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This message forum is an ongoing discussion about anything and just about everything ... within reason.  One thing our class was good at was having opinions.  Almost 70 years of life experience certainly qualifies us as experts on most everything!   Ask a question ... give an opinion ... share some insights ... it's our web site, it's our forum.  That said, it's probably not a good idea to get into arguments about politics, religion, and the like.  While we're experts on everything, we also have a wide range of values and beliefs. This site belongs to all of us ... the whole range ... and we are not here to isolate, alienate, or subjugate anybody.  Of course insults, humiliation, sophomoric barraggadocio, and demented humor is expected behavior among some of us less mature people.
 

Jim Cejka

No Nancy, you’re not old. And there is a Santa Claus. Personally done cards and Christmas cookies are the “merry” in Merry Christmas that stays with us for a lifetime. Remember the smell of Mom or Grandma (we lived with Grandma) baking cookies? Remember when we got our first very own Christmas cards sent to us, or how hard we tried to make the specialist beautifuler card for someone? Now, do you remember, or cherish, any present, or tree, or anything you got back then? You have created that same special “merry” Christmas now for your children and granddaughter. Somehow, I think those feelings and traditions will last longer in them than “Alexa – send Nana a card.”

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Ah, the cursive wars rage on. Some schools are dropping it, but they do still teach it in Cupertino, CA - not that we need to be able to write it as much any more.  It is still taught for a similar reason people took Latin in high school - anyone who studies primary historical documents will need to be able to read cursive. (Especially for reading letters from Grandma or Grandpa in the future!) Some kids actually love doing it - the little third graders I taught would actually do it for fun when their regular work was finished — and others hate it. It requires small-muscle skill, and some are as talented at those kind of things as others are at basketball. 

Jim Cejka

Cursive - Bah, Humbug. Get rid of all those silly loops and squiggles. Make the next generation of youth go up to their sports or other heros and ask them, "Could you print your name for me please"? 

At least that'll make the value of my Bart Starr and Ray Nitchke autographs go way up. 

Jim Cejka

Cursive People Unite - and move to Ohio. A new law there requires all kids to be able to read and write cursive by the 5th Grade.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Happy New Year Everybody! Glad to hear Ohio is on the cursive bandwagon. I have never subbed or taught in a California school where cursive was NOT taught, but I'm sure there are probably some in our gigantic state. Stay warm, classmates!

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Coincidentally, our grand daughter ( will be 8 in March ) expressed an interest in cursive writing during our holiday visit. We agreed that we'll work on that this summer at the lake. Our local district library is offering it after school for several months, complete with pen pals and a picnic at the end. So, it's not dead yet!

Jim Cejka

So, the rain stopped and it cleared up just in time to see that blood wolf eclipse moon thingy. Neat.

Jim Cejka

Garry - You may have a point on cursive, but for a different reason. By the laws of natural selection and evolution, future children's hands will develop into more mitten-like structures. Between messaging and all the phone apps, fingers will become unnecessary appendages, and thumbs will turn into more tiny keyboard friendly pointy things. 

Jim Cejka

Is it more comforting to know that you are suffering through a "Polar Vortex?" I seem to remember days like that and Bill Carlson had no name for it. Of course, my grandfather, who worked outdoors for the Milwaukee Road had one or more names for it. . . . , but I was too young to understand them.

Garry - In deference to our stuck back there classmates, I'd a thought that instead of flaunting our golf weather, you'd have stayed home and watched reruns of "Life Below Zero" in an attempt to mimic empathy.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Thank you for the worrying, Garry. We're in Ixtapa; I can see and hear the ocean waves as I sit on our veranda. Heading for the beach this afternoon. When we fly into Chicago to start the drive home this weekend, it will have warmed up. Ha! Just enough to make a mess at the end of our driveway, where the plows will have piled and compacted the stuff. Nevermind, boots and shovels are in the trunk (four-wheel drive, of course), and our trusty John Deere is parked in the garage near the road. The fireplace awaits......

Lauren Dieterich

Regarding cold; does anyone remember January 1962 of our senior year ? 7 straight days of minus 20 degrees. It's usually not mentioned by meteorologist's because we didn't break any individual days record. I've been out at a minus 50 degrees and at a 133 degrees by my digital thermometer, summer befor last. The minus 50 was measured on a wall thermometer where the coldest mark was minus 40 a quarter inch above the bulb. The mercury did not come out of the bulb. When you spit, it froze before it hit the ground. Believe it or not; I can take the 133 better than I could take the minus 50. For everyone in the path of the 'polar vortex' I don't envy your January gas bills. STAY WARM

John Gilbert

Gary, to tell you how cold it is, the Green Bay police took out an ad in the paper saying .

Police in Green Bay, Wisconsin, have a warning for criminals: It’s simply too cold to venture outside and break the law.

Some guy called into a radio station from Osseo, WI (just south of Eau Claire) saying he has -30 (actual temp). I understand this guy was heading to airport heading for California. He heard you and an extra bedroom.

