The holiday season is such a great time of year. It brings families together to celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. It seems impossible to me that there are people that do not celebrate his birth and it is only about Santa Claus and the receiving of gifts. I grow up in a very faithful family and the celebration of his birth was a large part of our Christmas activities and it was instilled in us that this was the real reason for this joyous season. Of course my brothers and I enjoyed Christmas morning just like millions of other kids.
The giving of gifts is very important and it seems that people are much more generous this time of year. I suppose I would include myself in that group as well, we just seem to donate more this time of year to those who are in need. We should make more of an effort to provide items to needy families at other times of the year. For as long as I can remember my family was involved in providing food to families in need, whether that was through a food drive in the community or by some other means. This involvment as a youth has driven me to pass on to our son the importance of giving and have had him involved in several community service projects the last few years. I hope he will continue this service and giving in the future.
Recently I gathered information on what county Farm Bureaus had done this past year to provide food and fiber to needy families across the Ohio Farm Bureau's South region. I was impressed with the generosity of the many farm families that participated in these events and activities. I would like to mention a few counties efforts and thank these farm families for their generosity. Miami County Farm Bureau organized a "Bushels for Hunger" program which raised approximately $5000.00 that went to three different organizations who's missions are to provide goods and services to families in need. This program gave Miami County farmers the opportunity to donate grain during wheat, corn and soybean harvest at their local grain elevator, which was sold and the money was recently donated to these local charities to distribute. Delaware County Farm Bureau for several years have donated potatoes and this year year was no exception. They donated 700, 5 pound bags of potatoes, which is over 1 1/2 tons of potatoes that will help feed many families this holiday season. Clermont County worked a soup kitchen where they provided and prepared the meal which fed almost 300 needy people in a small community. They also helped the Turkey Federation to prepare 1000 Thanksgiving meals for local families. Montgomery County donated thanksgiving meals to needy families and I encourage you to visit their website, montgomery@ofbf.org for the full story.
These are only a few of the counties that provided help to people in need. There were many more county Farm Bureaus and farm families across the region and state that provided items for those less fortunate this year. Thank you again to all of these families for their generosity.
I hope that this holiday season finds you and your family in good health and very blessed as my family and I are. I also hope that you do your part not only this time of year but throughout the year to help those that are in need.
Merry Christmas and may God bless you and your family.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Snow Days
I realize it is February, but last weeks glimpse of Spring weather has me in a mood to not welcome the sleet and freezing rain that we experienced this week. I also am not looking forward to the unexpected winter weather yet to come. The interesting part, at least to me, is I love snow and most winters including this one, would say we really did not get enough snow. We seem to make a big deal out of a few inches of snow here in my part of the world. It closes schools and cancels community activities. I realize that sometimes it is a no brainier and other times it is like really?
As for schools closing, I am glad that I am not involved with those decision. What a huge responsibility it is to decide if buses can travel on township, county and state roads with in the school district to get our children to and from school safely. I assume liability plays a huge part in this decision, but we (parents) seem to have a mentality that roads need to be completely clear, black if you will, before the school district can or should get buses out on the roads. I have never driven a bus, let a lone a bus full of children headed to or from school in bad weather. so I have no basis to say one way or the other if the roads need to be completely clear or not to carry out this important task. However many of us still have to travel to work, etc on these same roads on the same days that schools are canceled. I realize it is a much different litmus test that is used on whether school is canceled or is in session, but think we should consider ideas to minimize make up days.
I am not saying we take unnecessary risks to get students in the classroom. It would also not be popular from a student's or a parent's point of view to never have a snow day. It would also be very unrealistic. I would be the first to admit that, I can still remember how great it was to see on the bottom of the TV or hear on the radio that school was canceled and my brothers and I were gifted a snow day. I am of the opinion though that the roads do not need to be completely clear (black) to get students to school. Schools in areas that have more snow do not seem to have an issue, but you could argue that they are more experienced since snow is on the ground most of the winter.
I think two hour delays work well in many cases and I know some school districts have even started using a three hour delay and extend the school day by one hour. I think this is a good new option for school districts to consider, since some times that extra hour can make all the difference when it comes to road conditions. Why not suspend bus transportation for the day. I am sure not having bus transportation on a given day would not be very popular, but why not at least explore the idea of a modified transportation plan. When I was a kid, on days the weather was bad, bus transportation was modified to only provided transportation on accessible roads. This does not occur anymore which I assume is because of lower student attendance as a result or more likely it was found to be unconstitutional or something like that anyway.
