Mental Debates

As I mentioned here a few weeks ago, I'm going to start writing a monthly column - beginning the third week of September - for the weekly publication from a nearby community.

I've been debating in my mind since the offer was made to me about writing this column as to what or how to present myself in the first column. I still haven't come up with an idea that I think will be best for an "opener" but I'm kind of leaning towards a very short, general introduction of myself, leading then into an also "short" piece about differences, as I perceive them, in school today compared to my generation. After all, when I started school, the elementary school -grades one through sixth -was located atop the hill here in this village and all of us walked to school. With the exception of a very few kids who lived on top of the hill, it was an uphill walk for the rest of us - both ways! Well, considering how long it would take me to make my way HOME from school, I think my Mom probably thought it must be an uphill walk both ways.

Or, perhaps, I could do a little bit about my granddaughter, the little Princess, Maya, who will begin school next Tuesday at a school about 22 miles from here specifically for kids who are autistic. That's another thought, ya know.

Then, there's also my interests about local history, the research I've been doing online for the past three years now pertaining to the little villages within the township where I've lived the bulk of my life. Considering this topic is what I primarily wrote about when I was doing articles for a little local monthly publication up until last winter, I'm sure I could come up with something on that topic too.

I could also write about one of my other big interests too - family tree research -and how much fun it can be -along with some of the pitfalls it produces too along the way. Boy, does it ever do that at times!

My kids, all three of my grandchildren and the three step-grandchildren often provide a bit of "comic relief" here although my son also often provides a lot of worrisome things too. I'd kind of hoped by the time he hit his 30's that some of the stuff he did that really worried me would start to die down but you know as they say, "a mother's work is never done!" How true, how true!

Since this publication is basically a newspaper - not a small-time magazine type thing - I figure I'd best keep my political leanings far, far away from this column. Especially so, considering our esteemed representative to Harrisburg also does a monthly column for the paper too and I am not exactly one of his minions who pay homage to him at every turn. Frankly, I just plain don't like, don't trust the guy as far as I could throw a baby grand piano so you know I really have to lock up the keyboard in that aspect don't cha? And, I don't suppose mentioning anything I find humor in -like the lovely Bushisms I like to post here - would be a good thing to write about either, would it?

Or another thought that popped into my mind is the problems we've had most of this summer - heck for longer than that - of animals that like to visit our humble abode, inside and outside. Yeah a mouse family in the house along with numerous raccoons, and some skunks too the latter two species that had developed an affinity for our garbage cans. First there was the skunk my son-in-law thought he'd done away with but it crawled into the drainpipe that runs under the road in front of the house and decided to die there. Now there was a smell you don't want to experience! Trust me! Or the recent episode when he set up the humane trap by the garbage cans using some tuna fish as bait and the next morning, what was in there but the next door neighbor's fat cat - appropriately named "Tuna." Last week, after switching the bait to a mixture of peanut butter and breakfast cereal, he caught another cat. This one was one we'd never seen before and boy, was it mad too at being caught there. When Bill finally tripped the release on the cage, that cat took off like a shot, running up the road and we're all wondering if it might not still be running considering how fast it was going!

Got any thoughts you'd like to give me of other ideas? Feel free to bring them forward, drop a note to me either by e-mail or in the comments section.

I'm more than willing to entertain lots and lots of ideas to compensate for the days when I am totally braindead and can't even manage to conjure up a tiny little old brain fart!