Darlington Wisconsin October '09 Weekend - Photo Tour

The railroad was once very important to the town of Darlington Wisconsin as was the Pecatonica River that meanders alongside it.  The railroad transported goods and people, and the river sported recreational boats and powered the mill for the wheat that was then the main crop.  The railroad and mill are now gone. The upper millstone is now on display in the town's park by the River.  Except for some moss-covered ties alongside the Trail and the old Darlington Depot (now museum), there are no signs of the railroad that once connected Darlington to the world.  The Cheese Country Trail is now where the train tracks once were, and the Trail now sustains the town by accommodating ATM vehicles and snowmobiles.  The bucolic topography that was spared the last glacier remains.
Better views of Photo Tour!

Surprise for Excellence in Teaching

The students I taught during 2007, the first year of their three-year master degree program in nurse anesthesia, had their graduation ceremony on August 28th. What a wonderful surprise awaited me at my students’ graduation ceremony! I have been the science faculty in the anesthesia program for thirty-five years. The courses I teach during the first year provide the foundation in science that the students will build on throughout the rest of the program and their professional lives.
Now I have a plaque and a huge stack of cards sent by my former students, some of them from the very first class, to commemorate these years. The program director’s complimentary speech about the students’ evaluations of my teaching over the many years was a joy to hear announced to a large audience mostly comprised of the graduates’ families and friends. The generous check and the beautiful flowers were welcome too. But the teary-eyed smiles of my former students and the heartfelt messages in the many cards were the best parts of the surprise. These cards and the associated memories will be treasured always.

Tokens of Gratitude From My Students

Being the science faculty for the students in the School of Nurse Anesthesia is challenging and rewarding. The students are extremely smart, exceptionally stable, and among the nicest people you will ever meet. They are training to become the high-level medical professionals who keep you alive during surgery.
Here I am shamelessly bragging about the presents that the Class of 2011 gave me recently at the end of the first year of their rigorous three-year program. The T-shirt, while probably the most inexpensive of the presents, is the most priceless because it sports many of my sayings or what the students now call “Ronnie-isms” on the back. I am moved that they have memorized these remarks some of which refer to concepts they previously never knew.

Plus, the students really have sized me up. They know I am a T-shirt person. They have also observed that I have a big weakness for jewelry and prefer that it is coordinated. Look at the two beautiful sets of jewelry my students gave me.


The students presented these gifts to me during a wonderful special luncheon they put together in the hospital cafeteria just after they took the last of my exams. Teaching science to medical professionals like my students, who want to learn as much as they can so that they can be the very best nurse anesthetists, is an awesome responsibility I accept with pleasure!

PJ - 1st floor resident & garden terrorist

PJ is a garden terrorist - It remains to be seen if the fungus that attacked my apple tree has been defeated!