You Get What You Pay For

This post is in no way intended to defame or devalue any individual.  In fact, my success at my job depends greatly on the generosity of volunteers, so I am in no way trying to diminish the importance of people who are willing to give their time and effort for good causes.  I genuinely appreciate what the person who is the impetus for this post is doing.  My ire, I suppose, would be directed at the person or organization charged with the assurance of quality and accuracy with regard to these programs.  You know who you are . . you need to do better.

So Avery came home from school today (a short day, they were delayed 2 hours due to Tuesday night's snow . . 'splain that one to me) and told me about an advanced reading program she'd been selected to participate in.  Essentially, the kids leave the normal classroom, go meet with a volunteer and a group of other students and disucss a new book each week.  Ave loves to read, and she's been excited about the program for quite a while.  Well, today the volunteer was nice enough to send home a half-page note explaining the goals and expectations of program.  For what it's worth, she sounds like a very enthusiastic lady who genuinely cares about the kids and the program.  Unfortunately, at least in my eyes, her qualifications fall well short of the acceptable level to teach kids about reading.  See for yourself.

Ignore that part at the bottom . . those are words I think Avery's supposed to learn.  Concentrate instead on one of my all-time biggest pet peeves, using the wrong form of a word.  I won't nitpick her overly simple sentences and choppy writing style . . that's not everyone's game.  But look at the 3rd line.  How can you be teaching kids English and reading and use "then" instead of "than"?  Gahhhhhh!  A mere 2 lines later, another cardinal sin.  "I found it a great experience to discuss the story's with my child . . ."  Are you serious?  How can you be a functioning adult and not know the difference between plural and possessive???  NAILS ON THE CHALKBOARD!!   

I can look past the misuse of "They" at the beginning of the sentence "They will be assigned . . ", because I knew she was referring to the students in the group, but to that point she hadn't actually used the group as a noun.  You can't replace it with a pronoun if you haven't used it in the first place.  That one, in light of all of the rest, is pretty minor.

2 lines later, however, "story's" pops back up where "stories" should be.  At least she's consistent.  Unfortunately, it pops up in the middle of a convoluted and awfully run-on sentence.  I can't be bothered to pick it apart, it would take me all day.  

Then we get to the next sentence.  "I will be asking them each week if any of them looked up any of the vocabulary words."  Such unique words them and any must be that there are NO substitutes for them in this wonderful language of ours!   

Fast forward a couple more lines to the, well, we'll call it a sentence, that begins "It is interesting . . ."  In that little jewel, we're treated to not one but two incorrect usages of the word "there"!  The sentence's syntax is bad enough that I can't be bothered to try to correct it.  Not only did she use "there" instead of "their" twice in the same sentence,  but she did it in what is otherwise the worst sentence in the entire paragraph.  Oy vey!

Mercifully the letter ends with little more than an unnecessarily split "home work" (OK 2 of them).  I couldn't bear it if it'd gone on to fill the rest of the page!  

My plea is simply this . . if you're in charge of a program that's executed by volunteers, please please please inspect the product they distribute to your clientele.  By all means, thank them for what they do and praise their generosity, but do yourself a favor and give whatever they're sending home a good once-over.  The reputation of your organization can be negatively affected by overlooking these kinds of details.

Another Day Off From School?

Yesterday, when I checked the forecast for the next 36 hours, I paid specific attention to the "predicted precipitation". Tuesday night into Wednesday . . 10%. Some days I wish the expectations on me were as low as they are for Meteorologists.

Anyway, when Mason got up to eat at around 4:00 this morning, I caught a glimpse of the winter wonderland outside the front door, and I felt compelled to photograph it before it was marred by sun and little shoes.

The little boxwood plants actually look un-tacky when dusted with powder.

Yesterday the doors on the cars were frozen shut. I imagine more of the same is in store for us today.

I love the clean lines you get when the snow settles on the patio furniture.

Shelter was probably at a premium last night . . I wonder if the bluebirds roosted in the box?

No baths this morning, that's for sure.

Enjoy your day off today if you're lucky enough to get one!

25 Things

This is copied from an item I posted on Facebook.  Worth sharing here I thought (and so did Mary :-) ).

1. My least favorite thing in the world is hair on stuff . . you know, on the soap, in the sink, on the floor, stuck to my clothes. HATE random hair everywhere.

