Patriotic, Not Political, 912 Tea Parties

National Tax Day Tea Parties are planned across the country for April 15th this year. They're non-partisan, or at least they're supposed to be. This is not the time to criticize a political party or condemn the president. It is time to stand together and remind those in power just who put them there. It is time to gather together and peacefully make our voices heard.

Actually, tea parties have been springing up across the land for a couple of months now. These groups of people gather to demand proper representation by those they've elected. Some carry signs that are clever; some are angry. There are those who use the venue for their own political agendas, but so far they've been in the minority. I pray it'll stay that way on tax day here.

For my friends in Southern California, I've made it easy. You can contact Carolyn, 805.262.2477. The Thousand Oaks Tea Party will be at the Thousand Oaks main Post office, T.O. Blvd., 12 noon to two p.m.

Here in Loveland, Colorado, the tea party is from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the intersection of Highways 287 and 34.

You can look up your city in any State on this Tea Party web site. Get other information about the tea parties on this site.

It's easy to sit home and let others get involved. If you need to do that, it's certainly your choice. It's still a free country. I stayed away from the protests and marches in the 60s, due to mixed emotions about the war. Everyone needs to follow their own conscience.

I'm going to make a sign. If the tea party goes beyond patriotic into political, I'll take it and go home, but I'd like to share with you what it's going to say, so you'll know what my priorities are, and why it's important to me that I go.

The sign will have two sides. One side will have a quote from George Washington. “Government ... Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” The other side will be my favorite quote from Benjamin Franklin. “Those who ... give up ... liberty to purchase ... safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

One final word. They call these Tea Parties "912" Tea Parties. Do you remember how you felt the day after 9/11? Do you remember saying, "We will never forget?" That's the point of these rallies. We're trying to come together as a country, the way we did on 9/12. Together, we are strong and capable. We can help each other, as long as we're free.

Now I'll just trot my soap box back out to the garage.

Dancing With the Stars: Revenge of the Nerds

If television shows named their seasons like movies named their sequels, this year would definitely be The Revenge of the Nerds on Dancing With the Stars, instead of just "Season 8."

Last year everyone I talked to was suffering through the tedious, clumsy, and eventually not even funny Cloris Leachman routines. This is the sort of thing DVRs were invented for, and I used mine appropriately, rushing through most of her stuff.  It was just too embarrassing to watch.  The judges were beyond kind in their remarks to her, and her fan base (amazingly) just kept voting her back on, week after week.

This year, Steve Wozniak, Apple Computer's co-founder, is not being treated so gently by the panel of judges. In my opinion, he's not nearly as bad as Leachman was, but as much as I love my Macintosh, I wouldn't vote for him as a dancer. He seems like a really nice guy. I've got a hundred questions I'd love to ask him. I sure wish he'd come to dinner. But a dancer? Nope. And yet, his fans keeps voting him back, too. I wonder if people realize it's a dancing competition, not a popularity contest. 

Okay, I'll admit I'm voting for Ty Murray, the cowboy, even though he's not the best, because well, I guess I just see his great potential. And he sure could ride those bulls. (And if you're not a PBR fan, he really does look good in his Wranglers, ladies.)

Dixieland Comes to Loveland

One of the pastors of our church hails from New Orleans, although not recently. She certainly has no accent. This Sunday she invited The Stover Street Stompers, a Ft. Collins Dixieland band, to play all the music at two of the services at our  church in Loveland, Colorado. Although John and I generally attend the Saturday evening service, we couldn't resist hearing this group play Dixieland gospel music, so we shoveled the snow off the car and headed down the hill into town for the 8:30 a.m. service.

The band was wonderful. Eight men and one woman took over one side of the altar. The lady was beyond proficient, playing honkey tonk piano. The men played drums, banjo, two slide trombones, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, and tuba. If they ever missed a note, I didn't hear it. What amazed me was seeing the little silver haired ladies and gentlemen, all dressed up in their Sunday best, clapping their hands and stomping their feet. Some of them were really getting into it, singing louder than I've ever heard them sing before today.

Actually, I would have thought they wouldn't like "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" sung so fast, or with such an interesting rhythm. I knew I would, but I was really impressed that the older people did. I'm not sure why. Preconceived notions are so often wrong. At the end, when everyone marched out to (what else?) When The Saints Go Marching In, many of the most elderly were actually dancing down the aisles. I felt so upbeat, my great mood lasted all day. I think we should do this monthly—at least.

Inconsistencies

I've always had a strange sense of humor. Here's what I ended up laughing about today, and I'm requesting similar stories from the lives of my friends and readers. I know we all have to have things like this in our lives. 

My husband will not put a new roll of toilet paper on the holder. If there are four squares left, he'll use three of them and leave one for me. I'm used to that. It doesn't even make me mad anymore. I just think it's strange, since you don't actually need to move to change the roll. It's right there in a nice little dispenser. It takes five seconds. 

