It was a busy crazy weekend with very late nights. I'm tired this morning though of course the fact that we went to Daylight Savings Time in addition to late nights has not helped at all. Friday night Stretch, Squirrel and I went toWinterJam . It's a music tour that comes only one night a year - usually has one or two "headliner" groups and several other "newer" groups that are not as well known. Tickets are not available ahead of time - it's a "first-come, first served" deal. This time the line wound around outside the building and through the parking lot. There were probably 10,000 people in attendance. We ended up sitting behind the stage - made for a very interesting perspective. Most groups did not travel to the back of the stage to relate to those seated behind them - a few did. It would have been nice if more had. Overall the music was very very loud and the screaming fans made it more challenging for both me and Squirrel to enjoy the evening. Stretch loved it! Probably during the first half of the evening the most fun part for me was to see the stage crew dealing with a fire that started on stage. One of the groups (a very hard rock group) had flames that shot up occasionally - along with fireworks mixed in. Apparently sparks from one of the fireworks got into an amp which then started on fire. I saw a stage hand go over to the amp, bend whatever was in front of it down and look at it a couple of times - rather like he couldn't believe what he was actually seeing. He left, came back...along with 2 others. Then a fire extinguisher showed up and was used. They pulled the amp out, set it down at the back of the stage then laid it down - I could see it was completely ruined - with a burnt hole all the way through it. They replaced the amp and then a stage hand stayed at the back of the stage watching throughout the rest of that group's time on stage. It was handled very professionally and I think that very few people actually noticed what was going on - especially since Skillet - the rock band - kept playing without missing a beat! I'm not at all sure that any members except the drummer who was right beside the area even knew something was going on. The mess from the fire extinguisher was not cleaned up until intermission when the entire stage was pretty much rearranged. The final group was "Mercy Me" - that was one of the main reasons that I wanted to go - they finished the evening doing several worship songs.
Squirrel and I spent quite a bit of time walking the corridors just to give our ears a break from the volume - he was ready to go home before intermission. One nice thing was that because we were in the closest in parking lot - it cost more - we were able to get out of the lot in 5 minutes once the evening ended.
Saturday night B and I took Dipstick and Squirrel on our "date" with us. We went to dinner at a favorite location for the boys and then went to a movie. We had wanted to see "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" but did not finish dinner in time. Instead we ended up watching "10,000 B.C." which actually was quite good. Stretch did not come with us because he had a youth group meeting - he only beat us home by a little bit.
On a different note...I picked up my glasses on the way to the Friday night concert. I think they are cute looking - B says I look cute wearing them. No one else has really commented. The only place I have trouble wearing them is while I'm at the computer - they seem to make it more difficult to see the screen then not wearing them. One other thing I accomplished this weekend was taking my tripod to the camera store to figure out why I couldn't make it rotate in all the angles I want it able to rotate. Turns out it is doable - I just need practice. I will save my pennies to get amono-pod but am glad the tripod does not need to be replaced. O.K. enough rambling for now...got to scoot to get ready for my K shuttle and then Idesperately need a nap!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Snow and Sunshine!
We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning with several inches of
snow on the ground. Again we went from nothing but what the snow the plows had left in piles to everything being covered. Currently the outside temperature is 14' so going out to shovel will be COLD. However it is good exercise so I am looking forward to that. And school is canceled again - yeah! I know it means we will have to go in June but still not as late as some of the other school districts in the area.
B dropped Dipstick off this morning - it's way out of his way to work but Dipstick's school was closed already and it makes a change for Dipstick. Also he is a great help when it comes to shoveling or other outside work. Right now the boys are all in the family room while I'm finishing up my coffee.
The bird feeders are busy this morning - I hope to get some good pictures today. And maybe find my tripods so I can figure out which works best with my camera and start using it.
Coffee is done so I'd better get moving. Soon I will, I hope, have a roaring fire going in the front room and be heading outside to shovel. Later there is cookies to bake, bills to pay and laundry to do.
Not the best picture but it gives one a very slight idea of the hill that is my driveway. This was taken about a third of the way down and shows some of what we had managed to shovel. As you can see once it was shoveled it melted off fairly fast.
