School's Out for Summer Flying To Denver

This most anticipated and longed for day has finally arrived! It's the last day of school before graduations and summer vacations. The last day to hand in assignments, find missing books, clean out your locker, check the lost and found for that jacket your mom is still pissed about you losing...the last day...ahhh.

Bittersweet feelings trickle through my mind and course throughout my being as a creek meandering along the hilly grassy slope of some quiet place. TYC will close the doors forever on the state school. Teaching at the state school for the past two years proved challenging mixed with hidden delightful surprises.

There's always a diamond in the ruff, and with these boys there were several. I taught English and Writing. They tested for me back in March. I received their results yesterday. The exit level testers...100%. The sophomores...83%. The freshmen...80%. I celebrated the victory with them, serving pizza and sodas...bidding them goodbye and continued success.

It's bittersweet also because of the bonds and friendships I formed with my fellow teachers. And am I ever so proud of Mrs. Cummings! She took and passed her EC-4 certification test! You've come a long way baby!

As soon as school is out the princess and I will be flying to Denver via Albuquerque. We'll be riding with Jesse to keep him company on his way to a relative's graduation. Annie has made it known that she is no longer speaking to Jesse because he rolled down the window when we rode through the cemetery to allow the ghosts to get her. To her chagrin, she was not gotten by ghosts. We'll see how long that no speaking to Jesse lasts when we get to the first convenience store and she's wanting beef jerky!

Tag You're It...Pass It On

I read a very interesting article in the Denver Post. I'm wondering why it is that in Colorado, more than just average citizens are taking notice of the fracking process used by oil companies? After reading the article, I then read the comments and this one stuck out:

ILoveChipotle wrote:Oil companies do not frac the aquifers - they do not touch the ground water. The area that is touched by a frac is 8000 feet below the aquifer (that's about a mile & a half away).

Ms. Greenes ignorance & hatred for the industry is astounding.

You are the only one mentioning aquifers.

Are you saying that Coalbed Methane is never found near underground sources of drinking water?

I'm really confused. I'm gonna have to ask some of the smart people I know about the aquifers being touched by fracking. I was thinking that over in Midland, the groundwater has been contaminated, but I could be mistaken. Then I kept reading the comments and came across this one:

I oftentimes disagree with what a columnist writes. Very rarely am I shocked at their ignorance. The two or three articles written by Ms. Greene on fracking are shockingly ignorant. Certain rules, including the chemical disclosure rule that Susan believes to be at issue, were not, and are not, disputed by energy companies. The rules that industry is trying to overturn are those that have have made it nearly impossible to get new permits from the state (yes the state - state regulators - not "you and me").

Fracking is regulated by the state, very heavily so in fact. Anyone who understands even basic geology knows that it would be impossible for fluids from fracking to travel from 8000 feet below the surface to anywhere near water supplies. The important issue when it comes to fracking is the integrity of the cement and metal casing of the pipe. The state requires myriad tests to ensure that integrity, which is why federal regulations would be overly burdensome.

Now, I'm almost certain that there was some leak in some kind of equipment over in Louisiana of fracking fluids. I'm also remembering that some cows, about 16 or so, drank some of that leakage and died. Yeah, I'm pretty sure about that one.

Events Do Not Define, They Reveal CARS

A lot of my friends were excited and hopeful about the Cash for Clunkers program, or government benefit. There was a lot of buzz going around in the beginning...then that faded once the "truth" was revealed about the teaser program.

Some of the truths about the program revealed were that the clunker had to be in use, insured and registered on time...no lapses. I tried to download the official government rules (boy, for a Congress that's into saving trees and going green they sure use a lot of paper) but the pdf document is too enormous for my clunker of a computer. That's what I'd be interested in, cash for clunker computers. From what I've read over the past few days is that the program has run out of money and now Congress has hurriedly passed additional monies to be allotted for the ever expanding, ruled program. The 2billion will be passed without truly knowing what's happened to all the other money used for the program. I guess if there's been fraud we won't know until much later.

The Denver Post did a good job in voicing some of my concerns about the program. Like a lot of other consumers, I never buy new cars. I've always purchased used, I let the wealthier consumers take the beating on the overhead and new sticker price. This has also been addressed:

Our original concern was that, even with the rebates, many lower-income drivers wouldn't be able to afford a new car. So it is encouraging to see Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, saying that they will argue for the extended program to also allow the low-income buyers to purchase fuel-efficient, used cars.