America's Gold Mine

Often I hear politicians talk about our children being our richest resource.  Usually it is in the context of money for some project which can benefit children.  I agree with the concept but not always with the means to the end.

It takes a generation to raise a productive citizen.  It also takes a generation to produce a destructive citizen.  Since I have experienced the process/privilege of raising two productive citizens, I claim some knowledge of how we go about doing this.  I have been in a position to see how some children are bent in the destructive direction.  It often shows up quite early and unless one is in the place to see daily progress of a child, it may be missed.  It is my claim that it boils down to wants and needs, the understanding of which requires education.

Part of the curriculum in a first grade classroom is a unit in Social Studies on Wants and Needs.  Let me take you back to an experience I had in a class at Mercer University in Atlanta, Ga. in 1970.  I was very recently widowed and my two children and I were all starting back to school.  They to High School and me to a graduate class at Mercer in Teaching Social Studies to Children.  The Mercer students in my class were required to teach a lesson observed by  the other students in our class in a large room while being videotaped.  The children we were to be teaching were first graders and we had never seen the children before we began the lesson.  This is how it went down.

I had pictures of a large family of eight and talked about their daily lives, what they did where they lived.  I guided their thinking into what they might need.  Then I asked the question:  What are some things they might want and what they might really need.  I was getting the expected replies of food, shelter, etc.  Then one little boy held up his hand and when I called on him he said " a new baby".

My audience of adults burst out laughing.  Of course I could not laugh, I had to maintain composure and get us back on track.  His answer points out that young children do not understand the concept of wants and needs.  They must be taught the difference.  Even adults have problems with what they need and what they want.  What we may want is often decided by marketers who are in the business of selling a product whether it is something we need or just something we would like to have.

Even our own government seems unable to decide what this country needs.  Jobs for it's citizens is foremost in our national debate in this year of 2013.  An informed citizenry seems to me to be one thing our country needs.  Someone else might say that  national defense is a major need.  The events of this past week in Boston make a good argument for that.

How to go about avoiding raising the destructive citizen is a huge question.  It obviously begins with the family environment.  The gold standard for the structure of that perfect family is obvious to some and oblivious to others.  It is my belief that it begins with education.  Uneducated parents have a huge roadblock right from the beginning. How can parents create a good environment for their children if they have not had it modeled for them.  Faith is a large factor in building a steady, nurturing family group. Income plays a huge part in stability of a family. How can parents provide the basic needs for their children if they cannot manage what income they do have available to them.   Extended family support has a place in the stability of a family group.  So much points back to education.  Without it job choice is very limited.  It is really not an easy problem to solve.  The problem has been studied and will continue to be studied.  The children who come from good and not so good families will continue to be the building blocks of this nation.  How we will refine the gold will continue to be foremost in our national debate, let us choose carefully the plan we follow.  Basic to the plan, I think, is to have freedom within structure.  Families cannot function without structure nor can a nation function without structure.

Wildlife Wonders

One of the pleasures of living out away from the city is stumbling upon nature in the raw.  Today I had two unexpected pleasures.  I was talking to my neighbor who had been to a funeral service for a long time friend.  She just needed to talk as part of the calming down process.  After we had talked for a while I heard a noise from the far part of the house.  I told her I thought someone was at my door, so we hung up.  I walked to the back door as I have a door bell at the front, nothing there.  I heard it again and walked through my kitchen and realized it was coming from up high.  I looked up at a second floor window which looks out onto an upper deck.  Then I saw what was making the noise.  It was a bird.  As I watched I realized it was a woodpecker and one that is not commonly seen.  The large beak and odd shaped head - red - with stripes on the side and large body told me it was the Pileated Woodpecker. 

I have seen the red headed woodpecker at the bird feeding station and the Downy woodpecker and others which I think are juveniles but this fellow was really big.  My bird book says he is 17" long.  I think he must have seen his reflection in the window and was trying to engage his own image.  To get a better view - and hoping to get a picture - I went up the stairs to the balcony and waited.  In a little while I decided to go out on the deck itself and see what I could see.  As I opened the door, I saw another unusual sign of nature in the raw.  The skin of some snake had been shed inside my screen door and left there!  I had not opened that door in a long time, I had tried, but it is hard to open.  I had found snake skins before - down in my well house and once in a garden area in front of a stone wall.  This snake must have crawled up the side of the house looking for a safe spot to shed his skin, how else could he have gotten there!

