... enough to be a good thing, after several weeks of getting little or none. Thankfully not in the overwhelming amount the news reports and media photos show at catastrophic levels in Texas. It has been weeks since I have felt the necessity to drag garden hoses around and drench plants in pots and things in the yard that were panting from thirst. So the heavy rains from yesterday and slow, thorough soaking water falling today that will replenish lower levels are welcome.
My question is: how could they be caught so completely unprepared? How, after the flooding of an entire city when Hurricane Katrina hit NOLA, could they not have learned any thing at all? How after the mess of Hurricane Sandy when it devastated NYC after raging up the entire eastern coast of North America could the FEMA people not make any effort to prepare for another crisis of five star proportions? How, after Hurricane Andrew blew away an entire Air Force Base in below Miami, could they be so casual about the need to evacuate personnel and valuable property?
What is going on in Washington? Ummm.... don't answer that. I just do not understand how the governmental bodies that depend on our tax money to provide support were so flagrantly, blatantly not ready with plans for monumental rainfall and widespread flooding in south Texas. They have had weather of this sort before, when Galveston on the coast, practically disappeared after a hurricane swept in from the Gulf. But that was years before sonar, radar, computer generated weather maps, satellites orbiting overhead continuously providing up-to-the-minute info. How could they possibly be so ill prepared for a natural disaster of this magnitude when they knew it was coming?
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
the oldest daughter....
... called, as she was heading home through wet, messy, chaotic traffic in late afternoon the hub-bub of city life. Having started into the mode of gainful employment, and getting herself to to work each morning after about a month of being free, and having lots of flexibility with her time. Back To The Real World.
She called earlier in the week, reporting going in to work feeling sort of 'stuffed up' with something possibly related to allergies or sinus misery. Someone in the workplace proceeded to diagnose her symptoms as a 'back to school cold', but she said she choose to be in complete denial. She said she was not going to claim it, determined to not be dealing with the misery of a cold in addition to job stress. But the symptoms have not abated, and sounds like classic summer cold/virus.
But she continues to get her weary groggy self up each morning, and drag her struggling self to work each day. With a Good Attitude! She knows hundreds of people depend on her being there and doing what she agreed to get accomplished. Over and over again, each day, whether she feels like getting out of bed and going to work or not. Taking responsibility, being accountable.
After our conversation, and a minute to ponder, I called her back and said: "Is this what it feels like to be a Grown Up?" and then "Do you feel like an Adult yet?" We had the conversation as I was going to my weekly community group.... So I asked the friends there at the meeting the same question: "Do you feel like an Adult yet?" Ponder on this, think about it and be ready to tell next week, let us all hear about the time you suddenly, unexpectedly, accidentally discovered yourself to be a Grown Up.
She called earlier in the week, reporting going in to work feeling sort of 'stuffed up' with something possibly related to allergies or sinus misery. Someone in the workplace proceeded to diagnose her symptoms as a 'back to school cold', but she said she choose to be in complete denial. She said she was not going to claim it, determined to not be dealing with the misery of a cold in addition to job stress. But the symptoms have not abated, and sounds like classic summer cold/virus.
But she continues to get her weary groggy self up each morning, and drag her struggling self to work each day. With a Good Attitude! She knows hundreds of people depend on her being there and doing what she agreed to get accomplished. Over and over again, each day, whether she feels like getting out of bed and going to work or not. Taking responsibility, being accountable.
After our conversation, and a minute to ponder, I called her back and said: "Is this what it feels like to be a Grown Up?" and then "Do you feel like an Adult yet?" We had the conversation as I was going to my weekly community group.... So I asked the friends there at the meeting the same question: "Do you feel like an Adult yet?" Ponder on this, think about it and be ready to tell next week, let us all hear about the time you suddenly, unexpectedly, accidentally discovered yourself to be a Grown Up.
rooting around...
... in the area under the big sign across the street. At the entrance to Bull Creek Golf Course, where I have been planting various and sundry over recent months. Some big things, like crepe myrtle that will hopefully turn into small trees. Smaller things like rose bushes that actually got much bigger than I expected, as some are over three feet high. The roses out as mini-rose bushes in three inch pots, that have been quite surprising in their durability and constant blooming..
Then there are others: plants I dug up from my yard, that I would unofficially consider heirlooms, as they came from my parents many years ago. Transplanted from south to middle GA, and remarkably surviving lots of neglect and drought over time. Several varieties that have been donated by friends, fellow gardeners who wanted to give things away, or were rearranging their own space, like dwarf nandina and Stoke's aster.
Plus some lily plants that I hope will come back and bloom year after year: Easter lily bulbs in pots purchased the day after the holiday at a huge discount. Beautiful fragrant Asiatic lily plants that have the same history, bought for nearly nothing the day after Mother's Day. A few things I added to the mix like some butterfly bush that pollinators find very attractive, several flowering almonds that will hopefully grow into trees and become beautiful early spring bloomers.
