Cows That Can't Do Math

This morning I was reminded of a math class over a decade ago, maybe almost two. I can't remember which teacher it was - Mrs. Heller, Mrs. Freeman, or Mrs. McCarty. I want to attribute it to Mrs. McCarty, but she taught 7th & 8th grade. Anyhow, I can hear one of these women explaining an equation with a real life scenario: in life we calculate a car's speed and judge how long it will to take to approach us to determine whether or not it is safe to cross a street. Without calculators, speedometers, and measuring tape, we quickly judge whether we can make it across the street before getting turned into Flat Stanley. Cows did not learn this because two cows decided to charge across the highway from too far away and would not have been hit by me, had I not slowed dramatically, but would have hit me. I raise my fist at the stupid beast! But remembering Mrs. McCarty reminded me of my dream last night or this morning or sometime after I fell asleep last night: I was going over to get goat poop from a neighbor who lives across from Marie (I really am on Saturday). Somehow I was interrupted on my way there by Matthew McCarty (my math teacher's son who was a year ahead of me at the same grade school and college) and his wife (who I can vaguely picture as someone I knew in college). Anyhow, they had just moved to Miami. We were heading up the lane, past the goat house, past Marie & Dave's, past Daniel & Julie's. There was another house on the east of the lane past Daniel & Julie's, just being rebuilt, but a lot of other out buildings around it. Though Miami is not that large nor heavily wooded to block a view, I had not seen this house being rebuilt. Nor was I aware of a whole "block" of townhomes/condos going up north of it. I wondered if anyone knew it was there. I couldn't figure out who would live there because there aren't enough people here. There was a coffee shop on the first floor of one building, and they had a deli. I immediately thought I could sell them peas (which are just starting to come up in the garden), but quickly remembered there was nobody around to eat here. The buildings were a hub-bub of "urban" activity, and Matthew was telling me he worked for SCFD. I kept guessing other acronyms, completely baffled why the Scientific Cultural Facilities District, a tax/revenue in Denver for facilities like the zoo, museums, ballet, and even community gardens. What it was doing in Miami, I couldn't figure out, but I knew I would need to find out right away when to apply for a grant. It all felt so weird to have this urban architecture plopped down in Miami, and I was horrified when I saw that they actually owned and had plans to develop about a square mile in this fashion. I was so glad to see a friend, but so eager to get out of there and tell the rest of my family. Crazy dream! I have no idea what it means, but I can't imagine anything like it in these parts. We were just talking yesterday how there is no economy here for population growth, how young people have to move away after high school to find work. What an utterly preposterous dream!