Edited to add: 7:15 pm There was between 7 - 71/2 inches this morning. We - Stretch, Dipstick and I took turns shoveling and got close to half done by lunchtime. I went out again to work on the bottom of the hill - instead one of the men from our church who is also the father of one of my kids on the bus - pulled in and pretty much finished it up for me. I put salt down on the hill and the remainder melted off by supper time.
We also found that one of the tires on the car was completely flat. B helped us get it off then Stretch and Dipstick put the spare on while B and I took the tire to get repaired. I will have to pick it up tomorrow evening. I found two of my 3 tripods but haven't got them working with the camera yet. Guess that will come with time - at least I know where they are at the moment. I'm going to go stitch for awhile this evening.
This last picture is Sally-dog. She is a mutt - purebred German Shepherd mother and unknown father. She has the shepherd coloring and great big feet combined with short little legs. She is standing in the path I shoveled to the back door - as you can see the snow comes up to her belly basically.
snow on the ground. Again we went from nothing but what the snow the plows had left in piles to everything being covered. Currently the outside temperature is 14' so going out to shovel will be COLD. However it is good exercise so I am looking forward to that. And school is canceled again - yeah! I know it means we will have to go in June but still not as late as some of the other school districts in the area.B dropped Dipstick off this morning - it's way out of his way to work but Dipstick's school was closed already and it makes a change for Dipstick. Also he is a great help when it comes to shoveling or other outside work. Right now the boys are all in the family room while I'm finishing up my coffee.
The bird feeders are busy this morning - I hope to get some good pictures today. And maybe find my tripods so I can figure out which works best with my camera and start using it.
Coffee is done so I'd better get moving. Soon I will, I hope, have a roaring fire going in the front room and be heading outside to shovel. Later there is cookies to bake, bills to pay and laundry to do.
Not the best picture but it gives one a very slight idea of the hill that is my driveway. This was taken about a third of the way down and shows some of what we had managed to shovel. As you can see once it was shoveled it melted off fairly fast. Edited to add: 7:15 pm There was between 7 - 71/2 inches this morning. We - Stretch, Dipstick and I took turns shoveling and got close to half done by lunchtime. I went out again to work on the bottom of the hill - instead one of the men from our church who is also the father of one of my kids on the bus - pulled in and pretty much finished it up for me. I put salt down on the hill and the remainder melted off by supper time.
We also found that one of the tires on the car was completely flat. B helped us get it off then Stretch and Dipstick put the spare on while B and I took the tire to get repaired. I will have to pick it up tomorrow evening. I found two of my 3 tripods but haven't got them working with the camera yet. Guess that will come with time - at least I know where they are at the moment. I'm going to go stitch for awhile this evening.
This last picture is Sally-dog. She is a mutt - purebred German Shepherd mother and unknown father. She has the shepherd coloring and great big feet combined with short little legs. She is standing in the path I shoveled to the back door - as you can see the snow comes up to her belly basically.
Well it's been snowing now since about 2:45 pm - not sure if it's just snow or if sleet is still mixed in. It started out sleeting heavily - interesting to listen to when one is on the bus. The ground is pretty much covered again with an inch or so. I went ahead and fed the chickens early and closed their coop up for the night. That way I don't have to go out again tonight. Radio is talking about how slippery the roads are tonight and many many places are canceling evening activities. Squirrel's Math Bowl was canceled for tonight - to my great relief. I really didn't want to have to be out late in this. It is currently rescheduled for tomorrow night but that assumes that we will have school. Personally I am rather hoping for another cancellation - I have several students that have been challenging my authority lately. A couple of days break will be a good thing. This afternoon did go much much better than yesterday and was even quiet at the RR tracks. Of course some of my students did not ride this afternoon which helped.
Other than that, not too much is happening. I got 5 eggs today. I spent some time watching the chickens before closing the coop for the night. It was really rather fun. (O.K...I admit it...I really am a country girl at heart!) I had given them some regular bird feed and some black oil sunflower seeds - they were very happy birds - busy scratching and pecking at the floor!
Other than that, not too much is happening. I got 5 eggs today. I spent some time watching the chickens before closing the coop for the night. It was really rather fun. (O.K...I admit it...I really am a country girl at heart!) I had given them some regular bird feed and some black oil sunflower seeds - they were very happy birds - busy scratching and pecking at the floor!
