Happy New Year friends! Michigan finally experienced winter. So now comes the count down to starting seeds indoors. For me that will be the last week of February. The houseplants, all 4 of them, are plush. Basil, 2 aloe, and a spider plant that is going crazy. Here is my latest haul. These were on sale for $2.47 each, and we had reward points so I ended up getting them for about $1 each. I was giddy. 😁 I still have cucumber, radish, and scallion seeds from last year. I have decided to buy the amish paste, bell pepper, chili peppers celery, and jalapeño plants because I don't have a large amount of space for seedlings in the sunny spots of the house. I will start broccoli and cucumbers and peas inside, and direct seeds green beans, radishes, carrots, scallions, sunflowers, and sweet corn (I already had those seeds from a different source.) Tell me what is up with your winter gardening or for our southern friends, summer gardens.

😂😂😂 Fair fight? When has a cat even fought fair? They win no matter what the fight. We had a vet one time suggest that we soak a cat's tail three times a day to help it heal. I looked at him like he was the biggest dunce on the planet and said, "Lop that tail off. I value my own life more than the cat's." Mark was too sappy though and said "we'd" try it which was uhm, no, not me in that. After a major battle in the bathroom, he lost a lot of skin, and promptly took the cat back to the vet. Cat lost part of his tail. If you have to fight a cat fight dirty! 😁

Yes. Math hurts! We had four kids. We gained an honorary daughter, who then got married and gave us an honorary son. Dd got married and brought another son and three grandsons. Then eldest boy, and now we have a dil. Then we got another honorary daughter who got married and gave us a delightful honorary son, and now the group is very large, and generally very hungry if I am around to be kitchen elf because I am too stupid to stop making good food and fall for the big, puppy dog looks they give. And another long lost couple with no family, dear friends of youngest ds, appears to be trying to weasel into the family club, and likely, I won't be able to say no as I am weak willed and have a huge soft spot for abandoned, young adults. I need a castle to house them all, and a farm to feed them! Math will kill you in the end. 😂

That is only for businesses employing 50 people or more. So one of the things we see locally is that businesses will employ more than 50, but schedule everyone 29.5. This way they never have to offer insurance. They also do not offer any sick days, paid vacation days, or anything else. Many full time jobs of the past are filled by two part time people. It is also another excuse to keep wages low. If everyone is part time, then that is just one more reason that no pay raises are ever forth coming.

Hate is a good word for it. I also feel there is some sort of capitalist notion that any business is OWED employees, and when the pathetic terms the business offers are rejected, they feel like their rights have been violated. It is really just bizarre and very concerning. Middle ds is working a Sam's Club job part time while in grad school. The manager refuses to post the schedule for the week, which he runs as Monday-Sunday, until midnight Monday morning. He expects employees to stay up until midnight to find out if they are supposed to be at work that morning, and Monday morning for stockers and openers is 6 am start of shift. Twice ds has gone to bed so he could be properly rested, and then didn't find out he was supposed to work Monday. His boss was furious. He told him to stuff it, and reminded him that retail jobs are a dime a dozen so it isn't like he can't go to work somewhere else. Three times the dolt, who knows ds's grad school schedule, has tried to make him work when he is supposed to be on campus, and again, ds has shrugged him off. So far he has not been fired because that place is desperate for employees, and can't keep them. (Well duh!!!!!!🙄) I swear management thinks they are the lords of the land, and employees are their serfs. I can't wait for both of my sons to get through grad school and find employment in their respective fields. I also feel that we need a wake up call as a nation, and especially as consumers about how abused many folks are in order for us to have our convenience.

That poor, confused duck! 😂😂😂 "Pond? or not a Pond? That is the question!" 🐟🐟🐟

Yes, I think bowling is going the way of the dodo because it used to be an activity folks could afford. I looked up the average prices and it was $4-6 to rent the shoes, and $12 a game or $40 an hour per person. So three kids bowling for one game would cost $48, and it doesn't take that long to bowl a game, hardly worth the trip and money. It would be over $120 for those same kids to bowl for one hour! I guess the one bowling alley left around here is all league based. People pay annual dues to belong to the leagues. I don't know how that is priced out. League players usually own their shoes. But, they also spend a lot of money, typically, on cocktails and food. They have no leagues for anyone under 16. I am still really steamed about the tennis courts at the park not allowing kids, and actively sending city police to run children off. If they have a tennis racket a balls, let them be. How the heck are they supposed to learn? Also, the school play grounds here are now fenced and gated, locked up. When we were kids, this was not the way, and everyone went to the local school yard to play on the weekends. As always, low income kids get punished the most for societal changes like these. I hadn't really thought about it much until this thread because we don't have our grandsons here, and our kids are grown so it isn't something of which we were aware. Looking into it makes me concerned. It seems like so many kid spaces are gone, and what is left is ridiculously heavily regulated. I am not happy about the invasion of retirees into our local political system with their "I don't care about kids" mentality. I feel like I need to put up some billboards, place some ads that say, "Be kind to kids. Someday they will be running your nursing home!"

