My friend and co-conspirator, Kerry and I exchanged emails this morning. In her's, she asked about how things were going. I answered that the weather forecast for The Tundra was that high temperatures were going to be in the sixties and lows in the forties. Further, that forecast coming true would be like the weather I was experiencing in Louisiana.
Of course, I was in Lousiana in February. But envy not. They had three and one-half inches of rain in less than two hours yesterday making their total for the week five inches. The PGA golf tournament that was going on this last weekend is delayed. They hope to finish on Monday.
PS: The sun came out today.
Lots of joy in The Tundra, Maria bought and installed new blinds for the front windows. Kinda shows ya that life, for me, is running on the new, smooth, blacktop road.
Other high points
The yard is beginning to lose its winter look. The trees are budding and strange things are growing here and there in the yard. Lucy, our dog, has investigated the yard and has declared it safe for going out and relaxing.
It took some time for her to reach this comfort level. Just about the time she felt comfortable a squirrel showed up. Now Lucy doesn't chase squirrels (It is a sign of her wisdom and willingness to accept her inability to catch them.) I think, and I'm reluctant to project my musings on the small mind of a dog but, her problem is the squirrel was black. Hang on! I don't mean to imply she's racist. It's just that she had never seen a black squirrel before. From her perspective, squirrels are some shade of grey and this one was black. It's not that she's profiling, but she was suspicious
She might have thought that if she sees one black squirrel that there will be more of them. On cue, another one popped his head around the tree trunk. Lucy was taking all of this in as an engineer watching a train wreck. She was looking at the event calculating the causes and effects. Her little brain was figuring out what the problem was and how to fix it. After she methodically went through her mental checklist, she took appropriate action. She growled and barked. The squirrels ran up the trees to safety, and another conflict was avoided. You have to love dogs don't you?
Getting the lead out
We do have a serious concern with our Granddaughter, Raigen. She is fifteen months old. At her latest check up, they discovered high levels of lead. After the county had checked their apartment including the water, It was determined that it was the lead in the paint that is chipping off on various wood surfaces in the apartment.
They immediately moved out. Their landlord had failed to give them the standard caution for the presence of lead paint which is in many older homes in almost every city. He undoubtedly will be cited for this. Whether it will do any good is questionable. The kids are with friends temporarily, while they look for a new apartment.
Baby Reigan will eliminate the lead from her blood stream in a few weeks.
Meeting the Editor of our Local Paper (The Post Cresent)
Jason Adrains, Editor of the Post-Crescent, held a public gathering of readers in a coffee shop in downtown Appleton. Full disclosure: They paid for a beverage and a bagel for anyone who showed up Reservations preferred. About twenty, almost exclusively gray-haired, folks attended.
Jason introduced himself and opened the floor for questions and comments. He patiently answered the anticipated questions and was pleasntly surprised at the unexpected comments. Our paper is a Gannet publication. Not only are they the publishers of USA Today, but they recently bought the state's largest paper, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. You could count on the concern for the effect the owning of the "big city paper' was going to have on our local rag. Jason convincingly laid out the case that by selectively using the assets of the larger organization, he and the editors of the other small locals could enhance the value of their products.
The other elephant in the room is the idea that Gannet wanted to control the editorial content and flavor, if you will, of their papers. Jason assured us that there was no top-down dictate as to editorial policy. He told us of a poll that Gannet took recently. They asked the papers to report their recent presidential endorsements. The results were about fifty-fifty.
He was open to suggestions that some of the things we brought up were good ideas, and he would consider using them. One woman commented that when they were writing about businesses, such as a service company or a restaurant, they usually gave the website or an online resource, but failed to give the phone number. She didn't have a computer at home.
Another pointed out the lack of in-depth reporting on issues that were affecting policy and spending on large-scale projects being proposed in our area. This woman had done her homework and began quoting not only tax rates, but hidden fee's that we were paying. She also had quotes from policy makers and managers about the effect of these projects. Jason commented that she was doing his job for him, and he might hire her as an investigative reporter. He promised her that he would work harder to see that the kind of detail that would enlighten people to what was going on in our area were reported.
