Seeds 'n' Stuff

POTTED: We're on Day 2 of UWKC's "Hunger Action Week," and I'm pretty sure thinking about food security and hunger is what prompted the kids and I to sow some seeds today, with hopes of a bountiful garden in the months to come. 

We headed across the Ballard Bridge to Fred Meyer, where we found all of their seeds on sale at half off. "Does this count toward our food today?" Annabelle asked while perusing the packets. I told her it didn't and she replied, "Good!" with enthusiasm. I let the kids each pick three or so packets of what they wanted to grow. Here's what we wound up with.

Once home we promptly got them into some soil. And now, there's a garden in waiting on our kitchen counter. :)

We also planted a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper plant today. It's the hottest pepper on the Scoville scale. 

I'm not sure if a) It will actually grow or b) anyone in this household would eat it, but it will be fun seeing what happens.

We also took time to refill the hummingbird feeder today. Those hummers are hungry things - we have to fill it about every other week.

OVER OUR HEADS:  At some point yesterday, we were caught on camera by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata on board the ISS. 

He posted it to Twitter, commenting, "Flying over Seattle, WA. SEA-TAC is a big airport."  I highlighted some places on the map for people who aren't able to easily pick them out. 

NUMBER CRUNCHING:  We watched our food budget again today, of course, just two days into a 5-day Hunger Action challenge. 

Breakfast came to $2.77 (60 cents worth of Cocoa Puffs, a half cup of milk [.18], a pot of coffee [41 cents], two eggs for me [.24], and yogurt with an apple, banana and some almonds for Christian [$1.34]). 

Just before lunch, the kids and I went to the store. I have to admit, they were hoping mightily for a free sample in the bakery, but there was nothing there today, darn it. I made them mac and cheese again as soon as we got home, for a total of 48 cents. They also each had a Cutie, which meant another 40 cents. Three of us had a pepperoni stick, for .75. So lunch and snacks totaled $1.63.

Dinner was expensive :0 - 10.70 - YIKES!  We had oven baked, home made chicken 'nuggets' (chicken breast [5.98], eggs [.24], and corn flakes [1.25] to coat them), and fresh green beans [2.71]. The kids also had a couple of cans of Shasta, .52.  The good news is, we have LOTS of chicken left over for tomorrow, and it will be 'free' then.

So we were at $15.10 when the kids started chirping about dessert. Back to popcorn it was, 66 cents' worth. Daily total: $15.78, or $5.22 under budget. Phew. 

BACK TO THE BEATLES: Today we finished up the week 5 lectures for our "The Music of The Beatles" class. One of the lectures was about John's songs on The White Album, including 

"Revolution 9," "Happiness is a Warm Gun," and "Julia." 

When the professor told us Julia was about John's mother, I recalled a famous quote of Lennon's. He once said in an interview, "When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

I always loved that quote.

John had an interesting relationship with his mother. He spent most of his life living with his aunt, Julia's older sister, but he was very close with his musical, free-spirited mother. He visited her often, and she taught him how to play guitar, banjo, and accordion (whereas his aunt wouldn't even allow a record player in her house). 

Julia was struck by a car and killed at age 44, when John was a teen. He was devastated. His firstborn son, Julian, was named after her. 

Oddly, Julia's grave in the Allerton Cemetery in Merseyside, England, went unmarked for decades - it was just #805 with a plain, wooden cross. Not until 2010, 52 years after she was killed, did a headstone go up. It's inscribed: Mummy, John, Victoria, Julia, Jackie.

After the lectures, we took the week 5 quiz, and each scored 100 percent, keeping our 'perfect' streak alive. This coming week will be the last quiz and the final. 

BRONIES UNITE: One of the things that was trending in the newsfeed today was a story about a 9-year-old boy in North Carolina, Grayson Bruce.  Like CJ and Annabelle, Grayson is a big fan of "My Little Ponies Friendship is Magic." He has a Rainbow Dash backpack he carries to school, and a MLP lunch bag. Some bullies at school started giving him crap about that, including some physical attacks. The school's response? They sent a letter to Grayson's family telling him to leave his pony stuff at home because it's a "trigger" for bullies. In other words, blame the victim. 

How LAME and LAZY is that? So either the administration agrees and is one of the bullies, or they themselves were bullied by the bullies or their parents. In either case, it's clearly not acceptable. 

"My heart has just been broken," CJ said, reading the story.  I challenged the kids to find out more facts than the short story we initially saw provided. Soon, they'd found a Change.org petition in support of Grayson, and they both signed it. 

They also found out the name of Grayson's school (Candler, where Stephen Chandler is principal), and school district (Buncombe County Schools).  I did a couple of minutes of poking around on the district's page and under their "Safe Schools" tab on their front page, I found a link that said "Bullying." Ironically, on their bullying page it says, "Buncombe County Schools strives to foster a climate of respect and personal responsibility among students, and does not tolerate bullying in any form." Well, clearly that's not true, now isn't it?

Further, they say, "Anyone with knowledge of a situation involving bullying can either report the incident to school officials, or if preferred, may report the situation anonymously by either going to the school's homepage to complete an online form (Click on Report Bullying) or by calling our Anti-Bullying Hotline at 225-5292 to leave a message."

Hmm. Guess what we'll be doing tomorrow! :)  Won't be surprised if we find out their 'hotline' message mailbox is full. Bet Principal Chandler's email inbox is bursting at the seams, too (stephen.chandler@bcsemail.org). The very first sentence on his Web page makes me want to 
barf a little. It reads, "As principal, my job is to ensure that the children of Candler Elementary receive quality academic instruction in a safe and nurturing environment." Methinks someone needs to stay after school and write a nice, long essay on what 'nurturing environment' means.

At this point, I almost pity the misguided people who created this which has now gone absolutely VIRAL. It's trending in the top of all news stories in the U.S., right there with the missing Malaysian airliner and the news helicopter crash here in Seattle today. Heck, my favorite story about it so far was by a woman in Australia - her summation of the situation is spot on, IMHO. Read it here: http://www.mamamia.com.au/rogue/my-little-pony-backpack-banned/

CJ and Annabelle found Grayson's family's official Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/SupportForGrayson . It had over 36,000 likes as of this afternoon. Annabelle created a pony especially for Grayson. She made its body gray, for his name, and used a mane and tail similar to Rainbow Dash, since that's what Grayson's backpack is. She gave the pony a backpack 'cutie mark' as a show of solidarity. Annabelle sent it in a message to the page admin. They wrote back within a half hour, telling her they loved it. :)

I read in another article tonight that Grayson was pulled out of that stupid school situation and is being homeschooled at the present. I'm glad that he's not subjected to that treatment any more, and I don't blame his parents for pulling him out. When you realize that the administration/adults in charge are so wrong headed and are absolutely not going to protect your child, that's about all there is to do, especially in the short term. (I been there, done that!) One report said Grayson's mom is meeting with the district superintendent on Thursday in hopes of helping get things to a place where other kids in the future won't have to experience what her child did.  I hope she's successful. If nothing else, the dolts in that district *have* to have learned by now you DON'T MESS WITH PONIES AND BRONIES.