Today it actually feels hot! Rain is predicted to return tonight and it certainly seems humid enough.

I replanted zucchini, cucumbers and marigolds yesterday because the slugs have been having a feast. I put out some beer traps for them, too.

Blogger has been a little unreliable, I wish switching to something else wasn't such a hassle...

No activity in my class yet, which is a surprise. Usually summer students want to get started early because of the intense workload.

The university switched to an online (from a telephone) registration system, and there are all sorts of snags. But it is too hot to spend a lot of time upstairs working (and no air conditioner will be turned on yet).

Finally, a nice weather weekend, and we opened the pool! The water is very murky, and there were quite a few leaves to scoop out. I didn't relish the idea of getting in that mess, but wound up jumping right in on Saturday without giving it a thought. We have a new fence in S'ville that surrounds the deck and half of the pool. This is the largest area the dogs have ever had, and this weekend was the first time they have been in the new area. The pool has a new deck platform, which replaced a rickety plastic ladder. We haven't bolted down the ladder half that goes in the pool yet, and before Saturday, it was still in the shed. From the deck to the pool there is a boardwalk.

Rather than exploring the yard, both dogs and the cat are most interested in going from the deck to the boardwalk to the steps and platform near the pool. Sniffing around in the grass? Why? I resolved to splash the cat when she comes near the pool, since it would be awful if she fell in, plus she might try to escape the yard by jumping on the edge of the pool and slipping around the fence, but I wasn't too worried about the dogs. I thought Rudy might be brave enough to jump in eventually, but doubted Sophie would have that much nerve. And, I never figured that they would want to go up on the platform unless we were up there, or in the pool. I was inside the house, changing into my bathing suit, trying to get psyched to get in the very green and debris-filled water, and Bob was retrieving the ladder from the shed. Suddenly I heard Bob yell, "Sophie's in the pool!" I ran outside, and saw Rudy standing on the platform. I could hear splashing.

I know dogs can swim, but you must visualize Sophie. Her body is long and enormous, her legs are ridiculously short, and her paws are tremendous.(You can see her picture here.) I ran up the steps and jumped into the disgusting water without thinking about the slime, or even noticing whether the water was cold. At first I couldn't tell if she was struggling - the cover was not tied down but it was still floating in the pool and I thought she might be tangled up in the cables. But then I saw, with relief, that she was fine - she was swimming with no problem, her head was bobbing above the water, those long ears and her face looked very serious. She did not come directly to me when I called her, but instead swam to the other side. In a flash, Bob was in the pool too, he scooped her up, and heaved her up on the deck. After all, she is Bob's baby.

At that moment, we both realized we had no way to get out of the pool. Bob boosted me and I managed to scramble on the deck, and eventually I located the ladder, unscrewed the two halves, and carted it to the pool, so Bob could get out too. We aren't sure whether Sophie fell or if she jumped, but she does not seem scared, and the animals are still way too interested in the pool platform. Eventually we barricaded the bottom of the steps with a wooden skid, and decided we will need to get a gate.

Friday night we went to see the Wizard of Oz at the New York State Theatre Institute. It was a good show, the closing night of the performance and of the season. Of course, there were many kids there, and some were too little to stay engaged so late at night. Looking around the audience, we decided we could almost be mistaken for the grandparents!

Recently I read something about Helen Keller from the New Yorker that was linked in Arts and Letters Daily (I think it caught my eye because of the reference to Mark Twain). The article mentioned that Helen Keller's teacher, Annie Sullivan, was in a poorhouse in Massachusetts when she was a girl. That got me thinking about the Poorhouse article again.

In the links at that site, there were some photographs of poorhouse cemeteries, and there is one in Minnesota that is a public park, with horseshoe courts built over the graves. In Ulster County, the poorhouse lands are now the fairgrounds, and the cemetery, or what's left of it anyway, is behind the county pool.

We sometimes walk the dogs in the lovely cemetery near the Castleton house. For some reason, these poorhouse images brought to mind a little stone that is in the cemetery that reads: "In memory of the infants who died during the epidemic of 1918." Who were they?, I have always wondered. Were there so many that they had to be buried together? Or are they scattered about, but only later there was time to remember them?

