By knuckling down one can easily learn to tell months By JIM SCHUH of The Gazette Back in elementary school, we learned a bad rhyme that told us how many days there were in each month of the year. You remember - "30 days hath September, April, June and November. (Now for the non-rhyming ending.) All the rest have 31, except February, which has 28 (and sometimes 29)." We were visiting Martha's former roommate (when they both were single) and her husband at Kelly Lake in Oconto County a few weekends ago. Mary Collins is a retired Green Bay system teacher, and somehow, the subject of how many days there are in a month came up in discussion. Instead of the rhyme, she began using her knuckles to explain - something she must have done dozens of times for her students. Pardon me if you already know this one - but it was new to me. Mary made a fist, and started on the knuckle of the little finger on her left hand, and used her right index finger as a pointer. Using each of her knuckles and the indentations between them, she began, "January, February, March," etc. After she reached "July," she made a fist with her right hand, and now using her left index finger, continued on the knuckle of her right hand index finger, "August, September, October," etc. Each knuckle represented months with 31 days, and each between-knuckle indentation represented a month with 30 days (except for February, where you have to make an exception). I got home, and tried it for myself, and by golly, it worked. You can even reverse the process, by starting on the little finger knuckle of your right hand, and moving left! When you finish with "December" (regardless of which direction you go), you have one indentation and one knuckle left. You can use those two to subtract two from February to come up with 28 days for that month. It's cute mnemonic device - one I wish someone had invented when I was in school. It's certainly easier to remember, and provides a visual representation at the same time. Hurrah for the genius who came up with the "knuckle/month" idea! * * * I know that collecting garbage is far from being the most desirable type of work in the world. But if you can stand lifting heavy loads, if your sense of smell doesn't work too well, and if you can take summer heat and winter chills, picking up trash lets you pay the bills at home, and still have a few bucks left over for a beer. I wasn't pleased with the guys who collect our garbage. Each week, we'd find the trashcans rolling around in the driveway after the truck passed by. On two occasions, the truck wheels had flattened the garbage can covers, rendering them useless, and once, the truck's rear wheels even ruined the can itself. To appease my savage beast, I took that trashed trashcan to the Plover Municipal Building, and set it in the village president's office (Meg Erler wasn't there at the time). I was sure that would make my point - which was that even though garbage collecting wasn't glamorous work, did that mean the collectors had to take it out on me and my containers? The weekly ritual of just tossing the empty cans down sideways in the driveway continued. So I got a bright idea: I would take pictures of the way the guys left things after they passed through, and we'd publish the photo in The Gazette to shame them and their company. Surely, that'd mean things change! It did - but not the way I intended. One day, long after the collectors had picked up our garbage, and nobody was around, I did take some pictures of the cans and lids scattered around the driveway entrance. But we never had to publish them. Ever since I snapped those photos, the guys have left the cans upright, and the lids off to the side. I'm still scratching my head. But now that I've gone public, I wonder what will happen next week. * * * I hope you haven't rushed out to buy a copy of the computer version of all the National Geographic magazines ever printed. A few weeks ago, I wrote about getting rid of 30 years' worth of the picture-filled magazines that nobody seems to want. They filled two large cabinets in our basement. I also noted that the computer version now sold for about half the original price of $200, but I couldn't figure out what anybody would want it. Apparently, few people do. But I have a correction to make. I was wrong about the price! Last week, I visited a Sam's Club store in Florence, Alabama, and saw it selling for just $79.95. At the rate the price is going down, by Christmas, they may be giving it away, or perhaps even paying you to take one home. You may reach Jim Schuh at the Gazette, or by e-mail at jpschuh@excite.com.