I am not in favor of having school just to have school, we still need to be able to provide a good atmosphere for learning each and everyday. In our school district make-up days are added to the end of the school year. It seems to me we should make up a few of these days on days such as President's Day or even shorten spring break a bit. We just had several days off so, why not make them up as soon as possible after all calamity days are exhausted? They seem to be a waste of time when added to the end of the school year. This is just a way of meeting state requirements in my mind as opposed to providing students the best education possible.
As for evening activities, why are they always canceled as a result of school being closed? I am interested in why this is always the rule. It happens in all school districts, so it must be a universal rule. I tried to research that issue but have not found anything at this point. Sometimes it makes sense, but other times the roads can be completely clear and because school was closed all evening activities are canceled no matter what. My opinion is this rule was probably put in place, because someone pushed the envelop to far, so instead of handling the individual issue a zero tolerance was levied on all activities regardless of conditions at the time of the activity.
The problem is there will be 50% of you who might agree with me and the other 50% who will think this guy is an idiot. That puts me in the same position as school administration when making these important decision to go or not to go to school when the weather is questionable.
As for schools closing, I am glad that I am not involved with those decision. What a huge responsibility it is to decide if buses can travel on township, county and state roads with in the school district to get our children to and from school safely. I assume liability plays a huge part in this decision, but we (parents) seem to have a mentality that roads need to be completely clear, black if you will, before the school district can or should get buses out on the roads. I have never driven a bus, let a lone a bus full of children headed to or from school in bad weather. so I have no basis to say one way or the other if the roads need to be completely clear or not to carry out this important task. However many of us still have to travel to work, etc on these same roads on the same days that schools are canceled. I realize it is a much different litmus test that is used on whether school is canceled or is in session, but think we should consider ideas to minimize make up days.
I am not saying we take unnecessary risks to get students in the classroom. It would also not be popular from a student's or a parent's point of view to never have a snow day. It would also be very unrealistic. I would be the first to admit that, I can still remember how great it was to see on the bottom of the TV or hear on the radio that school was canceled and my brothers and I were gifted a snow day. I am of the opinion though that the roads do not need to be completely clear (black) to get students to school. Schools in areas that have more snow do not seem to have an issue, but you could argue that they are more experienced since snow is on the ground most of the winter.
I think two hour delays work well in many cases and I know some school districts have even started using a three hour delay and extend the school day by one hour. I think this is a good new option for school districts to consider, since some times that extra hour can make all the difference when it comes to road conditions. Why not suspend bus transportation for the day. I am sure not having bus transportation on a given day would not be very popular, but why not at least explore the idea of a modified transportation plan. When I was a kid, on days the weather was bad, bus transportation was modified to only provided transportation on accessible roads. This does not occur anymore which I assume is because of lower student attendance as a result or more likely it was found to be unconstitutional or something like that anyway.
I am not in favor of having school just to have school, we still need to be able to provide a good atmosphere for learning each and everyday. In our school district make-up days are added to the end of the school year. It seems to me we should make up a few of these days on days such as President's Day or even shorten spring break a bit. We just had several days off so, why not make them up as soon as possible after all calamity days are exhausted? They seem to be a waste of time when added to the end of the school year. This is just a way of meeting state requirements in my mind as opposed to providing students the best education possible.
As for evening activities, why are they always canceled as a result of school being closed? I am interested in why this is always the rule. It happens in all school districts, so it must be a universal rule. I tried to research that issue but have not found anything at this point. Sometimes it makes sense, but other times the roads can be completely clear and because school was closed all evening activities are canceled no matter what. My opinion is this rule was probably put in place, because someone pushed the envelop to far, so instead of handling the individual issue a zero tolerance was levied on all activities regardless of conditions at the time of the activity.
The problem is there will be 50% of you who might agree with me and the other 50% who will think this guy is an idiot. That puts me in the same position as school administration when making these important decision to go or not to go to school when the weather is questionable.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentines Day
Why do we make such a big deal over Valentines Day? This week I have heard several of my friends say "If I don't have a gift for my wife I will be in big trouble". That comment bothers me a bit. I suppose being a financial conservative may cloud my view on this a bit as well, because I think the idea of giving a gift on this qoute un qoute holiday is more of a marketing gimmick from card companies and chocolate factories then an expression of love.
