Miscellaneous Missives

Since the heat index is in the 100s today, I decided to accomplish tasks inside. One of these was to change air and water filters. Both kitchen and lavatory faucets have filters and of course the furnace filter. Typically one of these gives me a problem. Today it was the bathroom filter. I couldn't get it the top unscrewed to remove and change the filter. At one point I even started questioning which way to turn, so I called my dad. "Don't give me right or left (righty tighty lefty loosey). Tell me if I should turn the top towards me or away from me," I pleaded. After giving this some thought, he explained what I needed to do. It seems I was turning it correctly. With no other option, I went outside and asked the lawn guy if he would please come and help. To my entertainment he struggled with it before getting it open. Although it may have been pathetic of me to elicit help from the lawn guy, I gave him five bucks, and my filters are changed.

Today I took a tour of Hope Haven's wheel chair production in the South Dakota penitentiary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The experience was a learning experience. We were even taken through general population for a short walk. When we arrived at the Hope Haven facilities inside the penitentiary, I was amazed at the workers. They receive twenty-five cents a day, yet their work is meticulous. One of the first inmates I saw working was sewing seats for the wheelchairs. As he worked, he carefully cut off the loose strings. I'm certain I wouldn't have been as conscientious. We were also able to talk to the inmates as they each had their own job in the construction and/or renovation of the wheelchairs. Each man I talked to was proud of his work and eager to talk about his task. As we neared the end of the assembly area, one man was actually from Guatemala which is where we will be distributing chairs. He was eager to talk about his country. All of the inmates working...

Let's be real. I've been visiting old friend, not merely friends I've know for a long time, but old since we're the same age. Friday, a high school friend flew in from Houston. She stayed at my house while I was in Milwaukee visiting another high school friend and attending the wedding reception of a friend who used to live in Minneapolis. Both events were fabulous. Connecting with Al is always entertaining, and meeting Katie's husband was wonderful. Heidi picked me up from the airport on Sunday, and we drove to Okoboji. We spend Sunday and Monday doing the tourist things, shopping at the Emporium, playing miniature golf, and riding the Queen II. Neither of us had been on the Queen for twenty (or more) years. I took my camera on the Queen II, in true tourist fashion, and took pictures. One of my favorite pictures shows my hometown water tower and grain elevator. Unfortunately, "Point of No Return" at the top hill of the roller coaster didn't ...

I'm blogging from the airport with my phone. Actually I'm not blogging but whining. When I arrived at terminal 2 to fly Airtran, I was told my flight was canceled. They put me on a Frontier flight that leaves from terminal 1. At least I have a flight. As my bag went through I realized it was ripped. Then it needed to be searched. This is why they have bars in the airport!

Morning Poem by Mary Oliver Every morning the world is created Under the orange sticks of the sun the heaped ashes of the night turn into leaves again and fasten themselves to the high branches-- and the ponds appear like black cloth on which are painted islands of summer lilies. If it is your nature to be happy you will swim away along the soft trails for hours, your imagination alighting everywhere. And if your spirit carries within it the thorn that is heavier than lead-- if it's all you can do to keep trudging-- there is still somewhere deep within you a beast shouting tha the earth is exactly what it wanted-- each pond with its blazing lilies is a prayer heard and answered lavishly, every morning, whether or not you have ever dared to be happy whether or not you have ever dared to pray. Tuesday night as I was concerned about a family member I read this poem. Yesterday evening I decided to send it to him although I knew it was a...

Last night was a sleepless night which made getting up early for today's workshop/training difficult. As I pulled into the hotel, I realized this is the same place I left my water bottle last time I had some type of training. Today, I forgot my water bottle which isn't much better. Unfortunately, I'm tired, and the speaker is not highly motivational. The good news is that it's not sunny outside, but I'm still a bit disengaged. Basically, I've been on my computer (checking news feeds, checking e-mail, checking Facebook) for most of the training. I love the interweb. Worth a post? Nope! Basically, I am bored and need something to do. How did I get the cut image? Googled "unmotivated"

Do you know what I like about the first day of summer? NOTHING! Although this is not the truth, it will not go down as a perfect summer day. Actually one of my book clubs met this morning, and it was delightful. On my way home from book club the sun appeared. This was incredible. Instead of going to a friend's to pick up some mending she did for me (awesome!!), I went home to sit in the sun for an hour. As I finished the first chapter of my book, it began to downpour, not satisfactory. Then since it was a rainy, miserable day, I decided to do something productive and caulk my tub. This also was unsatisfactory to quite unsatisfactory. It's done although it may not last, and it wasn't pretty.