2. I once had more speeding tickets than years old, including one for driving 120 in a 55. Pretty sure this is the first my mom has heard about that. Somehow I managed not to go to jail that night. 

3. My dad could have been a major league baseball player.

4. I'm on day 16 of wearing a beard, the longest I've ever done so. I believe it's here to stay.

5. In 8th and 9th grade my life's ambition was to be a rap music writer. Man, I wonder what ever happened to Mike Gilmer.

6. At one point, I thought Westbrook Teer's Geo Tracker was a cool car.

7. My favorite smells are basil, ozone (like you smell after it starts raining), and the smoke from a spinning tire.

8. My favorite band is Barenaked Ladies. A distant second is Rascal Flatts.

9. I love to cook, and that includes baking. 

10. My most embarrassing moment was in a 4th grade trivia contest at school. Before the emcee could finish his question about the vegetable company whose slogan included the phrase "Ho ho ho", I blurted out "Santa Claus!". The entire place laughed mercilessly at me for what seemed like an hour.

11. I missed out on a full scholarship to Vanderbilt by 0.04 grade points.

12. My favorite hobby is birding. I wish I could figure out a way to make it a job.

13. I regret telling Coach Springer "no" all those times she begged me to run cross-country in high school.

14. If I had to pick one place to live for the rest of my life, it would be Nashville.

15. My dream job would be some sort of Eco-tourism guide. Too bad I'm grossly under-qualified.

16. I enjoy vacuuming. More to the point, I love the look of "freshly mowed carpet", like the outfield of a well-kept baseball field.

17. My favorite vacation of all time was when Mandi and I went to Boston, Scranton, and Pittsburgh when we were dating. 

18. I broke my pinky toe while jousting in an inflatable "ring", and was off of my feet for 8 weeks. It required 2 screws to repair it surgically. 

19. I'm incredibly cheap, but an above-average tipper.

20. There's only one food I refuse to eat. Eggplant. 

21. I lived in Miami for 9 of the most forgettable months of my life.

22. My favorite TV show is 24. 

23. My freshman year in college I charged friends $1.00 per item to iron their clothes. Straight cash homey.

24. I don't get the obsession some people have with New York City. 

25. I love my kids in a way I never knew I could love anyone or anything. Their dad will never let them down.

Finalment!

That's French . . just FYI. Here, try it again with me. FEE-nahl-mont! Don't you feel like a sophisticated world traveler now? You're welcome.

Yeah, so anyway, my yard was finally visited by those most elusive of thistle-eaters this morning, the Pine Siskins! Every birder in the Greater Charlotte region has reported having these uncommon winter visitors at their feeders this year, and I'd begun to feel a little (OK, a lot) left out. One guy must have mentioned his 50+ Pine Siskins 3 or 4 times . . braggart.

Not really expecting anything different, but not having anything pressing to accomplish, I went out onto the patio this morning to try to get a shot of a bird I affectionately call the Chicken Pigeon. The pigeons don't really appreciate the sound of the back door though (perhaps they've heard all of the BB gun talk), so I settled for shots of what I thought were just my usual American Goldfinches. When what to my wondering eye did appear? A siskin, doing his best to blend in! That's him (her?) there on the left of the yellow thistle feeder. I approached for better footage.

"Where'd everybody go?


"Sweet! I've got it all to myself! You finches don't know what you're missing, this thistle is BANGIN'!"

"Whoa there, you with the big black clicky thing! A little too close for comfort with that last step. This willow tree looks like a good place to blend in with the locals. 'Sup butter-butt?"

"Dude, you're still here? Why don't you take a picture, it'll last longer!"

Don't mind if I do.

Snowy Day Birds

A couple of things before the comments start flying.

Number 1, I know this snowy day I'm sharing brought little more than a dusting. That apparently didn't bother the birds, so try not to let it bother you.

Number 2, I TRIED to get the girls to go outside and play in the snow, but Lily lasted about 14 seconds before she banged her ear on the slide and came running inside whining about being too cold.

So while there are no pictures to share of my kids playing in what will certainly be our only snowfall of the year, I managed to get plenty of shots of my backyard birds, who were (and still are) present in record numbers on this most inclement day.

