Miscellaneous Missives

While we were at the festival in Monmouth, we went to the Maquoketa Caves State Park .  We didn't quite know what to expect.  When we first arrived we were given a talk about bats and White Nose Syndrome.  Both of us were surprised that there was no cost for the caves.  For those that complain of paying taxes, it's not only teachers that suck up the tax dollar, it's also wonderful state parks.  Although it was raining off and on everywhere else in the area, our cave hike was dry (except in the caves) and sunny. What did I learn?  I knew that bats eat mosquitoes, so we should love bats.  Bats, however, hibernate in the winter which is good because there are no mosquitoes for them to eat.  White Nose Syndrome is a fungus that wakes them up in the middle of winter.  Since they can't survive in the middle of the winter, they die.  We were asked to wipe our feet on green mats (with disinfectant) when we entered and exited the caves...

This weekend I attended Seldom Seen (music, art, literature) in the eastern part of God's Country.  I've never traveled down the river on the eastern side of the state.  When I looked at the two different routes given by GoogleMaps, I chose the more scenic trip... amazing.  The festival was relaxing and fun.  My friend's (J) daughter helped with the setting up of the festival, so J and I went in support.  Prior to the trip, I had problems with AC and tires.  At the festival, I realized my cat needed to see the vet (immediately).  While my life seemed to be full of difficulties, sitting watching artists on a 625 acre farm full of cool people was relaxing to quite relaxing.  Even though we were the older attendees, everyone was super nice.  Last night as we sat around the campfire drinking, listening to music, and chatting with those around us, J's daughter approached saying, "Everyone is hanging around the two of you."  I think we were...

I'm packing for the Seldom Seen arts festival in Maquoketa, Iowa.  The forecast looks dismal, but I'm still excited for the adventure.  Actually, I'm not packing, I'm buying supplies (beer, new flashlight, new car adapter for iPhone) and looking for rain gear and of course geeking on the internet.  Yesterday was supes stressful, so I'm trying to relax before I leave for a wet weekend of music, art, and literature. Yesterday brought a flat tire.  The tire is punctured on the outside and can't be fixed which means all new tires.  After great debate (long, long story... but Tires Plus tried to sell me the wrong size of tires...), I decided to put the spare (full size but 10 years old) on the car and make the trip to the eastern part of "God's Country" (Iowa for those not paying attention).  I'm hoping for the best while feeling happy to have AAA.  Most of the afternoon was spent trying to figure out the best solution for the tires.  I arrive...

If you follow John Green on Twitter, you may have already learned about these twenty-six drinks.  Thanks to Twitter, I learned about alcoholic drinks today. For those that don't know John Green, go check out on of his books today.  Really!  Go!  Now! My favorite John Green books: 1) The Fault in Our Stars 2) Looking for Alaska 3) Paper Towns It's early in the day, and there's a chance I may learn something else today.  Yeah, I doubt it too!

My New Shoes Last night while I was sweating my ass (and every other part of my body) off at R.I.P.P.E.D .  The instructor stated, "Don't eat before you come..."  Although I think she was speaking to the class in general, to show us that she was still able to work out, breathe, and talk, I felt that she knew that I had indeed eaten before I attended class.  In the middle of the night, I couldn't sleep and checked my news feeds.  Huffington Post had " Summer Fitness Tips ."  One of the tips was "Don't Protein-Load Before Your Workout."  It seems that it actually raises your temperature.  I sweat more (much more) than the average person and really don't need a higher basal temperature.  Maybe I should have chosen the banana instead of the chicken breast. While I was on that page, I also clicked on 10 Unexpected Benefits of Working Out .  I thought I'd uses it as a motivator.  Especially the one about hit helping older women with me...

Perhaps this is cheating (posting twice in one day), but I feel the need to share what I learned today in the news.  While sucking down my fountain Diet Pepsi, I looked at my news feeds (loving Feedly).  I must share what I learned from these two articles.  Honestly, I merely want to give my opinion on these articles, but... First, the bad news is Rusty The Panda was lost.  The good news is that Rusty the Panda has been found.  It seems there were tweets all day about Rusty which may (or may not) have helped with his capture.  After doing a bit of research,  I learned that the red panda typically "grow to the size of a house cat."  The above picture of Rusty is adorable to quite adorable, but how do they know it's not Ranger Rick ? Next, it seems that the conservatives are opposed to the Common Core.  They're saying that "Washington should stay out of the classroom."  Really?!  Now, unlike many teachers, I am not opposed ...

Over the last couple of days I finished City of Bones .  It's the first book in the Immortal Series.  During the summer I read young adult books and post entries about the books on the school website.  It's a good way to stay current on young adult literature while giving the students ideas about what books they may/may not want to check out.  Most of the time it's the "new releases" and Maud Hart Lovelace books.  City of Bones was neither of these;  It was a student recommendation.  At the end of the year, a student was reading the series.  Almost every day she would stop after class super excited about a new twist or turn in the book.  Typically, she would start with an enthusiastic (literal hands waving), "You wouldn't believe this..."  At the end of the year, when I was preparing books to take home for the summer, I promised to read it (all 485 pages of demons, etc.).  She even made me watch the movie trailer for the upcomin...