that they should respect someone else’s opinion, and try to see things from all sides. That made sense. The second was that the students learned how to unpeel a banana correctly!?
Well it is said that you should try to learn something new every day; and that is what I will always remember from my niece graduating from 8th grade. Here’s what I learned….
High School Graduation
I remember the red gowns and that rain chased the graduation indoors from the football field to the crowded gym. As far as the speeches, not really. I don’t even remember the moment when the principal handed me my diploma. It might not sound like it, but I know I was there!
Yesterday, for the first time since my own high school graduation, I attended a high school graduation. Since I don’t remember, I can’t really compare the two. I do know that yesterday’s graduation of Jordan High School was well run and efficient. It was at Duke University and was the third one of the day at Cameron Indoor Stadium. My nephew is now a graduate and on his way to college.
I wonder if this class of 2009 will remember their big day better than I did way back. Here’s a quick look.
Grubs and Lightning
The bolt in the sky cast a yellowish hue around the clouds. It was dusk and looking west, the sky was showing off with bolts of lightning every minute. I thought of running inside and getting a camera, but it was almost dark and no picture could capture the true look of this lightning.
My only wish was that storm would continue to move our way and rain down on my yard; of course after I was safely inside. I had my doubts though, not meteorological doubts; but the I just put some grub control and fungus control on my yard and I needed it to get a good soaking for the stuff to activiate doubts.
See, usually if my yard needs watering and I break down and water; it always seems to rain a bunch right after that. So when I put down that grub control; I was willing to bet that because of that, these storms will somehow miss my yard.
Well I am glad I didn’t bet, because that vivid lightning storm was upon us within the hour. Goodbye grubs, hello needing to cut the grass from the rain.
White Whole Wheat Flour
I love sweet cornbread that I make with flour and cornmeal. As I was preparing the cornbread last weekend; I decided to see if I could slip white whole wheat flour in place of white flour. I was interested to see if anyone would notice the difference.
I bought some of white whole wheat flour. It is a little milder like white enriched flour, but contains the nutrition of traditional whole wheat. I knew that traditional whole wheat would be spotted but I was wondering if white whole wheat could pass the cornbread test.
As we sat around the dinner table, really the folding outdoor table outside; I passed the cornbread. My neice and nephew asked for seconds. It was my wife that said, “what did you change about the cornbread?” I was caught, so I came clean. When all was said and done, everyone said they were good and my nephew took seconds, and thirds!
I will be trying white wheat a lot more in the future.
June Snow!
As school lets out for summer, I am starting to think of going to the beach soon and hoping the heat won’t get so bad this summer. The last thing people usually think about in June is snow.
Well it snowed in June for the first time in 60 years in Dickinson, North Dakota. Holy cow, speaking of animals, I am sure this cat was confused too. Here is a link to the story from out west.
Could it be global cooling? Well, an unusual cold weather event doesn’t mean the climate is suddenly cooling; and North Dakotians would probably welcome a little global warming right now.
For me, I would like a little cooling to come my way this summer. By the way, one year ago today it was 101; so today’s 91 could be our own version of global cooling.
Junk Mail or Not
Our mailbox was full yesterday and the day before. We have an average sized mailbox, so it takes a decent amount of mail to fill it up. The mail came from all different law firms. They knew something about my family that I didn’t tell them, they found out on their own, all of them. At least 25 solicitations in the last couple of days. Some sent, cd presentations, booklets, and of course their phone number, so I could call them.
What brought on all this attention? Well a week ago, someone hit our car in an accident. No one was hurt except for our car. It was declared totaled and yesterday I removed the last of our personal items at the tow lot.
It was interesting that we couldn’t figure out how to get a copy of the police report for our information, but not too worry; we now have at least two with helpful user guides courtesy of you guessed it, local law firms. Thanks for the report, but no thanks for filling up my garbage can.
Breakfast Fruit or Meat?
While working, I usually eat a couple pieces of fruit. 
It is an easy way to break the fast in the morning. It usually takes me several hours after I am up in the morning for my stomach to wake up.
I watched a report on the Today Show that basically said I should add protein to my breakfast. They said it wakes your body to up to start burning calories, and that it will keep your body in the calorie burning mode all day long.
I always thought that a big protein breakfast is a bad way to start the day. I like saving my protein intake and calories for later in the day, such as a good steak or chicken dinner. Hey that’s an idea since a chicken comes from an egg….maybe a chicken and egg biscuit for breakfast would be perfect.
A Chore Or Exercise?
I see a lot of my neighbors use services to cut their grass. I guess they don’t have the time. I do my own grass because, I don’t have the money to pay someone. In reality, I have always cut the grass all the way back to when I was a young boy. Once while cutting my yard, a bee scared me; so I let go of the mower and it was headed straight for my mom. Funny how something like that remains clear in your memory.
I look at the hour I spend walking behind my mower as exercise. Last evening I wore a pedometer to see how many steps I take while cutting my yard. It was about 4200 steps. Not bad, I estimated that at about 2 feet per step I walked a little over 1 and 1/2 miles.
I find that the person who will say: ‘my time is worth more to me, than spending on lawn care’; are the same ones who will spend that time exercising at a gym, where they also paid for a gym membership. Dollar Bill saves on both!
S’mores Please
Grilled out last night and as we finished up our dinner, my daughter suggested we make S’mores. Well there were two problems with that. We didn’t have any marshmallows and the charcoal was almost out. My wife solved the first problem, she went to the store to get supplies. I solved the second, I ventured out into my backyard and picked up sticks. I turned my grill into a campfire.
I am not a pyro, but there is something about a wood burning fire that entrances me. The wood burned well and the marshmallows caught on fire and turned black. (The way I like them) We topped them off with Hershey’s chocolate and mmm they were good. So was the fire.
“Noseicles” & A Cold Movie
It’s now June and summer weather is here. We rented a movie this past weekend and I recommend it, mainly because by watching it, it can’t help but cool you down.
The movie is “New In Town” and it is a typical romantic comedy. The movie was fine, but when and where it was shot was really cool. Not on a back-lot in Hollywood; but up near Winnipeg, Canada in the middle of winter!
The movie had a feature on the making of the movie in the cold that I found more interesting than the actual movie. They talked about filming in the middle of the night with an air temperature close to 50 BELOW zero! They said that most equipment will work until about 40 below zero, so they had issues. They said it was so cold that any moisture coming from you would freeze. Hence, tiny little icicles would form from moisture coming from your nose, called “noseicles”.
So when I get too hot this summer, I will get some clean ice for a cold drink and think back to that movie feature about the other extreme: too cold. Did I mention that its going to be 92 tomorrow?
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