Stereotype and Story – Holley Gerth
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08, 2022
29
08, 2022
Bye, Bye Summer
Another summer is about over. Labor Day is coming.
Fall will officially arrive on September 22, 2022, at 9:03 pm EDT.
Every year at the end of August this one-time schoolteacher becomes a little nostalgic. I’m not saying I’d want to be back teaching in a classroom again. Not with the challenges teachers face today.
Once the back-to-school chatter begins, I can’t stop a part of me from missing the excitement of setting up my classroom and seeing the eager young faces.
I swallow the lump in my throat from memories when I spot a school bus and send up a prayer for a “really good year” for the bus driver, the kids, and the teacher waiting in the classroom.
Back-to-school this year meant three grandchildren headed off the college. One to Arizona, one to Missouri, and one to San Antonio. Two others continue honing their craft as electricians and auto mechanics. The youngest granddaughter continues her homeschooling toward high graduation.
The most exciting thing about this year’s back-to-school is another granddaughter follows her mom, Chicken Wrangler Sara aka music teacher, and me into her classroom as a first-year teacher.
Another granddaughter will continue her teaching career at a new school. Say a little prayer for both of them and all teachers.
August is more than back to school though, it’s the freshness of new beginnings. A time of changes. A mid-year New Year’s Day.
I’m looking forward to the new season. What about you?
26
08, 2022
A Good Year
A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
I have to follow up on last week’s post about being encouraged by the amaryllis. Here’s the picture from the blog:
This week we have had rain which has been wonderful. It waited until after all music and PE classes finished each day which allowed the students to be outside. Even more wonderful!
Today, 10 days after the first amaryllis picture, I took these:
The first plant has more flowers and two more amaryllis plants have bloomed!
I’m going to take that as a sign that this will be a good year.
Perhaps even a very good year!
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08, 2022
22
08, 2022
Ice Cream Day and Waffles Cones
Last month was National Ice Cream Month. Did you know?
Me either. But it’s okay.
National Ice Cream Day has been happening every July 17th since President Reagan’s 1984 proclamation. We’ll have another chance to celebrate next year.
I was researching ice cream-related memorabilia for an estate sale when I uncovered Ice Cream Day.
I regularly read Kovels’ Newsletter for current pricing and learn lots of great trivia. One of the newsletters discussed the origins of ice cream cones.
One story claims an 1896 New York City ice cream pushcart vendor named Italo Marchiony wanted to stop customers from carrying away with his serving dishes and invented the edible cone. In 1903 he patented the special mold for waffle cups with sloping sides.
A different account claims a 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair ice cream vendor W.W. Turnbull ran out of paper dishes. He made a deal with a neighboring vendor of zalabia to put his ice cream inside the waffle-like pastry. The rolled-up waffles to hold ice cream were a big hit with fairgoers.
Three years later, Trumbull invented an ice cream cone vending machine.
The Turnbull Cone’s motto: “Eat a cone every day. You’ll feel better in every way.”
I would agree! Wouldn’t you?
A light bulb on the inside keeps cones warm and crispy. Pushing the levers on the outside releases the bottom cone down the chute. One of the vintage machines sold for $800 in 2014.
The idea of edible cones exploded in popularity after the St. Louis World’s Fair and somewhere along the way ice cream businesses like Dairy Queen entered the picture for all ice cream lovers.
Texans call the distinctive Dairy Queen sign the Texas stop sign. I can promise that my vehicle certainly stops far too often.
But only to confirm Mr. Turnbull’s motto, of course.
19
08, 2022
Inspiration
A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
Teachers went back to school last week to get ready for a new year. I teach at a small charter school that is not immune to the many challenges facing education right now.
Finding teachers was hard last year and even harder this year. This resulted in some hard decisions for our school. People were not happy.
Then we received our rating from the state based on our test scores last year. Not surprisingly, they were the lowest they had been in many years. More people were not happy.
I was pretty discouraged as I pulled into the driveway on Friday afternoon.
Then I saw our amaryllis.
We have been in a record-breaking drought this summer causing many plants to give up and die. Part of this amaryllis did just that.
Then there is the bunch of flowers that bloomed despite all the challenges. They seemed blissfully unaware of the brown all around them and showed their colors proudly.
I was inspired.
If a nonscientient plant can produce color amidst all the brown around it, I certainly can proudly display my courage to face a new year. Even if those around me seem overcome by the drought, I can continue to bloom.
Maybe others will be inspired, too.
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08, 2022
15
08, 2022
And then came Cribbage
All the boiling hot, humid days where we live have forced us to spend more time than usual inside. We’ve read, we’ve taken siestas, but mostly we’ve stayed inside and played games.
We dusted off the Scrabble game and ordered a current Scrabble dictionary. You can read the blog about Scrabble and the Heat here. Our games are challenging and competitive The outcome often depends upon who draws the Q, Z, or J tile. Our vocabularies have grown.
Wanting a game to challenged our math skills, we rediscovered Cribbage. Our granddaughter taught us years ago but we’d forgotten the details and we didn’t have a game in our game cabinet stash.
We ordered a Cribbage board from Amazon. While we awaited its arrival, we learned about the game and watched how to play it on YouTube videos. The game seemed complicated, but we did agree that we needed a challenge.
The history of Cribbage is fascinating. The game has been around since the 1600s and the way it is played has not changed. Charles Dickens’s description in The Old Curiosity Shop helped with its popularity in Victorian England. The game is played worldwide now.
We also learned Cribbage is a favorite on American submarines. The O’Kane Cribbage board of Rear Admiral Dick O’Kane is carried aboard the oldest active submarine of the United States Pacific Fleet.
Cribbage vocabulary is even more fun than its history.
Hands consist of a deal, the play, and the show. You earn points for pairs, runs, and straights until the play totals thirty-one or a player plays his last card. Points of 15 or 31 are scored with pegs on the snake-like board design called streets. Games are played to 121. All the adding and analyzing is great for our brains.
Cards are cut to decide who deals the six cards. You discard two cards from your hand for your crib.
The unused card pile is cut again and the top card is used to total points for a hand, and if it’s a Jack, the dealer scores two points for his heels or his nibs.
Then you have your muggings and Lindbergh’s, and always a pone or opponent.
Cribbage has a non-profit organization The American Cribbage Congress, dedicated to making the game fun and fair for people of all ages.
And best of all, the fast-playing game keeps us entertained on hot days.
I’m thinking it’ll work as well on chilly winter days too.
12
08, 2022
New Beginnings
A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
Rachel has moved into her own place. She is starting her first year of teaching and she, Penelope, and Cooper have found their own home. This has been quite a journey for her. The most recent leg of this 
journey occurred this past weekend when she gathered all her belongings into her new home.
We started Friday evening by moving the things from Miler Farm. We have had a record-breaking drought. Friday it rained. It didn’t last long and it left a rainbow – a nice reminder of new beginnings.
Step two involved borrowing a truck and trailer to retrieve the things Rachel had stored in Huntsville.
This went remarkably well and Brian was able to back the trailer right up to the front sidewalk. 
We finished by lunch and then gathered the remaining items from in town. This included a table from our storage unit and a sectional given to Rachel by a friend.
The last step was to move the dogs to their new home. They were most excited by the new couch.
It is very quiet on Miller Farm now. No Cooper to help me check chickens. Somehow, I’ll manage.
10
08, 2022
The August Transition
SOURCE: Facebook @PositivelyPresent