Monday, March 3, 2008
A Picture Perfect Morning
An overflowing pond. Vivid emerald evergreens. Deep blue storm clouds. A weathered red barn against the barren trees. Scattered patches of melting snow. Occasional deer. All gilded by the golden rays of the morning sun.
This was the picture this morning as I was driving my morning bus route. By the time route ended the storm clouds had snuffed out the sunshine and it was raining lightly. We saw about 15 deer throughout route time - my students are starting to call out when they see them. That makes deer spotting much more enjoyable to me. The temperature is supposed to drop fairly dramatically during the day today - we are to have scattered thunderstorms today followed by sleet and freezing rain overnight continuing into tomorrow along with 2-3 inches of snow possible.
The weekend was a good weekend overall. Squirrel missed school again Friday - doctor confirmed that he is fighting the flu and says it could continue for another couple of weeks. He is at school today as he's not been running fever for the last 24 hours. I drove my morning route Friday and then took the rest of the day off - including my trip I was signed up for immediately after my kindergarten shuttle. I had planned to take just the midday stuff off and drive my afternoon route. However due to the fact that I fell on some ice on our driveway in the morning I figured I would go ahead and take the extra time. As it turned out...I would have had to take the afternoon off anyway due to the fact that the only time I was able to get an appointment at the doctor's was during afternoon route time.
Saturday afternoon B called and asked if I could please bring Stretch to help with cutting wood as he knew they were running out of daylight. I took Stretch up after he ran 1.5 miles and helped myself.
We were probably outside 2 1/2 hours and loaded 2 pick-up trucks with split wood. Some of the time I was pitching logs and some of the time I got to run the log splitter. I also was able to take a few pictures - I figured that since I knew we were going to be outside I would take the camera along - got a beautiful sunset.
Sunday was a quiet day relatively. I missed class due to just not feeling well - actually I would have missed class anyway as I was scheduled to be in nursery. However I felt that whatever was going on I didn't need to be exposing babies to it. B and Dipstick came down for supper - that's becoming a normal Sunday event. It makes certain that except for cooking - which isn't particularly restful for me - I do rest otherwise.
Now I'd better get moving on my chores for today - have a LOT of laundry to fold and dishes to do. Also need to make a grocery list as we are almost out of milk and I want to get that before the weather turns really bad.
This was the picture this morning as I was driving my morning bus route. By the time route ended the storm clouds had snuffed out the sunshine and it was raining lightly. We saw about 15 deer throughout route time - my students are starting to call out when they see them. That makes deer spotting much more enjoyable to me. The temperature is supposed to drop fairly dramatically during the day today - we are to have scattered thunderstorms today followed by sleet and freezing rain overnight continuing into tomorrow along with 2-3 inches of snow possible.
The weekend was a good weekend overall. Squirrel missed school again Friday - doctor confirmed that he is fighting the flu and says it could continue for another couple of weeks. He is at school today as he's not been running fever for the last 24 hours. I drove my morning route Friday and then took the rest of the day off - including my trip I was signed up for immediately after my kindergarten shuttle. I had planned to take just the midday stuff off and drive my afternoon route. However due to the fact that I fell on some ice on our driveway in the morning I figured I would go ahead and take the extra time. As it turned out...I would have had to take the afternoon off anyway due to the fact that the only time I was able to get an appointment at the doctor's was during afternoon route time.
Saturday afternoon B called and asked if I could please bring Stretch to help with cutting wood as he knew they were running out of daylight. I took Stretch up after he ran 1.5 miles and helped myself.
We were probably outside 2 1/2 hours and loaded 2 pick-up trucks with split wood. Some of the time I was pitching logs and some of the time I got to run the log splitter. I also was able to take a few pictures - I figured that since I knew we were going to be outside I would take the camera along - got a beautiful sunset.
Sunday was a quiet day relatively. I missed class due to just not feeling well - actually I would have missed class anyway as I was scheduled to be in nursery. However I felt that whatever was going on I didn't need to be exposing babies to it. B and Dipstick came down for supper - that's becoming a normal Sunday event. It makes certain that except for cooking - which isn't particularly restful for me - I do rest otherwise.
