Some days one would be better off1 staying in bed! Today was a prime example2, but because the day is not yet done, we’d better be careful not to anger the powers that be3.
Things started ok. Don got up at 6:00am, took Blitzen IV out, and began to fix breakfast with only minor interference4, but [...]
Schedules, Meetings and Growing Older
May 6th, 2009 by huffmansSpring Break
May 4th, 2009 by huffmansThis week (March 16 through March 22) is Spring Break1 for both the college and schools2 here in Pella. What are people doing with their free time? I find the answer to this question quite interesting. Most of the ones I know are not taking the trips to exotic3 beaches and islands like those which [...]
Spring Forward, Fall Back[1]
May 4th, 2009 by huffmansEach spring and each fall of the year we hear people repeat this quotation2. It is especially true on the TV news, as the commentators3 are trying to remind the listening audience4 to change the time on their clocks on a Saturday night early in April or a late in October. In the spring we [...]
April Fool’s Day
May 4th, 2009 by huffmansWednesday of last week was April Fool’s Day1. This is not an official holiday2 and its origin is obscure3. One possible theory4 is that it was first celebrated after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar5; and the term referred to someone still following the Julian Calendar6, thus an “April Fool.” In many pre-Christian7 cultures May [...]
Mother’s Day
March 27th, 2009 by huffmansAnother Mother’s Day1 has come and gone. I received some lovely cards from my husband Don, children, granddaughter, a friend, and my Chinese daughter for the year, Yuan Jing. I truly2 appreciated3 the cards and a phone call from our Ethiopian “daughter”: Yewoubdar4. It’s nice to be thought of by lovely people.
I read in the [...]
Verbiage[1]: A Political Battle of Words
March 20th, 2009 by huffmansThe words we use can be important, and political elections sometimes bring out the worst in language use. Recently, two of the most common hate words2 used by one political party about the other were “liberal” and “words.” One presidential candidate3 denounced4 the other party’s candidate as “a privileged wordsmith5, a man of mere words who has ‘authored6’ two books and done little else.” Another extremist7 from the same political party referred to the opposing candidate as “just an elitist8 who worked with words, and words are everything to him;” but this critic9 admired one of his opponents “because she’s a woman who’s worked with her hands
Saving Electricity
March 20th, 2009 by huffmansDuring the recent days of economic problems, there have been many suggestions as to how people can save money by not being wasteful of electricity and water in their home. This morning on television we saw a good demonstration1 of how one family has started saving considerable money by following a few suggestions given them [...]
More Book Space
March 20th, 2009 by huffmansToday Don put together some more bookshelves here in our office. We keep accumulating1 more books than we get rid of2 so always need more space for them. Why so many books? I guess it’s because we like to read. We check out3 some books from the college library and others from the public library. [...]
Central College
March 20th, 2009 by huffmansCentral College is the name most often used for the liberal arts college1 which is found in Pella, Iowa in the United States. Originally it was chartered2 as Central University of Iowa3 in 1853, and it became Central College when the Central Board of Trustees4 requested the name be changed in the early 1990s. Since [...]
History Day
March 20th, 2009 by huffmansMarch 26th was History Day1 in the state of Iowa. Throughout the state both middle school and high school students had written and submitted2 original papers3 based on an individual project4 on a topic of their choice. These papers had to focus5 on the theme of “Conflict and conflict resolution6.” That is not an easy [...]