With Black Friday at our heels and the push to buy more stuff, you, like me, may find this video especially interesting. Here, Annie Leonard discusses the hidden costs of the things we purchase. The video is fun to watch,...

With interests in the old schools around Spokane, I had fun researching and writing an article about the Pohl Spring Works. Several notions provoked my interest and one of them was the uniqueness of an industrial company in close proximity...

Many fabrications are noted in connection with the health care reform proposal now seen on the table. Here are some points that may help clear up some of the misconceptions swirling around. _______________ Fabrication #1: President Obama wants to euthanize...

This information comes from the White House and it has my full support. As a health care provider in various capacities, I have repeatedly witnessed the abuses imposed on providers, the sick, and elderly by the health insurance industry....

This is a funny one. Can you figure out what's wrong? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lich59xsjik Brian's final response is a common one amongst speech-language pathologists who are suffering from relational difficulties. Nonetheless, to minimize frustration, I would have done things a little differently....

Ever wondered where some of our current customs and phrases came from? This circulated into my mailbox and is interesting. I have modified it a bit and I'm blogging it for your interest. The next time you are washing your...

This comes from the organization, No More Deaths. The humanitarian group strategically places water bottles and tanks in the Mexican-U.S. desert to avert dehydration and the death of migrants. Complete with proverbial road blocks and arrests, the group attempts to...

Those baby turkeys that hatched in early April spent several weeks in a brooder. When they were old enough, I then put them in the "Green Tamale" which is a chicken tractor I built a couple of years ago. For...

Leave it to a Franklin alumnus to climb Mt. Everest. What may have started with the school slide as a tot, has evolved into something much bigger. Dawes Eddy, who attended Franklin in the 1950s, made it to the...

I knew this was going to be big, but had no idea of its amplitude and breadth. Franklin's centennial events were stellar. There were elements of celebration, information sharing, reconnection, and the smell of history. From the Alumni-Friends Reception to...

My early morning chores include feeding and watering the chickens, turkeys, and goats. Upon entering the goat yard this morning, I saw a furry lump on the ground against the goat house. Esther doe had a single baby boy in...

This amazing jump rope troop is composed of fourth through eighth graders from the Kings Local School District in Cincinnati, Ohio. Check it out by clicking here....

Our friend Candy raises Heritage turkeys. Last month she gave us some eggs to put in the incubator. Our Hova-Bator incubator has kept them at 98 degrees since March 8. Seven more eggs were given to us a week later,...

I post a lot of old school pictures and this one really caught my eye. This late 40s or early 50s shot shows a classroom of happy kids. Two boys, however, are posing with firearms--one with a handgun, the other...

Kristine and Tom Campos are working hard to create a totally cool video commemorating the Franklin Centennial Celebration. This You- Tube sample is only a glimpse of what is in store! Videos will be available soon... but meantime, here is...

A YouTube video by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, Jeff Bronman and Did You Know?, offers some troubling technology statistics; among other things, it compares the students of the U.S. to those of China and India. There are many things to...

Sitting upon his trusty Cushman Scooter, my father posed for the camera here. Although there is some question of when the picture was taken, we suspect it was circa 1946. Cushman scooters were built from 1936 to 1965. This...

Would you like to donate to the Franklin Centennial Event Fund? As we move forward, everything has a cost and things add up quick. As the inventor of eye spectacles, Benjamin Franklin helped bring things into focus. We are focused...

New Poster Features San Diego Chargers Star NFL star running back Darren Sproles is spreading the word about stuttering as chairperson of this year's National Stuttering Awareness Week, May 11-17. Sproles, himself, deals effectively with stuttering and is a perfect...

Someday I would enjoy going for a spin in one of these. This shot is reportedly a fly by off the deck of the USS Stennis....

Some of you have heard me refer to the current economic situation as a "depression." I still stand by this application, despite the argument that a "depression maintain a significant loss in employment and output for three straight years." (I...

Nostalgia Magazine published an excellent (I'm biased) article on Franklin School titled, Investing In Knowledge at Franklin; it's in the March 2009 issue. Complete with cool, old pictures and informative charm, this is a perfect issue to have in...

Although not a comprehensive listing, here are a bunch of Special Education acronyms. If you are like me, esoteric jargon and acronyms can be intimidating... especially if you are on the end that doesn't understand what they mean. Yet they...

Benjamin Franklin was a remarkable statesman, inventor, humanitarian, and philosopher. Amongst many other things, he invented eye glasses, the Franklin Stove, and discovered electricity. He was a polymath. Franklin donated his countless ideas and inventions to mankind and was...

One of my earliest recollections, even from preschool, was listening to Paul Harvey on the radio that resided in the kitchen of our San Jose home. My mom would listen to his radio show each day. His clever and witty...

Teacher rules such as these (circa 1905) were commonly mandated in the 1800s and earlier parts of the 1900s. These rules came from Iowa, however, similar mandates were common across America. An interesting site including such information can be found...

We have chickens around the place and have fresh eggs too. If you like custard like I do, you might try this simple recipe. 4 Eggs beaten well. Mix well with 2 cups milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla,...

Inquiring minds want to know...er...must know. Here are some popular abbreviations in Special Ed as I prepare for National Cert stuff. There's a couple in the mix that are new to me. How bout you? AT - Assistive technology ADL-...

Here is a link to this incredible book that was published in 1989. It contains some wonderful pictures and history of Spokane's schools.The file is a large PDF and you might have to wait a bit for it to download....

This is what was outside our front door on Valentines evening. A huge mother moose and her "baby" poked around Newman Bluffs for a while. The baby approached our garden/orchard fence and I envisioned him or her hopping over it...

Yesterday's inauguration deserves some honorable mention. The feelings that the event gave me were ones of hope, newness, relief, brilliance, integrity, and understanding. And by conversing with many others, these feelings are not merely my own; they seem to...

This is certainly a melodious, accurate, and humorous review of 2008. Click here...

Over the term, some have asked for my tamale recipe. Even more recently our friends, Tammie and Justin, requested it. What can be a tedious endeavor, I've managed to simplify through trial and...tamales. A friend years ago supplied my parents...

This came to me from my friend, Bob Keith, and it's an interesting read. There are several versions of this on the internet and I added a little. A century of time certainly brings advancements and we've come a long...

Thanksgiving was first celebrated by the settlers at Plymouth in the Massachusetts colony in 1621 under the leadership of Governor William Bradford. Washington and Madison each issued a Thanksgiving proclamation once during their Presidencies. It was not until 1863, however,...

This came to me from Sky Stream and I think it's cool. I've been studying wind energy, farm applications, and realize that it can be a piece of the energy answer. Obama's promise to grease the skids of green technologies...

Diane, is a dear lady who I see occasionally at work. Recently, she approached me with a gold colored envelope that had the words, "Contents are gold to me," boldly printed on one side. She explained that her son, Cory,...

I wanted to write something light and airy...literally. Today's musings have to do with Hummingbirds. Three weeks ago I put a Hummingbird feeder on our front window. It has two suction cups that are sturdy and sure. I got the...

I can't say that I have ever seen anything quite like this. On June 11, 2008, this storm rolled in and seemed to stop for a while directly above our house. The clouds were low and swirling like cream...