A Bet I wish I lost

My brother Keith has been in and out of hospitals and nursing homes since 2006. He has heart and kidney conditions uncommon in a man so young. I have visited him in 5 hospitals, 2 nursing homes from here to Minnesota. Last summer at the end of an almost 3 month stint in hospitals and nursing homes I offered him $100.00 if he could avoid the aforementioned for a period of a year. This winter and spring he had been making the hospital and nursing home circuit again. Last night he was taken in an ambulance from his nursing home to a nearby hospital with cardiac arrest. He did not survive the trip.

That is $100.00 I would have gladly parted with. Parting with him will be another deal entirely. I covet prayers for his family. That they would trust God knowing that Keith lives now with his Heavenly Father. That we'd be able to live without him.

Next Time: ?

I do all my own stunts

Fits me to a T

My life in T-Shirts

A few years ago I was at a birthday party for my wife's cousin (cous-in-law). My wife's sister (sister-in-law) gave my cous-in-law a t-shirt that said "I do all my own stunts" . I thougt it was way cool and wanted one myself. My cous-in-law was turning 8 at the time.

So, yes I get my fashion tips from pre-pre-teeners. I love that story and I love that shirt. They both capsulize my personality. T-shirts are like washable bumper stickers. I realize that in a way certain shirts I have had in my life can tell my life's story. From time to time I will be displaying them for you here.

Next Time: My video collection

The Same Guys

I was looking at Ship full of Pirates/Meanwhile Back at the Ranch recently when I received quite the shock. I was looking at the following post and the guys in that video looked very familiar. I knew those bug eyes and facial tics from somewhere. Then when one of the guys started playing the recorder, I knew! It was the Fabulous Bentley Brothers from Jelly Telly.

It seems like the guys who sing excellent and very funny summaries of books of the Bible, like this one on Judges, also sing very funny songs about frogs and Facebook.

These guys have an excellent website at Rhettandlink.com. I highly reccomend both their personnas. I have linked up some bentley/rhettandlink videos at my site. Let me know which one you favor.

Next Time: I do my Own Stunts!

State Capitols and Restate Capitols

Welcome to all linking to this post from Home School Carnival gardening edition.

When Emma was in 1st or 2nd grade she had a unit on States. She learned all the capitols, the year they became a state and a famous citizen of that state. Charlie followed along and learned much of the information himself. It was an excellent unit, and a great jumping off point for other studies. We learned many interesting facts we had not known before, like the fact that Adolf Hitler had at one point owned large portions of Colorado. This led to studies on the Holocaust. We learned about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. This led to further studies about civil rights. It also sparked an obsession in Charlie about boycotts.

Since that time we have seen Emma's memory of capitols dwindle down to 50% from knowing all of them. We decided to prepare a refresher for her and Charlie during Spring Break. Since Amy now has a Spring Break at her job we give the kids a few days off their studies as well. We did have them review the capitols every day for a week and now Emma is almost back to 100% again. Charlie is kind of boycotting the quizzing and answers Baton Rouge or Salt Lake City to all of them.

The Monday of Spring Break was the regular day for our home school cooperative. I teach a class on grammar and editing for the 7th grade-and-up crowd. I like to open the class in an unusual way, so I began by quizzing them on state capitols. One girl did not know the capitol of Illinois. That's fine if you live in Kansas. But when you live in Illinois, it's kind of an important fact! I went through 20~25 states and no one even got a quarter of 'em. They assured me they had all memorized or at least studied the capitols before. These are bright articulate kids. But just like Emma and Charlie, they need a refresher. Here is a demonstration.

This Monday, the tables were turned. I was assisting at the co-op in Charlie's class. They were reading a story about Martin Luther King and the bus boycott. I could not think of Rosa Parks' name. It was killing me! I asked Charlie, he didn't remember. I sauntered across the hall and asked Emma, she didn't know. I stayed up all night racking my brain and at about 6 a.m, it dawned on me. No, that's just a bad joke. I thought of it on the drive home. But the point had been made. Things get forgotten, and things worth remembering need to be taught over and over.
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Another important aspect of state knowledge is being able to place them on a map. No doubt many of you have seen this useful resource. It is very addictive and I have become pretty good at it. I have placed all 50 states without an error 3 times now. It all depends on the order of the states you are given. Today we had a family contest and Emma won placing 47/50 with an average error of only 14 miles. Charlie is not able to read all of the states. He does a pretty good job of recognizing the states by shape.
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Next Time: The Same Guys

Father Son Ski Trip

One of the great things about skiing are the opportunities to talk with girls. One thing I liked to do was start conversations with girls on the ski lifts. Many of them have their names written on their skis. They forget they are written there, so when you call them by name you catch them by surprise. I went up the mountain one time with a beautiful girl. She had a wonderful laugh. She laughed each time I called her by name. Her name
was Rental - Steve Martin


My cousin is a high school teacher. He is also the sponsor of his school's ski club. As such, over the years, he has thus far twice had me as a guest, a non paying one at that, on one of his ski trips. On the last occasion I brought Charlie. It was March 14th and while the day started below freezing, we skiied in about 40 degree weather .



It was a gorgeous day for him to learn to ski. I arranged for him to have a lesson. The instructor had him practice to begin with 1 ski on a rather small incline and graduate to 2 and then to the actual bunny hill, where his greatest difficulty was using the tow rope.


Charlie and I hit the bunny hill hard for a few hours then had a nice junkfood jamboree at the snack bar. Nachos, hot dogs and his own soda (something that never happens at home.) We skiied for a few more hours after that and then we headed for home around 3 o'clock.





On the way home, we stopped in the town of New Glarus, Wisconsin. If I have my greats in order, Charlie's great great great grandparents were some of the original settlers of New Glarus, coming there from Switzerland. I took a picture of him at the monument under the names of his forebearers, Jost and Fridolin Becker. Our home school is named after my grandmother Izola (Becker) Roller. So I thought it was appropriate on the innaugral outing of the Izola Becker Home School Ski Club, to also study her history.

It had warmed up to the mid 50's by then, and there we sat in a park, jacketless, enjoying each other's company less than 2 hours after being on a ski slope.

We had a fantastic time. Charlie is keen on skiing and we hope to get the whole family in or back in the act soon. Don't worry cousin Billy, next time, it will be on our dime.

Next Time: State Capitols