It was a doozy!

Did I say the debate last night was going to be a doozy? WOW! Was I right, or was I right?

Grab your popcorn

Grab your popcorn and get ready for the first Presidential debate tonight. It should be a doozy!

Yum!

This was last night's dinner. We invited Michael over for New York Strips an inch and a half thick and loaded baked potatoes. Not exactly diet friendly, but not the worst thing we could eat either.

Parenting

Parenting sure isn't what it used to be. Remember not wearing a seat belt in the car, and mom throwing her arm across your chest during a sudden stop? Good times! Remember riding a bike without a helmet and drinking water from the gardenhose? Good times!

Hello Darkness

We haven't even hit the "fall back" part of the calendar yet, abnd it's already starting to get dark earlier and earlier. It's downright depressing!

Saturday Funnies

Smell the color 9

 Question of the day from one of my 4th graders...

Mr. Meyer, how much inches in a pound? 

There is so much going on here... How much instead of how many, and mixing units of measure. 

My answer? PURPLE!

The kid just laughed because he knew I was jerking his chain. I love it when my students get me and my sense of humor. He knew it was all in good fun and I wasn't ridiculing him.

Then I seriously told him he was mixing units of length with units of weight and told him there are 16 ounces in a pound and 12 inches in a foot. 

Teaching is NEVER boring!

Upgrade!

Time for an upgrade

Here's the video

Here's the video I referenced a few days ago. These are the Democrats in 2016 insisting President Obama nominate a Supreme Court Justice to replace Scalia. These same Democrats today are dead set against President Trump nominating a new Supreme Court Justice before the election on November 3.

Clarification

Just to clarify... In 2016 President Obama (rightfully) nominated Merrick Garland to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court left by the death of Justice Scalia. Subsequently Garland was not confirmed by the Republican controlled Senate. In 2020 the Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to keep President Trump from doing the same thing. Why? Because whoever Trump nominates is likely to be confirmed by the Republican controlled Senate and the Democrats KNOW it. 

 Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself made this argument before her death. After the 2016 death of Justice Scalia she said the President has just as much power in year 4 of his term as he does in year 3. She was clearly in favor of Obama filling Scalia's seat BEFORE the 2016 election. Don't you just love irony? I sure do! 

What are we to learn from all this? It's not just who the people elect as President that matters. Electing men and women to the United States Senate is equally imortant. This is because the Senate confirms any nominations to the Supreme Court. Get out and vote, folks. And don't just pay attention to whose name is on the line for President. Carefully consider the other names and positions as well.

Ginsburg

In 2016, Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia died. In 2016 Obama was President, and it was an election year. President Obama promptly nominated Merrick Garland to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. He did not wait until after the election in November, 2016. The Democrats were all in on the President nominating someone for the Supreme Court BEFORE the election. Fast forward to 2020. Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday. The same Democrats who insisted the vacant seat be filled before the election in 2016, are now screaming even louder that President Trump should not nominate someone for the Supreme Court, and our nation should wait until AFTER the election. Do you notice anything? When the President is a democrat, the liberals are in favor of nominating a new Supreme Court Justice. When the President is a Republican, the liberals say we should wait until after the election. Which way is it, liberals? You can't have it both ways. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Pick a lane and stay in it! 

For the record... President Obama was 100% within his constitutional rights as a duly elected President to nominate someone to fill the empty seat on the Supreme Court. Conversely, President Trump is 100% within his constitutional rights as a duly elected President to nominate someone to fill the empty seat. We have one set of rules, and everyone should play by them. 

Check out this link. (You will need to copy and paste it... sorry, I don't know how to make it clickable) It shows all the Democrats back in 2016 insisting President Obama nominate someone to fill the empty seat (which he did). Today every one of these people are insisting President Trump not nominate someone and wait until after the election. Hypocrisy is on full display!

https://twitter.com/ITGuy1959/status/1307877608487628802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1307877608487628802%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicksonright.com%2Fblog%2F2020%2F09%2F21%2Fwatch-in-the-words-of-biden-and-all-2016-democrats-we-must-fill-this-seat%2F

A new member of the family

In a surprise to all of us, my niece Emily, and her fiance' Raul Castro eloped to Jamaica last week. Congratulations to my sister Cheri and her husband John for gaining a new son-in-law. Also congratulations to the newlyweds! Welcome to the family, Raul!

Vote Trump

True or not?

I have no idea if this is accurate or not. If it is... WOW! If not, it was an impressive display regardless of the number.

Closed for the season

It's a sad day here at Lago Vista Resort. The pool is closed for the season. We are fondly remembering the good times swimming with the family this past summer and we are eagerly looking forward to next spring.

