12 years old. My, that is 60 years ago for me. At that time we lived at the headwaters of the John Day River. Went to a two room school house, one room was for storage, 4 miles away. Dad's education, he went to school for 3 years in the Ozarks, and was credited with finishing the 7th grade by virtue of reading the 7th grade McGuffeys reader. My mother had two years of high school, before illness forced her to quit. However, mom had an insatiable curiosity. And Dad could figure out anything mechanical.
My days then began with milking the cow, and then rustling up any firewood my mother needed. After school was out, my brother, two years younger, and I caught trout, and hiked the mountains. Saw deer, bobcat, mink, martin, and more birds than I can name. We supplied a family of eight with a fish dinner every week. I had a cousin that liked Edger Rice Borroughs, so I was introduced to science fiction. After reading Carter of Mars, the stars and planets became real places, rather than just lights in the sky.
That was the best period of my childhood. Before I graduated from high school, I had attended at least 13 different schools. After I left home, I started taking classes at night, one of which was a course in Geology. It was there that a post grad student introduced the class to the concept of global warming. That was in the mid-60's. Never gave it much thought until the '80's, then I started taking an occasional night class again. Did read the assessment of the NAS in 1975 concerning whether we faced warming or cooling. At that time they stated that most thought that warming would happen. However, that was based on so little at that time that what was needed was a lot more study.
I have been taking classes for the last three years, and have finished all the necessary Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Geology I need at the 200 level. I have had 4 quarters of calculus and only need Vector Calculus, and then I am done with the math. I have taken some 300 and 400 Geology classes. Now all this is spread over a period of 45 years. So I have had a front row seat to the developments in the science we have today.
For me, the computer and net are the most wonderful thing I have seen in my lifetime. The whole of the knowledge of our civilization is at one's fingertips. Not even the beginning of enough time to take full advantage of that. When I retire, one of the things I look forward to is time to truly research some things that I find interesting.
