Uncle Buddy passed away Sunday

Charles Melvin Sullivan, 83, Rockwood, passed on March 4. A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Rockwood IOOF Cemetery.

Blizzard 2007

I know, long time, no post. I’ll explain all that later. Had an ugly blizzard Monday & Tuesday that dumped tons of snow. Took some pictures to demonstrate the evil of it all. I was only able to shovel out the sidewalk and a little path into the garage before my back seized up. Ended up having to over-medicate with Tylenol and go to bed early. Couldn’t sit in the chair anymore without pain.

I had decided that the construction crew working on the house behind mine was driving up and down the alley, so I’d be okay without any more digging. I thought that the drifts in the driveway were lower than the ones in the yard, so I thought it would all be okay. Just needed to get some momentum out of the garage and all would be well.

So at 9:15 this morning, I tried to go to work this morning and was stuck at the end of the driveway, trying to turn into the alley, within about 60 seconds. Got out, put on boots, and tried to dig it out a bit around each tire. Tried again. Still stuck. It really looked impossible, but I was supposed to be at work, and I was just certain that if I could get into the ruts that the construction guys had made I’d be okay. So more dig-dig-dig. Tried again. Still stuck. Called in to work to say I’d be late.

Next thing I knew the construction crew shows up with shovels. 1/2 of them were Mennonite or Amish from their appearance. They tell me that their trucks are higher than my Vue and that they had been dragging the bottoms of their trucks every time they went up and down the drive. Told me that I would never make it.

And then they took care of getting me to work. The Mennonite guys and the foreman pushed my car back into the driveway. One of them asked me if I lived here alone, and I said I did and that I had tried to dig out but I have a herniated disc can couldn’t get much done. I thought they were just making conversation. Next, a couple more of the Mennonite guys pulled this forklift/backhoe thing that they had been using to lift things up to the second story of the house out into the alley. They had put a piece of chip board across it to create a make-shift plow. They lowered it to the ground and pushed the snow out of the alley so that I could get out. Mennonite guys not working the forklift/backhoe thing were shoveling the edges of the drive between the forklift’s passes. The guys who WEREN’T Mennonite stood around, holding additional snow shovels and watching, which tells you a lot about values systems.

So within about 15 minutes they had me out of my driveway and on my way to
work. Now they had some self-interest, since they couldn’t get their
trucks back down the alley till mine was moved, but they really could have
stopped once they moved my car back into my driveway. They were just nice
guys who came out to help me and apparently felt sorry for me because I didn’t have anyone else here to help me.

Want more proof? When I got home from work this evening, I found that they kept working on it after I left. They drove their trucks and such up and down the alley till it was all flattened out about a car width and a half wide and they hand shoveled my drive down to the concrete. Mennonite construction guys (or Amish or
whatever they were) rule.

My Writing: California English arrives!

My article has officially been published. I have two beautiful shiny copies of the journal right here on my desk to prove it. I love the smell of new journals, but they are especially wonderful when your article is tucked inside :)

I was looking for this Fiesta Ware pattern that I saw in a gift shop on the West Virginia Turnpike. Amazon says:

No results match your search for “snowman fiesta” in Home & Garden. Did you mean “norman feast”?

O_o

Yes, please pass the mead. A Norman Feast will certainly work as a substitute for a snowman platter. Thank you Amazon.

“He was already gone”

PapPap passed away in his sleep yesterday morning. His wife Mary got up as usual and went to make coffee. When she returned to wake him, “he was already gone” (her words). I don’t have any more details.

There are some errors in the obit below, but I’m posting it as is so that we have a record once that newspaper Web page is gone. I did find their little American flag graphic sort of appallingly horrible, so I replaced it with a nicer looking one.

I’ll post more later. For anyone who might have looked for me, I won’t be in Nashville now for the Annual Convention, as I have family things to attend to.

Earl P. Hahn, 91, passed away November 13, 2006.

