A Very Merry Unbirthday to You!

My good friends in Vermont, who work around the clock to ensure that the freezer cases in my neighborhood are stocked ever to the ready, sent me a Half Birthday greeting this morning. Now, I think THAT'S classy. But then Ben and Jerry have been my "main squeezes" for many many years. I proudly wear my B & J shirt all over the place, and it NEVER fails to get attention! I stick Ben and Jerry gift coupons in Christmas stockings. Paco and I started an anniversary tradition on our honeymoon in Maine by sharing a pint huddled in bed with the covers up tight--June in Maine smacks a lot of Brrrrrr Lake in June so it always hits the spot with the right combination of quilts! I have their ice cream cookbook. I make a beeline for any B & J stores and was a regular at my favorite in the underground level of the World Trade Center. In fact, I took friends and my sister-in-law there just three days before 9-11. Of course, most of my memories about Ben and Jerry's are tied up in my friend Mary Jane. She was a stockholder (original stock was only available to Vermonters which she was at the time) and waxed emotional at tellings of stockholder day--ALL YOU COULD EAT ICE CREAM!!! She and I toured the factory up there in Burlington--visited the Flavor Cemetery in the back, and came away with little charming cow magnets available only at the main headquarters. Of course, I have the whole Ben and Jerry story up in my library. I know they're way beyond liberal. I know politically some might find them extreme. But gosh darn it, they remember me on my birthday and now on my HALF birthday (new marketers I'm suspecting) AND on Free Cone day once a year. So in my eyes, they're A-O-K. Besides, when you visit their mecca in Vermont the parking lot is lousy with Subarus...it's ALL about the Subaru...

Carpe Diem!

I haven't felt like carpe-ing much of anything lately, but I'm hoping it comes back a little at a time. I'm coming alive again in my classroom, and that feels good as well. So go out there and do some diem seizing! As shall I...
I'm following the progress of one of our Natural Helpers who was in an auto accident and in a coma. She is starting to respond, and this song from Newsies caused her to tap her toe a little!!! Go Sami!!!!

...To See What He Could See

What did YOU do this weekend? I never know what answers I'll get in "Seventh Heaven." Hunting season adds a new twist to the game as well. I also got a story about one mom giving a distressed baby kitten CPR! All manner of good writing material here. Gimme a pen! Isn't this bear a beut? I think he's headed for Rugland. I was hoping for a wee taste of bear meat to satisfy my curiosity, but apparently this bear went bad before they could get him to civilization. Jayden picked him out of a tree on the Oregon/Idaho border. Kerplunk. But the grissliest part of the story was the imitation of the sound the bear made. Kind of a high-pitched screech. Jayden says it still haunts him. Me too.
Meanwhile I'm having to up the ante in school. How am I to compete with the "Call of the Wild"? I look down on a sea of glassy-eyed stares, and I KNOW their minds are in the hills! We have a tradition here at our school--The Biggest Buck Contest. Bring in your antlers, measure them, and see if you snagged the winner!! A few years ago, one Gregory misinterpreted the contest rules and brought in a whole head--hair, tongue-lolling out, eyes--you get the picture. Clan of the Cave Bear for about two months here until we get it all out of our system and return to the 21st Century...sort of.

Finis

I sent my "courier" off to Pocatello with my paper/case study/thesis/pain in the neck this morning at 8:30. I finished writing it at 6:30, printed it off at 7, and had it all bound by 7:30. Paco had to restrain me from packaging it for the trip in this mailer. He thought that might deliver the wrong message.

That was one of the most painful months of my life. I'm glad to be among the living again and to be able to take up my sentinel position once more torturing flies. At the conclusion of this project I wanted to down a goblet of something festive and perhaps numbing--but my principles restrain me from going off the deep end, so I ate a dog biscuit with gusto instead. Ruff.

And so, as the sun slowly ascends to its mid morning height, I bid a final farewell to Allyn Knox, rookie principal of Quincy High School. I leave you with your nasty Citizens for Traditional Values, and your racist constituents, and your Holiday Festival woes, and your bullies. May you find peace in a far corner of your office with prescription drugs of your choice. Perhaps Mrs. Ben-David will lend you a calming poetry book... I've dealt with your problems longer than I EVER wanted to, and frankly, my dear, I don't give a...

Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu!

Say that 10 times!!! Happy Birthday to my Favorite Daughter! I was so surprised when you were born. Back in the day we "took what we got", or in other words, we didn't get the 5 month Head's Up about what was coming! I remember entertaining no other thoughts than BOY!! EVER, and actually got a little peeved if anyone suggested otherwise. Then you arrived and weren't! and I fell in love with you. You're BY FAR in the TOP 5 BEST THINGS THAT HAVE EVER HAPPENED TO ME! We "celebrated" your birthday back in June when we got that crazy hare to add another Broadway play to our perfect day in New York. That was the BEST! Every year on your birthday I think back to that perfect golden Autumn day that you made me a mother. We've had a rocking time. You've re-defined "Gutsy Woman" for me. All my love across Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland!

Uh huh, I did.

I saw a UFO today on the way to school. It took me by surprise, so I had to stop the car and get out. Picture a glowing matchstick moving slowly across the horizon above the mountain range. Slowly. My news was not met at school with resounding belief. In fact a few laughed. I guess I need to practice my delivery. I told one teacher, however, who responded with her father's amazing tale of a UFO landing by their cabin! And I believe him because he taught me how to drive when I was 14!! Then the crossing guard told me about an encounter with Big Foot up in the mountains! They stared each other down for about 6 minutes, but when he made a move toward the 7 foot tall hairy guy, Mr. Foot took off loping down the mountain. I would so like to add a Big Foot story to my UFO one now.

Semi-religious Holiday-- Brrrrrrrr Lake Style

Today is "Opening Day" of hunting season. I cringe when it appears periodically on the school calendar. Some years we bite the bullet (yuck yuck) and just deal with 2/3's of the students being out, but this year we caved in and made the day a holiday. Paco and I have chosen to use our time to other ends and leave the animal slaughters to those less inclined to jackhammer or write papers.


I've been in labor with this "BABY" for nearly a month.


Michelangelo? No. Pre-deck!!!!! (Note the duck tape on the jackhammer.)