Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Bruce]

I have considered buying a stump grinder for the tractor. Do you or anyone else have a good one you could recommend?

I'm sure you've seen TTWT and his Baumalight.
I think this is the one Tim has but not certain
Remember, 5% off with coupon code TTWT
It would cost about 35 hours of Mike's stump grinder guy's time.

 

[farmerjan]

Sometimes it makes more sense economically to rent or pay a service than to have a piece of equipment that costs a fair deal then sits 85% of the time.... taking up space and requiring maintenance also.

 

[Bruce]

Yep. And if there is a place around STA that rents 3 PT stump grinders he has the ability to pick up and return. Probably cost much less than $75/hr. At that point it becomes a question of "what else would I be doing with my time" if I paid someone (assuming there is someone near STA that does stump grinding).

So STA, do you have a quantity of stumps to grind now then no more or will you be cutting trees on a regular basis that will need the stumps ground out?

 

[Ridgetop]

No worries about offending anyone on here STA. I do have questions about Asbergers and want to look up the symptoms and what exactly it is. My DD1 is having her highly gifted child tested because he fools around dong his school work. Of course, since he was 2 she has pushed him, buying workbooks that he had to complete in addition to his homework, and workbooks and teaching all summer long. She has done that with her other 2 children as well and now has decided that the eldest has some sort of learning disability because he doesn't gleefully do all his homework and extra workbooks immediately. This is a child that is in the highly gifted program and consistently gets top grades. DD1 makes them do their homework over and over until the neatness meets her standards of handwriting. I have told her to let them hand it in as they do it and let the teacher reprimand them and give them a lower grade if it merits one but she is very OCD.

I told her a long time ago that the children needed to have outside playtime without constant work books but she wouldn't listen. I told her she would burn them out on learning and that is what I think is happening. Now since the 6 year old is mimicking her almost 13 year old brother's behavior over lessons she has decided that that child has the same problem. My opinion is that DGD1 sees her brother getting attention (although it is unpleasant attention of the punishment kind) and is trying that behavior for herself.

My daughter does not think I know anything. I raised 3 boys with learning disabilities, 1 adopted child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and terrible emotional issues from abuse, as well as having my Early Childhood Education Certificate. Because of my boys I researched learning disabilities heavily. Their disabilities were all language related and with special schooling they all graduated from high school and college. During my time teaching preschool I diagnosed several cases of learning problems which were diagnosed ranging from Autism, Tourettes, and slow mental delay. My preschool director told me I was like Typhoid Mary and shouldn't tell the parents their kids needed testing, but the parents were very grateful to find out that someone had noticed behavior that was puzzling them. They were able to get their children into special education classes early enough to make a difference.

I do not have a college degree however, and my DD1 and SIL1 apparently think I am not bright enough for advice, consequently I have not continued with any advice since the last time she brought up testing and I told her she needed to let the children have some unstructured free time to play. Since my DD1 refused to even acknowledge that I might be correct and try this, she has decided that there is something wrong with the child. they had his tested, however, my SIL did not want to pay for the extended testing instead wanted to immediately put DGS1 on medication. Her Dad and I both were very upset to hear that but we are not the parents so . . . .

I am really worried about this situation. I'm sorry to have highjacked your tractor thread. I will cut and paste this onto my Ridgetop page instead.

 

[Bruce]

but she is very OCD

Sounds to me like SHE is the one with a disability. She's going to make sure her kids absolutely hate school and learning.

STA can tell you more about Aspergers and of course you can learn plenty online. It used to be considered a separate disability but is now part of the autism scale. I don't think what you described is even remotely related to Aspergers.

The 2 people I know with it (one being STA so I don't REALLY know him) are quite intelligent. The one I know personally can write brilliantly but finds talking to people uncomfortable. In fact he told me that looking people in the eye is physically painful, can you imagine living with that?? But he forced himself to deal with his discomfort talking to people. He liked figure skating, he would come to the rink and just watch. I was the club prez at the time and people asked me to check him out. As you might know most figure skaters are young girls and teens and they were worried he was some sort of stalker pedophile. It didn't help at all that when they talked to him he wouldn't say much and wouldn't look at them. He will talk to people he knows well but doesn't look them in the eye often. Seriously does not like to be touched, you know, the friendly hand on the shoulder sort of thing. He has a BS degree and his job is in data analysis. Good job for someone that doesn't enjoy interacting with people much.

When he was 18 he decided he wanted to be a figure skating judge. That is a tight community (and cliquish at times). If they don't like you personally getting an appointment is nearly impossible. He also decided that if he was going to judge he should know how to skate as well. So he took lessons, joined the adult Theatre on Ice team. Studied the judging standards, did trial judging. Forced himself to look the other judges in the eye and be a friendly person. I suspect there was serious emotional pain involved but he masked it. Last I knew he had a Gold appointment in Moves (footwork) and Freestyle/Pairs (jumps, spins,etc) . That means he can judge any test of those types, there aren't that many Gold level judges. Believe me I pulled a few hairs out when I was the test chair trying to find a panel with 3 Gold judges. I suspect by now he also has appointments for dance. If you can find a Gold judge for all three (Moves, Freestyle/Pairs, Dance) you hit the jackpot. Finding 3 GGG judges that were available when you needed them would be hitting the Powerball. Most often you need to find a group of 5+ judges to run Gold tests of all three types at a test session or for a competition. It is especially hard to find Gold Dance judges.