I think when you are fascinated by history as I am, questions about life and death crop up even more often than they do otherwise. Sometimes I have to tell myself to let it go. But more than being morose, these thoughts also are gentle reminders that it is important to be happy now and to enjoy every day, even the rainy ones, even the ones filled with less than pleasant tasks.

I finally got rid of the poison ivy in the yard yesterday. Also, the deer fence around the garden is up. It is raining today, so I am working on my summer course, which formally starts June 23, but is accessible beginning June 16.

Here's the Chronicle of Higher Education's service, Arts and Letters Daily. There are always a lot of fascinating and very diverse links listed.

Here's an interesting, to the point, and "sure seems true to me" article from Prospect, called Nutrition: the new medicine [click "articles," then "current issue" to get there]. (Via the Chronicle of Higher Education.)

Update on the Wynkoop House, from the Daily Freeman. (Thanks Ma). The greed makes me sick.

There may not be a Tuesday Too.

1. Why do you do these memes? Why do you think people in general do them?

The only meme I have ever done in this ejournal is the Tuesday Too. I started to do it last year when I was new to web journaling because I saw jf's invitation post in the user to user area of blogger. At the time, I didn't have any clue there were memes, I just visited her site, liked the idea, the questions, and the responses of others, and decided to respond to them. I figured, if all else failed, I'd have something to write about once a week, which at the time was my goal for posting.

Maybe others respond because memes are prompts for things to write about? Also because it makes one part of a group, a club, a (gasp) clique?

2. Do you read the responses of other people when they meme?

Yes, I always read the responses of the other TT participants. The questions were good, I don't keep a blogroll, and it gave me a few journals to read now and then. When I come across responses to some other meme, sometimes I read the answers, sometimes I don't.

3. What memes do you try to always do, and conversely which do you avoid, and why?

I always do (did?) the TT, I have never done any others. However, pre-electronic journal, sometimes I would get what I now know to be a meme emailed to me, with instructions to answer and send on to others. It was never as frequent as once per week, and usually there were numerous questions that elicited snappy, short answers.

This weekend, I finished all the planting I had planned. Friday was a beautiful day to work outside, yesterday was OK, but on Saturday I had to brave the rain to do it! It was worth it. Now I hope the weather cooperates a little, and the seeds and seedlings survive.

Two other things we did this weekend, on Friday we went to see the Matrix. I liked the first one much better, this episode seemed to be thin on plot, and overly influenced by video games. On Saturday we saw the Blue Room, and it was excellent.

Here's an interesting story from the Kingston Freeman and a link to the Ulster County Poorhouse website, complete with photographs and other worthwhile links on this subject. (Thanks, J. and Ma.) Today is a fairly nice day, but I found this site so absorbing I could hardly pull myself away.

On Tuesday, I chopped down three large burdock plants that were growing near my garden. I remembered that when I was a kid, my mother cooked the stems, and my father called them "cardone." As I recall, they were delicious. I have always been tempted to give this a try, but most of the burdock I come across are growing in areas that make the thought unpalatable, for example between cracks in a sidewalk, or in a garbage-strewn empty lot. You know, one of those places where you just know a dog has lifted his leg on the plant a few times.

These were growing in rich soil, near where I used to keep the composter. No dogs, not my two nor any others, have been near them. So I searched the Internet for information -- just to make sure my memory was serving me and I wouldn't wind up poisoning us. Burdock are a lot more common in Japanese cuisine, but the root is eaten, not really the stems. I couldn't tell from the descriptions of Italian cardone whether this is exactly the same plant as ordinary burdock, but I decided to proceed anyway. The description of the flavor was a combination of artichoke and celery, and this was good enough for me. They can be served many ways, and usually are eaten on special occasions.

They were very dirty, and cleaning them was a challenge. I cut the stems in 3" - 4" pieces, pulled off the bigger threads, the way you would with celery, then sliced them lengthwise, to facilitate removing sand and bugs. I washed them and washed them and washed them. I boiled them in salted water with lemon juice for 30 minutes to remove the bitterness. When they were done, I rinsed them. I stored them in the refrigerator until today, when I dipped them in egg and bread crumbs and fried them in olive oil.

