I too have memories of a one room school. I moved from a city school to a village one room school when I was in 2nd grade and stayed there through fourth. When I moved back to a city school I was way ahead of my classmates. Our village teacher allowed us little ones to listen in and participate in whatever the older kids were doing, provided we were finshed with our assignments. Since that was much more interesting than reading the German equivalent of Dick and Jane, I always hurried to get done. We had running water and no privy, sorry to say, but I think I did not miss much, did I?

golddust: "They look like art, not shoes one could really wear. People actually wear these?" DH's very naughty response: "Of course they do. Pointing at the ceiling." Blowing Diet Coke out the nose is painful. However, blowing it all over the dog (turned my head so it wouldn't hit the computer) is very funny. Les: "I can also imagine all the ortho docs and podiatrists that are thrilled to see these, because it will mean all kinds of leg, foot and back problems down the line." My podiatrist had a display of shoes lined up in a glass case in a hallway, ranging from flat foam flipflops to these sorts of "pointe-shoes-with-pretend-heels". Behind each shoe was a diagram of characteristic body deformations often caused by that particular style of shoe. It was fascinating. I'm developing bunions - pure heredity - and he went into his usual lecture about forcing wide, blunt feet, like I have, into narrow, pointy, high-heeled shoes. I picked up one of my Naot clogs (wide shoe, round blunt toe, 1.25" wedge) which are my daily wear whenever it's not snowing, and said "oh, like these?" He wilted. I haven't worn the sort of shoes he was talking about since I was 18! (I wasn't even there about the bunions, either.) Were I stupid enough to attempt to wear stiletto heels (given that my feet, ankles, knees, and hips are all completely wrecked; I can manage about an hour on chunky 2 1/2" heels before I am suppressing the urge to throttle people if I can't take those blasted shoes off) I'd be one of those women Faron's wife and daughter were laughing at. And then I'd probably fall over and snap a leg. *chuckle*

People that I know who have tried it found they were very slow to break down and decompose, so seemed more useful as a mulch perhaps than as a compost pile ingredient. I throw them on a compost pile and they do seem very slow to decompose. They break down more quickly in a hot compost pile that is regularly watered as needed and turned than they do in a slower, cold compost pile. I only toss small amounts on the pile, though, you know....just the shells from peanuts we've eaten. I've never tried to use them in a large quantity. I wonder if they would break down more quickly if crushed or smashed or chopped up or something.

I have chickens. All the shells go in the compost, then into the garden. I always find it interesting that people worry about eggshells breaking down. First, they do. They break down pretty quickly in my garden---into small chips. Second, if the didn't, why would I care? The other thing that I find to be a positive contribution is that if you vermicompost, you quickly notice how much worms like gathering all their family into slimy balls to take up residence in an eggshell half. If worms are half as enthused in the yard as they are in Tupperware, then I think eggshells are valuable as a worm attractant.