Homework

All photos by Alan

From our fisheries and wildlife guy.....Homework was never like this when I was in school. The best assignments I can remember were bringing in frog eggs (and that may have been a voluntary assignment) and writing stories. We sure never got to trek out into the wilds of a farm, armed with mom's camera and a turkey call, to count birds and photograph amazing snow geese and deer and strutting tom turkeys.

We did do some amazingly cool stuff in school though, back in the day, stuff that little matters like lawsuits would certainly prohibit today. Like along about fifth grade, Mr. Davis, our science teacher, took us both to Howe Caverns and down into a wild cave. Can you imagine taking fifth graders into a wild cave today?

I can remember wading down the stream that ran through the center of the wild cave, in soggy, totally inadequate boots, hoping to see bats and marveling at tiny limestone formations that popped out of the walls and off the ceilings and floors everywhere. We had to clamber down a rope from a parking lot to get into the cave....through a sort of well cover, culvert thing with a huge concrete cap that was lifted aside....I can't see that being allowed to day, but that cave has its own photo album in my mind and the pictures are as sharp and clear as if it were yesterday.

Friends and I did quite a bit of spelunking in the college days and I am sure the interest was spawned on those fifth grade trips. I am too old and lame and not exactly skinny enough any more to belly crawl through dark, sleek, wild places deep underground, but I am glad I had the chance once upon a youthful time. And I am glad my mom didn't know about those unsupervised and probably ridiculously unsafe 20-something trips. We gave her enough grey hair as it is.

Here and here are some pics Alan and I brought back from last year's trip to Howe Caverns where we went to celebrate his successful road test. Here are more.

Speaking of teachers who truly inspire students, this fellow taught all three of our kids over the years, and he is one of the two or three best teachers any of them have had. Although he has surely earned his retirement, the school will be lessened by his absence next year.