Some Issues With: In Like a Lion ,Out like a Lamb

     On March 1, I can always remember people saying, "In like a lion, Out like a lamb." The adage is much older than my time. In fact, the earliest it can be traced back is to the 1200's. Nobody knows it's origin. It's one of those adages that has just come along with the language. 


     I wasn't very old when I became skeptical about the truth of the statement. I began to wonder about it's accuracy and if records had been kept. In my little head it seemed like one of those statements that are in the language but  do not have a lot of validity. There are many other statements to do with the weather. Red skies at night... Red skies in the morning...A moon phase where the moon is turned up enough to hold water...frost is more likely with a full moon. Now some of these have been proven to have some scientific validity . In others their source can be traced and the source offers some sense.


     Now what really bothers me about the March statement is : what defines a "lion " day and what defines a"lamb" day. Today at sunrise it was clear and calm. By 10:00 AM there was a brisk wind and some snow. By 5 :00 PM the wind had died down and the skies had cleared. I'm sure that there would be many arguments as to which kind of day this would be. Is it an average of the day? Is it the noon conditions? 


   Now another thing. To my dismay I have found that some people fervently believe in this adage. They are serious. The Farmer's Almanac  records and reports the event. And who's going to disagree with farmers and their almanac? Don't mess with them. They will have a melt down if you suggest it's hokey. I know I live with one of these. 


    Now I may be a bit of a spoil sport about March 1. I may be a trouble maker. But I am big enough to hope that everybody had a good Mar. 1 and that what ever the weather was, it turns out to be a good March and spring month.

February 29: A Day of Opportunity

     February the 29th has always been a rather interesting day since it only comes once every four years. I am well aware of why the extra day is needed. I also find the birthday thing for people born on the 29th rather interesting. 


     I'm sure that if we Googled Feb.29 th we would find all kinds of interesting trivia about the date. 


     I heard one interesting piece of trivia on a radio station this morning. So here goes. Feb.29 th is a day for women to propose marriage to a potential spouse. That's right women may ask someone to marry them on Feb.29. 


    Now I'm sure some people will run out right now and make a marriage proposal. Just think how this might work for someone who has a very hesitant male beau?  The question can finally be popped and who knows the great day of marriage may arrive. 


    Since I've spread this valuable piece of information, let me know how it works for you. Has this just made your life complete?

The Boy Who Carried His Own Arm.

    The other day I took my wife to an orthotic and prosthesis place to get her insoles adjusted. We had to wait quite awhile for the the glue to dry. There were all kinds of devices  in the shop. There were many leg and knee braces. There was the odd leg or foot that was used as a template to make various devices. While I was looking at these devices I thought of a student that I had.

    I was working after class with a few kids. All of a sudden somebody said, "Mr. Kline, there's and arm on the floor." Sure enough an arm was under one of the desks. We all went down to the desk to inspect the arm. I thought it was likely something from the drama dept. We picked up the arm to examine it. At that time Daryl came in the room with a sheepish grin on his face and said, "I forgot that." while pointing to the arm. Daryl left right away. I had a feeling as if I had been someplace I wasn't supposed to be for looking at a kid's arm. 


     This happened about the third week in Sept. I had not noticed that a student was missing an arm or using a prosthesis. So much for my keen observations.


     For the next three years you would see Daryl coming down the hallway with his binder and his arm. sometimes Daryl left his arm in the locker. Most of the time he just carried it. I could understand why Daryl carried his arm. It was extremely heavy. For an 11 or 12 year old it was just too uncomfortable. Daryl was born missing the part if his right arm below the elbow. There was a 3 or 4 inch stub past the elbow. The stub would move on the elbow like a regular lower arm. Daryl did not show any discomfort with his missing arm. In fact, he was a very pleasant student and was well liked by his classmates. 


    After middle school I did not see Daryl again. I did meet some of his distant relatives and they told me that Daryl was married and had two children. It was nice to hear that Daryl had for all intents and purposes lived a normal life.


     I wish that digital cameras were around in those days as I would have had more pictures from my school days. I probably would have had a picture of Daryl.

Snow: Embrace It or Fight It

       My last post was on the snow fall that we had the previous day. Some of the comments made me think about things again. I know that I have some valued southern followers. One comment went something like this..."I rarely see snow and never have enough for a shovel."


       The shovel got me off on a tangent(Whatever they are.) We have many things designed to fight snow starting with the shovel that I use to move snow out of places I don't want it. I have snow boots, snow tires, warm jacket and tuque. All of these things and more I use to fight snow. Our culture despises snow. We spend millions on snow removal. So there we are fighting snow.


      We should embrace snow...love it! Ski, snowshoe, walk ...just get outdoors in the snow. We should discover ways to use snow. Snow is great stuff for sculptures. Snow is easy to move and carve. Snow was used to lean against the outside of a house for wind protection and insulation. My parents melted snow for water to do all washing .Instead of moving snow out of the way do some research on how to make a safe road surface with snow.

