on 02-16-09 23:46: Ardith Hinton to James Bradley re: Let It Snow...  1.

 AH>            I think most people around here probably use
 AH> antifreeze.  But tires with treads... what a revolutionary
 AH> idea!  Others couldn't figure out why they kept getting
 AH> stuck in the snow, while we didn't....  :-)))

That's a a good pack of 'scouts'. 


 AH>            Well... we still have patches of snow hanging
 AH> around, especially in parking lots & next to driveways
 AH> where it was piled up.  We also got more snow on the 3rd &
 AH> the 10th, but that didn't amount to much.  A week or so ago
 AH> I was amused to see a fellow working in the garden on one
 AH> side of his driveway while there was quite a bit of snow
 AH> remaining on the opposite side.

We have a bunch of neurotics that shovel their parking spaces on the road in
front of their homes, and pile it high to consume another spot. Now that we
have had a few melting days, those piles remain unmelted and now, there's
another dusting of snow to hide them. I'm sure there is a bylaw in place to
prevent this, but I see so many around, I doubt there are enough officers to
enforce it effectively. 


 AH> go away eventually. Meanwhile, I reckon someone could use a
 AH> little help from human hands too.  :-)

Shocks all around here. I've been a little put off by PT, and a few chores long
overdue here, and someone has beaten me to shoveling the public walks! Our
bylaw requires us to clear our walks 24-hours after the snow stops flying, and
I try to get on it before that clocks ticks down, but what a pleasant surprise
this is. (PS: Evidence is point to Welfare Mom!)


 AH>            And now that we're not busy shoveling snow... [chuckle].

Is this you, rubbing it in?  I expect Calgary will see a Spring dump yet,
but the first rain was pretty heavy a couple of weeks ago. It's ~-25^C this
morning. I sure wish the heater blower in the 4WD didn't pack it in!

 JB>  A flap of carpet sure helped me get off a ridge of ice

 AH>            Hmm... I hadn't thought of that!  We've been using the kitty
 AH> litter which was left over when the cat died & we sold our
 AH> rear-wheel drive car.  But I'm sure we have a few odd
 AH> scraps of carpeting around here somewhere....  :-))

Litter is fine, if it isn't the clumping kind. It tends to slick up in the wet.


 JB>  "You have to be a good neighbour, to have a good neighbour."

 AH>            Yes.  Or in other words, "Be what you want to
attract."  :-)

The comedian on TV right now has a routine, about dressing for the job you
want. The punch line goes something like, "I showed up in a Hawaiian shirt,
flip-flops and a Speedo, because I wanted to work at Club Med. I didn't get the
job, but I did get some long-needed vacation time."


 AH> suppose, they grew up & moved away ... to be replaced by a homeless man
 AH> who had borrowed a shovel from one of the nearby churches.  We haven't
 AH> seen him for some time either... [wry grin].

...Nor the shovel?


 AH>  We would have lent them a shovel if they'd asked, but
 AH>  they said nothing about it... (sigh).
 JB>  Did they at least invite you to the party? 

 AH>            Nah, we're too old & boring!  I doubt we'd enjoy
 AH> it anyway.  And we also have to get along with another
 AH> neighbour who objects to the noise some of the guests make
 AH> in the wee small hours, when they are drunk & disorderly.

Some of the young-uns I used to invite to parties here, were astonished to see
how many "Old & boring" people were here. To most amazement, the boring
assessment usually vanished with haste. Mind you, we never did get *too* drunk
*or* disorderly.


 JB>  Early onset ({at}28yo) mid-life crisis could explain a lot,
 JB>  certainly toward the end of my career.

 AH>            It's been known for years that many schoolteachers suffer
 AH> from what was once called "battle fatigue".  There are various
 AH> similarities between PTSD & mid-life crisis as well... but in this case
 AH> one descriptor focuses on why it happens whereas the other focuses on
 AH> when it most often seems to happen.  IMHO a major stress or an
 AH> accumulation of minor ones can have similar results.  :-)

Did you ever see a '70s movie called The Teacher, I think it was called?
...About a prairie one room school-house in the twenties  that imported an
educator from out East, who had no clue what he was in for. If the book (I
think it was based on a book.) was required reading in a curriculum, I doubt
there'd be as much burnout. Mind you, there might be adverse affects from some
of the shenanigans parlayed.


... James
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