My point is not whether Valentines Day is a good holiday or not but, more about the fact that we should not need a special day to tell our wives, husbands, girl friends boy friends, sons, daughters, grand kids, mothers, fathers, etc... that we love them. It should not be about giving or receiving flowers, candy, jewelry, etc.. Valentines Day should just be the first day of the new year where we begin to tell the people in our lives that they are very special to us and we love them.
As far as giving a gift this Valentines Day to that special lady or man in your life that will be between the two of you, but I hope that whether you give a gift or not that it is not the only time you do something special for them or say you love them.
I would like to kick this New Year off right by saying I love you to my family.
Diane - I love You,
Andrew - I love you
Mom, Dad, Charles, David, Jill, Kyle, Mark, Lisa Miranda, Mike, Tina, Molly and George - I love you.
You may be wondering if I gave Diane a gift this Valentines Day. I won't disclose that information and let you formulate your own opinion but, I will say I may be a financial conservative but I am not stupid.
Happy Valentines Day !!
My point is not whether Valentines Day is a good holiday or not but, more about the fact that we should not need a special day to tell our wives, husbands, girl friends boy friends, sons, daughters, grand kids, mothers, fathers, etc... that we love them. It should not be about giving or receiving flowers, candy, jewelry, etc.. Valentines Day should just be the first day of the new year where we begin to tell the people in our lives that they are very special to us and we love them.
As far as giving a gift this Valentines Day to that special lady or man in your life that will be between the two of you, but I hope that whether you give a gift or not that it is not the only time you do something special for them or say you love them.
I would like to kick this New Year off right by saying I love you to my family.
Diane - I love You,
Andrew - I love you
Mom, Dad, Charles, David, Jill, Kyle, Mark, Lisa Miranda, Mike, Tina, Molly and George - I love you.
You may be wondering if I gave Diane a gift this Valentines Day. I won't disclose that information and let you formulate your own opinion but, I will say I may be a financial conservative but I am not stupid.
Happy Valentines Day !!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Why blog?
Why blog? This is an interesting question to me and for the longest time I kept thinking why are there so many people that have a blog? It sure did not seem like something that I needed or for that matter even wanted to do. But after reading a few blogs by people I considered ordinary people, I thought, I might want to blog. One of my biggest fears was and still is that those who read my posts will think this guy is an idiot. (You may have already made that conclusion) I told myself that it was OK if a few people had those thoughts and that this blog was for me to express my ideas. Of course I am making a big assumption that someone will read my posts, but I am hopeful someone will read them and possibly offer their thoughts for me to consider.
I will also admit when I told my wife that I was going to begin writing a blog she chuckled and I am sure she thought you have to be kidding me. I went on to ask her and my son for some ideas for a name for the blog. I offered what I thought were some pretty good names. Much to my dismay they both said those stink, or that makes you sound like a creepy old man, which I certainly am not. I kept thinking it can't be that hard to come up with a name, so I thought more about it and this time said here is my blog title "Banded Tales", as you can imagine I received a similar response but I was committed to this title. I had some good reasons for the name, which included that my posts or "tales" would all be "banded" together by my interests, which include love of family, sports, community and Agriculture. Thus "Banded Tales" seemed quite appropriate and is here to stay.
I hope that "Banded Tales" will be of interest to you.
Until next time
Paul
I will also admit when I told my wife that I was going to begin writing a blog she chuckled and I am sure she thought you have to be kidding me. I went on to ask her and my son for some ideas for a name for the blog. I offered what I thought were some pretty good names. Much to my dismay they both said those stink, or that makes you sound like a creepy old man, which I certainly am not. I kept thinking it can't be that hard to come up with a name, so I thought more about it and this time said here is my blog title "Banded Tales", as you can imagine I received a similar response but I was committed to this title. I had some good reasons for the name, which included that my posts or "tales" would all be "banded" together by my interests, which include love of family, sports, community and Agriculture. Thus "Banded Tales" seemed quite appropriate and is here to stay.
I hope that "Banded Tales" will be of interest to you.
Until next time
Paul
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)