Garry Sellers

You guys are all welcomed to visit us in California ... if it'll keep you safe!  This is a sanctuary state after all!!!  Just be sure to go back home.  But most of our "visitors" forget that going home part. I think we should build a wall around California!   Nancy, I was not so insensitive as to mention being too warm while playing golf Tuesday in short-sleeves!  My sister has a new springer spaniel puppy and is trying to "train" him.  I worry about his "boy parts" breaking off when they let him out at 4:00 a.m.!  They also keep bees.  Know how bees survive the cold?  The workers all form a ball around the queen.  The outer layers freeze but keep the queen alive.  I think there's a lot of dead queens up there this year.  Sounds like a job opening for Nancy!

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Can I bring my staff?

Melody Jones (Parker)

Sorry, I do not remember 1962 freeze; but I do remember the freeze in January of 1981.  It was a Saturday night and I lived in Brown Deer.  I was scheduled to work graveyard shift as a nurse at Marion Catholic Nursing Home.  The actual temp outside was minus 25 and the wind chill at a minus 65.  My car would not start; I called in and was told they were sending a taxi for me, which never came.  I did not make it to work that night, nor did I make it to church on Sunday morning.  I called my Mom and told her I was "moving to Florida!"  In August I did move to Clearwater Florida!

Jim Cejka

"The U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that a large portion of the state including the Sierra Nevada, much of the Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area is free of any significant dryness."

Hurray! We can finally flush the toilet without feelings of guilt. Garry can stop showering with the neighbors. Water is wonderful.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

As to having enough rain and no sign of dryness here in CA Jim, I can attest to that personally! We actually had our lower level flooded after the latest 3" of rain deluge. The funny thing is we can't accuse the previous owners of not disclosing the leaky foundation, because it hadn't rained this much and this hard in anyone's recent memory.

Jim Cejka

I think I posted this a couple of years ago, but it seems to be appropriate again.

Ode to Wisconsin

When it's springtime in Wisconsin, and the gentile breezes blow. About Seventy miles an hour and it's fifty-two below.

You can tell you're in Wisconsin 'cause the snow's up to your butt. You take a breath of springtime air, and your nose holes both freeze shut.

The weather here is wonderful, so I guess I'll hang around. I could never leave Wisconsin - my feet are frozen to the ground.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

I also found a link to this Patch article about Nancy. https://patch.com/california/lakeforest-ca/cagley-won-t-seek-reelection-citing-wife-s-ill-health  I remember her well from Custer and the happy newlyweds at the 50th reunion. She was so vibrant and full of life, and should have had so many more years with Tom.

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

Garry,

How right you are about Wisconsin winters extending into May. May 10, 1990 is a memorable date, not only because it was my 46th birthday, but because of a very late Spring snowstorm. 

From a website dealing with the storm:

On May 10, 1990, eastern Wisconsin experienced its latest snowstorm on record.  The snow was very wet and heavy, and unfortunately it occurred when most trees and other plants had just leafed out for the new season.  As a result, thousands of trees and tree branches came down under the weight of the heavy snow.  Many power-lines snapped as the trees/branches came down.

I was still teaching, and well remember that our district had a "snow day!" By late afternoon, much of the snow had melted, but by then most of the damage to the trees had been done, and power was still not restored to some unlucky “few.”

William Nelson

A former associate of mine posted this picture on Facebook today and I stole it. I figured this was a more appropriate place for it.

Lauren Dieterich

I'll never forget the May 10th snow storm. It was the day after my birthday; and, it was toward the end of my 23 years on third shift. Work was a 25 mile drive. We lived off of Hwy 83, about a mile North of Holy Hill Rd. No problems until I exited Hwy 41 onto Holy Hill Rd., which hadn't been plowed. I had one of those sexy long nose Chevy vans. Every couple of miles, the snow built up under the van and lifted the front wheels off of the road; so, I had to back up and take a run at it. I finally gave up when I saw a farmer's driveway with a half dozen cars in it, East of Hillside Rd. I sat in thar driveway for about 3 hours, until the county plow came through. While waiting, I saw one of those large gasoline tankers go by. 20 minutes later, I saw him come back. I have no idea of how he managed to turn around. 6 weeks later, I had a huge bonfire in my yard. There were about 200 feet of box elder trees along one edge of the property. Box elders are very brittle; and, the snow broke a lot of brances off. The bonefire was about 10 feet across and 6 feet high.

Jim Cejka

We had moved into a new house in Oconomowoc in April, and have pictures of our kids jumping through the sprinkler in the yard. Exactly one month later, May, we have a picture of a snowman where the sprinkler was. Happy weather, Wisconsin.

Lauren Dieterich

I just read an obituary for Lucille Akin. She was Norman Akin's wife. Any of us who had taken Physic's class had Mr. Akin as a teacher. According to the obituary, Mr. Akin is still alive and has to be in his late 90's. I tried to post the obituary here; but, I couldn't figure out how to jump through the hoops to allow me to do so. You can read it at jsonline.com

Jim Cejka

Welcome aboard Otto. Always glad to see another Californian on the site.