Category Archives: teaching

Windows

Friday, July 12, 2013, @ 9:14 amFamily, jobs, Life in General, Reading, sports, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, Family, hard work, making the days count, softball, weather, writingClay

My office is downstairs or was downstairs in the basement. This summer it has moved upstairs to whatever flat space I can find. Some days it is on the deck and others, like this morning, it is in the dining room looking out on a bright sunny morning. Below is what I see, it beats the heck out of the basement view.

the side view looking south… when look up this is what I see.

the front view, looking east, to my left

standing up and looking through the chandelier

The rainstorm in April provided us with a reminder nature always wins. We had some minor flooding in the basement. Not a lot of water, but enough to have it repaired. And having it repaired meant taking down the paneled walls to expose the cracks. Before the April storm, we knew we had at least one crack – where it had leaked before, but we located a couple more near the window wells. Since, I’ve been destructing the basement; we’ve found a couple more. I have almost half the walls open and I’ll be working most of the day today to pull down the rest with my trusty assistant, W. Boy, did he work hard yesterday and we got quite a bit yanked off and hauled out. The concrete repair folks have been by to look, explore, and give bids for the repair and we have another coming this morning.

Today will just be work and dinner – no games, camps, or places to be except home. I have rib steaks and salad and I plan to grill for a 6PM sit down dinner. O won her game last night and they play for the championship tomorrow morning, so it will be an early night – he have to be at the field ready to go at 8AM. That is early, way too early for a summer Saturday morning. Today is gonna be a great day, I know it, and I can feel it, Ivy can, too. So we had better jump up, jump in and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time.

What windows do you see when you work or when you start your day?

Midsummer’s Night Dream

Thursday, July 11, 2013, @ 8:52 amadventure, Family, growing up, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, Family, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, scouting, softball, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

Yesterday, Ivy greeted me at the bottom of the stairs when I came down. She had that look on her face that gave away where she’d been sleeping. I checked the living room chair, it was warm, and I looked at her, pointed to the chair, and looked again, sternly. She knew. I don’t think ‘my look’ is going to fix the issue, but I do believe she understood I was unhappy. I made coffee, let her out the backdoor and began the day. Yesterday morning it was sunny, warm, and muggy and Ivy and I could feel the air outside when we got the morning paper. This morning was a bit different, the weather had changed and it was cool enough to sleep with the windows open, significant benefit of living in the Midwest. Instead of waiting for me to wake, she came upstairs to greet me at 3AM. I climbed out of bed and went downstairs with her. She wanted to go outside but at three in the morning and it being dark, very dark, I feared an encounter with a skunk – she stayed inside. I fell asleep on the couch and W woke me at 6.15 reminding me it was time to go to football camp. Ivy eagerly jumped in the backseat and rode along it’s sort of a summer tradition. She loves going for rides. When we returned the coffee was ready and it was quiet; time to read the newspaper, sip coffee, and listen to the birds call and chirp in the backyard. It is summer after all and the pace of life is slower, even at home. Last week we were up north at the cottage, where life’s pace is slow and peaceful. Continue reading Midsummer’s Night Dream →

Cottage Time

Tuesday, July 2, 2013, @ 9:29 amadventure, Cooking, Family, Life in General, pets, Reading, sports, teaching, travel, Weather, Writingchildren, eating, Family, Grayling, great days, making the days count, pets, reading, Summer Vacation, teaching, water sports, weather, writingClay

I am at the Michigan cottage now, it has been 1600 plus miles in one week. That’s how far I driven since my trip to Mississippi and back and to the cottage last Friday morning. That’s a long way. The drive down to Mississippi didn’t seem to faze me, but the drive back took its toll. I was whacked, the following day. All I wanted to do was sleep, I would sneak off to lie down and catch a short nap, if I could. It only frustrated B because there was much to do, there always is, especially when we were packing and heading north for a week. Continue reading Cottage Time →

Road Trip – Part 2: Homeward Bound

Tuesday, June 25, 2013, @ 7:51 amadventure, country, Family, growing up, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Weather, Writingdad, eating, education, Family, hard work, making the days count, MS, Oxford, reading, restaurants, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

It’s Tuesday morning and I’ve been in Oxford for five days; counting this morning and Friday night, really, three full days, and I do mean FULL days. Regardless, my mission is done. Julie, rather Juliana (only one ‘N’) has the internet and an iPad.

During my time, here in Oxford I have exposed her to all sorts of new experiences – e-mail, the internet, and iPad apps. Along the way, I have left her a trail of notes and left behind a notebook with screen shots, but I hope, nothing overwhelming. It has been fun to visit, talk, and share. I wish we lived closer so I could visit more often, or she could visit us. However, that is not an option so I’ll have to write, e-mail, and call maybe even face-time.
Continue reading Road Trip – Part 2: Homeward Bound →

Road Trip and Summer officially begins

Friday, June 21, 2013, @ 6:10 amadventure, Family, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Weather, Writingeducation, Family, geography, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, restaurants, road trips, seventh grade, weather, writingClay

Google's summer doodle - check it out! — Google’s summer doodle – check it out!

