Einstein quotes

We found some good einstein quotes today.  The first is why we don't like the middle school:  "Its a miracle that curiosity survives formal education".  Okay thats a little harsh... 

Heres some other good quotes:

"Nationalism is an infantile disease.  It is the measles of mankind"

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong"

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."

"If you can't explain it simply you don't understand it well enough."

And my favorite:

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

Its so sad

I miss you guys!  The whole Dunkin Donuts thing isn't working.  John and Laurie end up waiting for us and we don't come.  I just have the hardest time to rally down to the cold metal chairs and overpowering decor.  And then the thought that no one will be there, makes it hard to get the motivation to go.  

But there are so many great things to talk about that we haven't even touched upon.  There is Drew peterson's new relationship, there are Gen's plans, the MBC budget, as CSA for the spring summer, gardening plans for spring, a field trip to replace the cancelled garden show.  And that is just what I know about.  

Any ideas?  I am driving to WV on Wednesday and Friday AM for the next three weeks, but maybe we could pick some other days that we can all be there.  But I can't stand that place, IDK.  What do you think?

Chance of Precipitation?

Well, its a complicated weather forecast for the next few days.  Its now 3:30, and the temperature has dropped 15 degrees in the last two hours.  Its going to change to snow, chance of percipitation 80%, 1-3 inches tonight.  Then tomorrow 1-3 more inches,  chance of precipitation 90%.  Then tomorrow night, snow ice or sleet, chance of precipitation 100%.

So, what is the chance of school?  I say 80% chance of school tomorrow,  40% on Friday.  Its a difficult forecasting school, though, since we have a new superintendent.  Is he going to call it for nothing, or are there going to be buses off the road all over 89 before he calls it?

Wouldn't it be great if WMUR included a chance of school forecast in with their weather?  I mean, it couldn't be anymore of a guess than the weather is, so no one would really rely on it anyway.  But it would give the kids some betting odds for whether or not to do their homework, because thats a hard decision for kids to make.  

Fourteen!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEY!

ANTM Picabo was unavailable for this photo, so her stand in Biscuit took her place.  Its good to have a back up dog around.  Biscuit is working on his fierce look, Tyra showed him how to put his eyes to the camera and his tongue facing the other way while tilting his chin to create a softened wolf look. 

Political Polls

Remind me not to register as independent before the next presidential election. 

Seems like we are being polled every five minutes between 5 -7 pm.  Kels is asking if she can answer the poll questions now - and I am like sure, whatever.  How accurate can these polls be? 

The poll numbers change every week, but I really don't know any one who is changing their mind - didn't you and everyone you know have their mind made up a long time ago?  Pretty much once it became McCain versus Obama, everyone knew who they were voting for, so why poll us so much?  Maybe just call back the ones who don't have their minds made up and give everyone else a number to call if they change their mind.  

And how statistically accurate is it to rely on these polls anyway?  Clearly there must be a correlation between people who are never home to answer the phone and these same people not voting in elections for this to be valid.  Not to mention people who have caller id and don't answer strange numbers, people who inform the pollsters it is none of their business and people who just hang up on pollsters.  All of those people must not vote.   Oh yeah, what about busy signal people?  And people whose phone goes right to voicemail if they are on it? cell phone only people?  

THIS WEEK"S POLL

We needed a fill in the blank poll this week.  Please comment with your answers - they can be anonymous if you want.  Two questions:

1. What should we call the new plant labels cindy and I are making?

2. What would  be the perfect gift for Kip and Shelley's wedding if money was no issue?

Its not just me!

There's a great post today on GARDEN RANT about the text in garden books. 

 

It confirms that I am not the only one who doesn't read these books, just enjoys the gorgeous photos.  Although I love to read, I rarely have patience for the text in gardening books.  There are several reasons:

1.  Its a regurgitation of what is in EVERY garden book: Design (includes measuring, garden plan, site), Soil (hohum), planting (honestly how hard is that? could you write a whole chapter on it?), and finally the requisite plant list.   All of this is very important, but how many times do you need to read it?

2.  Sometimes, the book takes a different spin than the topics listed above, and then the problem is how do you describe something that is almost completely visual?  It goes like this "a monochromatic combination allows the simple beauty of forms and textures to shine".  (Yes, I can see that in the picture!)  There is a certain value to putting these things into words, but there are only so many sentences such as the one above that one can tolerate.  Here's my garden book ---A good edging plant allows the simple beauty of the composition of the the garden to shine...a repeating pattern of certain plants in a garden allows the simple beauty of the eye being drawn through the length of the garden...a pairing of complementary colors allows the individual colors to shine.  At a certain point it all becomes blather which might be better suited to a list.

3.  There is no story.  Maybe I should write a book about the time the tree fell over on Kip as he was trying to move it into the hole in a lightning storm.  Or getting the bobcat stuck in the mud. Well, actually maybe gardening isn't all that exciting.  

I have so many gardening books - its a bit crazy.  But if a publisher wants to get me to buy one - just make it all pictures, like the most recent one I bought -Gardens of New England.  Each full page photo just has a sentence describing where it is and a garden credit.  Thats the way to "write" a book.