Now I'd better get moving on my chores for today - have a LOT of laundry to fold and dishes to do. Also need to make a grocery list as we are almost out of milk and I want to get that before the weather turns really bad.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Just Rambling
It's very clear and cold this morning but thankfully it's also sunny. Last night we must have had close to 50 deer in the field across the road from the house - it was too dark when I saw them to get pictures and I knew I needed to take care of the chickens.
Speaking of which...we got the most interesting looking egg from them yesterday.
It is only about a third of the size of a "normal" egg and is slightly rounder. I talked to Suz about it - she is rejoicing that I got the chicken that lays these tiny eggs - she says I will likely get one every couple of weeks or so. Hers were perfectly round and anywhere from the size of a dime to a half dollar - she said they only had the white in them. So I am looking forward to cracking this one to see what is inside it. I promised Squirrel that he could use it next time he baked anything.Stretch is not feeling well again - it seems that it's probably because he is out of some of his allergy meds. I really need to figure out how to help with those naturally. Squirrel has been back at school all week - but he is definitely not feeling 100% yet. He fell asleep doing his reading last night - and this was a book he had chosen to read rather than something assigned. He's has requested not to go to TaeKwonDo tonight - we do have Grief Group to go to but I am thankful for the opportunity to have a wee bit of time at home. He will also miss TaeKwonDo again on this coming Tuesday because he has Math Bowl competition. He is excited about that and I think has really impressed his principal who is one of the coaches.
I spent yesterday all day with the bus - I took two groups of preschoolers to the local library in addition to my regular routes and kindergarten shuttle. It was fun and very easy. However during the day we had just enough snow to cover my driveway with a half inch or so. This made it impossible for me to get up the driveway - I ended up stuck across the road and had to be pulled up. This morning I drove up forwards instead of attempting to back up - I made it but not without really flooring it and some sliding.
Guess that is enough rambling...I have some other stuff to do yet on the computer and really want to at least get the kitchen counters cleaned - doing 15 minutes at a time.
This is one of my amaryllis plants in the family room - it's actually a result of a bulb off my original plant. They have been producing and blooming every year for the past 2 or 3 years. I even have ones to give away...it's really fun.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I don't Understand
Check out this story
I "know" this family as last school year I had the little boy on my bus. I remember getting a phone call from the mom of another student on my bus saying that her child was concerned that this little boy was being abused and wanting his address. I legally could not give it to her according to my transportation secretary. I also did not see any signs of abuse - his mom was always at the door of the trailer to see him off. She was very concerned about how he was doing on the bus - being as little as he was he had trouble staying seated complicated by the fact that he had some common health issues. I always found her very supportive whenever I contacted her. And I knew that she stayed in contact with the school as I often saw her at the school. I knew there were some cleanliness issues - clothes not clean, face not clean, etc. but I put it down to just the fact that I had gathered that the family was very poor. So to hear on the news that he had been living in such atrocious conditions and that his parents had been arrested for child neglect just breaks my heart. I feel a bit guilty for not following up more on him when the other student's parent approached me. And I ache for the turmoil the boy has got to be going through - being removed from his home and parents and thrown into a completely new situation. I also hurt for the parents as I am sure they are grieving. I don't understand how or why a parent can neglect a child's living conditions that severely - one would think they would ask for help somewhere.
I "know" this family as last school year I had the little boy on my bus. I remember getting a phone call from the mom of another student on my bus saying that her child was concerned that this little boy was being abused and wanting his address. I legally could not give it to her according to my transportation secretary. I also did not see any signs of abuse - his mom was always at the door of the trailer to see him off. She was very concerned about how he was doing on the bus - being as little as he was he had trouble staying seated complicated by the fact that he had some common health issues. I always found her very supportive whenever I contacted her. And I knew that she stayed in contact with the school as I often saw her at the school. I knew there were some cleanliness issues - clothes not clean, face not clean, etc. but I put it down to just the fact that I had gathered that the family was very poor. So to hear on the news that he had been living in such atrocious conditions and that his parents had been arrested for child neglect just breaks my heart. I feel a bit guilty for not following up more on him when the other student's parent approached me. And I ache for the turmoil the boy has got to be going through - being removed from his home and parents and thrown into a completely new situation. I also hurt for the parents as I am sure they are grieving. I don't understand how or why a parent can neglect a child's living conditions that severely - one would think they would ask for help somewhere.