There have been 4 or 5 Song Sparrows pecking around on the ground, gobbling up the millet that's supposed to keep the pigeons out of the sunflower seeds. Have I mentioned I need a BB gun?

Yesterday, apparently in anticipation of the snow, I was visited by two Field Sparrows. Just a moment ago, a Chipping Sparrow made a brief visit to one of the crepe myrtles to see what all of the commotion was about. He hasn't been back.

A few days ago I made my first ever batch of Zick Dough, a homemade bird treat I'd heard about often but never experienced first hand. Let me tell you . . if you've got Eastern Bluebirds you want to make happy, this is the ticket. Mealworms are great, but the price tag is high and the maintenance is tedious. Zick Dough, to the contrary, is cheap, quick, and low maintenance. Within an hour of putting the first offering out in my new side-dish feeder, 3 bluebirds had turned it into their own personal all-you-care-to-eat buffet. Just let me know when it's gettin' low guys!




My back yard is never short on finches. Recently though, they've been shying away from my thistle seed feeder and tending toward the sunflower seeds. Concerned that I'd been offering them an inferior meal, I sprung for a new bag from my local Wild Birds Unlimited, hoping to bring order back to my feeding stations. They weren't as quick as the bluebirds, but less than 24 hours after discarding the old thistle seed, it was business as usual at the ol' yellow feeder.


Not pictured here are my usual cadray of Mourning Doves, Rock Pigeons, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Add to that a trio of snow-day Northern Cardinals, and my yard list for the day is up over 10, which is quite good for my little corner of suburbia!

This next picture is from a week or so ago, but I never shared it and I really wanted to. It's a shot I took of an immature White-crowned Sparrow. I couldn't get any of the adults to sit still for long enough to photograph, but this little guy was happy to hang out in the tree for a few seconds.


And then there's my favorite bird of the day. When I drive to work in the mornings and then home again at night, I often spot this Loggerhead Shrike along one of the otherwise boring stretches of road. This morning I put the camera in the car with the express purpose of capturing his image, and he did not disappoint. What a cool looking bird . .

God Speaks Many Languages

If you came in search of levity today, I recommend moving on to the next stop on your blogroll.

Today I sat in a dark, quiet place and contemplated God. I wondered if, having eschewed a relationship with God for so long, I would recognize his wisdom if it was ever presented to me.  Then, at the very moment that thought crossed my mind, I glanced out the window and saw the answer presented to me, as clear as if it were written in ink.  

  There, on the railing at this unfamiliar place, was God's message to me.  I know what you're thinking . . "Corey, that's just a Cooper's Hawk, not a message from God."  Not today it wasn't.   Today, I believe that hawk was sent to that spot at that moment for me.  He paused just long enough for me to snap two photos.  The first was washed out by the flash's reflection on the door.  The second one you see here.  Before I could raise the blinds, he was gone.  But the impact of his visit hit me like a runaway freight train.  

As I sat in that empty place, I contemplated all of the things that brought me happiness.  I love the life I have, and I find myself fighting to keep it at all costs.  I wondered if I could ever find happiness again under a different set of circumstances, and until today I've failed to visualize that possibility.  Then, as if in a deliberate attempt to get my attention, that Cooper's Hawk appeared outside my window.  The message, to me, was crystal clear.  Even here, sitting alone in my darkest moment, God chose to show me a small sign of happiness.  "You CAN find happiness elsewhere, even in the unlikeliest places.  Keep looking, and don't be so myopic."  

My Good Man . . we're clear.

A Good Day To Play

71 degrees and partly sunny. Just what you'd expect for January 5th, eh? Mason didn't seem to mind. He enjoyed a trip out onto the back porch to watch the big kids play.

He's getting awfully good at grabbing and pulling the little rings on his bouncy seat. It's a lot of fun to just sit and watch him play.

Lily finally figured out how to make the glider go by herself. No more begging Daddy to push her . . whoop!


There's something about seeing his little girl play in the mud that just makes a dad smile.

If you look closely enough, you can see Mason just smiling away behind those rings.

Steven looks like he was going to stab Avery in the leg with that trowel.

I wish I'd been paying more attention to this conversation. That look on Lily's face is worth a few thousand words, eh?


I had to include this one. Lily loves to hold her baby brother on the couch after he's had his bath. I think she likes the smell of his lotion! They happened to be wearing matching jammies tonight . . how cute!