100% spot on.

Your projects are amazing!

Yes. I just purchased linen and chambray. I am starting a new exercise program to see if I can lose some pounds, but ultimately by summer, I would like to have a new summer nightgown, linen capri pants, and three chambray tops made for myself. I also need to make some pot holders for our kitchen, and Dd asked me to make some pull on corduroy pants for all three boys out of vintage corduroy fabric that I found. I did NOT get my Halloween themed quilt done in 2023 so that is on my list. Also, since the flannel scarves were so popular with my adult kiddoes, I want to see if I can collect 100% wool sweaters hopefully with pretty cuffs and hemlines, that I can felt in the washing machine, and then turn into mittens for next Christmas. I will line them with some lining material I found in my old apparel stash. So I do have a list of things to do. Hopefully, I will get them done!

I will say we spent nearly every weekend at the beach because my parents loved it, and prioritized it. Of course it helps that an annual state park pass was so heavily subsidized by tax dollars that it was something like $5. Even now an annual pass is only $20. So they did make an effort, and if they couldn't do it, my grandparents would make the effort. We also went up in the winter and hiked the beaches, watched the ice form, etc. Again, they liked doing that so we were able to do so. We lived about 20 minutes from Lake Huron. My kids also grew up this way. Interestingly, we had two young men on our rocket team at one point who live right here, so very close to those state parks and water/beaches, who at that time, had never ever been to the lake. That was shocking to us. To live in Michigan and never frolic on one of these inland seas is just mind boggling. But, their parents were farmers which is 7 day a week/365 job, and also absolutely hated traveling and being away from home. So if it was not an activity in practically their own backyard, they were not participating. When we found that out, we made sure the 4H Stem Club (rocket team was just an extension of that) had excuses for research projects on Lake Huron so they would have field trips with us. Maybe my parents were just more heavily involved with activities than average which was then conveyed down to me, and I married someone who was enthusiastic about that as well.

My heart goes out to the Japanese people. So scary.

Yes, there is an exam and the USPS reports a very high failure rate, 80%. We are in the post industrial age, and so much of what is done now requires a fair amount of academic knowledge in addition to hands on knowledge. Add to that the fact that employers no longer see a high school education as a verification of basic skills and knowledge set for all the reasons we discuss here every year. This means though college shouldn't be required for many jobs, it is often a requirement to get and interview. The pendulum has shifted too far the other direction, but that isn't going to magically fix itself until K-12 is fixed. The ASVAB average score is 50, and 50 is not getting anyone into any of the better programs. They accept people as low as 30, but if you want to actually get experience and training for a career, that score is not going to cut it. I know lots of kids in the area who couldn't get into the military. It is high tech now after all, and the days of accepting just anybody to keep the numbers up is long gone. Part and parcel in all of this is health insurance tied to employment. Many of the non college routes from cosmetology to plumbing do not come with health benefits. While some trades, like electrical journeyman, can be with companies large enough to provide that, many tradespersons do not have health insurance or have to buy it with high deductibles and out of pocket expense on the marketplace. This is a huge struggle for my stylist who is amazing, but has health problems and easily sees a huge portion of her income go to health expenses. Universal healthcare for all might solve some of these issues and allow Gen Z and Gen Alpha to have many more employment options or start their own businesses.

This probably isn't helpful, but if the winds are low and it isn't raining, we launch rockets. They also all have really nice light sabers and do dueling. 😂 Welcome to nerdville. That said, I don't expect my adult kids to be always interacting as a group. Everyone needs down time so it is also quite common for middle boy to head out for a long walk while eldest and wife are reading while youngest is geeking with his dad about some new electronics project, and I have my nose in gardening books or am walking the dog.

Hugs to you. I am very sorry for your loss.

Oops, I forgot one school district. There is one tiny one that everybody kind of forgets exists around here unless you are zoned for it. Very small. There are 86 students 6-12th grade. The graduating class last year was 13. In 1982, their graduating class was 74. Given the cost of operation, and the state requirements for what must be provided, I don't know how they still functioning. I can think of two bordering districts that could take those students easily. At any rate, it is worth considering the impact of low birth and high retirement rates have on public policy and how that plays out for children. The poster who suggested we are becoming an anti-child society may be on to something. Screens make it easy for children to be not seen, and not heard. I also think that the poster who brought up evolutionary forces is not wrong. Brains do very much crave the things screens provide even if it is detrimental in other ways.

