Setting up the Sprinklers (Or anticipating it)
It's that time of year where the rains of April and May have greened up the yard, I've already mowed the lawn for the first time, the first wave of dandelions have gone to seed, and the garden is popping with salad greens, radishes, and wherever else we planted around St. Patrick's Day. But it's all going to need more water, even those darn dandelions, which means it's time to get the sprinkler system going.
Now I installed the sprinkler system myself (well I helped David anyway while he did it) so I know how it works (mostly). I've also started it each spring, winterized it each fall, and even fixed and improved it a few times. So it's not an unknown to me, but it's still be about a year since I've started it again and there is always something I forget, or the valve is broken, or I worry about just messing it up and not putting things back together correctly. So, it is with some trepidation that I put my "Handyman" card on the line and head out to get the water running again.
--Ten Minutes Later--
Well, I was hoping I'd get it going before it got too dark. Something is up with the valve from the house to the system and water came pouring from the brass valve-thingy where it shouldn't. Guess I'll be Googling stuff to see what I missed, lost or forgot in the process. Doesn't look like things will get watered tonight.
--15 Minutes Later--
After Googling what should be inside the valve, I see the problem. What I didn't mention before it that I took out the plastic doohickey things and a white plastic washer when I winterized it. It's what I was supposed to do anyway. Then, I taped them to my pegboard in the garage so I could find them again. But, during the winter, the tape unstuck and the doohickey thing fell into the recycling bin under the pegboard. I did actually find it and reaped it, where it stayed until I grabbed it this evening. Sadly, the plastic washer thing must have been recycled. So, it looks like I must by a replacement kit, just for the missing plastic washer, before we are ready for watering the yard this year. Oh sigh...the joys of being pretend handy.
Happy slicing!
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
SOL #8 May 9th - Clara's Second Dinner
I'm exactly sure how or when it started, but most dinners at home end up like this picture. After picking at her food for a while, Clara stands up, sidles over to me, and sits on my lap. I put my feet up on her chair, we both recline, and we put her plate in front of me. Then, I start picking up her food and pretending to eat it. Clara snatches it away from me and then eats it herself.
I'm pretty sure this situation has it's origins in the high chair days, when the spoon of baby food was an airplane and was fed to her with many an zooming noise. Plus, sometimes it went off course and headed towards Dad's mouth, which made Clara jealous enough to eat more. I've usually been able to get Clara to eat more types of things and more food overall, even when she says she's done. We don't do a ton of dessert so that carrot is unusable. But I do have some fun tricks like:
- "I bet you can't eat six pieces if spinach at the same time."
- "Those green beans look like walrus tusks. What if they had four tusks?"
- "The looks good! I think I'll have it."
- "How many black beans can you fit on your spoon? I bet you can't do more than seven!"
So it's mostly just silly play, throw in a little competitive eating, and of course, taking her food without permission. But at this point, it's been happening for several years. I know I'll miss it when it ends, but I also am starting to make jokes that we'll be at her wedding and she will come over during the meal and sit on my lap to finish her meal. At least I have yet to resort to the tactics of the mother in the attached movie clip.
"Mommy's little Piggie" from A Christmas Story
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
SOL#& May 8th - Ultimate Anticipation
A poem in honor of another great Ultimate season. Thanks for all the great season those who played and have played over the years.
Ultimate Anticipation...
A jab step
A sprint
White disc zipping
From hand to hand,
Player to player.
Cleats dig into turf,
Roots tear during pivot,
Another zip of the Frisbee
Fingertips snag on the rim
A stumble,
A catch!
Purple streak towards the end zone
Open!
Coiled thrower
Full of potential,
Muscles stretch...andthencontract
Whipping the disc ahead.
White floats against blue sky
Excited cheers drowned out by the heartbeat
Of the runner,
Sprinting to catch up to the disc
As it spins closer, and closer,
To green grass...
Ultimate Anticipation...
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| photo credit: Sakuto _MG_0925 via photopin (license) |
A jab step
A sprint
White disc zipping
From hand to hand,
Player to player.
Cleats dig into turf,
Roots tear during pivot,
Another zip of the Frisbee
Fingertips snag on the rim
A stumble,
A catch!
Purple streak towards the end zone
Open!
Coiled thrower
Full of potential,
Muscles stretch...andthencontract
Whipping the disc ahead.
White floats against blue sky
Excited cheers drowned out by the heartbeat
Of the runner,
Sprinting to catch up to the disc
As it spins closer, and closer,
To green grass...