Today I went out to pick strawberries, and although I thought it was going to rain, it was merely chilly. The picking went fairly well. Each year I pick strawberries and remind myself, while I am on my knees in the straw covered strawberry fields, the difficult part happens when I get home. It's the cleaning, freezing, and bagging that takes the most time. Unfortunately today's freezing took less time since I dropped one of the boxes (smaller one) on the garage floor. Honestly, I contemplated whether or not to use the berries that hit the floor (five second rule?). I even bought fruit spray to help clean them, but I couldn't bring myself to thinking it was OK. Maybe it's because the garage floor has been disgusting me for some time. Since my neighbor is moving out (we share a garage), I've been waiting until his stuff was cleared from the garage, so I could sweep and spray it down. Until then I'm not sure it's OK to have anything fall on that flo...

Last night we perused the bar menu. Immediately I knew I wanted fried mushrooms (one of my favorite bar foods) and perhaps a sandwich. My friend suggested we start by sharing two appetizers, fried mushrooms and Scotch eggs. Of course I was puzzled by the Scotch eggs. "What are they?" I pursued. She tried to explain, but I wasn't quite understanding (and it was only my first beer). They didn't sound appetizing, but I said I would try them. After eating almost an entire half of one, I decided my initial reaction was correct. Since I had never heard of or seen them, I googled to see if they were a crazy Minnesota thing. According to Wikipedia, "a Scotch egg consists of a shelled hard-boiled egg, wrapped in a sausage meat mixture, coated in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried." It seems they are English (probably Scottish).

Yep, I started the Typhoid immunization yesterday only to realize later that it was Wednesday and not Tuesday. This means my plan sucked! Instead of leaving tonight for Iowa, I will be leaving tomorrow morning after I take the second typhoid capsule. Although it's not the perfect situation, it will work. Besides, it gave me the chance to go to the gym and get a mani/pedi which I wouldn't have had time for if I had left today. Also it gave me a great title for today's blog and a chance to look at snopes.com. It seems Typhoid Mary isn't responsible for as many deaths as some say. Life is still good!

Tonight is a full moon. Perhaps this is the appropriate day to start my typhoid immunization medicine. Actually trying to figure out when to take the eight day regimen (four pills every other day) has been difficult to impossible, so I started today. My problem is that my next three weekends include some form of (heavy?) drinking (weekend with girls, wedding, Fourth of July). The other problem is that the capsules need to be refrigerated (a cooler on the way to Okoboji was not recommended since it won't remain at a constant temperature). Four days-- today, Friday before I leave and drink in the evening, Sunday, and next Tuesday... It's not the perfect situation, but it's the best I could do and get the immunization in my system a full week before Guatemala. Let the side effects begin (or not?).

Last night when I was speaking to my father and his significant other on the phone about my health care directive, we talked about my recent Echocardiogram (an amazing test). The results aren't officially back, but it seems everything is normal. This is the good news. The bad news (translating the doctor's statement) is that I am overweight and out of shape (my words not hers). Anyway, I also mentioned that I was going to the doctor today for this rash/dry skin on my eyelids which is annoying and a bit painful. As we talked, I mentioned that I was falling apart since my hip flexors were in pain after walking in to the gym, working out, and walking home. Again I digress. When I was at the doctor getting a steroid ointment for my eye, she asked several questions trying to find out the cause of the irritation. One question had to do with joint pain. I mentioned that I didn't have joint pain, but my hip flexors were certainly in a lot of pain. This led to her doing so...

Wednesday a church lady asked if I thought the scar was less noticeable. Of course I thought she was talking about my dog bite scar and replied, "Sometimes I think it looks fine and other times I think it still is too noticeable." My hand immediately went to the exact location of the scar. Unfortunately, she was talking about her scar. Thursday when I went to see the travel doctor, she warned me, about stray dogs in Guatemala, "If you get bit, you should see a doctor immediately." Really, if I get bit, I may need psychiatric care for the remainder of my life. Today as I walked to the gym, I noticed that there are some situations in which I feel uncomfortable around dogs. The good news is that it doesn't happen often, but the dog who was not wavering from my path caused me some stress.

Today was the last day for students. It's called activity day, and we spent a chilly day at the zoo. Actually it wasn't as bad as I had envisioned and was an easy day. I spent the day walking the trails, looking at otters (I ♥ otters!) and talking to the kids. Truthfully I would have missed the baby otters on the Minnesota trail if some students hadn't kindly called me over to look with them. Many sweet things happened although two stand out for me because they were closer to the end of the day. First two boys saw another walking by himself and asked him to join them although it was obvious they didn't really know each other. Then as we were leaving the bus at the end of the day, the last boy off the bus actually turned around and thanked the bus driver without any prodding from an adult. This has been a great year. One more day (grades and last minute stuff), and it's officially summer.

