Knick Knack Paddy Wack--It's Saturday Again, Already?

         Yes, the dog days have hit Los Angeles this past week-- that is as far as California dog days go.  Nowhere near as bad as the high humidity heat that some of you have had to deal with, but the temperatures have been higher than normal for L.A.   But I'll take this over Phoenix any day.

         This week Tossing It Out has gone to the dogs and I'll bet some of you are begging me to stop.   But before I roll over and play dead on the subject I just want to thank all of you for all of your input on the topics this week.  I hope I'm not in the doghouse with any of my readers, but I always like to think this blog is an open forum where everyone can speak their opinions.

           One more doggie note before I stray from this topic:  In one of my National Education Association newsletters that I received this week there was an article about how the Santa Fe, New Mexico school district uses dogs that have been specially trained to work with children to help students with their reading.  The children will read aloud to the dogs for twenty minutes at a time.  Since the dogs are nonjudgmental, the kids feel more comfortable reading to them.  My wife, who is a kindergarten teacher, confirmed that she had learned about this technique in a workshop and had already been telling her students to practice reading at home by reading to their dogs.

           Note to all authors:   You might want to start considering topics to write about that might be of interest to dogs.  This could open a whole new genre of writing.   On the other hand, I could probably think of a few things that would only be worth reading to a dog.  Or would that be cruelty to animals?

           So anyhow, dog week is done and a new week lies ahead.   On Monday's Blog Boggled I will have a few more comments about the topic of comments and I hope some of you will have some comments of your own.   Tuesday will see the topic that I had intended for last Tuesday--recycling California style.  See how your state compares. 

            Coming this Wednesday, taking a cue from Powdered Toast Man at Just the Cheese, I'm going to present my version of The Director Dirty Dozen in which I will offer my twelve favorite film directors.   On Thursday I will put forth another Debate Day topic which might not be as heated as the last few weeks--the weather is hot enough without the conflagration of fiery debate.  Friday is a mystery.

            On my Bible post for tomorrow I will be concluding my look at the book of Jonah.  I will be looking at this book from a literary point of view.  Nearly everyone is familiar with the Book of Jonah, but whether you are or not and interested in storytelling you might want to take a look at this final installment of the Jonah series.

            Today (Saturday) I'll be joining representatives of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority to get a tour of the Metro Rail system and a preview of a proposed line that may be running through our neighborhood.  Do I sense a post for the future?

            Enjoy your weekend and hope you will stop by every day to see what's happening at Tossing It Out.

           Did you enjoy my focus on one topic (pets) this week?  Would you like more themed weeks in the future?   Are there any special topics you'd like to see me cover on a topical week?   Do you use public transportation?  If you'd like to tell us about your favorite directors, how about doing your own Director Dirty Dozen?