Monday, May 7, 2018
SOL #6 May 7, 3018 - Walking while on the phone
Walking while on the phone
I just has a conversation with my Dad on the phone, and got in some exercise. He had just returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon and I knew he would have some stories to tell me. And I just went fishing so I had my own stories, plus the ones we thought of from our past that these stories would remind us of. Most we had both heard and told before, but telling stories of experiences are sort of like telling jokes. While we may have heard it before, the telling of it, this time, and hearing how it maybe different or have a new point/punchline is the magic.
But I digress. So I happened to check my steps count on my phone near the start of my conversation. It was about 9,600 steps for the day. I move when I'm on the phone, usually just walking circles around the downstairs: Through the kitchen, into the dining room, through the living room, past the front door, across the music room, and back into the kitchen. That's a lap. I tend to be in constant motion while on the phone so I did a few dishes, picked up a few things in the living room, but mostly I just walked. In the 15-20 minutes we talked, I amassed 1,500 steps. Once, I walked almost 4,500 steps while talking to my brother for about an hour! Being on the phone is probably good for me.
I have to say though, things sure have changed since I was a kid. Once upon a time, phones were attached to the wall with cords and you could only go as far as the curly springs would allow. My Dad's house phone had a thirty-foot cord, so he could talk on the phone and make dinner at the same time. When I talked, I would walk all the way to the end of the cord, stretching it out, often clotheslining objects off counters by accident, or my little brother on purpose. Then I would spin into the cord and wrap it around my body until my Dad yelled at me to quit playing with the cord.
The phones at my Mom's house were not mounted to the wall but were set on the counters, or a small table in the upstairs hall. The cords were only a few feet long and it way too often that I pulled the phone right off onto the floor with a huge clang, plastic corners flying the phone base. I also got yelled at for that.
So, you can imagine it is to my great relief, that now when I talk on the phone, there are no cords involved. And...my wife has yet to yell at me for walking in circles around the house; although she has asked me if I'm getting dizzy yet.
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| photo credit: splorp Hotline via photopin (license) |
I just has a conversation with my Dad on the phone, and got in some exercise. He had just returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon and I knew he would have some stories to tell me. And I just went fishing so I had my own stories, plus the ones we thought of from our past that these stories would remind us of. Most we had both heard and told before, but telling stories of experiences are sort of like telling jokes. While we may have heard it before, the telling of it, this time, and hearing how it maybe different or have a new point/punchline is the magic.
But I digress. So I happened to check my steps count on my phone near the start of my conversation. It was about 9,600 steps for the day. I move when I'm on the phone, usually just walking circles around the downstairs: Through the kitchen, into the dining room, through the living room, past the front door, across the music room, and back into the kitchen. That's a lap. I tend to be in constant motion while on the phone so I did a few dishes, picked up a few things in the living room, but mostly I just walked. In the 15-20 minutes we talked, I amassed 1,500 steps. Once, I walked almost 4,500 steps while talking to my brother for about an hour! Being on the phone is probably good for me.
I have to say though, things sure have changed since I was a kid. Once upon a time, phones were attached to the wall with cords and you could only go as far as the curly springs would allow. My Dad's house phone had a thirty-foot cord, so he could talk on the phone and make dinner at the same time. When I talked, I would walk all the way to the end of the cord, stretching it out, often clotheslining objects off counters by accident, or my little brother on purpose. Then I would spin into the cord and wrap it around my body until my Dad yelled at me to quit playing with the cord.
The phones at my Mom's house were not mounted to the wall but were set on the counters, or a small table in the upstairs hall. The cords were only a few feet long and it way too often that I pulled the phone right off onto the floor with a huge clang, plastic corners flying the phone base. I also got yelled at for that.
So, you can imagine it is to my great relief, that now when I talk on the phone, there are no cords involved. And...my wife has yet to yell at me for walking in circles around the house; although she has asked me if I'm getting dizzy yet.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
SOL #3 May 4th - Packing for a Fishin' Trip
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| First Fish of 2018! |
Today is May the Fourth, Star Wars Day, and if I was really awesome now, I'd write a blog full of wonderfully nerdy Star Wars puns or comments. But instead, I'm writing about fishing...packing for fishing actually.