My memory was accurate! They were delicious, and Bob agreed.

Here's another item from the Times Union on the historic preservation -- or rather, historic destruction -- front that made me sad/mad. This one is about a historic barn being torn down in Clifton Park.

Several days ago I added a site counter to most of the pages in the Gully Brook Press website. On some pages it isn't working right and I haven't had the time to tweak it, but otherwise it has been fascinating. Unfortunately, because it is free it adds an ugly banner to the top of the pages, but I am living with it for the interesting information I can collect. The virtual museum is what brings in the traffic. I can't tell whether the PDF files are getting read, I guess I would have to convert them to regular webpages to track them. I have resisted doing this, despite being urged by others to get rid of the PDF because they are hard to access, since after my experiences I want to make it at least a little difficult to plagiarize.

There is no Tuesday Too (via Sya).

Yes, I've noticed. I hope all is OK. I'll give these questions a try -- and since there's no TT, I suppose it is OK to do it on late Thursday/early Friday.

1. Request from a friend. Even if you don't do anything else for this edition of the faux-Tuesday Too, please answer this: do you ever have dreams where you read something and actually know what it is that you're reading?

I'm ashamed to respond that I can't remember! Sometimes I have vivid dreams and the memory lingers, other times I don't dream, or at least I don't recall dreaming, but I have no clue if I read in my dreams.

2. Got any music in your collection you're absolutely ashamed of owning?

No. I'm not a musical elitist, I can appreciate almost anything and my collection has a very wide range, although I tend to overplay certain CDs. I still have some vinyl, but I rarely listen to it. And, my tastes have changed somewhat over the years. I like almost all folk, bluegrass and country-rock music, and I like some rock, country, jazz, classical, alternative, dance, pop, and show tunes. I like specific musicians or bands more than types of music, for example, I like Billy Joel, Indigo Girls, Dave Matthews Band, Natalie Merchant, Joan Baez, George Winston, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, John Prine, Dave Brubeck. I also like silence - no TV, no radio, no CD player.

3. A two-parter: you're having an allergy attack. What's the first thing you try to relieve your itchy, runny nose and sneezing?

I have some allergies, and usually don't do anything.

I made a post -- then blogger decided to crash and it was gone (I never learn). So it will keep.

The weather has been holding (though rain is predicted for tomorrow), so I have made some progress on the yard. It is so late to be just starting to plant! I want to set out some heirloom tomatoes that my sister started, but they are precious and I haven't wanted to risk them getting soaked. So instead I have been putting them outside for a while every day. They can't stay in their tiny pots forever, and one transplanted they will grow huge -- so they really don't lend themselves to container planting.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting article entitled Scholars Who Blog. There are links to nine sites (most are well known, unlike this site :-), plus two directories.

On one site, I find this gem, Copycats, including comments from many kindred spirits. It was strange to read this, nice to see it isn't just me, bordering on hilarious to see how flagrant it is, and horrible to see how common it is!

The plagiarism I have detected most closely resembles what is called, in the linked post, "The Filing Cabinet." This semester's episode is over, I think. I received a round of emails, the last asking me to telephone so we could clear up our "misunderstanding." When I didn't (I am not on campus and it was long distance!), the student went to the department to complain to the chair, and while there he was advised to put his concerns in writing, and then that handwritten note was mailed to me. He wasn't aiming high, a D- would have been satisfactory. I didn't budge, and at this point, I think there will not be an appeal.

I think it is a huge, and growing problem. This is anecdotal, of course. It may have been rampant years ago, too. Or maybe detecting it is so upsetting that it distorts our perceptions. I know sometimes it overwhelms what should be our focus: serious, honest students who are trying.

