Self-Reliance, Vinegar and The Wired Generation

Good morning, Don! Hope the snow wasn’t too deep. We ended up with maybe an inch of the white stuff. It is keeping the grass green just that much longer.

Vinegar – ah, that brings back memories. Windows, pickled beets, sunburns. I still use the cider vinegar on sunburns – I don’t peel and the pain is gone! But it does sting a bit when I first put it on after a nice warm shower. The smell? It lingers a bit then turns into a nice sweet odor. I can live with that.  And it works wonders on drains when mixed with baking soda. I use it about every two weeks or so just to keep the kitchen sink drains clear and smelling good. I run a lot of water afterwards to make sure nothing gets clumped up in the pipes.

What I remember the most is the fun we had mixing vinegar and baking soda – boy did we get the pop bottles to fly! And the volcanos we created! Hours of fun. I remember a Styrofoam head we carved out, put a glass in and filled it with vinegar and soda to demonstrate your brain on drugs. It got some attention.

As to ants, I found that hot chili powder moves them on quickly – those that are still alive, that is. It was really helpful this spring when all the sugar ants decided to swarm on the patio. I just sprinkle it on the mounds. The ants take it home as food. Not sure what it does to them, but it seems to lessen the ant problem and the grass doesn’t appear to suffer any for it.

You mentioned those times of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. I was talking to a friend about the celebrities who are taking the “ live on $5.00 a day” challenge. I admire them and have to laugh at the same time.  They already have kitchens filled with food and they’ve paid their electric bill on time. So $5.00 to them is not going to Star Bucks or not getting the ice cream dish they were craving. I remember living on $75.00 a month, rent at $50.00 and we were doing better than most of our friends.

It is a great Segway into what my research over the next 6 months will be – the Wired Generation (the millennials) and the challenges they bring to teaching.  One of the more intriguing concepts has been the moving of the grown up at “age” bar. I think that for you and I, we were considered “grownup” at 18 or 19. If we weren’t, our parents helped us transition quickly into a position of being able to take care of ourselves. (I think I discussed this in a really early blog.) With this Wired generation (kids raised in the computer/internet/instant messaging age), the “grownup” age has moved to 26 or 27 years of age.

Another interesting fact is that these kids, on the whole, here in the United States, are less likely to drive or have a real interest in driving. The theories suggest that the restrictions that have been put on teen driving and/or the advent of the smart phone have helped to curb the teen need to get away. Kids can call their friends and since they have their own phone, they don’t need to worry about someone listening in like I did when I was their age. (Remember the family phone in the hallway and you could only talk for 5 minutes?) Of course, when teens were asked why they didn’t drive, they said they were just too busy to learn how and went back to their texting. I would be interested in seeing if this were true for the different cultures.

The cave. Yeah know, we should find a really neat picture of a cave to announce this section…

My guess for your riddle is: fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror of a beat old car.

The answer to mine was picture frames. I thought the “stiff and formal” would give it away.

Okay, here is this week’s installment:

Clearing the personal screen

Drop by drop

Often runs into your ear

 

Sorry to hear about the boat out of water – and how are the kitchen renovations going?

 

Have a great week!

Carolyn

 

Just finished getting the Transport 26 ezine onto Amazon! It will be available in the next couple of days. Don, did you realize that over the last 2 1/2 years we have edited 78 stories, helped authors craft 5 books, published 4 science fiction/fantasy anthologies? Amazing! Thanks!

CV

All images downloaded from Google Images

Fig 1 – Newblog: how to fight off sunburn retrieved from blogs.thenews.com

 

Fig 2 –  Bottle Launcher Rocket retrieved from almostunschollers.blogspot.com

 

Fig 3 – draanko / She cooks up nice retrieved from shesooksupnice.com

Fig 4 – Join us for the $5 challenge retrieved from eatoutsidethebag.com

 

Fig 5 - 10 ways parents can help the wired child unplug retrieved from thewiredhomeschool.com