My brother-in-law and I have been fly fishing and hiking mountains quite a bit the past five years and we are sneaking out Friday evening to Buena Vista to fish the storied "Mother's Day Caddis Hatch" on the Arkansas River. While it's still a week before Mother's Day (friendly reminder to those you with a mother or two...I have three of my own to consider, plus my wife, who is also a mother) the hatch is on and we are gonna go fish it Saturday and then drive home.
Like many of our excursions, we smartly put the date on the calendar weeks or months in advance, but then dumbly, call each other last minute to make sure we're still going and try to figure out what to pack. We've both forgotten important things in the past: Waders, food, coffee mug, glasses, wading boots, reels...you name it. We always find a way to muddle through and have a good time. Below is a list of what I made sure to throw in bags and put on the hood of my car for tomorrow.
The List - Hurriedly assembled and likely missing something important:
- Fishing rods
- Reels
- Fly boxes
- Fishing vest and current fishing license
- Fishing Boots - Forgot those once and had to buy new ones at a store in a nearby town. Cost us some fishing time, were too expensive, and were a guilty pleasure of a purchase since my old ones were...old and cramped my toes.
- Flies for the river - I ran up to my fly tying desk and found about four dozen flies I had tied over the winter, many just perfect for this trip. A few caddis, a bunch of blue winged olives, Adams, beadhead pheasant tails, and a variety of midges and other odds and ends. Maybe I won't have to buy flies at the fly shop Saturday morning.
- Reading glasses - I've never used reading glasses to tie flies on my lines but I did buy them to tie the flies this winter. Damian (my BIL) said he was bringing his (for the first time), and since he's younger than me by a couple of years, I guess I can bring mine. I did have more trouble than I like to admit, last month while trying to ties on a few flies. Old is silly but at least I'm going fishing!
- Sunscreen, winter hat, baseball hat with dark brim to keep the river glare off my face.
- Sleeping bag and pads. We are going to just camp in the back of his pickup truck and it will be chilly.
- A small bag of clothes for Saturday, plus a couple layers of jackets and toiletries. I need to remember to pack my glasses in the morning, after putting my contacts in. I've forgotten glasses and that makes for long days with dry eyes or really blurry evenings.
- Coffee mug (phew, found in car)...luckily near my sunglasses which I will need too.
- Lies and stories to tell for the ride and during breaks (I'm always full of those).
- Not bringing food, my daypack, survival gear.
I think I'm ready! I know I will forget something but I will be in a river, waving a stick Saturday, and there are way worse things than that. And in case you're wondering, I release my fish back into the river, with the hopes of catching them the next year when they are even bigger!
Below are a few pictures from previous fishing trips, mostly taken by my brother-in-law. I'd include pictures of him with fish...but maybe there aren't any! Burn!
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| 22" Bow near Lake City two years ago |
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| My worst fishing injury, just after landing the fish to the left. Luckily I had cut the barb off and it came out easily. |
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| Nice brown trout on the Arkansas last year |
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| Another brown on the Ark! |
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| My brother-in-law capturing the amazing morning on Uncompahgre Peak two years ago. |
May 3rd SOL #2 - What are ya...Chicken?
What are ya...Chicken?
Walking out the back door into my spring-rain-green backyard, I see them. Brown, white, speckled, with scaly yellow feet; my chickens push up against the chicken wire of their run, begging for the treats in my hand. Yummy sweet pepper tops with seeds, ends of cut green beans, and some old rice we never ate. It's not like they're starving, as they get their ration of organic chicken feed each morning, and their run is pocked with their scratchings for worms and other insects. But they squash each other anyway, fighting for position to be first in line.
As usual, I walk around the coop to they sprint, in their velociraptor-like gaits, to the food I drop into their run. Henny is the matriarch and boldly pushes her way through the others, doling out sharp pecks to the head or necks of those who don't move quick enough. She always get her treats. Tawny colored Belle is the biggest and also at the bottom of the pecking order. She grabs a pepper top with seeds and sprints to the far end of the run while the other six hens squawk and peck at the rest. The rest are three are black and white speckled Wyandottes (Rocket, Ember, and Cinders), and two brown ones (Ginger and Stella).
I open up the coop (with a hint of pride in my workmanships since I built it last fall) to see how many eggs we have. Yesterday we only got two, but the weather changed to rain and it seems like egg-laying is often related to the weather. Today, there are six eggs. They are brown and tan with a few speckles, and one light green egg, so I know Ginger laid an egg today. I wonder which hen did not lay an egg? We rarely get seven-egg days and usually have 4-6, enough to feed the three of us for breakfast and occasionally give away a dozen to a friend or neighbor.