I just did a tally and discovered that of the 8 bowling alleys that existed during my youth and had reasonably priced youth leagues, only one is still open and it had no bowling under 18 without an adult present. The three roller skating rinks closed in the early 90's. Of the five play grounds in the county that are not on school property, four require adult supervision for anyone under 15 years of age, and police are called and routinely take kids home if they do not have an adult chaperone. There are four bike trails with signage that no one under 15 is supposed to use them without someone 16 or older accompanying. There are two villages with summer pools, and all have a requirement for someone 16 and older to accompany anyone younger than that. These pools with lifeguards on duty. There are two splash pads, and the one in the county seat is free, but it also requires someone over 16 to supervise anyone younger than that, and police to patrol it. But here is my thing on that and the playground, if police are patrolling it (foot police) then I would think it is pretty safe, so couldn't we allow kids say 10 and older to be unaccompanied? Can we have just a little bit of encouragement of some independence? I am sure all of it is related to liability insurance. As I said in a previous post, the ice skating is pretty well defunct now. One community took out their basketball courts because the neighbors complained that "boys show up in groups, and boys are nothing but trouble" 😠, and the tennis courts have a sign that no one under 16 allowed. So I guess they now expect kids to wait until they are sophomore or junior's in high school to learn to play this rather iconic game, and one that only required you to find 1 friend to come along instead of needing a large group to play the sport. Most of the piano teachers have retired because they have no students sign up or parents do not want to play. So the musical kids aren't getting lessons and do not have practicing to fill their bored times. I do not give lessons anymore. No one wants to pay on time, or is even willing to pay a reasonable sum for my skills and education. But in fairness to the county, I will say this. The birth rate has fallen off the cliff. There are ten school districts in the county. When I was a a senior, I went to the 2nd largest district and the graduating class was 223. The largest district graduated 476 that year, and the smallest district graduated 105 (had to go look those up because I could not remember the stats). The 2022 graduating classes: my district - 67, largest district - 110, smallest district - 39. The county population has fallen 10,000 in the last 2 decades. Not only has the tax base experienced a major shrinking, but the number of kids here has fallen off a cliff while the number of retirees has grown exponentially. In my experience, retirees in this area do not vote "pro-kid" when it comes to planning and expenditures, and unfortunately have an earned reputation of "curmudgeon", and " Get off my lawn!" so that is probably a factor in how we got to a place of very few kid spaces.

Gorgeous!

All I know is if we were dumb enough to say, "I'm bored", I was going to be washing windows, and my brother was going to be cleaning behind the refrigerator. So we is kept it to ourselves. Bookworms we became. My own kids had a lot of places to romp around, plus 4H and 4H projects between meetings so that helped. I do feel you though. So many places that we used to have activities at growing up are gone, and nothing has replaced them in our area. I also have watched as our climate has changed and how that has impacted winter sports especially. It is nearly Jan. 1, and still no snow, no sledding, no ice skating, and no snowball fights, or building and decorating snowmen. Every year here for the last decade it seems that this starts later and later ends sooner. I heard a mom in the thrift store say to her child that it was hardly worth the effort to buy snow pants anymore. I also have noticed that the number of designated sled hills has dwindled to two for the entire county, and only one community is going to flood a spot for ice skating if we get enough cold snap to form ice. So strange. When I was a kid, we had three snow days from school by now, and the neighbor kids built a fort, we built a fort, and dodgeball with snowballs was the name of the game with various mothers and grandmothers calling childcicles in to the mud room for hot cocoa every now and then.

We love whiskey sours. We make them very simply. We make a tart lemonade with with a little agave for the sweetener and a shot of bourbon.

Agreed! We desperately need more respiratory staffing when the three-virus whammy season is upon us. But as long ad we have a for profit medical system in which insurance CEO's and their ilk drive hospital funding instead of full public funding, we aren't going to get it. Personally, I also wish we had free standing infectious disease hospitals like we used to that kept viral patients out of the other hospitals so there weren't delays for surgeries, procedures, cancer care, etc. from influenza or whatever running amok on every floor, every wing. I also think it would make it much easier to collect data on new viruses because everyone who has it is in one place, and epidemiologists aren't get gazillions of reports from every hospital in the land. I feel like it would be more efficient, but I could be wrong about that.

😁😁😁❤

Faith is a very very very bad girl. Her greedy little alter ego took over her body and compelled it back to the fabric store for another $113 expenditure. She really is a naughty little gremlin whom the goody two shoes Faith had no control over. I now have enough double layer gauze and chambray to make the greedy little girl 3 shirts plus the pants, another night gown, and some quilt fabric for my niece in law who is my alter ego's partner in fabric greed crimes! 😈

I would do it like an assembly line with one or two steps accomplished at each table, a set of directions at each end, the supplies for those steps on each table but not a bunch of other stuff so people do not get bogged down doing too many things at each station, and have a card at each table at that particular stage of construction, with the final table being the last thing and a finished product on display. This way it will be 100% self explanatory. I would have 3 chairs at each table in case someone needs to sit to do the work, but not more than that because it gets crowded, unless do chairs on both sides of the table. I might advise folks to bring their own paper cutting scissors and ask for donations towards the scrap booking double sided tape because that has gotten expensive, and chances are they will go through a lot of it if it is an extensively decorated card. I would not allow the selling. I would just have people bring what they are willing to share so it remains a fully inclusive, happy event. Once money gets involved, it gets weird. People wanting something elaborate and time consuming for not much money, people making negative comments about someone else's hard work, asking for "do you have it in a different color or theme", etc. It will be more fun if it is just a community sharing event.

Beautiful!