The Gatekeepers

A little housekeeping first: Visited the Highland Scottish cattle today, with big bags of vegetable scraps. Noticed one of the cows had recently given birth, but we didn't see any calf, so now I am stewing about what happened. Is the calf in the barn? If so, why isn't her mother with her? Do I dare stop and ask the farmer? The cows acted normal, but then they are always pretty laid back.

I haven't posted because I have been writing and sent out more queries, so that is a Good Thing. Martha is sprung and that is another Good Thing. She seems to have been very empathetic with her fellow felons. I hope she'll be able to do something to improve their lot now that she's out. The only difference that you and I aren't in the slammer is less drugs and alcohol, better impulse control and a good education. Right?

There is a huge scandal at one of the prep schools in the Boston area. If you read a paper where the news it not fit to print, you surely read about it. My friend, who had a son in another prep school last year, kind of freaked out about the whole thing, empathizing, if you will, with the poor parents who had anted up big bucks and sent their kids off to this wonderful, expensive, hard-to-get-into school, expecting, no doubt some in loco parentis care.
Apparently boys will always be boys, and girls will sometimes be sluts, although the young lady in question was described in the paper as "a wonderful kid." At 15, she is certainly a kid, and when I think back to my 15 year old innocent life of a few kisses and a little necking, we are certainly living in a different world nowadays and definitely not a better one.
The boys, (did we already mention poor impulse control) unless they end up in the slammer like Martha , will survive and go on to do whatever life has in store with or without the fancy prep school. The girl will always be marked as long as anyone has a memory, and believe me, in sex scandals, memories are long. Think about Bill and Monica and Paris and whoever. Would you want your son to marry Paris Hilton? I doubt it. The prep school girl is the loser, and will still be the loser 40 years from now. That hasn't ever changed and probably won't
Girls used to be the gatekeepers, the ones who mostly said no and occasionally yes to a fiancee or a steady boyfriend, but not to the hockey team. Apparently that has changed and now they are the initiators. Even the biggest high school slut would have not done that. Fast Times at Ridgemont High indeed.

Last night on the 'net I was reading about the Humboldt Trail across northern Nevada and the pioneers who treked across alkalai deserts and mountains and died along the trail, trying to get to California and a better life. Some of them got stuck one winter in Donner Pass. If you've spent any time around Tahoe or in the Nevada desert, their feats and their hardships seem incredible. Theoretically, we have the better life now, but sometimes you have to wonder.

A last note about the winter. The squirrel still hasn't figured out how to get at the suet, but he found the bread sticks Significant Other put out on the porch. The breadsticks, flavored Pesto, tasted dreadful, and are only fit for squirrels and chipmunks and the odd raccoon. Squirrel grabbed one and took off, ate it, came back and got another, buried it in the snow and did the same for the rest. So now we have a front yard full of buried breadsticks, which will get all yukky when the snow melts. One can only hope that some critter will eat them before that. I am off to write.