These chickens are interesting. Not quite livestock (you don't really eat what you name ya know?), but not quite pets. Clara loves them and often picks them up for cuddles when they are out during the winter. When one died last fall, we held a burial service, only slightly less formal than the one we had for our beloved cat a couple of months later. They are about the most expensive eggs imaginable, but I'm glad we have them for their funny antics, their tasty eggs, and excuse to get outside each morning and evening to take care of them.
Walking out the back door into my spring-rain-green backyard, I see them. Brown, white, speckled, with scaly yellow feet; my chickens push up against the chicken wire of their run, begging for the treats in my hand. Yummy sweet pepper tops with seeds, ends of cut green beans, and some old rice we never ate. It's not like they're starving, as they get their ration of organic chicken feed each morning, and their run is pocked with their scratchings for worms and other insects. But they squash each other anyway, fighting for position to be first in line.
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| Chicken Butts via photopin (license) |
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| auntie eggs via photopin (license) |
These chickens are interesting. Not quite livestock (you don't really eat what you name ya know?), but not quite pets. Clara loves them and often picks them up for cuddles when they are out during the winter. When one died last fall, we held a burial service, only slightly less formal than the one we had for our beloved cat a couple of months later. They are about the most expensive eggs imaginable, but I'm glad we have them for their funny antics, their tasty eggs, and excuse to get outside each morning and evening to take care of them.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
May 2nd SOL #1 - Fifteen Minutes as a teacher
10:45 AM - Start writing my blog. My goal is to just write now and also include the various interruptions and questions I have during my day. Of course, as a teacher, I'm supposed to be interrupted and questioned a lot but we will just see how it goes.10:47 - A student from another class comes by looking for a friend who might be selling a computer. They discuss it for a few minutes and I start to wonder what the student in the other class should be working on for his work.
10:49 - He leaves (hopefully to do work) and that corner of the room quiets down a little.
10:50 - Check in with a student trying to download a video program on her computer.
Still 10:50 - Some of the other questions/interactions I had while trying to start this blog just before
... [Interrupted by tour]
10:51 - A tour comes through and we talk about the loft, how everyone looks to be working, and that the trip board is complete and they should check it out.
10:52 - Quick interaction with an 8th grader about his continuation speech. He's not sure how to start it and I suggested writing what's important to him down and then write the beginning later.
10:53 - Talked to a student about his brain...brain model to be exact. Took about three minutes and it's about the 8th discussion we've had about it today and it's really coming into focus/completion. I also told a student who was mostly reading for an hour due to a headache to some other work.
10:56 - "Why did someone make a petition for _____ and _____ to bring their own food?" It's on my whiteboard and I guess some are getting tired of the food mooching.
10:58 - So before I started [Interrupted by students coming up to sign petition and general signature discussion] blogging, I talked with someone about his TinkerCad design for goggles, checked out some polar bear video bloopers, and suggested someone wash out the 2-Liter bottle they were about to use for a project
11:00 - The Challah bread dough is rising according to a student and the buying computer discussion has restarted. No wonder I can never just find a few minutes to edit work with all these distractions. And this fifteen minutes felt relatively free from interruption. I think I'll be signing off now and attempt to edit some work. Looking forward to a month of writing with everyone.
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| I just like this old picture of my first whiteboard mustache so I included it. |
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Test Post
Hi all,
This is Teacher Max. I'll be slicing and commenting with my blog "Teaching From Behind." I'm looking forward to a great month of learning from my own writing and by reading yours.
Cheers,
Max
This is Teacher Max. I'll be slicing and commenting with my blog "Teaching From Behind." I'm looking forward to a great month of learning from my own writing and by reading yours.
Cheers,
Max
Thursday, March 31, 2016
SOLSC #31 - City Wildlife
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
City Wildlife
While I do live in the Denver Metro Area, I always keep my senses ready to pick up on signs of wildlife. I grew up in the mountains and I have journals filled with entries that amount to lists of the animals I saw that day, consisting mostly of elk, deer. coyotes, hawks, etc, including details numbers of each and occasionally behaviors. While I don't keep a journal like that any more, below are some of the animals I've seen at my house or in the area. Each sighting is a special slice of my day and I cherish any reconnection to nature.
