Posted on 04/27/2007 4:39:21 AM PDT by Chairman_December_19th_Society
Good morning.
We will never forget Cassie, the coon hound. RIP. ;)
Thanks for the Cheney report.
I think I read someplace that the female Eastern Bluebird is very fussy about where she lives and that the male has to jump through hoops to please her. LOL
You are welcome. The ‘alternative’ commencement had hundreds of people turn out (they were expecting thousands.) I watched the news last night and the newsreporter was breathlessly announcing that the attendance had exceeded their expectations (6,000 were expected.) Then the camera pans around the events center and it was practically empty. It was after 10 pm here and Ralph Nader was prattling on still. The ‘alternative’ commencement started at 7:30 pm and was quite the Bush bash fest.
I’m looking forward to talking to my niece’s husband who graduated from BYU yesterday and attended the commencement ceremony. The crowd of 20,000 was very appreciatvie of Cheney’s remarks. He gave them good advice, such as failing in some areas does not mean you are a failure in life. He gave the example of his experience at Yale.
Just read the news article. 1,000 people attended Ralph Nader’s talk. Snicker.
Thanks for the report on Vice-President Cheney. We are so blessed to have grown-ups leading this country right now!
Thank you for the welcome mat too.
Please help me if you think you have any experience or thoughts to contribute to this. All ATRWer comments are solicited and welcomed.
Setup:
My 10yo daughter is in 4th grade. I have sole custody, though I try hard to work with her mom on critical decisions. For historical reasons, daughter is in Catholic school which resides in a school district that is NOT in the same school district our home is in. The closest Catholic high schools are 50 miles away. So, sometime in the future, she will be changing to the public school system, in the school district in which I reside, and that will result in a COMPLETE change of her social circle - much like moving - as in addition we'll probably be changing the church we regularly attend for the most part when I make the move, at least gradually, to the church associated with the "new" school district.
She makes friends rather easily right now, and has pretty decent self-confidence. She was rather blase about my tentative exploration with her about changing schools... but it might just have been bravado, or her "saying what dad wants to hear", I realize.
Present school district: 6-8th grade jr high.
My school district: 7-9th grade jr high.
Present Catholic school: up to 8th grade, if they can manage to muster sufficient attendance, which they did not this year ...
Possible Catholic school in My school district: up to 6th grade... good 5th/6th socially according to reports.
For both her mom and me, whenever we change to My school district, it will be much less convenient for us... and that is reason I didn't change earlier... but can't wait much longer. Of course, her mom's solution is that I sell my house and change school districts, which is not realistic financially - and mom is in extreme opposition now that I've made it clear this change is in the wings some time. However, I believe the important factor here is not my convenience, or hers, but rather our daughter's welfare.
Up until yesterday, I was agonizing whether, 1) make the change next year, for 5th grade, so as to give her some "transition" time and so she would have at least a small circle of friends from Catholic school when she gets thrown into the "new" public jr. high school, or, 2a) sticking it out at this Catholic school until at 8th or 9th grade, depending on how long we the present Catholic school had viable classes.
Meeting with her present school teachers (very supportive of ME making best decision for her despite their attendance situation) led me to the realization that I was ignoring the REAL, much better, second alternative: 2b) Place her in the 'new' jr.high at the start of 7th grade, when all students would be starting in the bigger fish pond and forming new friendships.
So I'm now agonizing over "5th or 7th" and would love to hear opinions from anybody here ... would it be better to make:
LOL
We have a labrador and I can’t imagine ever getting another kind of dog. Smart and loyal. She follows our three sons around and is so overly protective we’ve started calling her a “helicopter dog”
Minor additions (no matter how much I proofread, I still have something left loose):
Mom hasn’t lived with us for over six years, and lives in “present” school district. (Of course, she still thinks she has a right to run my life... lol)
Daughter’s circle of friends are all part of the present school district - no friends in the local neighborhood - since we’ve spent all our energy up to this time nurturing those friendships and taking part in those activities.
Right now, I just want to congratulate you for being such a great father. Our world would be a much better place if others were even half as concerned.
Thank you!
Thank you... it’s not critical to get thoughts right now, and I hope people don’t respond right off the top of their head unless they have already well formulated things to say about it.
As for now, I’m going to head off to town to see what the jr.high folks (hopefully I can talk to some school social worker or psychologist) have to say.
Gotta run and break up a fight my two cats are in now...
Get my drift?
Yeah ... got it... we had our first big, specific, human sexuality talk over six months ago - and I’ve always such worked things into conversation slowly and consistently, and she’s pretty open with me. I’ve also been consistent about discussing peer pressure and peer pressure groups and dealing with that, too, with sex, drugs, etc... However, I know that I don’t know half of what I ought to know being that 1) I’m a barbarian man, and have no experience with even being a girly-man, 2) I never cared much what my “peers” thought about me while I was growing up and didn’t get involved in any of the “teen culture”, 3) I’ve never had a girl child to raise. So, I need much help and advice on those aspects... again, I suspect that argues for the 2-mild-change scenerio, but I’m open to the other possibility.
... really running now, but will mention that instead of breaking up the cat fight, I took pictures... they both looked pretty silly with wads of each other’s fur in their mouths, posturing with wagging tails.
...you all can carry on about this in my absence and let me know later what you all decided.
Duke, posted to you on the last thread....
old dog or sure bet = go to the local SPCA. New dog or puppy either go to the local SPCa or a fluff ball = Shih Tzu. I highly recommend the breed! HOB
Just beautiful! what a thrill!
Thanks for the welcome.
Greg took a picture. Since the bluebird house is well over 100 feet away it's a little blurry. I'll post it later.
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