Summer begins today. Actually, it official began at 12:04 this morning. At the time, I was looking at the inside of my eyelids and sleeping but Earth was moving (and shaking) – tilting, rotating, and revolving. There are all sorts of definitions of summer – school, weather, and celestial. Whatever the definition, for most of us summer means vacation and time to kick back and relax. But, time keeps moving regardless of who you are or whether you are on vacation or not.

My world has been moving and shaking, too. This morning I am on a road trip Continue reading Road Trip and Summer officially begins →

Day 15: two weeks in, nine more to go

Wednesday, June 19, 2013, @ 10:49 amadventure, Family, food, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, geography, grammar, great days, high school football, making the days count, seventh grade, softball, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, word partsClay

School let out two weeks ago and I have never been tireder. Is that even a word? Actually, it is not – I checked. The correct word, or words, should be more tired. It is the comparative form of the adjective, tired. In case you are wondering the superlative form is most tired and not tiredest like you’d think. Its comparative and superlative forms are irregular so the normal rules do not apply: example small – smaller – smallest and big – bigger – biggest. I would have thought tired – tireder – tiredest, but that does not work. Oh well, I have never been MORE TIRED, seriously.

The basement isn’t going as smoothly as I thought it would. The paneling is glued to the studs with super adhesive stuff and some of the paneling has come off easily, and others have not. The job is taking much longer than I anticipated. I did find a couple of the cracks in the foundation, they were the cracks we discovered in April and they were hidden behind the paneling near the window wells. Fortunately they are small cracks and easily sealable or seemingly so. I still have a lot of work to do. Continue reading Day 15: two weeks in, nine more to go →

Oh, how did I get here?

Friday, June 14, 2013, @ 8:25 amFamily, jobs, Life in General, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, scouting, softball, Summer Vacation, writingClay

It is Friday morning, almost a free day, and no camps, only quiet until everyone wakes. Sleeping in is a summer tradition, after all. Even Ivy joined in. Me, I slept until 6.30, then got up, made coffee, read the paper, and then got started on the computer. That was forty minutes ago.

I started ripping the paneling off the basement walls yesterday. It felt good, really good. We have cracks in the foundation, small ones, but small ones leak when it rains especially when it rains a lot. We learned that in April. We knew about one leaky crack, but we discovered others hidden behind the wall that soggy Thursday morning. I have a lot of work ahead, three and a half walls to go and then there is the re-build.

Between Tuesday and this morning, we’ve endured powerful storms Continue reading Oh, how did I get here? →

First Day

Thursday, June 6, 2013, @ 7:54 amFamily, growing up, history, jobs, Life in General, Music, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, dad, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, Paris, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

thefirstday

Today is the first day of summer vacation. Actually, it started yesterday at noon but I was packing my room and I didn’t leave until 1:30. I could have stayed and worked longer, but I had a chiropractor appointment and I needed to be straightened out. I’ll be heading back to school and the room this morning to move my teaching stuff down the hall to my new rooms. W is going with me to help move boxes. I had forgotten how much stuff I had.

There is always a last day and after the last day there is a first day of something else, something new, a new beginning. One of the teachers in our building retired and as I was leaving yesterday, I saw her family helping her pack her car with her things. She was teary-eyed at our end of the year staff lunch and she’ll be missed, she’ll miss us, too but she’ll move on to a new beginning and someday, I’ll be there. Continue reading First Day →

Last day

Wednesday, June 5, 2013, @ 5:27 amadventure, Family, growing up, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, education, Family, hard work, history, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, writingClay

It’s the last day of school. In a few hours, the busses will pull out of the parking lot for the last time and take the kids home for the summer. They are excited and the teachers are, too. But, the last day of school, or of anything, is always the hardest.

It has been a good year and I’m sad to see the group move on – they are all great kids and have done fabulous job in the classroom. They will be great eighth graders. The day is only a partial day and it will be part fun and frenzy. The kids have their yearbooks and they will be asking other kids to sign and leave a note. Many kids will approach me and ask me to sign their yearbooks and I always leave a note and a message. This year’s note will be asking them to make their summer worthwhile and to use all of their 77 days to their fullest. I hope they do, the days go quickly, much quicker than a day in school. Continue reading Last day →

Getting started

Sunday, June 2, 2013, @ 8:53 amadventure, Family, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, WritingAmerican Battle Monuments Commission, dad, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, Paris, patriotism, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, weather, World War I, writingClay

aisnes_marne_memorial_day_trumpet2013_cropped — Memorial Day 2013 – A doughboy plays taps – Aisnes-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France photo courtesy of Aisnes-Marne American Cemetery Facebook page

This is a bittersweet time for me. The beginning of summer always is. It is a feeling of relief and joy and uncertainty mixed into one. This should be day 2 of summer vacation. It is day 2 of summer, meteorological summer, that is. Celestial summer will arrive just after midnight June 21^st and we’ll have our peak daylight. But, for now I have three days remaining before summer really begins for me.

We had a snow day in March and two flood days in April that threw a wrench in the school calendar and thus mine. It has been a rainy spring, which is nice because last year we had little rain and the fall fruit and harvest was dismal at best around our parts. Friday was warm and muggy, you could feel the energy in the air and Saturday was overcast with afternoon rain. We’ve been spared violent weather thankfully, but we had a spectacular lightning show last Tuesday evening and rain almost every day for the past week. Continue reading Getting started →