There are red tailed hawks nesting, again, in the tree two houses down from my backyard. They swoop through the neighborhood after small animals, birds and I worry about my cats and chickens.
Great horned owls nest and live year round in the wetlands half a mile down the street. Some years we find their nest and get to watch the owlets go form puffballs to adult-sized clumsy branchings. Some days, we can get them hooting and their cries are like morning doves but somehow completely different.
Mice skitter away from the chicken coop when I close it up at night. They have occasionally found their way inside where my older cats are too lazy to actually catch them and they must be caught other ways.
Twice, I've seen bald eagles fly by my house and it's not uncommon for me to see them flying overhead on my way to work in the winter. They hang out at Cherry Creek Reservoir where there is usually open water and fishing is possible.
Deer have crossed the campus at school several times during the winter and we've been lucky enough to see them or their tracks.
Coyotes live at the wetlands near my house and near my school. I always watch for their lanky profiles and alert posture.
There are cottontail rabbits everywhere and I am using them to teach my five year-old daughter how to stalk animals. She's gotten within five feet a couple of times before bolting away in sprint snap hops.
I have glimpsed several red foxes crossing streets while driving home, usually in the snow, at night, and coming back from a performance downtown.
Hawks seems to be everywhere as well and the Swanson's hawks are especially prolific and have migrated back north already. They sit like sentinels on lamp posts and once it warms up, I often see them carrying snakes, hanging limply in their talons.
Connecting to nature is important for me and while I live in the city now, I'm always thrilled for my moments with wildlife.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
SOLSC #30 - Final Approach
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
Final Approach
The passengers wobble in unison as the cabin is buffeted by turbulence. The baby a few seats up is crying, the red "Fasten Seat Belts" lights are red glows, getting increasingly smaller and unreadable the farther forward they are. White nothing surrounds us as we defend through the snow clouds into Denver. It's been several minutes and while I can feel the occasional turn of the plane, there is nothing to orient myself and I have a moment where I hope the instruments in the cockpit are working. I know it's silly but I always have to fight with the anxious part of my imagination, that can create millions of scenarios, on take-offs and landings. And when the weather is bad, mountains or other planes or missed runways spark the neurons in my brain.
I lean over to look out the window and see fleeting glimpses of dry fields with lines of snow drifts left over from last week's blizzard. The sight of the ground makes me feel better and I know we will be on the ground in a couple of minutes. I hold my wife and daughter's hands, give and receive smiles and wait for the bump of the wheels on the ground.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
SOLSC #29 - "Uh, Dad?"
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
"Uh, Dad?"
I open the door to the car and begin to slide in as my daughter opens the rear door next to me. Just as I hear her say, "Uh, Dad?" I realize something is off. As I sit in the seat, everything seems a little unfamiliar. We do have a rental car but things seem unfamiliar compared to even that. There are several CDs in the door pocket, the steering wheel seems different, and the seat under me is not quite a stiff as the Hyundai we've been driving.
"Dad! We're in the wrong car!"
Thank goodness for children! They snap reality into place quickly when adults are lost in their own world; thinking about how to drive "home" in an unfamiliar town and other such non-present thoughts. No wonder things seemed weird.
Guiltily I extricate myself from the car, make sure "Clara's" door is closed too and circle to the car in the next space. I am sure it is ours but I push the key fob to get the reassuring "Beep" before opening the door and sliding into the, somewhat familiar, seat of the rental.
"You're silly Daddy," comes from the back seat as I fumble, trying to put the key into the push button starter while I think about how to get back "home."
Monday, March 28, 2016
SOLSC #28 - One Layer Short
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
One Layer Short
The cold is penetrating, pervasive, invasive. My fingers, usually a factory of heat used to warm my wife or daughter's hands, feel icy on my neck as they seek heat. My legs and back are cold and the tops of my toes are like popsicles. The rain outside is steady and the mercury holds at a dreary 39 degrees. The East Coast humidity makes all temperatures...more. I miss the dry cold of Colorado that while chilling, does not lay upon me like a wet blanket. I'm one layer short.
I looked at the forecast a few days ago and compared the temperatures on the same scale, forgetting to factor in the humidity. The zipper busted on my favorite blue fleece, the one I plan all other layers around. It's the article of clothing heavy enough to shovel in and light enough to put on for just a chilly breeze. But now it's getting repaired, my normal calibrations are off and my fingers are cold.