Today may have been one of the best planned last days of school. The students were engaged, and I was able to meet with them about their final grades. I left school thinking I was relaxed and ready for tomorrow, the last day with kids. Then... I went to BodyFlow (yoga, pilates, tai chi). After BodyFlow I went to SA to buy a fountain Diet Pepsi. I asked for help from the attendant since the Diet Pepsi wasn't working. When she said it was ready to go, I tried again. It wasn't, so I asked her to come look at it. When she didn't come over, I loudly exclaimed, "Bitch." This was not one of my finer moments. Obviously I wasn't as relaxed as I thought if I lost it after a relaxing workout.

As students entered the room today, they were mystified because it was "empty". The truth is I have taken posters down and plants home. Today was uneventful, and I am pleased with my format for presenting their Keynotes. Honestly, I have nothing to report. During one class a student said that she wished she had goldfish. I asked if she was talking about the swimming goldfish or the food Goldfish, and she stated the food Goldfish. Since I was stalling as a couple of groups finished commenting on the last Keynote, I went to my lunch and gave her a few of my Bunnies . After sharing a portion of my lunch, I informed the class that suggesting they wanted Goldfish now would not work. Another student was smart enough to ask what else I had in my lunch, but I had nothing else to share.

Do the Right Thing Follow your Dreams Reach for the Stars Hard Work Pays Off Perseverance- Hope- Isolation- Triumph- Honesty These are a few of the theme idea that I listed for my students as they came up with a theme for their seventh grade year. Most of the students have done an excellent job with their Keynote and have found a theme that is fitting of their entire seventh grade year (inside and outside of school). One student either missed the idea of theme or missed much of the schooling he received this year. His theme... wait for it... was "Memorization"... not joking... MEMORIZATION. Wow! This goes against everything I believe is important in education. I asked them to memorize one poem, so they could perform it for the poetry slam. Most of the time I try to teach that finding information is more important than memorizing it. Memorizing is not learning! To make the day worse, when I asked a girl to check the capitalization in her title (in which sh...

Today we continued the end of the year Keynotes. The task was to find a poem to match their theme (and quote and picture). Of course the majority of kids did really well. One, however, summed up the problem a few were having as he whined, "But I don't want to think." Well, there you have it.

"Walking in Beauty" Navajo Prayer In beauty I walk With beauty before me I walk With beauty behind me I walk With beauty above me I walk With beauty around me I walk It has become beauty again Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body. I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me. I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me. I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me. I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful. In beauty all day long may I walk. Through the returning seasons, may I walk. On the trail marked with pollen may I walk. With dew about my feet, may I walk. With beauty before me may I walk. With beauty behind me may I walk. With beauty below me may I walk. With beauty above me may I walk. With beauty all ...

I have to admit that I'm feeling great about these last five days of school. The students worked well today on their end of the year Keynotes, and I figured a way to share them with everyone without having students stand in front of the class and bore everyone on the last two days of school. More importantly, I was able to grade the media literacy finals (not really a final, more of a reflection... I called it a final to make it seem more serious), so I am able to spend the weekend without doing anything school related. Plus, I was able to book my Guatemala flights with my credit card miles. In addition, the weekend is supposed to be beautiful. Life is good!

A better title for this blog would have been Lost and Found although I feel that I need to finish the countdown. Today I went into lunch with a headache, so I finished the bottle of Advil (granted there were only two left) in my bag. When the headache did not leave, I pleaded with a colleague to go out and get me a fountain Diet Pepsi. Not only did he come through by asking another colleague to retrieve it for me, the colleague brought me a 52 oz. soda. To be honest, I didn't even know they made a 52 oz. soda. Although it wasn't my plan, I finished it. This was not an easy feat, and it took three hours. My last class today was my reading group. Since it was the last group, I told them that any candy left in the storage container would be thrown at the end of the hour. I gave them simple directions. Don't rush the container. Eat no more than two at a time. Continue reading. Remain silent. This worked well as I was finishing up some last minute changes on my...

Yesterday I gave a bit of a lecture to all of my classes about the fact that they may be done learning, but I wasn't done teaching, emphasizing that this would have an ill effect on their grade if their apathy continued. Today they started working on a year end Keynote similar to the one I've used all year for their opening journal activity. They will need a picture, photo and quote that relate to a theme that summarizes their seventh grade year. At the end they will also need to give advice to next year's seventh graders following the same theme. Most, if not all, were focused as they brainstormed about the year and tried to formulate different themes. Although I should have been elated, I will admit in some classes I wasn't really needed, leaving me a bit bored. In one such class, I commented that two girls were working well and didn't have time to roll their eyes at me as happens almost daily. At this point a boy in the back asked another boy how to rol...