Keep Calm

President Trump stated in a recent interview that he downplayed the initial seriousness of the Corona Virus to avoid causing the citizenry to panic. The Democrats pounced and said he lied to the American people and mishandled the whole situation. That is not the case at all. What the President did was act as a leader and behave much like any responsible adult would. Think about this for a minute... When your kids were young and you were faced with a scary situation, what did you do? You put on a brave face, downplayed the danger to your children and assured them there was nothing to worry about. What you didn't do was panic and let your children know how scared you were (thereby scaring them even more). Did you lie to your kids? Well, yes and no. There are DEFINITELY times when it is beneficial to your children to not give them the whole truth. You do it to protect them. To do otherwise is unnecessary and quite frankly could be called irresponsible parenting. Now, think of President Trump as a parent, and the American people as the children. What good would have come of scaring the citizens out of their wits about something they had absolutely no control over? No good at all. Downplaying the severity of the virus gave our leaders time to formulate a plan to present to the people to let us know everything was going to be okay. Check out another good example below... what if a pilot were faced with a dangerous and scary situation in the cockpit. Would it best for him to be honest with the passengers and inform them of the dire situation? Would you as a passenger feel comforted knowing the pilot was scared? Or would you rather be (temporarily) blissfully ignorant, and spared the details of what could be a life threatening situation. I know I'd rather be kept in the dark believing the pilot is well trained and has everything under control. I don't need to know the particulars of the situation. What am I going to do to help the pilot? Nothing at all, so why should I be privvy to the details? I shouldn't, and that's the whole point. Instead of bashing our President, why not give the man some credit for trying to do what's best for our country?

The only boy

I have worked with mostly women for the majority of my career. For the last several years, I have been the only full time male teacher in the building. We do have a gym teacher and custodian who are males, but they are not here all the time. How do my students view me? See the little gift below. One of my students made it for me.

Trump Train Update

I am now hearing reports there were between 9,000 and 12,000 vehicles involved in yesterday's Trump Train. Absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!

More Trump Train

The Cincinnati Rolling Trump Rally, aka the Trump Train, made the national news. Here are some additional photos from a national news website. Reports state the entire 84 mile loop was filled with vehicles in support of our President. The black circles on the map are the staging areas to establish starting points for participants.

The Trump Train

There was a Rolling Rally for President Trump on 275 today. There were more than 5000 vehicles registered, and I surmise there were many more participating that didn't register. We stood on an overpass for more than an hour and the stream of cars, trucks, and motorcycles was never ending. We did our share of flag waving at the the vehicles below, but sadly the event was marred somewhat by an accident that happened directly below us (it happened before we arrived). A motorcyle rear-ended a Jeep. Traffic was backed up for miles. I'm hoping the motorcyclist and his passenger were okay. Nonetheless, this rolling rally was a spectacle to behold. The entire 84 mile loop of 275 was filled with vehicles decked out in support of our President and in support of police officers. It was truly AMAZING! The photos below do not do the event justice, but they're the best I could find.

NFL

The NFL started playing real games on Thursday night. The Bengals play their first game tomorrow. I couldn't care less... and they are playing the game without any fans in the stadium. Poetic justice? I think so.

Uncanny

The resemblance is uncanny!

Road Trip!

This is true!

Summer is gone!

Summer is gone. It is but a blip in my memory as the school year roars into full swing! If I had to choose a favorite moment from the summer, this would be it:

Labor Day

Celebrating all the hard working Americans today. God Bless America!

Busted!

On Monday Nancy Pelosi snuck into a San Francisco hair salon that has been shuttered since March due to COVID. Nancy thinks she is above all us commoners and believes she is entitled to something the rest of aren't. Nancy didn't count on being exposed by a surveillance camera and blamed the salon owner for the incident. In her own words... "I was set up!". Ummmm, no Nancy, you weren't set up. You think as a member of congress you deserve to transcend the law. Isn't it funny? Everybody has to suffer the consequences of a bogus lockdown, but not Nancy. She's SPECIAL. What a crock of pudding! So typical of the democrats. Do as I say, not as I do.

Two weeks in

Two weeks in, and I am already sick of wearing a mask to teach!

August in review

I have been posting (almost) daily on this blog for 9 years. I'm sure my readers sometimes get bored or feel like my content is stale. Hey, let's face it... trying to find something interest to post every day can be a bit of a challenge. For this reason I have decided to try something new. At the end of each month I am going to give a recap of the events (highlights) from that month. So without further fanfare... here's AUGUST- The month in review:

The month began with the Mortons in town. It was great to see everybody (especially the grandchildren). We had a lot of fun and made some lasting memories in the pool and at the fishing lake.

After the Mortons departed for Texas, it was time to get ready for the upcoming school year. After much preparation, I welcomed students into my classroom for the first time since March 16th and began my 31st year of teaching at St. Bernard Elementary.

Near the middle of the month my sister, Cheri, made a visit back home to Cincinnati. She came to our house with mom and Cliff on one of her nights in town. We enjoyed a nice dinner and a wonderful post-dinner chat/visit/catch up session. It sure was good to have her here.

As the month came to a close I was blessed to received two (not one, but two) loaner cars. My aging Honda Civic has become very unreliable and I needed a reliable way to get to work. Thank you so much Kathleen Morton and Kerry and Toni. Your kindness overwhelms me!

On the last day of the month our family observed the anniversary of my dad's death. It's hard to believe he has been gone for 30 years.

And there you have it... August, 2020. The month in review!

Not peaceful

These are NOT peaceful protests!

First Ladies

Thank you to my cousin Richard for sending this cool puzzle. We finished it in 2-3 evenings. All the First Ladies of the United States. We had a lot of fun with this one.

And so it begins...

Today the calendar turns to September. I have been back to work for a while, and summer is officially over. September brings the beginning of the end for me. Fall arrives late this month, and everybody knows how I feel about fall. I won't say it drives me into a depression, but it definitely puts me in a bit of a funk. Everything starts to die, and the wonderfulness of summer begins to fade. The darkness closes in on both sides. The sun comes up later in the morning, and sets earlier in the evening. There's something psychological about September. I never could fully explain it... but I can feel it. We have some time before cold weather comes along, but make no mistake it's on its way.