Jeff Gibson's and Dave Templeton's posts today brought smiles to my face and insides, and, in the face of all the rain, these bits of light were very welcome. A hearty "Thanks" to Dave, Scott Dodson and all others who kept us up on the ups & downs of the sno-falls peregrine chicks - so nice to have a positive ending to it all, besides.

And, my response to Jeff's tales from his times of being 'stumpy', was the following message I sent out to friends and former colleagues who had either witnessed or heard about the "StumpSit" period in my junior-high teaching career - a true highlight from those days. I also sent them a copy of Jeff's post.

"Hi Comrades,

This [Jeff Gibson's Tweeters post] brings back deih-lightful memories of some of my better teaching times at Meridian in my 'final years' - when I incorporated my "StumpSit" activity, the basic rules of which were: sit in one place, by yourself, quietly, outside somewhere that's likely to have a few living things, and observe and take notes and make sketches, for "only" 20 min. You were to use any of your senses except taste! Afterwards, you were to collect some leaves from some of the plants and fungi you could see from where you sat, to incorporate in your StumpSit project report. They didn't have to remain still, just quiet (both of which are often pretty difficult for these hormone-ravaged young people). So, they weren't acting like stumps, they were sitting on one or some facsimile thereof. It turned out to be a great learning experience for a good percentage of those 8th graders [in my Environmental Science classes, when we used to be allowed, in Kent, to teach it, ad even to develop our own curricula for it!] - most were surprised at how quickly the time flew, they got over their boredom and fear (of the great outdoors) and some even asked if they could do it again or if they might sit for a longer period of time!!! [I'm also recalling Rob Sandelin's use of a similar activity for his students...]

Of course, I've now gone from assigning this task to students, to spending much of my retirement time perfecting my own skills of observation and sloth. By doing much of my bird-watching either standing or sitting around a lot, I believe I am developing a more keen observational sense and learning much about nature (human included) besides.

Now I'll have to try Jeff's technique of sitting as still as a stump or rock or shelf fungus, remembering to tuck my pants in my sox and not to smile, which will be the hardest part. And I'm not sure how I will do when certain critters try to use my stumpness for their own activities. Worth a try... :-)"


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net