I'm one layer short.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
SOLSC #27 - Selfie with my Grandma
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
Selfie with my Grandma
Easter Brunch at the 'old folks home' is busy but everyone had headed to the buffet to get food and I was alone with my ninety-four year old grandmother. The nervous and loud energy of my aunt and uncle and the tireless energy of my daughter and wife were muted in the other room. I so rarely get real moments with my grandmother that I knew I had to jump in while I could.
Grabbing my phone, I zipped around the table and said, "Can I take a picture of the two of us?""Oh yes!" she exclaimed and I saw her joy as our smiles showed up on the screen in front of us. I clicked a few selfies and soon we were choosing the best one, my grandmother thrilled with how quickly we could see the results and of some of the other pictures from earlier in the day.
"I wish I could hold these in my hand." I assured her we would get them printed off for her in the next couple of days. I know I will make double copies of this one because I'm very aware that we have only so many slices of life left to share together.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
SOLSC #26 - Out The Window
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
Out The Window
"Look Dad!"
I lean over my daughter's shoulder and peer through the tiny window that is streaked with deicing fluid and precipitation from our climb through the clouds. Far below, the clouds are a puffy layer while the sun shine above from a bluebird sky.
"The clouds look like cotton candy!"
I remember saying the same thing to my brother when we used to vie for position to look out of our portals in the sky. We would wonder why some farmer's field were round, some square and others semicircles. We'd use the maps in the airline magazines and try to figure out if the body of water below was one of the Great Lakes or just a big lake.
Today I pulled out my phone and showed her the map that came up on the airline app. "Look. We are almost to Iowa where your friend Adelaide lives! Should we wave?"
Of course we do. And we have a wonderful flight looking out the window at the clouds, the shapes of the fields and looking for the Great Lakes on our way to Boston!
Thursday, March 24, 2016
SOLSC #25 - Ten Things Right Now
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
This post is inspired by a "Be inspired" post from the SOLSC in 2014. Here is the link to the blog my post was inspired by.
Ten Things Right Now
1. My daughter was cold so she cuddled up on my chest and fell asleep after her story. It was magical on the day she was born and still is now that she's big at 5 3/4.
2. My bracket is busted but so is everyone else's so I might have a chance because my overall winner is still in it. I'm glad I didn't put in the $10 and and just filled it out to participate.
3. I can hear my cat snoring while ruled up on the blanket on the other couch. Can a cat have a deviated septum?
4. I got a haircut and wonder who will be the first to notice. It was not my wife or daughter this afternoon. Maybe I didn't wait long enough to get it cut and it doesn't look that different? But it felt kinda shaggy to me.
5. The snow outside is even more heavy and wet than when twenty-five inches fell during a twelve-hour period yesterday. The sun was out today, drying the shoveled sidewalks and plowed streets. Water ran deep, slushy and brown in the gutters.
6. We had two snow days in a row! Last time that happened for me was 1993, when I was a senior in high school in the mountains west of Denver. Forty inches fell over a couple of days and the skiing was amazing! Too unsafe to get to school but everyone made it to the ski areas! Actually, it took three days for the school bus turn-arounds to get plowed so that's why we got three days instead of just one.
7. It has been harder to inspire myself this SOLSC Challenge. I think it's that I am using my time for to her things and it takes real time to write everyday and like what I create.
8. The dishes in the sink still need to be washed and the chicken coop closed before I head to bed. Plus, my wife just emerged from the basement with a basket of clothes that need to be put away. Chores. Sigh.
9. Tomorrow is the last day before spring break and the first after two snow days. Who will have started break early by being gone physically or mentally? Will they get the work done they need so they can go into break homework and worry-free?
10. I am ready for bed, break and a snack. Probably not in that order.
SOLSC #24 - Anticipation
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
Anticipation
I lay face up on the bench, not really seeing the ceiling. It's white and well lit but there is nothing to focus on and my thoughts are inward anyway. I hear him move behind me and tell me to relax. The head rest lifts an inch or two and over to the left on well-oiled slides.
I work to relax. Taking a deep breath I imagine my shoulders slumping, releasing my neck of tension. Strong but gentle hands grasp my head and I know the moment is near. It's impossible for me to time it although it usually happens faster than I expect. My thoughts race, buffered by mental shouts to relax and hopefully my muscles follow....
Withasuddenreleaseofenergy, my head is pushed down, the slide moves on the headrest, the soft click, and his tai chi-like breath expulsion, covering any noise made by my cervical vertebra.
