Wow, my last entry definitely needed "spell check"!  I just spoke with Nelda yesterday, and she was accompanying her sweet husband to Pizza Hut in Falfurrias.  Her spirits were high; however, she felt that things were perhaps not good for her friends in the SPIRIT...aka...me.  She was right!  We just lost our sweet puppy Hershey to a snake bite.  That precious puppy helped me get through Mom's death three years ago this November.  Hershey or "Hershel" as Doc renamed her will be greatly missed.  I have also been sharing in my cousin Cindy Robinson's loss of her Mother-in-Law, Marilyn Robinson.  They were very close.  Cindy and her families  pain and loss is shared by us all.  Nobody can replace the LOVE OF A MOTHER!

Nelda also invited Pete and I to a July 4th celebration planned for this weekend in Premont, Texas.  The town is really pulling together to try to overcome the problems their school system has faced.  I think there are many systems facing similar woes.  The conflict(s) and pressures placed on the public school systems from the State and National mandates have driven schools into the ground.  The only entities gaining from the entire calamity are companies selling "fix it" solutions which are marketed under the "research-based" label to meet that nebulous criteria required prior to any federal/state purchases.  Most school systems have been jumping blindly from one program to the next simply praying that the "band-aid" works....all the while....CHILDREN....not just one, as implied by the singular tense used in... "No Child Left Behind", but hundreds of school age children are  being left behind.  They are not only being left Behind one grade-level but two and three grade-levels which has left them discouraged, embarrassed, and ready to give up.  I pray that the legislators at all levels open their eyes, quit bickering over self-serving issues, and own the legacy which will be theirs'