NOW THAT'S CLASS!

   TUESDAY, MAY 8TH., 2018
         NOW THAT'S CLASS!

   It's May 8th. National Teacher's
Day!
   My family has turned out a few
great teachers over the years!
    My Grandmother taught in a
one room school house in a tiny
community not far from Hazleton.
     At a time when women were
always treated as second class
citizens she took her school board
to court when they moved her to
another school effectively causing
a demotion. She won!
      My late brother Jim was a
teacher all his life. I still hear
from former Wilkes students who
tell me he was the best Math and
Computer Science teacher they
ever had.
        Our first born daughter has
made teaching her career and her
sister assists students at a local
Charter School.
          I had some great teachers
in school over the years. Educators
and, in some cases, Entertainers!
          My High School Science
teacher will always be remembered
for his experiments that went wrong.
I've mentioned him before. He's the
teacher who blew up a test tube in
class and managed to put his hand
down on a counter when he had just
dropped a bit of acid!
          You can't pay for a show like
that. But at the same time I learned
to be careful with that kind of
science stuff!
            My Italian teacher was one
of my favorites. He let me sit in the
first seat in the first row closest to
the door. That's so I could get out
quickly when the bell rang!
             So whether you're saluting
them for making a good educational
impression on you or just remembering
those classic class incidents that made
you laugh, let's hear it for our teachers,
              And, in the interest of full
disclosure, I taught a couple college
courses myself. I'm not sure how good
I was but I never blew up anything......
in class anyway!
                Hope all your NEWS is good!

HIT THE ROAD JACK!

  MONDAY, MAY 7TH., 2018
     IT THE ROAD JACK!

  It's time you start thinking about
packing your bags and hitting the
road! May 7th., is National
Tourism Day!
   My wife and I are tour hosts
for Travelworld in Scranton and
Kingston and we've had the
opportunity of touring some
fantastic places both in and out
of the country. It's a great agency!
You should check out the available
trips. Who knows? You may wind
up on one we're hosting!
     There are great attractions to
be seen and there's even a few
right in our own back yard.
      I've often heard it said that a
lot of New York City residents
have never been to the Empire
State Building.
       That has me wondering how
many folks around these parts
have never seen the Steamtown
National Historical Park (which,
by the way, is free these days), or
the Electric City Trolley Museum,
or Lackawanna Coal Mine?
       Our area's mining industry
is on display at attractions like
those are others such as the Eckley
Miner's Village not far from Hazleton.
        We've even got sites that should
be attractions but are not. At least
not official ones.
        The community of Centralia
in Columbia County has become a
"Ghost town" since an underground
mine fire forced all but just a handful
of residents out. Most of the homes
were demolished but you can  still
see the streets where they once stood
as well as smoke that's seeping out
of the ground here and there.
        Do yourself a very big favor!
Whether it's an international tour,
a visit to our national treasures, or
just a day's drive through northeastern
Pennsylvania, hit the road and become
a tourist! You'll never regret it!
       Hope you enjoy yourself and
that all your NEWS is good!

I HAVEN'T A CLUE!

    SUNDAY, MAY 6TH., 2018
          I HAVEN'T A CLUE!

    We were dropping our grandson
 at his home last evening when he
suggested that we, his grandpa,
grannie, and cousin might want to
come in to play a board game.
     Board games are not my
favorite form of entertainment
but the chance to spend a few more
hours with two of our grandkids
couldn't be ignored.
     His choice of weapons, I mean
games, was "Clue."
     For those who don't remember
this Hasbro classic, Clue is a game
that uses a board depicting rooms
in a mansion, tiny model weapons,
cards representing suspects, rooms,
and weapons and a die as each
player attempts to solve a murder.
      I had to have the rules re-explained
to me since it's been about 30 years or
so since I suggested Mr. Green killed
Mrs, White in the Library, with a
wrench.
     I was pretty proud though when
I narrowed my investigation to a
suspect and a weapon. Unfortunately
I had to make a guess at the room
and I picked wrong. I just needed
that one more clue and I could have
been the winner.
    This tricky mystery took about
an hour. I'm so glad nobody
pulled out Monopoly!
     At least I missed the Derby!
Turns out I would have bet on the
wrong horse. Guess I didn't have
a clue there either! But, I did save
two bucks!
     Hope you know who done it,
picked a winner, and that all your
NEWS is good!

THE REMOTE REMOTE

  SATURDAY, MAY 5TH., 2018
      THE REMOTE REMOTE!

