Saturday, April 24, 2010

Good Saturday Morning, Everyone. Yesterday was my day to go to the library and generally bum around. It is wet outside at the moment but the temps aren't too bad and aren't getting low enough to threaten the plants I have outside. If we get some dry time this afternoon I will get some more ready and put them outside under the plastic. I will have to start doing my library trips on Saturdays next month--I think the farmer's market near the courthouse square opens up. It will be another month before the one near our supermarket opens. Remus farms has already advertised their veggie and annual flats but we aren't ready for a trip up there yet. We usually go there when we get low on eggs. The local Ace Hardware has their tent up so I will take a look sometime in the next couple of weeks when I look at what Home Depot and Menards have in stock.

On the 'paying the same (or a little more) for less' topic--I wandered through my local Michaels store yesterday and found that the Sugar 'n' Cream yarns are now half an ounce lighter than they were before. The price was about the same as before but I thought the skeins were a bit thin so I looked at the weight and found the difference. Needless to say, I will not be buying that yarn anytime soon. I have a fair stock of left over. I will use it up first. Maybe I ought to learn how to spin??
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Well, it's morning again--and I hope it is a good Sunday for you all. I didn't get anything done with the plants yesterday. It was much too wet. I think we got a bit more than the weather people thought we would. I will see what today brings. If it dries out I might get something done.

I noticed another trend in the news stories covering health issues over the last week--the committee of retired generals who claim that school meals are endangering our national defense. They noted the high number of young people who are rejected for military service because of obesity and lack of physical fitness and conclude that the school lunches are to blame. Nice to have that kind of whipping boy around but that is a very simplistic conclusion to draw. It ties in nicely with the movement to make those lunches healthier which is something I can agree with. But I have enough of a memory to recall when the Reagan administration tried to get ketchup reclassified as a vegetable--it was cheaper than providing real tomatoes. I also have enough of a brain to make other connections which would cancel out most of the benefits of healthier school lunches if not addressed. School districts have had perennial problems with budget shortfalls for decades now. Bond issues are repeatedly voted down and followed by a scramble to make up the difference. One of the first things cut--physical education classes along with music and art. Earlier this year, almost without warning, some of Chicago's districts cut sophomore sports hoping the cut would free up enough money for other levels to continue. It caused protests that flashed across the news media for a couple of weeks. Blaming the school lunches (however much the blame is deserved) will not change the fact that all of us (including students) live in a largely sedentary society and that is as much of a problem as what we eat.



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