so waht ya doin today?

[Hawk]

My response to having your kids in public schools would be just do like we did. We tried to stay involved every step of the way. My daughter was in Orchestra, Gymnastics, Drill Team and Softball.
We were officers (treasurers and presidents) of the PTA, and the Backers Clubs for the Drill Team , Gymnastics, Softball and Orchestra. My wife was also a Girl Scout leader from day one all the way thru our daughters 12th grade. I got to help as a pack mule and with survival skills training for camping and outtings with the Girl Scouts! We had a blast! The girls had to learn how to build fires and do the cooking.
We also went as chaperones on school trips. Orchestra Competitions, Drill team marching in a Mays Thanksgiving Day Parade, Gymnastic Competitions and other things
Doing that, we stayed up to date with our daughters school and saw the people she was hanging around with. It also gave us a common ground to talk about those things and the other kids. Made her more conformable with sharing as we were involved and already had some knowledge of what was going on.
Make no mistake, she was no angel and we made plenty of mistakes, too, but I'm very proud of the woman she became!

 

[smokeywolf]

DMV here said they can't do anything for me without my birth certificate, which right now is UTL (unable to locate). Mom says she's seen it since we moved in, but can't remember where.

Mom stepped out the front door this morning to take Tasha the puppy out for her morning business and got her first glimpse of a deer on our property. Both Mom and puppy were quite excited.

 

[Bret4207]

There area a lot of good teachers out there and some real good ones and a few very special, gifted teachers. IME as someone related to a lot of educators, the good ones are seldom allowed to excel. Between budgets, mandates, local custom, administrators that could barely run a can opener without needing $100k and seeing danger lurking in either trying something new or sticking with something proven...it's tough. Add in personalities, jealousy, hormones both make and female (oh yeah!) and the fact most kids past maybe 6th or 7th grade would rather be doing anything other than sitting in school, plus PARENTS egos, hormones, etc. it's a system almost built for failure IMO. The bigger the school system, the faster and uglier the problems arise. There are no easy answers like, "Do it like we did back in '53." or privatizing. Having home schooled for 2 years, I believe it's a good option for some people, not so much for others.

 

[Bret4207]

DMV here said they can't do anything for me without my birth certificate...

Outside of a SS card, can anyone think of a poorer document for ID purposes than a birth certificate? Always wondered why they still stick with that.

 

[Rick]

DMV didn't ask me for a birth certificate when I got the AR license, only had to surrender the commie license. They did however ask for it 5 years later when I went to renew my commercial class A endorsement for 5 years, I have it but didn't have it with me. It was either go get it or surrender the class A endorsement. Couldn't imagine ever wanting to climb back into the cab of a truck again so no more Class A. Oh well. Without the birth certificate they did renew my license for 5 years, but no commercial endorsements.

 

[Rick]

Now my pension plan wouldn't even talk to me without the birth certificate in hand. Didn't have it, don't know if I have ever even seen the original. Good thing for me that I knew the county I was born in and could send off for it. Took about three months and several letters to get a copy. Pension plan was happy so all is good I guess.

 

[462]

Nice! I still use our trip there on bad days. It'll not just improve the defensive handgunning skills but brighten a gloomy day for years to come. Would really like to get back down there for a rifle course.

We took the 4 day handgun. Quite humbling & a great time, except for the 19 hour drive from here.

About a 12 hour drive for us. Originally, we were going to take the four-day course, but several factors made for a change of plans. However, my son-ln-law informed me that, due to the free “Patriot” membership plan he was given, and his upgrading it, we can take any of the offered courses at no charge.

 

[Bret4207]

DMV didn't ask me for a birth certificate when I got the AR license, only had to surrender the commie license. They did however ask for it 5 years later when I went to renew my commercial class A endorsement for 5 years, I have it but didn't have it with me. It was either go get it or surrender the class A endorsement. Couldn't imagine ever wanting to climb back into the cab of a truck again so no more Class A. Oh well. Without the birth certificate they did renew my license for 5 years, but no commercial endorsements.

If that was after 9/11 you can probably figure out why they wanted more ID.

 

[Bret4207]

We lost my oldest boys original birth certificate. Actaully, we didn't lose it- a cat barfed on it and then either a dog or maybe another animal of the rodent family shredded the rest of it. Any way, we called the town the kid was born in and it wasn't much of an issue to get a replacement copy. Only thing is that my wife is now listed under her married last name and not her maiden name. I fear sometime down the line one of our descendants might be doing the Ancestry.com (V.34,967) and wonder if some of his ancestors were incestuous!!!

 

[KeithB]

What my ancestors might think of me doesn't have any effect on my life.

Had to have copy of birth cert for some legal work a couple years ago, only took about 10 minutes at the local Health Department Office.

 

[smokeywolf]

Looking off the balcony/deck of the back of our new (new to us) home.



One of the people who made the move much easier.



Yep! That's Rick the forklift operator, moving my lathe from the semi parked on the road in front of the property around to the back of the house.

And...



There's Tasha who loves her new home with lots of space for playing and sleeping indoors and outdoors.

 

[462]

Drove Zion National Park, and I don’t know the words to describe the natural beauty, nor the experience.
We’ve been to Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, The Grand Canyon, and Crater Lake National Parks, and they all pale in comparison.

 

[smokeywolf]

Zion is nothing short of remarkable. Not sure that Bryce is any less.

 

[Hawk]

Took my 2016 1500 Z71 truck to the Chevy dealership for a recall regarding the vacuum on the breaks.
What a disaster!
I had a piece of gas can plastic funnel go down the gas neck. They quoted me $300.15 to pull the gas tank neck, where the funnel piece was lodged and remove the funnel piece. They say they will have to drop the gas tank to get to it.
Also, I'm having a transmission shifting problem at low speed where the tranny is down shifting really hard and seems to be slipping when accelerating from a rolling start. An Internet searches resulted in a lot of posts about this problem. A re-flash of the trans software is suppose to fix it. They said they would look at it.
Went to pick up the truck today, invoice showed the $300 plus $48.02 in shop supplies. I called bulls--t and they removed the $48.02.
I was told because of the Auto Workers strike, I would have to leave the truck for 2 to 3 days before they could look at the tranny and it might be a month before they can fix it.
I walk around the truck before leaving and see a new dent in the rear passenger door.
They finally admit it might have been them, but say I will have to leave the truck for 7 to 10 days for them to fix the dent.
What a cluster f---!
The General Manager is suppose to call me back tomorrow.

 

[Hawk]

Sorry for the rant!

 

[Ian]

What does the strike have to do with downloading a software update from acdelco.com and poking it into the transmission control module?

 

[smokeywolf]

Ian, wouldn't they just be reflashing a BIOS chip or EProm with a file that is already on their server?

 

[Bret4207]

I hate car dealers, unions and computers in vehicles. The rant seems perfectly justified to me.

Rumor has it that it might not rain today. 2" plus in the last 24 hrs. Pretty soggy out there.

 

[Hawk]

Oh, I forgot, I also found rat droppings on the dash.

 

[Brad]

Oh, I forgot, I also found rat droppings on the dash.

Can’t wait to see what they charge for UAW produced rat droppings and proper install!