I realize I didn’t post a blog last week, but I was busy entertaining my parents. Not entertaining in the way of an old-thyme Vaudeville act, but in the way of sitting on an old, uncomfortable couch, painfully realizing what people did before TV. They talked. They talked about mundane things that aren’t discussed much these days. Once Philo Farnsworth put the television in living rooms across America, we were spared conversing about how one’s day went. Now we can watch The Simpsons instead of listening to someone drone on about the difference they are making in the world.
But, we were without TV for most of the time my parents were here. Apparently the cable that runs from the dish to our TV had an open in it. We learned this by doing a little troubleshooting. Our troubleshooting consisted of me holding a ladder and Monica crawling up on the roof, unhooking the old cable, hooking up the new cable, crawling back down the steep-pitched roof to the ladder that was firmly anchored back on the ground. So it is a bit self-serving when Monica rolls her eyes when I explain how we fixed the problem. Without that ladder secured to the ground with my anchoring skills, she may not have been able to scale the roof so we could fix the TV.
We finished week two of the school year. One of the great parts of teaching multiple grades (3-4-5) is that I already had 2/3 of the students in my class last year. The new 3rd graders are still trying to comprehend what has happened to their lives. They are still trying to figure me out; wondering if I’m serious when I tell them they cannot have a drink of water. I’ve known camels that drink less water than these kids. (Some of my best friends are camels.) I give specific breaks for the students to use the bathroom and get drinks so they are not constantly asking for breaks throughout the day. One of the 3rd graders asked is she could get a drink of water because her “lungs were dry”. I’ve heard of severe dehydration before, but she must have really been experiencing an awful amount of pain. I told her no. The good news is that I know what I’ll be teaching in health now.
Monica has kept busy up here. Not including playing a cable repairperson, she has worked 6 of 10 days substituting at the school. It looks like she may be able afford to pay for her plane tickets home. She’ll be starting on her college classes in Oct, so she’s already on her way to a teaching career. After taking two classes last semester, I swore I would take a year off before taking any more classes. I’ll be taking a grad level writing class this semester. Maybe after this year my writing will be improved and I’ll figure out what a transitive verb is. I always thought it was a verb that dressed as a noun.
The year has started smoothly so far but I know grief will show up a few times for me. I have Monica here this year to complain to, which she is looking forward to. Our pantry is filled with most of our year’s food and our freezer is filled with meat. I am convinced I will have another great year here in a place called The Middle of Nowhere, Alaska. I think I’ll have another cup of coffee and watch football for the next 14 hours. (Thank you Monica)
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