   My wife and I keep a very
efficient portable heater in our
bedroom. It's great for those cool
evenings not quite cold enough
to turn on the furnace.
    What makes the heater
especially cool, in a "that's neat
sort of way, is the fact it can be
activated by a remote control
unit that can turn it one and off,
set it turning on its base, adjust
the temperature, or engage a
timer.
      It's the second such unit we've
owned. Our original died after
many years of faithful service.
      A few weeks before the
weather got nice around here
we were disappointed to find
our remote control had vanished.
      It was never removed from
the bedroom to our knowledge
but a careful search proved
fruitless.
      The unit does have controls
on its face as well so we weren't
completely lost.
      I wondered if my wife might
have kept the remote control from
the original heater. She had! And
knew where it was!
      But would it work and run all
the functions on the new heater?
       It did and ran everything!
       How great to have an old
remote save the day!
        And now we have two!
        When my wife emptied the
clothes from the washer into the
baskets Friday morning she
discovered the heater remote!
About as clean as it could be!
        And, to our surprise, we
aimed it at the heater, pressed
the on/off control and the unit
fired up!
        Just to be on the safe side
we are giving it a second "bath."
This time in a bowl of rice in the
hopes all the moisture inside
will be absorbed.
        If it works we'll have
controls on both sides of the
bed. Hope we don't have to use
them till about February and that
all your NEWS is good!

THIS DAY IS FOR THE BIRDS!

     FRIDAY, MAY 4TH., 2018
THIS DAY IS FOR THE BIRDS!

   It's true! May 5th is for the birds!
That is to say, May 5th is Bird Day!
   To be fair it's one of several days,
national and international, to honor
our fine feathered friends.
    This particular date was named
a holiday in 1894 by a guy named
Charles Babcock who was the
Superintendent of Schools in Oil
City, Pennsylvania.
      He intended it to promote bird
conservation as a moral value.
      We kind of celebrate this day
every day at our house. My wife and
I have an old bird cage that one
belonged to our pet Cockatoo "Sam."
       When Sam flew over the Rainbow
Bridge, I'm thinking birds probably
fly over, we set up his cage on a
stand outside our house and put bird
feed in it every day. It's amazing how
many birds will go into a cage to get
food! Of course stray cats sometimes
show up near the cage hoping to
feed on a bird that's feeding!
      It's especially nice to see so
many birds, of all kinds, around
these parts now that we're seeing a
bit more sunshine!
       Heck! Even the Snowbirds are
showing up (and we don't have to
feed them!)
       Hope they stick around (all
the birds) for a long time and that
all your NEWS is good!

HEAT STROKE!

  THURSDAY, MAY 3RD., 2018
            HEAT STROKE!

   Many of us have been waiting for
summer like temperatures for a very
long time.
    On Wednesday they came! All at
once! And I'm beginning to think
all that sunshine spawned a mirage!
    I began to see the illusion about
the time I crossed into Wyoming
County.
    Those Time and Temperature
signs on the bank buildings were
all reading around 87 degrees. I
say "around" because the temperature
varied by a degree or two from one
sign to another even when they were
fairly close together.
     But the "illusion" of which I
speak wasn't on the Temperature
signs! It was at the Gas Stations.
      Just about every one I spotted
showed Regular gas selling for
$3.05 a gallon! One was at $3.06!
I thought I was the victim of heat
stroke.
       Surely it was the hot sun beating
down on those signs. Right?
      Thankfully I didn't need any
gas so I wasn't in a position to go
into any of the stations to tell them
about their error!
       Hopefully when the sun set
those gas price signs would cool
off and go back to their under
$3 a gallon readings!
        Hope they do and that all
your NEWS is good!

     

SMALL PRINT!

   WEDNESDAY, MAY 2ND., 2018
               SMALL PRINT!

     One of my Facebook friends posted
some comments about watching movies
at home as opposed to going to the
theater.
     My response "You can't beat the
big screen!"
      I'll admit to watching my share
of Hollywood flicks from the
comfort of my couch. But when I can
I'd much prefer watching a movie in
an auditorium with a screen that's
about the size of the side of a cruise
ship.
      I'd use Tuesday evening's television
offerings as evidence if I was arguing
my case in court!
      I first selected a movie that turned
out to be a documentary about the King
of Denmark at the outset of World War
II. I didn't watch very long.
     The feature was done entirely in
Danish with English sub titles running
on the bottom of the screen. Even if I
owned a wall sized television it would
have been difficult to follow the
translation and the action at the same
time.
      And those poor people who
worked so hard on the movie....the ones
whose names show up on the credits.....
they're like white blurs on a television
set!
      Now some film makers, in an
appearant effort to keep up with the
times, have included scenes in which
the characters are texting each other.
The producers show us those texts
which is all well and good in a movie
theater where they look like words
on a billboard.
       When that same feature eventually
shows up on my TV set they will be
unintelligible!
        Heck, I have trouble reading the
texts on my cellphone!
         Good thing you can adjust the
size of the font on your laptop to you
can read these blogs!
         Give me the big screen every time
gang! Hope you can read this and that
all your NEWS is good!