My private ski trail

Neighbor Alf and his snowmen

Red and his wonderful skis

Skating at Bower Ponds

Sliding at Bower Ponds

     The Inuit for thousands of years have embraced show. They use snow to aid their survival. Snow is so important to them that they have many different words for snow...drifting snow, slushy snow, powdery snow, snow banks, snow drifts, snow suitable for building houses...the list goes on. As an aside there is some debate over the whether there are actually many different words for snow in Inuit languages. For igloos they looked around the area for some very hard snow that was fairly deep. They used a hand saw to cut blocks and a large knife to shape the blocks so that they had the correct bevel. Small chunks of snow were used to plug cracks or where the blocks didn't quite fit. In twenty minutes they had a nice snow house. The snow house completely stopped the wind and has insulation value as they would have the temperature just above freezing. Now they slept with no clothes on...just lots of skins above and below. Clothing was hung up to dry over night. I've been in snow houses and they were light and comfortable. Now that's embracing snow that I can admire.


      Now I know I could change snow for heat. I'm sure that in desert  or tropical areas people have learned to embrace the heat and use it to advantage for their life.


     For my choice I'll stick with the snow. I use a combination of fighting and embracing. I enjoy snow enough to to put up with the not so fun stuff.

Into Every Life a Little Snow Must Fall.

      We received about 8 cm (3 in.) of snow yesterday. It  was beautiful snow as it came down heavily in the evening so in the street lights made it look  as if the sky was full of snow. The snow was light and dry. I shoveled about 9 :00 PM in case we got more later on. 

Paper birch

Mountain ash and red berries

Another mountain ash 

The green ash

      This morning the trees were laden with snow. Now if I'd been out half an hour earlier there would have been more snow on the trees. I also found out that I have to play with the camera so that the snow on the tree branches would show up better. I thought the brilliant sunshine would give me brilliant snow pictures. Not that easy!

     I hope you enjoy the snow in my life.

Male and Female Brains

    There was an excellent post on   Far Side of Fifty recently. Far Side described male brains as boxes and female brains as boxes. She explained how these brains worked and gave concrete examples of her husband and herself.


     The post caught my eye because I have had a long interest in the topic. As a teacher I was aware of the different  characteristics between girls and boys as far progress was concerned. I tried to include situations in my classroom that would accommodate both boys and girls. It wasn't a one size fits all. Before I retired in 1997 there was some pretty interesting research on brains. There were looking at the various brain areas and how those areas performed.


      A very long time ago I read a book called "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus."  The author had done some major research into the differences in communication between men and women. This book offered some very practical strategies when it came to improving communication.

     Now Far Side's post helped to explain something for me that has bothered me for a long time. Home Farm Girl insists on carrying a clothe bag almost every place she goes. This bag has a supply of plastic bags for those grocery stores which do not supply bags. She also keeps lists, gloves, coupons and large variety of other items. There is much rummaging through the bag when something is wanted. She wants the gloves. Oops she can't find the gloves in the bag. We're in the car and she's turning the bag inside out and freaking. By the time I say should we stop the car and go back, she finds the gloves! I can see taking this bag to the grocery store but I fail to see why it has to go every place. So the bag goes to doctor appointments and I'm left "holding the bag" in the waiting room and receiving the puzzled stares from other patients. 


    Now I have an explanation for the bag. Since female brains work like a ball, all the strings from the ball are connected to all the various items in the bag. There ! The problem has been explained. That'll do me!

A Discovery Far Back in My Genealogy

       Two areas of interest to me are local history and my family tree. I read a tremendous amount of local and western Canadian history. I have done little genealogy research but others have and I find their discoveries fascinating.


     The relatives on my father's side were German  Lutherans who went to the Ukraine and Russia at the end of the 1700's. They were invited by Catherine the Great to come and farm so that more food could be produced in the area to feed the people. They were also used to teach the Russian and Ukrainian people agricultural methods that would be more productive. The Germans were promised  three  things: keep  the German language, practice their Lutheran faith and not serve in the army. These people were very devout and so their religious faith was most important to them. Language is what helps a  culture to survive. These Lutherans were pacifists and did not want to participate in any war. 


     Over the years gradual changes took place. Finally, it was required that the Germans would have to join  the Russian army. My Grandfather was in the Russian army. In the late 1800's many of the German people began looking for some other place to live. Land was available in the United States and free land was available in the Canadian west. My family, the Kleins, sent some of the men over to investigate the opportunities. They liked what they saw and sent back information for the this large family to come to Canada. From about 1898  to 1910 my family came to Canada. My Great Grandfather brought all seven of his adult children and their families. 


     I was never able to find anybody beyond my Great Grandfather. I wanted to know if he had brothers or sisters. I wanted to know who his parents were. All records were kept by the Lutheran church. 


     The other day I stumbled upon a website that had what I was looking for and more. One section of my family had done the research and got back as far as my Great, great, great,great Grandfather! How about that? Was I excited to find this information. George who as the greatest was born and died in the 1700s and no dates were found for his birth or death. Gotlieb  was my Great, Great, Great Grandfather and was born in 1791 and died in 1856. To me this was amazing information.


     Now a friend read this and wanted to know what they did. Were they rich, horse thieves, swindlers or drunks? I had to tell him that I really didn't know but my suspicion was that they were hard working peasants.  So I didn't find any surprising things in the closet but it was super just to find their names.