 

[Ridgetop]

I love this story. Most people with learning disabilities have above average intelligence. Learning disabilities are not to be confused with mental slowness. It is why most of those children remain undiscovered until it is too late to intervene and help them be achievers. That is why I believe in early testing and intervention. It is very sad which is why if I thought my grandchildren needed testing I would have been Johnny On The spot! You are right. I really think DD1 is the one who has a problem but impossible to get her to hear it from me. I wonder if my FDIL who works with children with disabilities and has her BA in that field would be able to talk to DD1.

Well, enough of that here. I am dying to hear more about STA and his new tractor. Talley-Ho STA!!!

 

[Bruce]

I wonder if my FDIL who works with children with disabilities and has her BA in that field would be able to talk to DD1.

I guess DD1 would at least respect the current work and the degree. The question is: What does she think of FDIL, do they get along, does she generally respect her? But, sadly, I suspect DD1 isn't going to listen to anyone. MUST get those kids into the best schools by constant studying.

 

[farmerjan]

And sadly, if the kids don't get a chance to be kids some of the time, they will get to a point and then rebel..... and that could be a disastrous wake up call as it might come too late to get them back on track.

I sure hope someone can get through her head that all work (books) and no play will destroy these kids....

And woe to this younger generation that thinks that without a list of letters behind your name that you are some dumb backwoods know nothing..... where common sense was something that was admired and life's experiences counted for a whole lot....DD1 needs to get a good swift smack upside her head to wake her up.

 

[Bruce]

Oh, let me!!!!

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

...
My daughter does not think I know anything. I raised 3 boys with learning disabilities, 1 adopted child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and terrible emotional issues from abuse, as well as having my Early Childhood Education Certificate. Because of my boys I researched learning disabilities heavily. Their disabilities were all language related and with special schooling they all graduated from high school and college. During my time teaching preschool I diagnosed several cases of learning problems which were diagnosed ranging from Autism, Tourettes, and slow mental delay. My preschool director told me I was like Typhoid Mary and shouldn't tell the parents their kids needed testing, but the parents were very grateful to find out that someone had noticed behavior that was puzzling them. They were able to get their children into special education classes early enough to make a difference.
...
I am really worried about this situation. I'm sorry to have highjacked your tractor thread. I will cut and paste this onto my Ridgetop page instead.

Please do not remove your post from my journal. I very much appreciate your sharing your experience and I feel honored that you posted it here. I would encourage you to either provide a link on your journal to this post or copy the text to a new post on your journal, as I think it would benefit those people who read your journal but not mine to learn of the experiences and knowledge you have.

STA can tell you more about Aspergers and of course you can learn plenty online.
...
The one I know personally can write brilliantly but finds talking to people uncomfortable. In fact he told me that looking people in the eye is physically painful, can you imagine living with that?? But he forced himself to deal with his discomfort talking to people.

I was not formally diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (per DSM-V, now part of the Autism Spectrum), only self diagnosed, and that was only about 5 years ago. I don't have a number of the symptoms commonly associated with Asperger syndrome. I don't mind physical contact, don't have problems looking people in the eye, and the only physical sensitivity I have is to noise. In fact, I would never have looked into Asperger Syndrome except for two things that happened. The first happened about 10 years ago, when during a talk with my mental health therapist at the time, she happened to mention it. When I got home and mentioned it to my Beautiful Gal and my younger sister, they did research and thought that it applied to me. I then did research in the DSM-IV (which was current at the time) but the symptoms did not seem to apply to me, so I didn't think any more about it.

The second thing that happened was about 5 years ago, when my Beautiful Gal and I went through a really rough time in our marriage (almost exclusively my fault). We decided to read books on people with Asperger marriage partners. The very first book we read was one about a normal woman married to an Asperger man. What an eye opener! On just about every page we read, there was something that seemed to fit us, making us either laugh or cry in recognition. We read several more books together. What we learned explained so much of the difficulties we had endured during our marriage. It also explained so much about the difficulties I faced in life, especially in high school. I later took 2 different Aspie tests on-line (one called Aspie Quiz), both of which confirmed what the books we read seemed to indicate. I was well above the threshold for Asperger syndrome, while my Beautiful Gal scored well within the normal range.

So STA, do you have a quantity of stumps to grind now then no more or will you be cutting trees on a regular basis that will need the stumps ground out?

Most of the stumps I have are rather small in size (< 2") but a few are substantially larger. I will probably try to get rid of them using either my stump bucket or maybe the chain saw and cut in the middle of the stump down below the ground. If stump grinders were cheaper, I would buy one of those, but at $5000+ for one rated for my tractor, I will have to think long and hard before I spend the money.

Thanks to everyone who commented.

Senile Texas Aggie