Celestial Triangle On Monday

On Monday, December 1, just after sunset, the moon, Venus and Jupiter will form a triangle in the southwest sky. Hopefully, the sky will be clear enough where you are to give a view of this event. You may even be able to see "earthshine", which is reflected light from earth that could make the unlighted part of the slim crescent moon visible. Happy viewing and use binoculars if you have them.

SCHOOL'S OUT ANNIVERSARY #4

Today is the fourth anniversary of my retirement. I worked it out with my employer so that I could leave when the school went on Thanksgiving break. It gives me one more thing to be thankful for at this time of year. My teaching buddies gave a great party that day and we got lots of gifts that were connected to our planned motorhome travels. Kris, Mike and Sue were there to share the fun with me so it was an all around great day. As I have often said, so far, retirement is much more fun than working.

It's Not Easy Being Green(for a little while)

The Fighting Green Hornets ran into a buzz saw last night in the form of the football team from Bascom Hopewell-Loudon. The final score was 55-20. Hopewell-Loudon was the top ranked team in the state and both teams were 13-0. The game was played in a snow storm with temps in the 20's. That makes the winning team's performance even more impressive. This is the third year in a row that this team is going to play in the state championship game. Malvern certainly had a great season. I saw some pictures of the band online and it looks like they might have enough people to make a medium sized M. Last year they had less than ten, counting the flag squad. Back in the day, we seldom had less than 50.

The First Thanksgiving??

Watch and learn, my friends.

A Visit With My Mom

On Saturday, November 15, Kris, Mike, Kim, Sue, Wickett and I all traveled to Malvern( in one car) to visit with my mom. She hadn't seen the young people in a good while. Since Kris was visiting for the weekend, it worked out well to make the one-hour trip.

Mom is doing very well. She has pretty much recovered from the hip surgery she had last April. She is driving her car again, so that gives her some mobility.

We had a really nice visit and got some pizza from the world famous West End Pizza for dinner. You can click on the picture below to see our happy faces.

Family Reunion

Makin' Soup

Last Friday was "Making Tomato Soup" day at our house. The pictures below show some of the process. We made two batches, using about 22 lbs of tomatoes for each one. We had to buy some tomatoes at the local farmer's market to add to those that we had frozen from our garden. The result was 32 pint jars plus a little extra. The first taste tests are back and are positive. Ten jars are already on their way back to Cincinnati with Kris. The recipe is from my mom and she got it from her mom. Kris, Mark, Mike and Kim have to learn how to do this before Sue and I forget how.

(Just click on the picture to see the whole slide show. It may take a few seconds for pictures to focus.)

Making Soup

Paul Was Sick

On this day, in 1963, Beatle Paul McCartney caught the flu. Hourly updates on his condition were given by the English press. Paul and I share June 18th as a birthday although he is four years older. I can still sing "When I'm 64" but that time has passed for Paul.

One Bad Apple

Maybe Kris has a point with her fear of fruits. I know that I will be more cautious on my next visit to the grocery store.

Madagascar 2

Holding true to our habit of going to animated movies, we went to see Madagascar 2 last night. The Monday special was $5 per ticket and two bags of free popcorn. The movie was great. We remembered all the characters from the original movie and there were some interesting new ones this time. As usual, the penguins were the movers and shakers that got things done. They cracked me up because each time they started on some mission, they would stick in an 8-track of Boston or Journey, etc.

Thanks Teddy and Loook Oouutt!!

Happy 100th anniversary to the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 to protect the habitat of migratory birds.

Plunging off in another direction, I must apologize to Kris, Kim and Mike. In Sue's dream last night, I was driving a vehicle through a hilly area, while sleeping. The vehicle had three rows of seats. I was in the front row, by myself. Kris and Sue were in the second row and Mike and Kim were in the back row. Somehow, we did not crash but Sue said she did a lot of yelling to try and wake me up.

Poetry and Football

Last July, Kris, Matt and I experimented with Haikai, a sort of tag-team method of writing poetry. You can check the July archives to see our results. That was so much fun that I thought that we would try poetry again, but with a different twist. Have you ever heard of clerihew? It is a four-line type of verse that was invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley at age 16. Those of you who want more background can Google, etc.


Clerihew doesn't have as many rules as Haikai. Here we go.

1) The poem should have four lines
2) The first two lines must rhyme and the last two lines must rhyme.
3) The first line must end with the name of a famous person or at least a person that would be familiar to the readers. It can consist of just the name alone.
4) The poem should be funny or whimsical, but not really satire. It definitely should not be mean or nasty.

That's it. If you search around the old internet, you can find examples of this form of verse. Below is one of my attempts. Add yours as a comment over the next week or so and let's see what we create.

Conan O'Brien
makes me laugh 'till I'm cryin'
I'm up late, but then,
I can sleep until ten.

As often happens, poetry naturally leads to discussions of football. Since I haven't been bragging about the good old Malvern Hornets lately, let me correct that. You may remember that last year's basketball team finished the season with a record of 20-0 and then won five tournament games before losing and just missing the Final Four in Columbus. Well, not to be outdone, the 2008 Fighting Green Hornet football team finished their season 10-0 and have won the first two playoff games. They beat Shadyside last night, by a score of 53-24. For perspective, Shadyside had allowed a total of 23 points in their last four games. The closest game all season for the Hornets was 42-21. Next week, Malvern plays Hannibal River. A win in that game means a trip to the State Semi-Finals. Good luck Hornets!

Phase Two

Now that the election is behind us and Barack Obama has been given the job of leading our country to a brighter future, I feel that I can move on to the other two critical issues that would make my world a better place.

(1) When someone has been killed, accidentally or otherwise, and people leave candles, stuffed animals, flowers, etc at the site, the word "makeshift" cannot be used as part of the description of the memorial.

(2) A scandal of any kind should not be identified by attaching -"gate" to the end of the word. That made sense during the Watergate break-in investigation because that was the name of the building.

Isn't it nice that these are the major items that are confronting me at the present time. I wonder if Mr. Obama might create a Cabinet position for me. How about Secretary of Crankiness?