Procrastinatin'

I have a full day of grading ahead of me, and I deeply engaged in the work of distraction. I have been reading the New York Times, chasing turkeys in our yard, reading wikipedia entries about the McCain family, and contemplating trimming the bushes. I am really talented when it comes to procrastination.

So here are some of the tidbits I want to share:

*Last night we had our seventh anniversary dinner. The tradition is that we take turns making fabulous meals; the menu is always a surprise and the non-cook must stay out of the kitchen until it is time to eat. This year Rhonda was the cook, and last night I was presented with an amazing feast:

Apps:
-orange ginger ale
-bacon wrapped scallops
- amazing homemade baguette (a 2-day process)


Dinner:
- broiled salmon on a wilted spinach-citrus salad

Dessert:
- Peach "cobbler" (on homemade scones w/ fresh whipped cream)

It was delicious and fun. After we were done with dinner (and in order to make room for dessert) we danced around the living room for an hour.


* The turkeys are back! I tip toed around the shed and caught this guy trying to get into the garden.


* There are some great Op-Ed pieces in the New York Times right now. This article is really insightful about the "othering" of Obama. It is also just plain disturbing . I cannot believe that 1/3 of all Americans still think Obama is Muslim. (Not to mention the ridiculous assumption that being muslim is suspect. )

P.S. Rhonda is going to see Obama in Green Bay tomorrow. I am jealous that I will be otherwise occupied with the teaching of writing. harumph.

when turkeys come to call

Yesterday at lunchtime we had visitors. 24 of them. They are SO BIG now it is hard to do them justice. However, I used the computer's camera to quickly capture their image.

Guns for Education

I have been in an excessively good mood for the last several days. In part, I get really hyper and excited after teaching. And, since I teach twice a day, I have lots of high-energy occasions. I find myself surprised, charmed, and engaged by the students in my class. I have the most interesting range of learners: a retired armchair historian, a few single moms, and students with a wide range of differing abilities and life-challenges. And they show up to class every day. They seem really excited to be in college (if not always in my class) and they surprise me both with their insights and, at times, the lack.

And then there are always the turkeys. You learn to expect a certain element in your classes; in my experience at Washington it was often the Frat boys sitting in the back of the class with their baseball caps on, dressed in Abercrombie, snickering with disinterest while trying to recover from the weekend's parties. You are just a glitch in their day, and they are cocky as hell. The good news: these cocky, strutting beasts seem not to be in my classes (at least this semester). However, there are the loudest, strutting, look-at-me-I'm-cool creatures who like to traipse through our yard early in the morning. TURKEYS. Real, wild, loud, turkeys. Saturday morning (the day to sleep in, mind you) we were roused at 7am by no less than 20 wild turkeys parading under our bedroom window, across the driveway, and through the yard. Like wild kingdom, but real. And the best part about these enormous birds who live in our woods and eat our bugs is that they are just part of the status quo. No one pays them any mind. Of course, it is NORMAL to have large, 20+ pound birds grazing freely in the neighborhood. Yes, they probably live in your woods. And, yes, sometimes they like to cross the road very slowly. It is all part of the way of life in this neck of the woods.

We followed the already raucous morning of turkey-watching with an 8am session of "Colleagues with Chainsaws." You do not know this event? Well, it begins when two of your colleagues have plans to go to a gun show. They decide to meet up at your place and to drop off a cooler and a chainsaw. They then decide that we should just have at it and start trimming that tree that is so overgrown. Next thing you know, you have a music Prof, a biologist, and one domestic diva (Rhonda) attacking a 30 ft. Spruce from all angles. (Amy and Buddy watch, far out of harms way.) After an hour, the tree is much improved and the colleagues look at each other and say, "well, should we head to the gun show?" It is only then that I see that said music professor is wearing a t-shirt that includes the words "guns" and "education." Rhonda looks at him and says "In Marinette, even the liberals like guns!"

I can' resist tying this all together by mentioning that it is soon turkey season (and squirrel season!). I have a strange non -resistance to hunting turkeys. Whereas deer have these big, sweet eyes and always seem so scared, turkeys seem quite self-assured and unafraid. Shooting them seems not such a loss. There will be more. Lots more.

What has become of me?