On TV and Rain

The Boys in the pasture. Not much grass yet.

NJN Aired the Farm Story

If anyone is interested, you can access the streaming video of NJN news at:

http://www.njn.net/television/webcast/ (We are about 10:45-10:47 into the broadcast if you want to fast forward. And you must access the broadcast for Tuesday.)

Bill, James and I get a chance to speak to the camera and the spot aired several times on the New Jersey station. If you blink, you will miss me, but Bill and James are quite articulate before the camera. A good number of people seem to have seen it, so that's cool. Anything we can do to keep the farm in the forefront is good.

I hate it when the weatherman predicts that the rain will start at around 4 PM or so and is absolutely correct. It was "spitting" by the time I got home and just kept dripping. Nothing really bad, but enough to threaten me off the horses for the night. I really do hate getting me, the horse and my tack wet when it is cool, as it is tonight. It is just so icky. And, of course, the general rule always is that if it is drizzling when you saddle up, by the time you are mounted and about five minutes into the ride, it will start to rain harder.

Frankly, I just couldn't face it.

Tucker was going to have the day off anyhow as the long trailer ride and the lesson were a bit stressful for him. So, instead I was going to practice my technique on Toby who is a good, steady, and responsive fellow. I would be able to figure out how to sit and move on him pretty easily as he is very responsive to his rider and would let me know ASAP if I was right or wrong.

But, getting him, my saddle and me soggy was not exactly how I wanted to spend the evening.

Instead, I put the new no flat tire on the wheelbarrow. It works well but is not quite as "bouncy" as the air tire, but I will not complain. I have spent too many hours inflating flats or pushing my guts out with a soft tire. I don't know what it is about wheelbarrow tires that makes them so susceptible to flats, but I am done with it. This one can't go flat.....of course, it can always fall off the axle.......that's always fun. *sigh*

Magnolias in the front yard.

School is entertaining in that we are starting Shakespeare plays in all my classes. I save it to the end of the year because I really enjoy teaching the plays and it makes the last marking level kind of fun. The 10th graders will be reading Taming of the Shrew, the 11th grade is reading Hamlet, and the 12th graders will be doing Macbeth. This year my schedule does allow me to keep my sanity a bit because I don't have to keep switching plays every 42 minutes.

I purchased the No Fear Shakespeare books to replace my old parallel texts. If you haven't seen these books, they are great. Shakespeare's original poetry is on one page, and a modern English translation is on the adjacent page. It really makes the students comfortable to be able to easily understand what the Bard is saying, and the plays become very accessible.

Amazingly enough, the No Fear versions are also available on line, so my students can access the text from the computer for any assignments they need to do.

Taming of the Shrew is always fun as it evokes all kinds of debates and outright arguments about just how a man and woman should behave in society and in a marriage. I also have a shortened version of the play in a Shakespeare in a Box kit, which will let the kids do a performance with minimum preparation. AND....I have hats!! I have collected all kinds of character hats that I will pull out now and then to spice up the reading--helmets for soldiers, crowns for kings, veiled things for ladies, etc.

Sometimes it's kind of fun to just get silly about Shakespeare. It makes his writing a lot easier to understand.

Tucker and Chance grazing in the afternoon sunshine the other day.