Building Fences

I wrote a blog post a few months ago about my Aunt Mavis celebrating her life.  Her husband, Uncle Gayle to me, died a few weeks ago.  Both of their urns were transported up to Northwest Kansas a few days ago and were buried in a country cemetery.  This cemetery is quite remote--miles from any little town. Generations of Hunters are buried there.

This picture isn't of the cemetery.  It is a picture of the land that Aunt Mavis and Uncle Gayle owned.

That would be past tense. Not only in death but in land deed reality.  The land was sold after Aunt Mavis died.

When I was 13, my Aunt and Uncle came up from Houston, Texas to build a fence on this land.  I was expected to help, and boy, did I.  My Dad was in seminary training and about ready to become a full-time minister.  But he was home at the time.

You might look at this picture and think this is nothing but straight, run along flat land.  That would be a wrong guess.

A turn to the right would reveal a little country road using switchbacks for trucks to get up a hill.  A turn to the left, a ravine so deep that the sun might not shine on some spots.  Looks are deceiving.

I remember heat, sweat, dust, digging post holes into pure rock, standing at a 45 degree angle to be straight, ticks galore, swinging a hammer, stringing barbed wire, and thirst that seemed to go on for many days straight.  Miles of fence building.

Picking off 10 ticks out of my hair each day was the norm.

But I learned a few lessons.  Hard work, despite a few ticks, creates accomplishment. Working as a team makes a insurmountable task possible.  Muscles you never knew existed became a learned fact.  Learning how to balance a hammer, pliers and yourself all at the same time.  And that looks are deceiving.

Running Up Hills

Back when I was a long-distance runner, I enjoyed the challenge of a hill.  Attacking a hill was so much fun; I passed many runners going uphill.  Unfortunately, a lot of them passed me going downhill. My shorter legs were at a disadvantage downhill.

I'm sure I got my love for challenging hills when I was very young. Back then while my family and I were still living on a farm, we had a rim that followed along part of the creek that ran through the farm.

This rim had a steep drop down to the creek; almost a sheer, straight drop. I remembered many times keeping myself entertained climbing from the creek bottom straight up past the limestone jutting out from the top of the rim.  I would grab any shred of bush or twig to keep from falling back and kept churning my legs.  Not the safest thing to do--one mishap would have sent me backwards.

During the winter I used my saucer sled to try going down the sheer drop--ever seen that scene from National Lampoon Christmas when Clark Griswold greases up his saucer? Well I didn't see any sparks flying but I sure had a lot of air time.

I was always curious what the elevation difference was between the rim and the creek.  Thanks to GIS mapping, I now know.  The rim above the creek is 1902.8 feet while the creek is at 1861.8 feet.

That's 41 feet difference in a short amount of space.

I learned how to climb hills when I was young--always go forward; going back was never a viable option.

Front Porch Jam Session--Education Discussion at Tennessee PTAConvention

Since Wednesday, I’ve been in Nashville for pre-convention meetings and then for the Annual State PTA Convention.  Here is a picture of my convention badge:

This afternoon, the Tennessee PTA sponsored a “front porch” session.  And it was really good. I learned a lot, tweeted a lot on behalf of Tennessee PTA, and heard some good questions from Tennessee parents.

The front porch panel was Dr. Gary Nixon, Executive Director of the Tennessee Board of Education; Kevin Huffman, Tennessee Commissioner of Education; Jamie Woodson, President and CEO of SCORE (State Collaborative on Reforming Education); and Dr. Jesse Register, Director of Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools.

I learned about so much stuff that every parent with children in schools or people who live in the community with school children should know.

There were a lot of concerns about the TCAPS standardized test being 20 percent of a school-aged student’s grade.  But TCAPS are being replaced by Common Core testing.  Common Core testing will be done on computers so school systems across the state need to get the hardware and connectivity rolling by 2014 (although there is a back up paper plan for testing).  Common Core is already implemented for two grades and will be expanded for all grades in three years.  One of the parent questions centered-around schools that would not be ready for computers in 2014.  One of the best quotes came from Dr. Register speaking about the lack of digital access in the Nashville school districts among economic disadvantaged students said that the achievement gap will not go away until the digital divide goes away.

On the subject of parental engagement, all of the four front porchers praised the training and involvement of PTA parents in the school systems.  One of them said there are too many parents not engaged; we need your help to get more involved.

Another question was about student health.  PTA has long been a passionate advocate for healthy children and families.   Did you know who the biggest advocate was for hot lunches and immunizations many decades ago? PTA.  All four front porchers praised the PTA leadership in healthy children.  Tennessee PTA is a big supporter of the children health/nutrition program in the schools.  Dr. Register said that in his economic disadvantaged schools, the school district has implemented a backpack program on Fridays to send food home with students for the weekend.

Helping children across the state and supporting school systems to give every child the opportunity to learn and to achieve—that is why I volunteer so much time and energy into what I consider a worthy cause. The future of our society, our leaders, our hope.