Good evening. I didn't have time to post earlier. Looks like a lot of different things going on in your lives. Squirrel, thanks for the description of your town and surroundings. Nine acres seems like a very large area for someone in town or even on the edge of town. Many would covet such a spread!
When we lived in NE Pennsylvania for nearly three years, we too were at the edge of town, with several miles of wooded area behind our house, although we only owned a couple of acres around the house. It was beautiful and so very different from terrain that was familiar to me. Also, I never got so I could remember or understand all the different terms for legal/political/whatever areas of population or ownership. I'm talking about townships, boroughs, etc.
Here in Texas we only have counties and then cities within counties. Even very small places have a sign at the edge, saying, city limit, name of city, and telling the population, regardless of whether it is 100,000 or 1,000. If it is too small to have a population count, the sign simply has the name. In everyday conversation, large metropolitan areas are referred to as "cities," while the smaller places are called, "towns," although nowhere does "town" ever show up in writing.
Noel, my heart goes out to you concerning the bullying. My youngest son was bullied. It was heartbreaking but back in the 1980s in rural Texas it would have been pointless to try to get any satisfaction, and probably would have made the situation worse. We had started out homeschooling him and only put him in school during 2nd and 3rd grades because we didn't have any choice. As soon as there was a legal ruling on it in Texas, we returned to homeschooling.
I don't try to influence people one way or the other on that subject because it is a very personal decision for each family. It had its drawbacks for us because we were so isolated and there were none of the support systems in place like there are today, but our son turned out well and I've never regretted taking that path.
Kt, I'm so sorry for what you had to endure too. Not to even have support at home is the saddest part.
Robin, what you went through was awful too. In my daughter's early years of teaching she was in some pretty bad schools. In one place she said she feared for her life each day. She managed to befriend some of the football players and they went out of their way to protect her. In other places, she was forever having to call security to come to her room. It makes me shudder to think of her and other teachers--or anyone else--having to put up with that kind of crud in a school!
On a lighter note, they had more than one group of little kids come to the nursing home to do Easter egg hunts today....inside. I didn't watch any of it but as I was leaving I saw there were plastic eggs laid out all over the floor in the big lobby. The eggs weren't hidden at all so I was tempted to stay, out of curiosity, to see how that was going to work. I envisioned something akin to a stampede.
I'd heard there was going to be an Easter egg hunt so I asked my husband if he wanted to go. He said yes. But when I told him there were going to be little kids there to hunt the eggs, he decided against going. Apparently, he'd thought he was going to get to hunt the eggs himself. LOL...
DBF, best wishes on your move. Hope all of you adjust well, even the pooch--or maybe especially him. Your grandkids will be so happy to have you nearby!
