School system bus / Rain / Canada

SO - The Columbus School system is throwing the City DPW under the bus by blaming them on the lack of crosswalks in the Kestrel Ridge area and  FORCING the school system to not be stupid.

As one resident put it  "Busing logic this year, you live more than 2 miles, you are eligible for free busing, but your bus stop is over a 1/2 mile away and it puts you inside the 2 mile zone, so you get to walk by all the houses that were denied the same busing as last year."    

So NOW - if the City makes the roads safer by adding crosswalks the school will take away busing.

Way to make The City the bad guys by taking away busing . .  as opposed to fixing your moronic busing rule.

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So we are preparing for a rather extensive road trip to north of Maine.  Beaupre Canada to be exact. Where French is the official language.  GULP!

I've never been allowed into Canada.  Elweed and I were stopped at the border at the Canadian crossing in Montana many moons ago.  Elweed had no ID with him thus we were ne'er-do-well's.  THIS time I have my passport and we're ready-ish.

So if you want an adventure follow along when we take off in a few weeks. DJ and I have always said if we were on the Amazing Race we would be the first couple not to make it out of the US (no longer as that has happened now) .

Will our phones work up dare?  Seems the answer is MAYBE - we will have to contact ATT about roaming charges.  And yea - we're driving, it's the BEST way to see the world. Have to learn street signs and I'll be getting some Canadian money today.  It's not made out of paper you know eh. It's a polymer.  Plus there are no $1 bills but there are loonies and toonies.  $1 and $2 coins.  No pennies. Everything is rounded too the nearest "nickel".

hmmmm - seems to be a $10 charge to convert American $$ into Canadian $$

and yea - from what I have read "eh" is a real thing and almost at the end of every sentence. We shall see eh?  And Maple Syrup - it's on EVERYTHING.  Quebec makes 75% of the worlds Maple syrup.

We're taking the southern route there and the Trans Canadian Highway back.

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We were sitting on the deck Saturday afternoon and I had the camera set up for storms or what ever and took this.  The Maple tree NEVER turned green this year.  Never a good thing but . . what can ya do.  This over processed image is from 5 photos blended together.  Nothing special but instead of erasing it and never seeing it again . . I'll put it here.

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SAD - just heard Frabonies on Regent street closed!

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RAIN - When we moved to Columbus in 2006 I had to set up a new weather station for CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network). I needed a brand new professional rain gauge put into a perfect (almost)  place.

I was looking at the 1854 reports today. The MOST rain in a 24 hour period ended July 23 2010 with 5.87 inches of rain.  However - of course the great Columbus flood gets #2 AND #3.  June 8th 2008 5.50 inches and June 9th 2008 4.45 inches.

Saturday - the rain did not start until 4:39 although I ran to the store earlier and RIGHT at the intersection of Dix and Maple - it was pouring. South of that intersection - sun,  it was odd.

We have had rain 7 of the last 8 days totaling 5.38 inches. The problem is it's really hard to forecast exactly when the rain will happen. The total amount of rain is very accurate but the WHEN is a problem.

Today into tomorrow one last round of storms. Later today a pop thunderstorm or 2 but more likely all day tomorrow as the front SLOWLY exits out of the area and we get 3 days of sun before Sunday when the remnants of Hurricane Gordon enter the state.  YIPPEE

One week ago this blog said we were looking at 6 inches of rain on the next week.  Going to be pretty close to that.

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James Street Pizza - WOW - had a couple pizzas Saturday and I really think they have something special going.  Is this the catalyst we have been looking or for 10 years to spur interest in downtown?

OUTSTANDING pizza!!  Bravo. and I'm not saying that as a cheerleader.

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WOW - President Air Horn has had a BIG drop in his ratings in the last 2 weeks.  Well, BIG for someone that has been REALLY consistent with people hating him.  Lowest disapproval ratings (taken from 100 polls combined) in 6 months. Some pretty good "A" polls have him dropping off a cliff (we can only wish) with approval ratings in the 36% range.

The forecast for the BLUE winning the house has also increased dramatically.  At the beginning of August there was a 70.1% chance of the Democrats winning the House.  Now at the beginning of September it's 80.3%. 

This does not count people like Elweed that will vote this time. He did not vote in the last election because of voter suppression by the Republicans.  People who do not know a REAL, ACTUAL person in poverty will not understand the road blocks the Republicans put up to keep the poor from voting.

When you can't justify spending $1 to buy a notebook and pen do you really think a person in poverty can justify spending $20 in bus fair and half a day to get a voter ID?

He WILL vote this time.

Look at Florida.  The reason there was a surprise in who the Democrats elected to run for Governor was because ALL the people who did not vote decided it was time to vote.  The Blue Wave seems to not be going away.

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