Winter Wonderland
We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning - puffs of snow on the trees under which you
can just about see bumps of buds that are getting ready to open. Just Sunday evening while out on a walk with B I found daffodil shoots coming up in one area. It is still snowing lightly and blowing. Soon Stretch and I will be heading outside to start shoveling the drive. I am sort of expecting my boss to come plow eventually but in the meantime I'm going to take advantage of the exercise and start shoveling. Besides I need to get to the chicken coop with fresh water for them and to collect eggs.
I have just about finished my project that I was working on for B. I am now to the point that I need to have him sit with me and go through stuff before I can completely finish it. That will be good to have done. I hope this week - and possibly even today - to get back to scanning slides for Mom and Dad. I haven't worked on that in some time and really need to get it done. Besides, going through those slides brings of memories of my childhood days and that's rather fun.
Squirrel is finally better though he still tires very easily. He went to school yesterday and stayed for Math Bowl practice. He put himself to bed early last night though and actually dozed a bit this morning after we got the call that we were closed for today. (I am really glad that we didn't start with a delay but just went straight to closing). Stretch is thoroughly enjoying play practice and so far is still fitting in time for a run afterwards. Dipstick was home sick from school yesterday. However this morning he seemed better - I think it was probably a 24 hour stomach bug. If they hadn't canceled he would have missed school but this way he gets the day to recover without having to miss one.
Well fiddle...now all my pictures are lined up on the right side! I hope that someday I will figure out how to line them up on alternating sides but not right now. In the meantime...this one was taken from the deck looking down towards the road. The middle one was out the back door looking towards the woods - notice the snow on the fence. The top one was out the front door - looking towards the fruit trees. We had NO snow on the lawn yesterday except for the bits that were in piles from being plowed earlier. Needless to say we got a fair bit.
Edited to add: According to my most "unofficial" measurements we got 6 inches. We measured in a couple of places on the driveway while Stretch and I were out shoveling. Between the two of us, we have about half the hill shoveled...the shoveled areas clear off fast but it's definitely hard work. And it was still snowing lightly though I'm not really expecting any more accumulation.
can just about see bumps of buds that are getting ready to open. Just Sunday evening while out on a walk with B I found daffodil shoots coming up in one area. It is still snowing lightly and blowing. Soon Stretch and I will be heading outside to start shoveling the drive. I am sort of expecting my boss to come plow eventually but in the meantime I'm going to take advantage of the exercise and start shoveling. Besides I need to get to the chicken coop with fresh water for them and to collect eggs.
I have just about finished my project that I was working on for B. I am now to the point that I need to have him sit with me and go through stuff before I can completely finish it. That will be good to have done. I hope this week - and possibly even today - to get back to scanning slides for Mom and Dad. I haven't worked on that in some time and really need to get it done. Besides, going through those slides brings of memories of my childhood days and that's rather fun.
Squirrel is finally better though he still tires very easily. He went to school yesterday and stayed for Math Bowl practice. He put himself to bed early last night though and actually dozed a bit this morning after we got the call that we were closed for today. (I am really glad that we didn't start with a delay but just went straight to closing). Stretch is thoroughly enjoying play practice and so far is still fitting in time for a run afterwards. Dipstick was home sick from school yesterday. However this morning he seemed better - I think it was probably a 24 hour stomach bug. If they hadn't canceled he would have missed school but this way he gets the day to recover without having to miss one.
Well fiddle...now all my pictures are lined up on the right side! I hope that someday I will figure out how to line them up on alternating sides but not right now. In the meantime...this one was taken from the deck looking down towards the road. The middle one was out the back door looking towards the woods - notice the snow on the fence. The top one was out the front door - looking towards the fruit trees. We had NO snow on the lawn yesterday except for the bits that were in piles from being plowed earlier. Needless to say we got a fair bit.Edited to add: According to my most "unofficial" measurements we got 6 inches. We measured in a couple of places on the driveway while Stretch and I were out shoveling. Between the two of us, we have about half the hill shoveled...the shoveled areas clear off fast but it's definitely hard work. And it was still snowing lightly though I'm not really expecting any more accumulation.
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