Pumpkin Patch

       1040 pumpkins.  That's how many are at our church's annual pumpkin patch.  We (the youth group + a bunch of adults) had to unload these 1040 pumpkins last Saturday.  The giant truck containing them took up the length of our parking lot, and almost hit a silver VW bug backing in!  We had 3 wagons and a couple of wheelbarrows, but they were mainly for the small ($2 size or less) pumpkins.  Once we got to the big ones, we had to get a sort of bucket line going.  The really big ones were still transported by wagon, though.  The line disintegrated more than once, often when there was a delay of more than a few seconds between pumpkins.  They were placed all around the church steps and lawn, and this wooden trailer we get every year.  Once the trailer got there, the truck had to move around to the front of the church so that our line could get to the lawn.
       There were pumpkins of every shape and size.  Anyone who got a really heavy one had to warn the next person by saying, and I quote this directly, "Heavy!"  I started also saying "heavier than it looks!" because there are some green ones (I'm not sure if they're pumpkins or just gourds) that don't look heavy, but are solid or something.  A lot heavier than they look.
        We sell them by size - smallest are tiny, only 25 cents; the largest can be up to $20!  The $20 ones are the ones that were loaded onto the wagons.
        It can wear you out, passing pumpkin after pumpkin to a person, even in our zigzag bucket line (easier on your back than when everyone faces the same way).  Regardless of the fact that it's Monday and I'm still sore, it was really fun seeing all these pumpkins.

P.S. Apparently this computer won't let me upload images right now; when it does, I'll upload some pix of the patch that I took.  I didn't get any of the unloading day, anyway, though.

The Day Without Desks

Today my school did something called Day Without Desks to raise money for education in Haiti.  Basically all the desks and chairs are pushed to the side, and we either stand or sit on the floor.  They've been selling T-shirts and donations are possible too.  As you can see, I've bought a shirt.  Hey, it fits, it's an awfully good deal for a shirt, and the money goes to a good cause.  Why not buy one?  Anyway, it seemed pretty harmless.  Well, a lot of people didn't like it. (Mostly girls, I noticed. . .) I overheard one girl on Monday saying that she was planning on just ditching the day because she didn't want to sit on the floor.  I mean, come on!  It's probably better than the stupid chairs.  And it's not like it's going to kill you to see how the kids in Haiti live (because that was the point of not having desks - the kids there don't ever).  That's just being a weenie, and seriously selfish.  I mean, I don't even have a good back, and do you see me complaining about sitting on the floor?  A lot of people sat in chairs anyway, because it wasn't absolutely required to sit on the floor, which makes it even more stupid to ditch because of that.  It should be required to sit on the floor, or you should have to pay $1 for a chair and another dollar for a desk or something.  That would make even more money than the shirts.  I only saw 30 people out of our large school wearing the shirts.
       What would have been even better, but was disapproved by the board, would be Day Without Shoes.  There are so many slightly valid reasons to disapprove it, but it would still have been great.

Hey, I want a kids' menu, too!

Growing up is overrated.  All of the stuff you loved as a kid can no longer be enjoyed in public, or enjoyed period.  Playgrounds are too small, and schools above elementary school don't have them anyway.  Why not create a bigger playground for bigger kids?  And what about kids' menus?  Heck, I'm 14 and I can still get a kids' menu for kids 12 and under, but I'll bet my dad couldn't.  What if an adult wants a kids' menu for the smaller, cheaper meals and/or coloring pages?  There's only been one that I think is good: Red Robin's.  It says that the menu is for "kids, seniors, and those with small appetites".  I'm not exactly a kid, I'm definitely not a senior, but I do have a small appetite.
Okay, this idea is taken from Lauren Myracle's book l8r g8r, but it's still a great idea:  A national Kid Again day (called Pigtail Day in the book.)  where everyone wears their hair in pigtails and says, "to heck with being grown up!" for the day.  Or better yet, have a place where you can go to be a kid, even if you aren't one physically, anytime you need a break.
Most kids want to be tall when they grow up.  I say, it's overrated, too.  I'm not tall.  And I don't want to be.  I'd rather be able to get kid size shoes, and youth size clothing.  Not only are they more interesting/comfortable, they're usually cheaper.
Everyone just needs a break from the grown-up world of reality, go back to their childhood, and say, "Hey, I want a kids' menu, too!".

