Prom on the Prairie

the gymnast

nature's bench

When I was in 9th grade our Biology Teacher gave us an assignment of finding leaves from a dozen different types of trees.  Being a serious student (history, algebra, literature, journalism) I thought it a boring project, not worth my serious time so grabbed the first ten leafs I saw and turned in a very average report.   I was very foolish for nothing - save having a certain K9 along on these treks - is more enjoyable than strolling through the woods, imagining the varous tree poses.

Angel

the takeover

local politics

I live in what is/was called "The Bible Belt" and I've never really understood what that terms means to anyone. Sometimes it seems to be used as a put down, others seem to brag about it, some use it in order to attain influence (both with those who loathe and love the term). Anyway, I do grasp that the region I live in is alleged to be one that according to your preference, "values religion" or "clings to religion". Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum to me but regardless, had to smile when I discovered the following local story.

A powerful member of the state legislature had resigned lat year after allegations of marital infidelity led to a nasty divorce. I'm pretty sure it wasn't just the affair that led to his resignation but it did play a part in it. So a special election was held and the day of the election a story came out that he had had an affair with his Mother-in-law while his wife (now ex wife) was pregnant. He confirmed the story saying something along the lines that it was not "one of the most beautiful" moments of his life. He won.

I have no idea whether he will make a good representative or not. I am upset with myself and the local "big city" paper because I had no idea there was an election until I read the story in the paper - again on the day of the election while I was unable to get back in time to vote. Still it is all a bit sad, a bit silly, and probably a bit more common place than I had once thought. DC and that non-Bible belt portion of the country have nothing on us! LOL

frustration

I called my state dept of labor recently to inquire about an ID appliction that had been submitted back in November in anticipation of a new business that would be starting up this month. We had not received a number nor any correspondence and even though the opening has been delayed until late March I was getting concerned. When I finally got through to a human she at first claimed they hadn't received it, then magically found it on her desk - it was just about to be processed - but then I made my fatal mistake. I mentioned that our first payroll would be coming up next month.
"You mean you haven't issued a payroll yet? We can't issue a number until you have issued one payroll."

Never mind that the payroll processing service needs the ID numbers and that the state applicaction form reads "When do you EXPECT to have your initial payroll"?

So, catch 22 and with a polite click of the phone back to square one on the application.