Leaping lizards, no, chipmunks

We try to keep our garage free of chipmunks,  They can cause damage.  Lynn tries to keep any water with clay dissolved in it separate, avoids putting it in our pipes and tosses it on the lawn.  The other day, as she went to toss a bucket of the stuff on the lawn, she found one of the little cuties in our garage.  She chased it.  It panicked and leaped in the air to escape but her bucket of clay water was where it landed.  Not in the plan!  It leaped again out of the bucket and ran off.  Be on the lookout for a chipmunk with dirty clay water dried on it.

Three There

Winchester Academy offerings

https://www.winchesterwaupaca.org/

There are three organizations near me that focus on interesting people and activities:

L.I.F.E. - an organization on the UWSP campus, part of the university's "Continuing Education" program - https://www3.uwsp.edu/conted/Pages/LIFE.aspx

Wisconsin Life - an ongoing PBS tv program about interesting or unusual activities, organizations and creators in Wisconsin - https://www.pbs.org/show/wisconsin-life/

Winchester Academy - in Waupaca, started I understand by UW-O retired faculty from the Oshkosh faculty - link above

All three furnish those with active minds and wide interests with insights and ideas outside what comes on tv entertainment  and popular books. If you don't live near Stevens Point but are interested in something like these possibilities, many college and university campuses offer something along these lines.  You might search or ask about "retirement" organizations.

There are so many patterns!

In high school, I thought about what sort of work I wanted to seek to make a living.  I thought counseling or some sort of work understanding and helping individuals would be interesting enough for a whole career.  I didn't know where I was going to get the money to get training and licensing.  My homeroom teacher and my guidance counselor both told me to go to college. I took their advice to mean investigate possibilities, which I had not done.  My mother advised me to look into the teachers college nearby.  When I found the very low cost of room, board and tuition (in exchange for two years teaching in the public schools), I could see my future.  

Once I got into teaching, I never left.  Additional licensing requirements sent me to graduate school and into a doctoral program in statistics, measurement and experimental design.  I enjoyed it very much.  By age 28, I had a PhD.  I settled on the University of Wisconsin and the UW campus at Stevens Point was looking for a person to replace a retiring faculty member.  37 years later, I retired.  

My mother was right.  Teaching is full of individualization.  Sometimes, when a student just sits in front of the teacher, the teacher can tell lots about that person's worldview and personality.  Sometimes it is something of a mystery and it may take more time and experience before the teacher gets some insight into that student's makeup.  This individuality is a big part of the "American dream" of a life of freedom and fun and fulfillment.  I think it is clear that communication, technology, travel and methods of teaching these days combine to make people more individualized than ever.

Waking up

For years, ok, for decades, I used an alarm clock to wake me at the time I wanted.  Now, most days, I leave it to habit to wake up about when I want.  I think my father, who lived to be about 89, had trouble with falling asleep when he didn't want to and was not in a safe place to do so, such as when driving a car. I haven't had trouble with that so far.  I do understand that aging can bring all sorts of sleep difficulties but so far, things have been pretty much what I want and expect.  

Naturally, we have become accustomed to each other sleep habits.  In the last few years, there have been more nights awake at the "wrong" times and those times often last too long.  One or both of us is usually up and moving by 6:30 or 7:00 but occasionally she sleeps later catching up.  One those days, I turn on fewer lights, stay away from the bedroom and get the coffee made.