Several days recently in the past week or so, I have been over there digging up 'undesirables': sprouting acorns by the dozens, wee little oak trees that are under three inches tall. Lots of Virginia creeper that is one of the hardiest plants ever. A number of smilax vines that are so resilient, they come up from underground roots years after the mother plant/original tuber was dug up. Grass that has invaded from the lawn the flower beds, as well as misc. and assorted unnamed weeds. And that annoying dang invasive Chinese privet that the guys had to pull up with a tractor and chain, but left roots that will not quit trying to send up new starts.
Unless you could see what it started from, you might not be much impressed. But I know I am making progress. It has been too hot to get much accomplished, unless I go really late in the day: which means shortly before it gets too dark to see, and sadly, dark is coming considerably earlier each day. At summer's peak we had good daylight until after 9 p.m., but now I cannot see to do any digging after about 8:30. But still making headway.
Then there are others: plants I dug up from my yard, that I would unofficially consider heirlooms, as they came from my parents many years ago. Transplanted from south to middle GA, and remarkably surviving lots of neglect and drought over time. Several varieties that have been donated by friends, fellow gardeners who wanted to give things away, or were rearranging their own space, like dwarf nandina and Stoke's aster.
Plus some lily plants that I hope will come back and bloom year after year: Easter lily bulbs in pots purchased the day after the holiday at a huge discount. Beautiful fragrant Asiatic lily plants that have the same history, bought for nearly nothing the day after Mother's Day. A few things I added to the mix like some butterfly bush that pollinators find very attractive, several flowering almonds that will hopefully grow into trees and become beautiful early spring bloomers.
Several days recently in the past week or so, I have been over there digging up 'undesirables': sprouting acorns by the dozens, wee little oak trees that are under three inches tall. Lots of Virginia creeper that is one of the hardiest plants ever. A number of smilax vines that are so resilient, they come up from underground roots years after the mother plant/original tuber was dug up. Grass that has invaded from the lawn the flower beds, as well as misc. and assorted unnamed weeds. And that annoying dang invasive Chinese privet that the guys had to pull up with a tractor and chain, but left roots that will not quit trying to send up new starts.
Unless you could see what it started from, you might not be much impressed. But I know I am making progress. It has been too hot to get much accomplished, unless I go really late in the day: which means shortly before it gets too dark to see, and sadly, dark is coming considerably earlier each day. At summer's peak we had good daylight until after 9 p.m., but now I cannot see to do any digging after about 8:30. But still making headway.
Monday, August 28, 2017
the third one ...
... was relatively painless. I did not intentionally plan it that way, but am thinking making an effort to find those sub. assignments that are half-day fill-ins is the way to go to lower the stress level. After going to my 'regular' part-time, random employment at 5 a.m., so I could leave at 10:00 to get to the school across town where my other part time job was, it was pretty easy.
When I got there, I could not find the students: classroom empty and dark. A passing staffer said they were at lunch, so I tracked them down, and they spent another thirty minutes in the cafeteria. Then there is the usual bathroom break, dawdling in the hall way, poking along to get back to their room, and settling down. The aide I was replacing had lunch room duty, so I spent another 45 minutes, keeping older students in order. Went back to the class, and found the kindergartners readying to go out on the playground for thirty minutes.
I asked the teacher if I could do anything to help her, make myself useful, so she sent me to the teacher's workroom. I spent another thirty minutes slicing big sheets of construction paper in half, so they can make little books, with colored covers, stapled together. When I got back from that, the teacher had them ready to go home. Book bags at the ready, grouped as: bus riders, daycare, parent pick up, after school care. I was out of there in record time.
The teacher has been at that school for ten years, since it was opened in 2007. Likely has more years of experience as well, so she is skilled in management, and capable of helping her students learn appropriate behavior, redirecting those who need to develop self-control. It was a pretty good experience. The school district has a program on line for substitutes to provide evaluations for their 'day labor' work, and I would have to give this teacher a five star rating.
When I got there, I could not find the students: classroom empty and dark. A passing staffer said they were at lunch, so I tracked them down, and they spent another thirty minutes in the cafeteria. Then there is the usual bathroom break, dawdling in the hall way, poking along to get back to their room, and settling down. The aide I was replacing had lunch room duty, so I spent another 45 minutes, keeping older students in order. Went back to the class, and found the kindergartners readying to go out on the playground for thirty minutes.
I asked the teacher if I could do anything to help her, make myself useful, so she sent me to the teacher's workroom. I spent another thirty minutes slicing big sheets of construction paper in half, so they can make little books, with colored covers, stapled together. When I got back from that, the teacher had them ready to go home. Book bags at the ready, grouped as: bus riders, daycare, parent pick up, after school care. I was out of there in record time.
