More Ramblings

I love the beautiful colors of Fall. I wish the Lord would allow the colored leaves to last one month longer. Then if all the leaves would just fall on one big pile - I wonder if it might have been that way in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned and were kicked out ... How can a first or second grader not know his address? How can he not know his last name? At times we have an incredibly difficult time getting basic information from Awana kids who come on our vans. Last Wednesday we had six new clubbers who could not provide this information for us. Amazing! Is this the fault of the schools? I think more of the blame should be placed on the parents. Any responsible parent would make sure the children would know this vital information even before beginning school. This is the raw material that our schools must deal with today. .... And speaking about schools, our dear governor continues his campaign to destroy public education. First he makes a "no tax increase" pledge and then he makes public education pay the price with huge cuts in their state subsidies. Like many districts, my school district cut jobs and programs and while my state taxes didn't go up, my school taxes took another big jump. Now he is pushing vouchers, or scholarships as he calls them, even though this will cost millions more. But he wants vouchers only for those attending low achieving schools. Get real! Once the foot is in the door, it will be eventually expanded to allow any kids to attend another school - especially a private school. This threatens to wreck public education. But the private schools want it - actually they really want the money and the better students, not the ones who don't know their names and addresses. They want the kids who will add to their image, so they can boast like, Linden Hall (an expensive selective private school for girls in Lititz), that their college board scores surpass those of all the public schools. ...... Here is an interesting investment - if you can call it that. Nearly 40 years ago I planted an oak tree that cost me about $1. Now I have to have it taken down and that will cost me $1,250! I guess $31 a year for some shade isn't too bad a bargain. We also recently took down five huge pine trees that we had planted 40 years ago. We had purchased those for just 10 cents each! It is incredible to think about how tall all of these grew in 40 years. ... Why do doctors ask you to come 15 minutes before your appointment time? Then you must wait 45 minutes instead of 30 to be seen. ... Why aren't advertisements and phone messages from doctors recorded by folks who know to pronounce Lancaster properly. I'm tired of hearing "Lan' cast er". We natives know immediately that it was recorded by someone from another area. .... How comes when parts go bad on your car they are never covered by the warranty? When we bought our last Dodge - and I literally mean our LAST Dodge - I was talked into an extended contract. I have never done that before, but fell for it that time. So on Friday a sensor goes bad - a $290 sensor - and, of course, it's not part of the extended warranty. .... The same day I received a notice that our supplemental medical coverage is going up $21 a month. I guess in this economy it could be worse and it will be worse when Obama Care kicks in. I haven't heard yet if medicare will be increased as well. So what's a retiree whose pension was set ten years ago supposed to do? ..... Oh well, as I normally say in situations like this, it's only money. And how true that really is - there certainly are more important things in life.