Something else I did not expect to see was a mourning dove at the feeding station but one came by and seemed to enjoy getting seeds from the suet cake.  On another occasion I saw a big woodpecker fly to the suet cake at the same time that a titmouse flew there.  For a moment they just sat there in peace then the woodpecker poked the smaller bird with his bill and it tumbled off and down.  Then I saw the woodpecker strike his bill on the wire cage a few times.  When he did tiny feathers flew about.  He must have given that smaller bird a hefty hit, enough to take out some feathers.

Some time ago I wrote about Chester the cat who would be coming to live here.  It has not happened yet but he will find work for him to do when he does arrive.  I have seen no sign of moles, but I think I may have a vole at work.  Years ago my cats kept the voles away from my bulbs and I look forward to Chester doing the same.  I think I have seen signs of them drilling into the wood chips where I have bulbs planted.  The bulbs are not coming up as they did last year so my suspicions may be correct.

The lake here is up to normal pool and it is about 1000 feet from my house.  It is a good water source for the birds.  I could make it easier for them by putting out a water bowl, and perhaps I shall.

For several days I saw a hummingbird come to the station and look around but I had no feeder there for him, so I finally got one up.  When he came by, he investigated, but he appeared to not want to be so close to the other birds and did not stay.  I moved his feeder away close to a rose bush.  I cannot see it very well from my window so I believe I will move it to another place, maybe close to the coral honeysuckle.  It is in full bloom and I think the hummingbirds will like it too.

It has been an exciting day in my nature observations, Since the deer are not coming around right now, the Pileated Woodpecker is most welcome and as long as the snakes stay outside I do not mind them shedding their coats in my doorway.  All of nature has a place in the ecosystem of our planet.  And who am I to deny them the pleasure of visiting here.

April Garden Report

For those who are in my family, the following is a report on what is up in our Lake property.  For other gardeners it can be a comparison for your own garden plants at this time of year. 

On this 8th day of April this is what is showing green or color:

Dogwood trees (volunteers) which are up and down the hill have leaves out and the blooms on the largest one down the hill.  The big redbud on the hill is in full and glorious bloom.  The red peony is up and reaching out of its cage.  The smaller one which has a more delicate bloom is up about three inches.  All of the greenery at this point is red.

Blueberries are all in bloom and we should have some very good ones.  I saw some green on the buds of the pecan trees so I gave them a good watering.  They will need it again in a week.

I saw the first iris up at the entrance, blooming out.  It will be larger tomorrow.  Cheerful Forsythia is at it's prettiest right now.  And the Charlie Grass is vying it for color.  Both pear trees are in bloom.  A lot of good it will do me with so many squirrels around.  Red Tip Photinia is nice and red around the top.

The female kiwi are more advanced in leaf size than the male ones.  Some of the Muscadines are leafing out and some are not.  I did a small amount of pruning and tying on the ones near the entrance.

The Jane Magnolia is at the top of it's game right now.  I was a little concerned when I saw some discoloration on the leaves, but not to worry.

Some surprises were in store for me today.  I found an Amaryllis in a pot and it is alive and well after being outside  all winter.  I wasted no time in taking it down to the curve in the road and planting it as it had a lot of nice healthy roots coming out the lower part.  Another thing I never expected to see was a Jackmanii clematis at the southeast corner, up about ten inches.  I had not seen it for several years and thought it dead and gone.

Also a Daphne Odora  appears to be up and alive and well.  I will have to wait a little longer when the leaves are larger to see if it is really what I think it is.  I hope I am right as it has such heavenly scented blooms in January and February.

Alas you can't win them all, or at least I cannot.  The large Gardenia in back is looking pretty sick.  I am pretty sure it is from white fly infestation.  I tried to cure it last year but it may be too far gone.  But in compensation the Red Camellia is still blooming!  I cannot remember it ever blooming this late in spring.  Usually March is the last month I have blooms on it.

This has been a fun day for to get in my golf cart and explore for the first time this spring.  I am very well pleased with how my growing friends fared this winter.

Precious

What is Precious to Me?