I lay for a second, trying to feel if there is any difference, or if it's all in my head.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
SOLSC #23 - Shoveling in a Blizzard
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
Shoveling in a Blizzard
It was 75 degrees yesterday and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt until dark. But "March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb" is backwards in Colorado most years. We tend to have sunny warm days as March begins and just as the first crocuses are wilting, the daffodils and tulips are blooming, and the leaves start to bud, a storm drops inches of heavy snow (and a few tree limbs too).
At 5:30 this morning I woke up to a phone call telling me that school was cancelled. I looked outside and saw that it was indeed snowing but the driveway and sidewalks were clear and there was maybe an inch on the grass. Then the wind picked up and the snow started falling like confetti.
Three hours later, I was shoveling eight inches of snow off the driveway and sidewalks! The bottom inch was heavy slush and it was like trying to lift water with each scoop. The wind buffeted me from all sides, making me squint against the flakes piling against me vertically.
After finally clearing the driveway, I looked at the freshly cleared sidewalk and there was already an inch of snow covering my hard work. Peering outside an hour later, several more inches are piled up and I'll have to shovel at least one more time today.
Outside again, the flakes pile up behind each pass of the shovel. I am reminded of a page from the Dr. Suess book Did I ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
But I happily shovel the snow for free!
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
SOLSC #22 - Student/Parent/Teacher Conference
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
Student/Teacher/Parent Conference
Today my daughter showed us her first portfolio from her new school; my school. We all sat together in her classroom, her two teachers on one side, two parents on the other. She sat confident and comfortable while I squirmed in the tiny yellow seat, trying not to hit my knees on the low table. The kindergarten teacher turned to Clara, opened her portfolio and said, "Are you ready to begin?"
I teach upstairs and have been through hundreds of conferences with my middles schoolers over the last nine years. But usually I have to be the one to coach and cajole, to remind and occasionally shush the parents when they don't let their kid talk. I vowed to just listen, ask appropriate questions and show my daughter I was proud during her conference.
Clara took a deep breath and spend the next twenty-five minutes reading to us about her best work, what she liked to read and write about, what things were hard for her and who were her friends. Her teachers were wonderful and clearly had a feel on her pulse as a student and a person. While I have the biased pride of all parents, I was blown away by my daughter, talking to four adults, all eagerly watching her, and doing it so well. It was special for me to be on the other side of the desk...that tiny short desk.
Monday, March 21, 2016
SOLSC #21 - Staff Lounge Donut
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
Staff Lounge Donut
The box of white flimsy cardboard sits on the counter like it's been waiting for me. Squat, wide, and just the right height to hold it's covey of tasty treasure. As I pour my coffee, my mind can not help but to wonder, "What is in the box today?"
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| photo credit: A Box of FROST via photopin (license) |
Glazed, with the icing pooling at the bottom of each donut, the sugar buzzing the senses as the delicate dough fairly separates in my mouth?
Cream filled, to be carefully enjoyed least it drip out, not only ruining my clothes but also wasted?
Powdered donuts with the heartier dough, white mists getting everywhere?
I want to resist as I often have lately; and these pants fit again! But I am weak. I'm tired, hungry, and whiney. I deserve one donut today.
Defeated and with frustrated guilt, I reach for the box and lift the cover.
It is empty.
Empty.
I've won! Sort of. Because I know that I really lost the battle...and got "lucky."
Sunday, March 20, 2016
SOLSC #20 - Exploring Snowy Mountains
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| To read my students' posts on the Classroom SOL challenge click here |
Introduction: Hello and welcome to my blog! This is the third year I have participated in the SOLSC and also the third year for my students as well! I teach students, ages 11-14, in a multi-age classroom at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, CO. This year, I am hosting students from all three middle school classes and they are participating on a volunteer basis (with a few prizes thrown in for inspiration). I'm looking forward to being part of this amazing community again!
Exploring Snowy Mountains!
Just over a foot of fluffy snow blanketed the ground around my Dad's house in Evergreen. The top inch was made up of the big, light flakes that drift down, almost as afterthoughts, at the end of a snowstorm. Insulated in blue snow pants and purple jacket, my daughter was ready to lay claim to the untracked whiteness by stopping out footprints and creating snow angels.
What she found was, the rocks and hills around my Dad's house are a natural playground. I grew up here and seeing her discover the joys of bullying through drifts and sliding down rocks was special for me. Her joy mirrored my own, both from today and from decades ago.
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