I've been giving some thought to what additional revisions to assignments I can make that will decrease the incidence. I already change assignments and topics; my remarks to class on the topic are so extensive sometimes I fear timid students will think I am an ogre. I have heard some faculty argue that teaching is based on trust, so they can't worry about it. That is an optimistic view; it is so appealing to me. But when headlines focus on journalists and business people who are corrupt, I can't help believing that academe should try to reduce the problem. It doesn't matter which came first, rampant cheating in school or unethical workers, that is a chicken-or-egg question. (And frankly, it seems to me that it is at least as likely it was school.)

I do know that it really, really troubles me. (So did the evaluation comment about there being nothing good about class :-(.

Time to work outside! The rain has stopped for a few days, at least.

I'm kind of sore but I'm glad I did that work outside -- since it has done nothing but rain ever since! I pulled out bamboo grass that is invasive in Castleton. After I finished, I had a pile about 7 feet high! I also uncovered three clumps of poison ivy. Every year I "suit up" and remove it. I was too tired to do it after the bamboo challenge, but I think tomorrow will be nice again so it is on my to do list.

Speaking of being nice outside...I hope something gives soon, because the Gully Brook (the real thing is behind the house here in Samsonville) looks pretty threatening for what is usually a gentle, even intermittent little stream.

An "alert reader" (I don't read Dave Barry much any more but I remember that from his column) notified me that the pictures were not loading in the new Battle of Saratoga virtual museum. I checked it from both machines in Castleton, and it seemed fine, but here in Samsonville, they didn't appear. That's the problem with using software that makes webpage design easy, you don't "see" simple errors in the HTML code. In this case, it was pointing to the network drive -- which both Castleton machines can locate, of course. So I'm proud to say I managed to fix it using Notepad. (I don't have any other options on the S'ville machine.) Those two seminars on HTML that I took for work years ago really have come in handy.

Finally, a nice day -- I am going to do some work outside!

This, from the Times Union, "A remnant of rural past turned to rubble -- Colonie -- Former Kemp farmhouse on Wolf Road to be replaced by hotel," made me sad when I read it this morning. Hey, just what Wolf Road needs, more sprawl! But then, I suppose better there than some place where the rural is present rather than past. One negative quote about "tree huggers" shocked me. Since when did a respect for history become tree hugging?

Just now we were having quite a hail storm! It was really coming down out there. I hope it dries up soon, so that I can start to plant.

In the meantime, I updated the Gully Brook Press website. The latest virtual museum focuses on the Battle of Saratoga. The May/June issue of the Nileston News features a story I wrote in 1985, called A Day's Thoughts. Here is a picture of me at about the time I wrote this piece.

Here are the two dogs I mentioned in the story, on the right, a beagle/schnauzer named Howie (1980-1995), and on the left, a poodle named Penny (1983-1999).

Long weekend, rainy, and tiring!

One student continues to dispute his grade - I suppose this is why it is easier to look the other way when there is suspected cheating.

Rudy is a lot better - not 100% but pretty close.

Bob is calling him "Stepford dog."

Rudy is improving of course, he is eating fine now (though he does it while laying down), he goes outside and even stays for a little while beyond what is necessary, he has weakly barked once or twice in the past day, he got in the recliner for a little while this morning (he had not been jumping up on anything), and I have been able to get him to take the antibiotics without a problem.

But he does not have his usual spark, he is fairly disinterested on what is going on (his regular state is super aware, and also he is always in the same room as me - but now he is spending most of his time off on his own), he still will not come all the way upstairs, he hasn't been looking out the window at all, he won't play with Sophie, and he doesn't want to go for a walk.

It is very quiet here, as usually he is very alert, woooo-ing over every noise (and today is garbage day, lots of activity), and I guess he is the instigator because while Sophie did bark at the mailman and the garbage truck, it wasn't for very long.

One other thing (and this is really sad), usually, if you say "Rudy" or address him by one of his nicknames, he wags his tail, even if he is laying down nearly asleep. Now, you're lucky to get one wag (the first day he wouldn't wag his tail at all) when he is wide awake!