Salt of road

Road salt.  I hate road salt.  Well, I don’t hate it, but I certainly don’t like it.  It’s all over campus, in little piles by the sides of buildings where it’s been swept up.  It wouldn’t be as bad if they just used regular rock salt or whatever, but the substance they use is green.  Salt is not green.  It makes white icemarks on the sidewalk.  It doesn’t even always work.  There’s still a patch of ice between two of our campus buildings.  How do I know it’s even been salted? It’s pockmarked.  Like someone shot it with a mouse-sized machine gun.  It’s been heavily salted.  This ice won’t leave until March.

            Road salt also makes my backpack much harder to roll.  Although that isn’t a huge reason to give up road salt, seeing as I’m probably the only high-schooler in the region with a rolling backpack.  But, you might be saying, wouldn’t snow clog the wheels worse?  Yes, but it’s possible to avoid snow.  Also, snow melts when I go inside.

            Salting roads will eventually get that salt all over cars.  It’s horrible for the paint.  Which doesn’t affect me now, but will in a few years. 

            All I’m saying is, there must be a better way to get ice off of roads and sidewalks, even when the temperature is too low for the “salt” in the first place.  Something that won’t corrode paint and stain sidewalks, and isn’t some weird chemical that’s a color that no salt should ever be.

Goozack

I hate doors.  I really do.  They’re annoying, and they get in my way.  School doors may be the worst.  The double doors may have a post down the center.  Or they may not.  And they’re inconsistent, too.  So you may be walking through the center of one door, and then: Wham!  You hit the center post of the next.  The center posts also impede traffic by making people go around.  Often there’s space for a whole other column of people down the center.  And, with a rolling backpack and lots of stuff, I might have trouble opening most doors.  The doors in one of the campus buildings are very old and very heavy.

            Not that non-school double doors aren’t annoying.  I have hit my head on doors more than once.  I have hit my head on doorknobs at least twice.  One of the two doors to my room is either all the way open or latched shut.  There is no in-between.  Someone unlatches it, it slowly swings open.  The other door to my room is hard to latch.  My bathroom door doesn’t stay latched.  When our basement door is open, it’s like a whole new wall, blocking traffic.

            There is only one type of door that I like: the revolving door.  Not only is it fun, it works.  For the heavily burdened as much as those who have nothing; for the disabled as well as the strong.  It is the best type of door to possibly have.

            I don’t always like chairs, either, but that’s another blog.

Guns and Knives

Okay, the no weapons policies of schools and such are a good idea, but it can be taken a bit too far.  We have not been given plastic knives in the cafeteria since elementary school.  How are you going to hurt someone with a plastic butter knife?  You can barely hurt someone with a regular butter knife, and only if they let you saw at them for a while.  You run up to try to stab someone: “Die!” *snap* “Dang it!”

Some schools have even outlawed a gun-shaped hand motion.  You know, where you clasp your hands together, pointer fingers out and thumb up? Yeah, that.  What are you going to do, load your fingers?

I have heard tell of a girl who had to walk or get a ride to softball practice a couple miles away because the bus driver wouldn’t let her take her bat on the bus.  I guess that’s halfway reasonable, but what about suspending a Boy Scout for bringing his trusty Spork to school? Or a man in college who kept his grandfather's penknife in his car?  How did the school authorities find out about that one?

I will kill you with my plastic knife and gun hands!  “Bang!” *snap* “Darn it!”

Corn Sugar

Word is out that manufacturers are changing the name High Fructose Corn Syrup to simply Corn Sugar.  I read this in a kids’ newspaper called News for You.  The people lobbying to change the name say that “’Whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can’t tell the difference.’”  And the article itself says that there’s “little scientific proof” for the statement that HFCS is more harmful than regular sugar.  I beg to differ!  There’s plenty of proof.  I’ve heard it.  Sure, there’s no evidence that a teaspoon of HFCS is worse than a teaspoon of table sugar (sucrose), but HFCS is everywhere.  It can only be metabolized by one organ, the liver.  Sucrose can be metabolized by any organ.  A teaspoon can be metabolized.  But it takes less to overload the liver than all the organs of the body combined.  And when something can’t be metabolized, it turns into fat.  Which is unhealthy.

            Back on the topic of renaming it – HFCS and corn sugar are the same thing.  Renaming it doesn’t make it any better.  The companies just do this so that they can keep using it.  Like when prunes were changed to dried plums.  That’s what prunes are.  It doesn’t change anything except reaction.  Corporations don’t care about people’s health unless their consumers care about people’s health. 

Here’s a thought.  If it’s in a newspaper that corn sugar is the same as HFCS, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of consumers not knowing?