Earl P. Hahn
He was born April 6, 1915 in Independence, W. Va., then moved to Uniontown, Pa. at age 2. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and retired May 5, 1976 from the Uniontown Post Office. Earl was a member of Johnson United Methodist Church, V.F.W. Post 47, and American Legion Post 51.

Earl was preceded in death by his first wife of 53 years, Eleanor (nee Goodwin), who passed away in 1990. He is survived by his wife of 12 years, Mary, whom he married Aug. 5, 1994 in Akron. Earl is also survived by his daughters, Patti Gardner and Cheryl White; five grandchildren, Traci, Kerri (Randall), Holli, Noel, and Heather; two great-grandchildren, Kelli and Eryk Drewry; sister, Mabel Bubonovick; stepchildren, Robert Long and Cheryl (Rick J.) Kaderly; two stepgrandchildren, Richard D. Kaderly and Michelle (Bryant) Anderson; soon-to-be stepgrandson, Hunter Anderson; and extended family, Kris (Fred) Beitzel, Kathi (Dan) Witt, Kevin (Wendy) Conner and families.

Friends may call at the Bacher Funeral Home, 3326 Manchester Rd., on Wednesday from 3 to 7 p.m., where services will be held Thursday at 10 a.m., Pastor Scott Wilson officiating. Interment at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Johnson United Methodist Church, 3409 Johnson Rd., Norton, OH 44203, in memory of Earl. Funeral home map, directions, and the Hahn Family condolence book are available at www.bacherfuneralhome.com. (Bacher, 330-644-0024.)

Published in the Akron Beacon Journal on 11/14/2006.

My Writing: Six-Week Roundup

Following the path of procrastination, instead of finishing the edit on the lesson plan I’ve been working on, I’ve been catching up on some blog entries. I’ve sent out a number of pieces, and it seems like a summary is in order (if only to prove to myself that I really have accomplished something recently). Here goes.

• “Rosetta Stones” published in the October 2006 Classroom Notes Plus in the “Focus on Language” section. The article describes an activity I’ve used to invite students to craft their own Rosetta Stones to show off their abilities with different language and dialects. It’s a great activity for ELL/ESL students.
• “Effective Writing Assignments in the Age of Standardized Writing Assessment” was rejected by English Journal. I completely restructured and revised it, turning it into Chapter 5 of the book manuscript.
• “Write Like You Talk” accepted for the Snapshots column of English Journal, to be published in the March 2007 issue. The article describes an wonderful experience I had when I urged students to use their own language, rather than the language of the academy in a writing assignment.
• “Bridging Television and Literature: Literacy Practices that Matter In and Out of the Classroom” accepted for the Fall 2006 issue of California English. The article lists ten activities that explore television and literature with today’s media-savvy students.
• “Judged by Language” tentatively accepted for the January 2007 issue of Classroom Notes Plus. The article describes a first-person narrative assignment that introduces some of the political and cultural ways that language affects who we are and how others react to us.
• Proposed an article on YA novels that deal specifically with e-mail, text messages, and blogs for the Bold Books column of English Journal. Proposal accepted. Need to have the piece written by early to mid December.
• AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, submitted the six-chapter book manuscript, which has only taken me three years to write. More accurately, it took me 2 years to research and focus my ideas. It was primarily written from June 1 to Nov 1. Now I’m in the waiting stage to see if the reviewers respond positively and it gets accepted.

Depression: Today’s Lesson

Do not ask questions about things that you suspect are going on. When you find out that you were right, it’s just as hurtful as not being sure. Best advice? Just give up on what you want or thought was right. In this great scheme, you’re always going to be just not quite important enough. That is all.

Silliness: Tengrrl’s Voting Record

Because I did not want to vote for Republicans, I chose these write-ins:

Sheriff: my manager’s spouse
County Treasurer: my officemate’s spouse
Regional Superintendent of Schools: my manager
Judge of the Circuit Court: my officemate

I couldn’t help it. I did stop the silliness at voting for a motion to impeach Bush and Cheney anyway.

My Writing: The Book Manuscript!

A manuscript has been submitted. Deadline met. And now, I’m allowed to sleep.