The teacher has been at that school for ten years, since it was opened in 2007. Likely has more years of experience as well, so she is skilled in management, and capable of helping her students learn appropriate behavior, redirecting those who need to develop self-control. It was a pretty good experience. The school district has a program on line for substitutes to provide evaluations for their 'day labor' work, and I would have to give this teacher a five star rating.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
this will be the third...
... towards the requisite ten days of sub. teaching for this semester, when I go to an elementary school on Monday. I found a job for half day replacement, and will go in at 11:00. First I have to get up at four o'clock and go to work at 5:00 a.m., in order to be finished by ten, so I can go on to the next thing.
It would be a wonderful plan if I could get some more of those half day jobs. That would give the needed credit of 'being there', without having to spend the entire day if it turns out to be more stress than my brain is prepared for. I am pretty sure I do not have the disposition, temperament or discipline skills to be the person who replaces a teacher in a classroom of kids above the age of five. Or at best, possibly six, if there is plenty of administrative support and lots of people nearby who will stick their head in the door periodically to say: 'how's it going?'
The half day assignment tomorrow is in a kindergarten class - just about perfect for me. They have enough experience with being in a classroom, following instructions, knowing about standing in line, cooperating, sharing, general behavior requirements to be manageable. Plus there is always an other person there in the classroom with kids at that age. I think I can do this without loosing my cool.
It would be a wonderful plan if I could get some more of those half day jobs. That would give the needed credit of 'being there', without having to spend the entire day if it turns out to be more stress than my brain is prepared for. I am pretty sure I do not have the disposition, temperament or discipline skills to be the person who replaces a teacher in a classroom of kids above the age of five. Or at best, possibly six, if there is plenty of administrative support and lots of people nearby who will stick their head in the door periodically to say: 'how's it going?'
The half day assignment tomorrow is in a kindergarten class - just about perfect for me. They have enough experience with being in a classroom, following instructions, knowing about standing in line, cooperating, sharing, general behavior requirements to be manageable. Plus there is always an other person there in the classroom with kids at that age. I think I can do this without loosing my cool.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
the only thing...(book review)
...that saved me from wanting to jump off the overpass was a very long talking book. When I was stuck in the worst traffic I have ever experienced in my entire life coming back from The Great Solar Eclipse in South Carolina driving about three miles per hour for excruciating periods of time. Thankfully, I had a talking book to keep me company. Otherwise I would have done something foolish, stupid and possibly deadly.
This is in praise of Talking Books, otherwise known as Recorded Books or back in the 'olden days': Books on Tape, when they were recorded on actual cassettes before the advent of the technology that puts the words on flat plastic discs. The one I had checked out of the library to listen to while I was driving was "Hard Country", by Michael McGarrity. It was published in in 2012 by Dutton Co. It must have been a really thick book when you read the printed version, as there were at least 12 discs.
Set in New Mexico in the period following the American Civil War, a story of three generations of settlers who acquired property and built a ranch, growing and selling cattle and working horses. The family lived a hard scrabble life, and built their holdings up over time, doing everything on the land by hand: felling trees for fences and forming the bones of their buildings. Digging stock tanks for their livestock by hand, erecting windmills to keep cattle watered. Building a house and barns, outbuildings by hand. Rounding up cattle in all seasons, breaking wild ponies to ride and manage the cattle and property. A hard life where only the toughest survived the elements and exhausting days in the saddle.
The characters were well described, with many details about their personalities to make them come alive in your imagination. The views of the harsh landscape were so clearly described, deserts, mountains, lava flows, the reader had a very clear image of the reality of life out on the open range land. As the seasons changed, winter storms raged killing livestock in freezing weather, then spring rains came, bringing raging floods and gradually greening up the valleys and mountain meadows for grazing livestock. Blistering dry summers and dust storms, blistering heat seemed very real, as cattle die from drought conditions. Even for such tough, resourceful men, accustomed to deprivation, it was a difficult way to make a living, often just scraping by from one season, cattle drive to the next.
The characters were will described with many details about their personalities that make them seem to come alive in your imagination. John Kearney, his friend and partner Cal, the young woman they rescue Emma, John's son Patrick and the children of Emma and Patrick: all people I felt I knew. Indian shootouts, outlaws, escapes across the Rio Grande, the things that make for great storytelling.
The reality of hard circumstances and rough living in the early days of settling as Europeans moved into the territory and claimed the New from the Old Mexico brought injury and often early death in accidents, round ups, gun battles. After spending hours listening to their (fictitious) story, I found myself grieving when another one was buried up on the hill overlooking the ranch.
