Javelina Update

Sunday morning on our way to church, we stopped to let a family cross near the 6th hole. There were six adults and 2 babies.

Hooligan Javelinas

We moved to Tucson about 8 years ago and live on the far northeast side of town. We get to see lots of wildlife here. There are quail, roadrunners, snakes, gila monsters, coyotes and even deer.

For the benefit of readers who aren't familiar with javelinas, here's the run down. Javelina is pronounced (pay attention, Martha Stewart) HA-velina, not JA-velina. While these animals look like wild boar, they are peccaries and not swine. Apparently they are good eating, but I can't say from personal experience. They are wild animals and like coyotes, you don't really want to tangle with them, raise them as pets, etc. But, when people live in their habitat, there are going to be clashes. Our friends, the Knapps, live on the West side of town. They have had trouble with javelinas trying to get into their trash cans. The javelinas run into them trying to tip them over for a snack. What the animals can't figure out is that the humans have fixed a place to put their trash cans so that they are tip proof. Still, the determined javelinas boldly bash in the wee hours of the night trying to get that elusive trash nosh. One night, Dave armed himself with a pistol, a sword and a flashlight (do optical engineers have more than 2 arms?), then went outside to do battle with the hooligans. He hollared and that scared them off. However, I can't help but think what would've happened if he had discharged his firearm. The police would have been called and if it was a slow news day, the incident could have made the paper. "Raytheon engineer, Dr. David Knapp, was arrested following an incident involving a small herd of unarmed javelinas......."

We lived here for 4 years before I saw any javelinas outside the Desert Museum. Recently, I went out to get the morning paper and found the contents of our big bin strewn across the driveway. About a week later there was a ring of the doorbell one evening. It was the night before trash day and I had put out our stuff. One of our neighbors had been pursuing a gang of javelina up the street and wanted to let me know that they had knocked over the trash bin. Thankfully, the neighbor had discouraged them from making an inventory of the contents, so I didn't have a mess to clean up. However, just up the street, was a big javelina running off to catch up with the others. Right on my street! A few days later Zoe reported having to walk past a javelina relaxing by our garage door. We can always tell when they've been there because the gravel has been strewn across the cement where they've wallored.

I think I can live with the javelinas. Snakes are another story.

Raza Studies Summer Institute

I kept out of trouble this past week by attending the Raza Studies Institute. Tucson Unified Schools is the only school district in the US that has Raza Studies for K-12. This is the 10th year. While concentrating in schools with a high Mexican American enrollment, all students are welcome to participate in the classes. One of the best aspects of the class is the emphasis on critical thinking. Instead of just learning names and dates, students explore the why. They are encouraged to use their learning skils to make changes in their community.

This change scares a lot of people. Notably, the Arizona Superintendent of Education, Tom Horne. He is so frightened by it that he won't visit the classes to talk to the students, despite repeated invitations. On his last visit to Tucson to attack, he held a press conference on the sidewalk OUTSIDE the building where the ethnic studies are headquartered. Need I say more?

Equal to the sum of the parts

I just finished taking ED P 541, which here at the University of Arizona is Qualitative Research (or Statistics for Educators). I was warned not to try to do this in a 5 week summer session, but I thought it would be best to take when I didn't have other classes. What I didn't figure on was how difficult it would be for me to mentally process the information. I thought if I worked on it in the morning before class, then for an hour or so after class, I could do it.

The truth of statistics is that the math is easy. Especially with a calculator. Of course, I think it's unfair that they didn't have them when I was a kid. (BTW, does anyone know how that memory thing works?) The difficulty lies in knowing what to do, how to do and when to do it. There are letters. There are letters from not one, but two different alphabets. There are little letters below and to the right side of bigger letters. There are fractions and decimals in the same equations. I encountered curves with one and two tails. The one tailed curves look like whales. I had to determine if I wanted to reject the null or retain it. Isn't null....like.... nothing? How can you reject a nothing? There were tables to fill out and tables in the back of the book labeled by single letters like z, t and q. It wasn't just a whole new world. It was a different planet. Maybe a different reality.

So, after a day spent learning about ANOVA (What year? How much mileage? Hard top or convertable?) and whether they had one or two tails, I found I just couldn't spend my evenings with my face in the textbook. I'd had enough of the Ho: and the Hi: for one day. As the days grew into weeks and I was more and more confused, my back began to ache and my stomach was upset. I dreamed I was trapped in a square root bracket and had to explain a phi correlation in order to get out. The next night I dreamed I was swallowed by a one tailed ANOVA.

The class is over. I've handed in my last attempt at an exam. I gave it my best shot. I'll be taking it again in the fall semester, but hopefully I'll learn enough to pass. If not, maybe I can transfer to Hogwarts.

Monsoon Season

My reader gave up on me with this blog and hasn't mentioned it in some time. She's almost talked me into joining the Desert Tones. I think this is a group of old ladies who sing together. Maybe it will be good for me.

I am taking statistics this summer and looking for a fat F when all is said and done. I'm working on it. I even have help. But, it's too much for me to process in 4 weeks.

I'm enjoying the rain. There was a nice double rainbow this evening as it began to clear.

I have had a complaint from my reader that I have not been writing on my blog. Maybe it's because I have been sick. Maybe it's been all the writing I have to do for my courses. I don't know. Just haven't had a lot of time.

Zoe, my baby, came home from 9 months living in Firenze [Florence], Italy. She had a very good time and is currently trying to figure out how to get back. We're just enjoying having her home. Although, I wish she would not try to drive my car like it's a Ferrari.

I had friends over Friday night to crop. We cropped indeed. I got quite a few pages done. I am hopeful that I will finish volume 3 of our trip to SE Asia this summer. Also, it was just fun to hang out with my friends. Zoe made an Italian meal for us. It was very good. Carrie came over Saturday for dinner and more cropping.

Now for the final push for the end of the semester.

Flu

I've been home with the flu for about a week now. I told myself I wasn't going to have the flu, but here I am with a glass of water and a box of tissues.

Water. It's really tasty stuff. It's been my beverage of choice, especially when everything was tasting funky. But, water. It just has a wonderful, lovely taste. The more you drink, the more you want.

My glass is empty. Gotta go.