In the kitchen, however, is a paper towel dispenser. When it runs out, the new paper towel rolls are stored all the way out in the garage on a high shelf. John rarely uses the paper towels. I do. When I run out of paper towels, I'm usually busy. If I don't run out to the garage immediately, John does it. In fact, if he sees that there are just a couple of towels left on the roll, he'll run out and replace it, carefully folding the towels from the old empty roll and putting them on the counter. Is that all logical? 

So what strange and inconsistent funny stories are you willing to share?

The Cost of Education

Sometime during grade school somebody mentioned to me that whenever a student missed a day of class, it cost the school $60 in federal funding. That's what the school was paid by the government, per student, to see that we were educated. I'll admit that may seem low, compared to what they're paying now, but I'll bet I was getting a better education. 

I was surprised, when my own kids went through school, by what they didn't have to learn. None of them had to memorize the prepositions. None of them had to learn how to diagram sentences. They didn't have to parse verbs. Essay questions? Most teachers didn't believe in them. After all, if you give an essay question, then you have to read and grade it. That sounds like a lot of trouble for the teacher. True/False or multiple choice are much easier to grade. (Easier to guess if you didn't study, too.)

Foreign language was offered from Seventh Grade on up when I was in school in Virginia. By the time we moved to California, they had to put me in an ESL (English as a Second Language) class to allow me to continue taking Spanish. I was a 4th year Spanish student as a Sophomore. That's all they offered in California, even then. I think they only offer two or three years now. Things are going backwards.

I guess I could follow up by making a big political statement about throwing more money into the education system. I could, but I don't think you're dense enough to need me to do that. What I'd rather do is get some comments on what you remember learning in school that perhaps your kids aren't being taught. Do you think money is the key? I'd sure love to have a few answers.

Yes, I Prayed For This Snow

If you grew up enjoying four seasons, then living in  Southern California can seem like paying an unending penance for something you can't remember doing. We spent thirty some years there. Our sons, who were all born there, never understood why their dad and I didn't love having a whole year that seemed vaguely Summer, but each year I hated it more.

As this March started coming to an end, I found myself praying for one more snowfall, just so I could sit and watch, enjoy the luxury of the chill, knowing I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything. I prayed, and I dreamed that I would watch the deer in the yard as my final snowfall of the season accumulated across our property. 

It began last night, and I've been smiling all day. It's supposed to keep going through the night, and on into tomorrow. They're calling the part that's coming later tonight a "blizzard." I'm going to try to sit up and watch. I have the deck light turned on now. And you know what? I don't have anywhere to go until Saturday evening. The deer come to us. Of course, the newspaper might not make it up here in the morning. Worse things happen to people everywhere. It won't effect my smile. 

I sure got what I asked for. Now I can start preparing mentally for baseball season.

A Daydream: Four of Me

Since there are never enough hours in the day to follow all my passions, I thought back to those days when our three sons played baseball at the same time on three different fields. I had quipped to my Mom that I was either going to have an out of mind or an out of body experience. I thought that, since I couldn't figure out the logistics to the out of body deal, the out of mind would have to do. So far, it's worked for me.

As the years go by, I've never quite given up the notion that if there were more of me, I could do several things at once. I've gotten to the point where my daydream is to have four of me. You've probably met most of us.

Kathleen the Writer: I'll probably forget to eat unless someone comes in and stares at me for a long time. I'll get up in the middle of the night with an idea for that chapter I'm working on. If I disappear in the middle of the afternoon, I'm probably taking a nap. If I'm not there, check the decks. I'm probably on one of them with a stack of printouts and a red pen. If I'm thinking about the best way to edit something, being out with the pines and the deer help me clear my mind.

The Musician: Just stand still and listen. I'm probably all by myself with the guitar or accordion somewhere. Check the basement or or the back deck. I could be out by the fire pit. If I'm learning new music, I'm probably near the computer. What am I playing? It could be anything, but probably something you've never heard before. 

The Crafter:  Most of the time there's a gift in progress, but lately I've started making a sweater for myself. It's a short-sleeved knit I just started. We'll see how much time I actually give to that. Usually it's baby gifts, crochet as often as knit, and sometimes it's bead work or leather tooling instead of yarn, but that's not often.

The Cook-Hostess: Isn't it fun to just make time to spend in the kitchen, fixing things for family and friends to enjoy? It's especially great when guests are coming to visit and you can let them know how special they are.

Good things to bake and wonderful recipes to prepare keep calling me, but there's only one of me, and I'm already busy being the Writer, Musician and Crafter. Yes, there's only one of me. I can dream of being four people, but so far I haven't worked it out. We share one body, wearing each other out. We work in rotating shifts, share the same computer, and try to get each other to finish her project quickly and please not to start another...