The author had obviously done a great deal of reading the history of the area, and very knowledgeable about the settling of the area. It was a interesting book, the sort of thing that would be purchased for movie rights, having a screenplay adaptation, and a vast cast of grizzled cowpokes in the lead roles.
This is in praise of Talking Books, otherwise known as Recorded Books or back in the 'olden days': Books on Tape, when they were recorded on actual cassettes before the advent of the technology that puts the words on flat plastic discs. The one I had checked out of the library to listen to while I was driving was "Hard Country", by Michael McGarrity. It was published in in 2012 by Dutton Co. It must have been a really thick book when you read the printed version, as there were at least 12 discs.
Set in New Mexico in the period following the American Civil War, a story of three generations of settlers who acquired property and built a ranch, growing and selling cattle and working horses. The family lived a hard scrabble life, and built their holdings up over time, doing everything on the land by hand: felling trees for fences and forming the bones of their buildings. Digging stock tanks for their livestock by hand, erecting windmills to keep cattle watered. Building a house and barns, outbuildings by hand. Rounding up cattle in all seasons, breaking wild ponies to ride and manage the cattle and property. A hard life where only the toughest survived the elements and exhausting days in the saddle.
The characters were well described, with many details about their personalities to make them come alive in your imagination. The views of the harsh landscape were so clearly described, deserts, mountains, lava flows, the reader had a very clear image of the reality of life out on the open range land. As the seasons changed, winter storms raged killing livestock in freezing weather, then spring rains came, bringing raging floods and gradually greening up the valleys and mountain meadows for grazing livestock. Blistering dry summers and dust storms, blistering heat seemed very real, as cattle die from drought conditions. Even for such tough, resourceful men, accustomed to deprivation, it was a difficult way to make a living, often just scraping by from one season, cattle drive to the next.
The characters were will described with many details about their personalities that make them seem to come alive in your imagination. John Kearney, his friend and partner Cal, the young woman they rescue Emma, John's son Patrick and the children of Emma and Patrick: all people I felt I knew. Indian shootouts, outlaws, escapes across the Rio Grande, the things that make for great storytelling.
The reality of hard circumstances and rough living in the early days of settling as Europeans moved into the territory and claimed the New from the Old Mexico brought injury and often early death in accidents, round ups, gun battles. After spending hours listening to their (fictitious) story, I found myself grieving when another one was buried up on the hill overlooking the ranch.
The author had obviously done a great deal of reading the history of the area, and very knowledgeable about the settling of the area. It was a interesting book, the sort of thing that would be purchased for movie rights, having a screenplay adaptation, and a vast cast of grizzled cowpokes in the lead roles.
Friday, August 25, 2017
it's not yet 7:00 a.m....
... and I feel like I have had a very productive day. I don't have anything of any importance on my calendar, and considering looking again for a substitute teaching job. Why would I do that to myself again? Seems like something I would avoid, in the same vein of 'why would you drop a brick on your toe?' Honestly, the jobs working in a classroom with another person are really not so bad, and I do not have any hesitation with going into a pre-K age or kindergarten class room as an aide to the teacher. It does not pay as well as a position as a certified teacher, but is valid as one of those twenty days that have to be accomplished to satisfy the requirements of the school system.
I looked at my kitchen floor last night, while I was preparing our food, and thought: 'how did it get this nasty?' Made the decision to do something about it. But not then, at the end of a long, busy, stressful day, when it was all I could do to get the space cleaned and and drag me to bed..
I got up this morning soon after six o'clock, and immediately started the process. Sweeping, and then mopping. It is oh-so-very gratifying to have a clean kitchen floor. Oddly, something I never, ever noticed as a kid, growing up in my parents' house, but in mine: I find it a delight, absolutely charming to be able to walk into the kitchen and have the floor spotless. Not sticky, not gritty, no spots of spilled stuff, nothing that makes your socks come off your feet, when you step on gummy places around the refrigerator door. Does not last long, but with just the two of us, it is most pleasing to know it is literally clean enough to eat off the floor.
I looked at my kitchen floor last night, while I was preparing our food, and thought: 'how did it get this nasty?' Made the decision to do something about it. But not then, at the end of a long, busy, stressful day, when it was all I could do to get the space cleaned and and drag me to bed..
I got up this morning soon after six o'clock, and immediately started the process. Sweeping, and then mopping. It is oh-so-very gratifying to have a clean kitchen floor. Oddly, something I never, ever noticed as a kid, growing up in my parents' house, but in mine: I find it a delight, absolutely charming to be able to walk into the kitchen and have the floor spotless. Not sticky, not gritty, no spots of spilled stuff, nothing that makes your socks come off your feet, when you step on gummy places around the refrigerator door. Does not last long, but with just the two of us, it is most pleasing to know it is literally clean enough to eat off the floor.
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