DAILY DIRT: For kids and parents alike, this can be a rough time of the year

Alarm clocks, anyone? … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 373 of The Daily Dirt.

1. We’ve talked some this week about the kids going back to school.

Besides summer vacation coming to an end, what are some of the other bad things the resumption of school means? How about these …

• 1. The dreaded morning drop-offs and afternoon pickups: I’m not sure which one is worse, but I do know whoever the first school bus driver is to give me an earful for being in the wrong parking spot will wish he (or she) had thought twice before raising their voice. Not that it has ever happened before …
• 2. A few kids get the flu and there is another pandemic type of shutdown: I’ll just leave that one alone … almost. Hopefully, we’ve moved on from the nightmare of 2020.
• 3. They need … what else?: Finding out one or more of the kids needs even more school supplies after you’ve already dropped a couple of hundies on the traditional collection of paper, notebooks, pens, pencils and various other items.
• 4. Opening day disasters: How many parents will hear from kids after their first at junior high or senior high they are not going back for day No. 2? There are few things more unsettling for a kid than the move from elementary school to junior high, or from junior high to senior high. Get ready, parents. 
• 5. Locker combinations: And then are the youngsters who have difficulty either remembering their locker combinations or knowing how to use the the little twisty thing called a lock. I was one of those kids. There was one year in high school I went months without being able to get into my locker. Months!
• 6. Zzzzzz: Kids and (some) parents must drastically alter their summer plans of sleeping deep into the morning or taking multiple naps during the day. Those first few early-rise-and-shine mornings can be brutal.
• 7. Splish splash: No more 30-minute showers in the mornings. Soap, rinse, dry, get going.
• 8. Back to the future: Kids have to regain their ability to not only study in the evenings, plus do whatever homework is required. So much for those Netflix and Hulu movies and specials.
• 9. Curfews: And so much for those long, summer nights of freedom. Curfews have returned. I’m not sure which is worse, living with the curfew times as your junior in high school must, or enforcing that curfew like the parental units are required to do.
• 10. Bad weather: Hopefully, the first weeks of school will be relatively calm weather-wise. There’s nothing worse for a kid than to be drenched by one of those early-morning showers and look like a complete disaster all day. The parent who picks him or her up after school will pay dearly for it in terms of attitude.

2. File this information away for future trivia contests.

Did you know Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Babe Ruth all died on Aug. 16?

3. Let’s turn to celebrity births. Here’s this week’s famous five:

• If alive today, Wilt Chamberlain would celebrate his 86th birthday Sunday. He died in 1999.
• There were few, if any, entertainers as popular as the late Kenny Rogers during his prime. Rogers would have been 84 on Sunday. He died in 2020.
• Actress Valerie Harper, who died in 2019, would have turned 83 on Monday. R.I.P., Rhoda.
• The late Los Angeles Lakers star, Kobe Bryant, would have been 44 on Tuesday.
• The late and oh-so-great Sean Connery would have been 92 on Aug, 25. The name is Bond, James Bond.

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Speaking of James Bond, there is still no real hint who may be the next 007. I think he’s now a longshot at best, but I would love to see Idris Elba as the new Bond. News came this week Elba has withdrawn his name from consideration, which might just be a ploy. Some critics say his age (49) may hurt his effort of being named the new 007. For the record, Sean Connery was 32 during his first role as the world’s greatest secret agent.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. If you are a school bus driver, please get video of Steve yelling at you. That would be some great viral content.