Location: St. Augustine, FL
About Me: A high school Biology teacher's coping with rosacea while living in the interesting and sometimes insane world of public education.
September 01, 2004
Last post for awhile
Today went well at school. We wrapped up photosynthesis and respiration with review questions. The next section deals with genetics, a fun couple of chapters. We will be extracting DNA from cells tomorrow after an introductory lecture on DNA structure, replication, and protein synthesis. This will lead us next week into classical Mendelian genetics and then genetic engineering. Cloning and gene replacement therapy are always of interest to the students since they hear about it on the news constantly these days. Movies such as Jurassic Park are also a great source for class discussions. We will plant corn seeds that are hybrid for the albino trait and compare the expected F1 percentages to actual values. Genetics is the hot topic in Biology today and it is a high interest subject to cover.
Hurricane Frances may hit close to us this weekend. The forecasts are still hazy but the most popular model now predicts class 2 winds going through my county. Schools are cancelled for Friday to allow families to prepare for the storm. With luck we will escape with no damage or power loss but in anticipation of hurricane force winds we will be busy finalizing our preparations. We live in a tied down mobile home about 13 miles from the coast. Normally we would think of leaving but we have 5 cats, a bird, a bunny, and other assorted animals here who would not be allowed in a shelter. The oldest cat is a geriatric 17 years old and the bunny is approaching old age at 7 years so they do not acclimate well to moves. We have decided to stay here and hope the storm misses us. I can't understand people who are willing to leave their pets in danger and evacuate. We simply don't do that. The house has taken tropical gale force winds before so a near miss would not be too bad except for the power loss and downed trees. With that possibility in mind, I will not plan on adding to the blog until the storm has passed us by this weekend. If all goes well I will write a note next Monday. It could be later if we have to grab the pets and run.
The rosacea is in check, with a hint of pink color and some dryness. Tiredness is my main problem this week and I'm looking forward to the holiday for a little extra rest if Frances leaves us alone. See you all Monday or when I can.
Posted by Ken Albin on September 1, 2004 07:30 PM