Quick Recap

Well it's been a few days since I've written...but not as long as in the past. This morning I was the 2nd one up - makes it nice as it was still reasonably quiet for me to wake up. I've got laundry in washer and dryer, kitchen in process and am enjoying my second cup of coffee. For today there is LOTS of laundry to do, some baking, cleaning and hopefully a visit to a craft show. Before I can leave for that though the boys will be servicing my car in preparation for a trip north next week. I am going to see Mom and Dad. Stretch will come with this time - I am driving again and it is always nice to have someone with me. This time I won't be driving the entire way which is likely to be nice. It's been a more difficult week for Dad I think as for the first time since Mom was admitted he has not been able to be at the hospital with her daily. He got sick and was not allowed to visit until yesterday.

Speaking of challenges...I had an experience that I hope to never ever repeat this week. I was driving my afternoon bus route...making my regular stop at a trailer park where the entrance is directly onto a major state highway. Procedure is to use right turn signal, pull off the highway as far as possible without actually entering the trailer park, unload my students, use my left turn signal and pull safely back into traffic. (We do not use our 8-way red stop arm system for stops on this major highway because it would be more dangerous for the students to stop traffic then to just pull off the road). I followed procedure, unloaded about 15 students, moved another student still on the bus to the front of the bus and was pulling back into traffic. Suddenly there were red flashing lights from a state police officer in my mirror - he was quite clearly intent on pulling me over. So I moved ahead a few feet to open the entrance of the trailer park back up and stopped. He requested me to get out of my seat and step down into the doorway of the bus so he could talk with me. He asked if I had used my reds at this stop and why I had not. Then he said I should pull into the trailer park before I let my students off. I had got on the radio to try to let my boss know what was going on but did not get an immediate response. The officer eventually let me continue with my route - no ticket, no warning...just a "I will call your boss later". I was late to the elementary school and decidedly upset but loaded the remainder of my students and started to take them home. I had another stop on that same highway...handled it according to procedure and called my boss as soon as I was finished driving - he had no clue what had happened. His response when he called me back was "he can't do that!" repeated a couple of times as I told my story. I have learned the correct procedure - if a state trooper wants to speak to a driver of a loaded school bus he is to follow the bus to the nearest school and speak to the driver there. And I was correct in how I unloaded my students. Having said all that...it was a decidedly upsetting afternoon for me as driver. On the bright side my kids, especially most of the elementary kids behaved better than they have all year. (I did tell one that if there was no blood involved and it was a sister issue I was not dealing with it at the moment). One of my most challenging students did excellent and was quite concerned at how upset I was...I told him I would be alright and would see him the next day. And there were many many questions the next day - most of the students had already heard from either their morning driver or older kids on the bus the previous afternoon. But they still had questions.

Ok...enough time on the computer now. Coffee is finished and I need to get going on house chores.

Another Post??

The sun is shining today. I spent the morning with a friend that I try to spend time with every couple of weeks then went to the camera store to order prints of pictures for Stretch's "school days" album. I've been pondering how to do that. K-8th grade all has their own individual page and I added as necessary. High school is a whole different ball game and the company I purchased his album from does not make high school pages. I've decided to do a 2 page spread (or more if necessary) of his different activities throughout high school. So cross country will have a spread - including all 4 years, drama will have a spread as will choir. School pictures and course schedules...not quite sure how to do those yet. But will eventually figure them out. I found I needed to find the pictures of "Little Women" and at least one year of Gospel Choir yet not including this year. OH yes...and "Fiddler on the Roof" which is one of my all time favorite musicals.

The other challenge has been figuring out what year I got the digital camera. I have about decided it was early '07. Still have not come up with a good way to organize digital pictures. And I can't figure out how some people can get several hundred pictures on a cd and I am not able to. That will help once I figure that out.

Sunrise was beautiful and red this morning. We saw 3 deer - including one nice buck and a pet pot bellied pig this morning on route. That was fun.

There was more I was going to write but can't remember what it was.

It was mentioned to me that my blogging has been missed. My response was that I would see what I could do. I haven't blogged recently - since Stretch's birthday. Depression has been an on-going more difficult issue for me than it has been in a VERY long time. There has been much going on with B's business that has contributed to it along with Mom still being in the hospital and declining. We have found that she never finished the course of treatment recommended by the doctors who know the disease she has - she was transferred to a hospital closer to home and ended up with a doctor that appears to feel that since she has two terminal diagnosis's there is no point in treating because it won't benefit in the long run - it will simply cost. It appears now that she has relapsed - she had been able to get up and walk with Dad's assistance and that seems to have disappeared. I would like to make another visit north but at the same time...want some good memories rather than painful ones.

B's business is going well at the moment. He has hired a office lady who comes in a couple days a week - that will be much better overall for the business as paperwork is definitely NOT my strong point. I can do the basics but that's it. It is a good thing that she comes in but the way in which it came about was emotionally painful. For awhile I was afraid I had lost two friends over it. Thankfully that fear is going away...and I am feeling much less invaded than I did at the beginning.

Today is a sunny day that is also supposed to be warm - in the upper 60's. I so enjoy the sunshine and it is very helpful to have light in the mornings to pick up my students with. It is also neat to get to watch the sunrises - I often think of that old saying "Red sky at night, sailors' delight; Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning". It is amazingly true - when the sunrise is red there tends to be a period of stormy weather soon after. One sees many more deer when there is light out as well.

We did have our first heavy frost over the weekend. I found out the hard way that the ramp was still slick after 11:00 am on Saturday - that was not fun. Still dealing with noticeable discomfort in my back but thankful a trip to the ER was not required. I walked like I was very old for the rest of the day and still get around slow.

The boys have been busy. Stretch and Squirrel both were involved in the technical side of producing the Fall play which was performed this past weekend. Stretch did sound while Squirrel worked lights. Squirrel especially seemed to love it and is very much looking forward to high school. I think he is much more likely to be involved in the technical aspects of the plays and musicals then he is the actual acting though that may change. Stretch enjoys the acting but was glad this time not to have any more than a part as a radio announcer.

Dipstick has been accepted to the new Eagle Tech Academy that will be opening up next fall. He has been excited about this since he first heard about it and has wanted to attend. I truly hope that he adjusts well and the program is better suited to his learning style. He is smart but hates homework and bookwork - would much rather be using his hands.

Guess that's enough of an update for the time being. Thanks to those of you who are still reading and commenting.