Thursday morning

Thursday morning and all is well. There is a full moon, or close to it; and it’s illuminating the entire orchard. Or the portion that can be viewed from this window…

It’s time for my second cup of coffee. The first one disappeared far too fast! “Moderation in all things” needs to be my goal. Especially now that I have weighed myself for the first time since beginning my spring training. I have some work to do! It’s amazing how quickly the pounds add up. But…the walking will remove them just as quick. The sooner the better, as I hate carrying those pounds around; they just slow me down and the added weight can lead to foot troubles; something a serious walker doesn’t need.

What is new? I did get some pruning done in the front of the house; reducing the stature of the Mehan pecan tree and removing some stray limbs from the walnut tree as well. I see that I need to clean out the fallen oranges from beneath the Navel orange tree and pick the remaining fruit. The Valencia orange is still not quite ripe.

Yesterday was a big day in California high schools as the final exit exam was being given. What a cruel joke that is. The schools and their parents failed many of these children years ago and now we’re punishing them. Then I heard a story from Laurae; about a third grader that wasn’t completing his homework and when pressed, had to admit (through tears) that his mom and dad were too busy to help him. The school won’t call in the parents and the parents won’t change and pretty soon it’s time for an exit exam for that child. Yes, it’s quite clear; it’s the fault of the child and he/she needs to be punished!

And another story of senseless cruelty. I read that a large school district has decided to use “merit pay” as an incentive for better teaching. The district will use test scores to determine which teachers are doing better than their peers. Human nature being what it is; can you guess the results? First; all teachers will begin teaching for “the test”. This teaches nothing of value. Then, since school districts are comprised of schools that are not equal as far as economics and parent involvement, the teachers in the more advantaged schools will get bonuses and the teachers that drew the short straw of poor schools will lose…again. This will certainly give them an incentive to try harder next time. Not!