I asked if their online comments sections were edited. He answered that they did edit the contents of the commentary they got on their articles. They do two things I like they channel the conversations through Facebook which means you have to identify yourself to comment. The also edit out unsuitable language and personal attacks.
Of course, I was in Lousiana in February. But envy not. They had three and one-half inches of rain in less than two hours yesterday making their total for the week five inches. The PGA golf tournament that was going on this last weekend is delayed. They hope to finish on Monday.
PS: The sun came out today.
Lots of joy in The Tundra, Maria bought and installed new blinds for the front windows. Kinda shows ya that life, for me, is running on the new, smooth, blacktop road.
Other high points
The yard is beginning to lose its winter look. The trees are budding and strange things are growing here and there in the yard. Lucy, our dog, has investigated the yard and has declared it safe for going out and relaxing.
It took some time for her to reach this comfort level. Just about the time she felt comfortable a squirrel showed up. Now Lucy doesn't chase squirrels (It is a sign of her wisdom and willingness to accept her inability to catch them.) I think, and I'm reluctant to project my musings on the small mind of a dog but, her problem is the squirrel was black. Hang on! I don't mean to imply she's racist. It's just that she had never seen a black squirrel before. From her perspective, squirrels are some shade of grey and this one was black. It's not that she's profiling, but she was suspicious
She might have thought that if she sees one black squirrel that there will be more of them. On cue, another one popped his head around the tree trunk. Lucy was taking all of this in as an engineer watching a train wreck. She was looking at the event calculating the causes and effects. Her little brain was figuring out what the problem was and how to fix it. After she methodically went through her mental checklist, she took appropriate action. She growled and barked. The squirrels ran up the trees to safety, and another conflict was avoided. You have to love dogs don't you?
Getting the lead out
We do have a serious concern with our Granddaughter, Raigen. She is fifteen months old. At her latest check up, they discovered high levels of lead. After the county had checked their apartment including the water, It was determined that it was the lead in the paint that is chipping off on various wood surfaces in the apartment.
They immediately moved out. Their landlord had failed to give them the standard caution for the presence of lead paint which is in many older homes in almost every city. He undoubtedly will be cited for this. Whether it will do any good is questionable. The kids are with friends temporarily, while they look for a new apartment.
Baby Reigan will eliminate the lead from her blood stream in a few weeks.
Meeting the Editor of our Local Paper (The Post Cresent)
Jason Adrains, Editor of the Post-Crescent, held a public gathering of readers in a coffee shop in downtown Appleton. Full disclosure: They paid for a beverage and a bagel for anyone who showed up Reservations preferred. About twenty, almost exclusively gray-haired, folks attended.
Jason introduced himself and opened the floor for questions and comments. He patiently answered the anticipated questions and was pleasntly surprised at the unexpected comments. Our paper is a Gannet publication. Not only are they the publishers of USA Today, but they recently bought the state's largest paper, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. You could count on the concern for the effect the owning of the "big city paper' was going to have on our local rag. Jason convincingly laid out the case that by selectively using the assets of the larger organization, he and the editors of the other small locals could enhance the value of their products.
The other elephant in the room is the idea that Gannet wanted to control the editorial content and flavor, if you will, of their papers. Jason assured us that there was no top-down dictate as to editorial policy. He told us of a poll that Gannet took recently. They asked the papers to report their recent presidential endorsements. The results were about fifty-fifty.
He was open to suggestions that some of the things we brought up were good ideas, and he would consider using them. One woman commented that when they were writing about businesses, such as a service company or a restaurant, they usually gave the website or an online resource, but failed to give the phone number. She didn't have a computer at home.
Another pointed out the lack of in-depth reporting on issues that were affecting policy and spending on large-scale projects being proposed in our area. This woman had done her homework and began quoting not only tax rates, but hidden fee's that we were paying. She also had quotes from policy makers and managers about the effect of these projects. Jason commented that she was doing his job for him, and he might hire her as an investigative reporter. He promised her that he would work harder to see that the kind of detail that would enlighten people to what was going on in our area were reported.
I asked if their online comments sections were edited. He answered that they did edit the contents of the commentary they got on their articles. They do two things I like they channel the conversations through Facebook which means you have to identify yourself to comment. The also edit out unsuitable language and personal attacks.
Comments
Post a Comment