The students continue to pester me, leaving voice mails at my campus number and sending me email. What part of "you're lucky I did not refer this to Judicial Affairs" don't they understand? But why should this surprise me? Today, in AOL, I read: "Former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair said he ''couldn't stop laughing'' when the newspaper corrected his fraudulent description of an American POW's home in West Virginia, according to excerpts of an interview with the New York Observer." Oh, so making misrepresentations about Jessica Lynch's family is funny! The article continues, "Newsweek has reported that Blair signed with literary agent David Vigliano to market his story for possible book and movie deals." I called this one. I'll bet lots of fools will line up to see it! This makes me even more sick than I said I was yesterday.

Since the weather is not right for yardwork, I think I am going to start working on a new virtual museum and website updates.

I'm sure he'll be fine eventually, but Rudy's spirit seems to be broken! The good thing about this is that he is not running around straining himself, which he shouldn't do for 3 or 4 days. But the alarming thing is that he is not at all his usual self. He doesn't care about going outside, he hasn't barked at all, and even today he doesn't want to eat, not even his most favorite treat, dried apricots. He was very thirsty last night, and so I let him have one ounce of water per hour, even though he really wasn't supposed to drink anything until today. I'm not sure how I am going to get the antibiotic into him, usually he happily takes it with food. He's easy to pill but I am not going to put him through that in his current state. Sometimes he sleeps but mostly he just sits or lays around staring into space. I know he had to have it done but I feel kind of guilty since he didn't act sick at all before this and now the treatment has turned him from a bouncy happy dog into a zombie.

I've been meaning to write something about the unethical New York Times reporter, because of my experiences with student cheating and plagiarism. I won't bother to link to any story, because this is kind of old news at this point, and also because a simple search turns up more than enough, choose what you prefer. The New York Times is charging to view its original finger-pointing article, though, which I think is low. I know it is now in their archives but I think this story ought to be accessible at their site for free, they owe that much to the readers. They owe more than that, but that's a start. Most of the other articles out there (at least it appears to me) focus on the race issue, either using the scandal to denounce diversity policies, or, on the other hand, bemoaning the fact that the scandal is being used to criticize such policies.

I think both approaches totally miss the point. I could care less about this from a racial perspective. What I see is one more piece of evidence that there are too many people who have no ethics, no pride in work, no sense of fairness, and that there is a club that promotes and condones these attitudes and behaviors, or at least helps to keep such dirty little secrets hidden. It is deeply in there in many eople, even among those who would not be dishonest themselves, and should know better: the distaste for ratting on others, the belief that everything is relative - there is no right and wrong, only shades of gray, and it is OK to use whatever ammo you can to get ahead. Be kind, cut someone a break, they just made a mistake, why are you so uptight and judgmental? So lessons are not taught, and the situation spins out of control. It's easier to look the other way. Honor means nothing, and someone's word is a joke. And if you are the guilty party and get caught, use charm, claim to be the victim, and if all else fails, litigate. Plus, there just might be a book deal, and a TV movie lurking somewhere, so for 15 minutes of fame it is well worth it. A win-lose-win!

I seem to have at least a few students every spring in my classes who share Jayson Blair's ethics. It really makes me sick.

Rudy is home! He is a bit groggy (for him), but aside from that, he seems fine. He can't eat or drink anything until tomorrow, and that is going to be a challenge.

All university classes use a multiple-choice course evaluation that is machine read - we generally don't get results for a few months and the data is not all that illuminating, although most students do fill it out. For several semesters, I have used an online assessment called the Mt. Royal College FAST. I can design 20 questions myself, and the questions can be open-ended short answer, Yes/No, etc. Usually about half the students participate in any semester.

I get a lot of valuable feedback this way, and I have used student comments to make revisions to the class, but you really have to develop a thick skin! I never review the responses until after the grades are in, because time is limited, but also because I don't want the assessment to color my attitude toward the class. Anyway, this semester, in my on campus section, two students responded that given the choice, they would not take the class again. This may not disturb me so much except that it probably is not related to the expected grade (the lowest grade in the on campus cohort was C-), and one of the students wrote the most nasty comments whenever there was the option! Just an example, one question was "what did you like most about this class?" The answer? "Nothing, aside from the fact that it was once per week."

Why is it that all the other wonderful comments, and the constructive criticism, never have quite the same impact?