 

This coming Sunday the lesson for our adult class at my church has been planned by a lady who had a unique idea.  She asked each of us to bring in something that was precious to us.  What came to my mind instantly was “my family”.  It was neither practical nor possible to bring in my family and place them on the (symbolic) altar (which was the plan).  So I began to think of all the things which are precious to me and it turned out to be many, many things.  The main criteria for me to use in deciding what I could physically carry into the church was - what would I never, ever throw away. Well, that is a long list also.  This task had turned out to be what I thought would be simple, to a monumental effort.

 

Since this is after all, a church affair, I began to narrow things down.  I decided that I would take in a Bible that my parents had given to me around the age of 12.  I do not remember just why it was given to me but I suspect it was when I went through a communicant’s class at that age. So, it is a very old Bible and it looks old.  The cover is missing entirely.  Many pages are gone or torn or scribbled on (by my children before they learned to write).  No doubt they were also intrigued by the colorful pictures throughout, depicting Biblical scenes.  Even some of those pictures were gone.  They are wonderful pictures and I will admit to removing some of them to use in the classes I have taught for children, mainly in this present church.

 

So, I had made a decision, but then I thought of all those other Bibles on my shelf.  There was one which was presented to my aunt Clara by her husband in 1924.  It says so right on the fly leaf.  Also some more history of this Bible is written there.  After my aunt died in May 1973 my uncle Matt moved from his farm in Indiana to Florida.  He must have been discarding items for this move and thought the Bible too precious to throw away.  He gave it to my sister Katrine and she kept it until 1981.  I found it when I was handling her affairs. In ten more years this Bible will be 100 years old.  I determined to add it to stack.

 

This is not the only Bible I have that had belonged to my sister.  I have two others.  One was given to her on her birthday Oct 3^rd 1922 when she was around ten.  My mother gave it to her and had written her name along with the date.

 

 The other Bible is one that my sister had bought for herself. The copyright date is 1940.  It is 2 and ½ inches thick and has wonderful helps in it like The Key, an index of the Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation.  At the back is a Concordance Dictionary.  The words of Jesus are in red. And it also has a Family Register which has been filled in by my sister, with many pertinent dates included.

 

My stack is getting higher and I have one more to add.  It is called the Good News Bible and I love the illustrations in it.  They are all line drawings.  The artist who drew them was very adept at expressing the essence of the message with minimal lines.

 

While working on this stack I found some interesting notes I had taken when studying something using some of these Bibles.  One page was filled with thoughts about the wisdom found in this amazing text.

 

Our pastor likes to quote Dr. Phil’s response to his guests with “How’s that working for you”?

 

I think Proverbs of Solomon offer the most economical, psychological, effective counseling that has been available since the written Bible.  They are for me truths as a blueprint for a fulfilling life.

 

I choose Proverbs 3:5 in the King James version.  “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. My son-in-law often chides me for not reading the directions first before attempting something new.  For all too often I have to abandon my initial attempts and “read the directions.”

 

In terms of living our lives we are always being challenged with situations that are new and unfamiliar.  The categories for these challenges are endless, some small, others medium size and some Papa Bear size.

 

In order to solve a new problem we have to go through a cognitive process.  Scientists are learning with the use of new technology that this cognitive process can actually be seen taking place in the brain as it occurs, when they ask a patient to count backward from 100 by threes.

 

They have also learned that these mental gymnastics actually cause the neurons in the brain to fire faster and this sends out more signals which are aimed to a specific spot.  This is building more brain power which becomes a foundation for better problem solving in the future.  In educational circles this is referred to as cognitive dissonance (a lack of harmony or agreement).  No problems - no new learning.  That is how children learn and advance and can go on to the next step in whatever they are learning.

 

God knew all of this long before scientists discovered it.  As our creator he designed mankind in such a way for him to develop into a growing, learning, spiritually balanced being.

 

I think problems, both small and large are a part of God’s plan for mankind to become what he created them to be.  Proverbs 3:5 instructs us to walk the path God knows will lead to success whereas if we make up our own instructions we can fail and know frustration. 

 

So, when we trust in God, read his instructions and follow them we gain new learning and understanding, helping us with our next, similar problem we face.  Proverbs is full of problem solving instructions.  Proverbs 1:33 says “those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.  It is the best plan that I know to follow throughout life.  That is why it is precious to me.

 

 

What is precious to me?