Back to school with a little rain

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cat, rain, school

A summer of working results in not as much time to put the classroom back together. I was a tad worried, but nothing I could not accomplish. If push came to shove, my plan was to keep working until it got done no matter how late I had to stay at school. And then a small miracle occurred. Two former students asked if they could come back and help me. YES!!!! Of course you can! Within two days and with four students, everything was done. I couldn’t believe. Actually I could, because they are the fastest workers ever. Except when they talk…..and being on the forensics team results in a lot of talking. But I didn’t mind. I love just listening to them and watching them get excited about the same things I was excited about in high school. Living vicariously? Perhaps.

My start of class procedure is the best management tool I’ve ever implemented. Thank you Harry K. Wong!

New desk configuration. Seats face each other this year. We’ll see how this experiment unfolds!

Today we also got a very sudden-ish storm. We looked at the radar around 2 p.m. and there were just these tiny little splotchy clouds that seemed to fizzle out before even reaching the lower end of the state where we are located. Soon after I decide to go to Walmart to get some supplies for the weekend’s event. As I’m arriving in the parking lot, I can see the big clouds north of me. I was all “ooooooh a summer storm….too bad it won’t hit here.” I tried not to dally in the store because I hate loading/unloading the car in torrential rain/thunder. As I was starting the car, I hear the severe weather alert that it will be hitting the area in about 10 min. I almost made it made it home in time. There was definitely hail hitting the car as I turned on to our street. I couldn’t really see. I didn’t want to speed just to get to the garage faster because I was afraid of hitting someone/something or hydroplaning. Then I grabbed the bags with the ice cream and meat, ditched my sandals in the garage, and ran for it. I did not get as wet as anticipated. Bonus!

The intense rain drove away the heat nicely and gave us a froggy visitor on our grass!! This is the second SUPER humongous frog we’ve seen. The one I saw last year was a dark olive green with spots and this one is a bright spring green with a few brown specks in parallel rows. So weird. Naturally I had to take Twiggy out to see the froggy and she seemed intrigued!!! She kind of sniffed it and the frog bulged out its sides and lifted up its butt end. My husband shouts, “watch out! it will pee on her!!” I respond, “like shooting pee out of its butt?!!!” haha. So here is the pic of the froggy and the kitty saying hi!

Here, Twiggy gestures to indicate how big the frog is compared to her little kitty paw.

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Memorial Day

Tags

cat, rain, yard

We were going to go to Chocolate Fest in Burlington, WI because it’s just down the road. I love chocolate and really wanted to ride the ferris wheel. However, it is raining. And it looks like it is going to rain all day today. The cat is hunkered down in the kitchen and she almost went out onto the porch until she heard the rain again. On top of that, yesterday she experienced her 4 worst sounds: tin foil, trash bags being opened, rain, and fireworks. So yeah. Today is not much better. Poor kitty.

I purchased new flowers to replace the asters that died. It makes me soooo mad that the cheap Walmart flowers died. Maybe it was too cold; maybe the dirt in the boxes was too moist – who knows. Menard’s was having a good sale so I got 4 osteospermum – two in the darker purple/magenta shown in the photo and two in a lighter white-ish purple. I got two impatiens – I think mine are the “celebration bright salmon” variety. The pansies have gotten really big and the catnip is also taking over. I was going to get koleus because that did well in the heat last year, but they only had king sized ones and that would look weird with my other shorter plants and there wasn’t really room for something that big.

Two more weeks of school (official classes) and then exams. It should be a blast. My kids have to write one more essay which we will somehow crank out in two weeks. We’re writing informative news articles and if they don’t get their interviews done, they won’t be able to write. *sigh* Let’s hope they actual take my warnings to heart and accomplish their work.

Autumn walks and character point of view

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cat

I thoroughly enjoy books written in first person because I love connecting with characters who tell a story in their own words. Like many active readers, I connect so strongly with a character that I literally feel as if I’m walking by their side, experiencing every moment with them. It’s very dream-like/movie-like. As a good/expert reader in my classroom, I try to verbalize these images/thoughts when I read aloud so I can model what goes on in the mind of good readers. Usually, my students snicker and think I’m totally whacked. I fully admit to being weird. I really do. And here is the next weird part: because I usually think in terms of other characters’ point of view, I constantly wonder what my cat is thinking. Oh to hear her inner monologue.

Many of us who have pets wonder this I’m sure of it. But today, as I walked my cat around the yard after school, her face overflowed with pure elation. The leaves crunched beneath her tiny paws, her claws sunk in to tree bark, the birds twittered overhead, and I gazed from afar. What do you smell? Do you really want to catch those birds? Could you if you put your mind to it and gave 110%? After being cooped up all day in a house, I wanted her to bask in the afternoon sun and breathe the fresh air. I would suffer the zesty autumn afternoon air because I, too, had been confined in a windowless room. Near the end of our outing, she trotted over to the shade garden. There, a pile of medium sized boulders makes a perfect kitty perch. She found the one smooth, flat rock and sat there. My mind wandered again….isn’t that stone cold on your bottom? Do you keep track of all the birds you’ve seen so far today? Aren’t your paws cold now?

Alas, I will never know what my cat thinks. As long as there is a happy look on her face or a peppy meow greeting me every day, I’ll take it as a good sign and take each moment to connect with my pet.