Another Case of Weather Bizzarness

                On Monday I had an assignment to work in Canyonville.  It rained.  I had heard that students go out for recess regardless the weather.  Okay.  It’s pouring, but whatever.

            It wasn’t pouring during lunch.  It was still overcast and cold.  I had worn my green coat and had retrieved my umbrella.  Apparently it is only K-2 that go to recess in the rain but the middle schoolers were assigned to go into one of two class rooms as the gym and labs were being used.

            I guess I really hadn’t needed to drag my umbrella up to the cafeteria.  I stopped off at the last classroom where I was assigned and dropped off my coat, hat, scarf and umbrella along with the totebag that I was too lazy to put in the car after eating my lunch.

            Yesterday the weather didn’t seem as wet – though the ground was – which is why the middle schoolers were banned from the field – because it was muddy.  But then why allow K-2

Whatever.

            Yesterday had a few minutes of snow falling throughout the day.  It looked pretty in the trees.  Nothing I wanted to drive in however – not because I don’t like driving in snow.  I don’t.  But I can handle this county’s version of snow.  But because it was once so rare, there are many who just don’t know how to drive in it.  Still, it’s really not the worse part. The worst part is the wet ground mixed with freezing temperatures creating icy travel.

            Before I had even made it to work – or probably even out of the neighborhood – Roland fell.  He is in great pain.  He is upset about his condition.  Jenna and Roland aren’t particularly great patients.  I like to think that I am.

            We had an activity scheduled for last night, but I wondered if there would even be a good turnout and so we called everybody to cancel – or postpone rather – we just haven’t figured out our new date.

            And then today the sun is shining.  But it was also windy.  Not a violent wind.  At least I didn’t think it was.  But it managed to knock the power out for a bit.  That was weird.

            I went to the church with the sun shining and left the church with the feeling of a storm.

            It’s raining right now.  Pouring.  They say  it will turn into snow.  They’ve been forecasting it for two weeks.  Maybe tonight it will really take.  Maybe it will snow and they will cancel school.  I’m scheduled to work at Canyonville tomorrow.  I’m hoping for a snow day.

Leveling the House

                As I have mentioned in prior posts, the house I live in is manufactured – which means it was built elsewhere and moved to this location.  Manufactured homes were not designed for multiple generations to live in and yet we see a lot of that in this area.  The realty price is always for the land which surrounds the house but not so much for the house itself.  It will always decrease in value.

          Before we had even moved into the house, I noticed a problem with the front door.  It didn’t seem to make a difference whether the knob was locked or not, if we pushed hard enough, we could get in.  But I could never manage to unlock the bolt from the outside and would always go around. 

          The knob on our back door has always worked and over time we were even allowed to use the bolt without having to perfectly line the door into place.  The floor in the kitchen and front room felt weak like we would fall through.  And after Service Master had come and remodeled a part of our house that had flooded two and a half years ago (here) , the floor seemed more level for a while, but gradually fell back into its slump.

          Thus Roland called someone to come out and relevel our house which had probably never been releveled before – even when we purchased the house and it was a requirement – I don’t think whoever did it had actually earned the money we paid.  I’m happy to say that both doors close and lock properly.  No more moisture on the back porch since the roof has been fixed. 

I do hear a creak when I get up in the night and walk from bed to bathroom.  The sound comes deep from underneath the house.   Jenna is upset that the levelers didn’t do their job.  But they did.  The leveling to this side of the house just hasn’t settled – and the floorboards aren’t’ loose like they were in the other rooms.  I think it’s just a matter of time before their isn’t that sound anymore – one that is deep but it isn’t the floor that feels unsteady.  It just sounds like it hasn’t adjusted to its position beneath.

I’ve never been down there nor do I have the desire.  I don’t know how much space is between the house and the ground.  I have seen some houses jacked so high that there appear to be 40 steps or so leading to the house and owners park their car beneath.  I would not want to park my house under a building.  I don’t like the idea of a building falling on my car or being in the building when/if it falls. 

https://modelremodel.com/2016/08/house-lifting/

Math and English

          I saw this sign in a math class at school yesterday. 

It made me laugh.  I have observed many students now and find that people in general are either math people or English people.  There are some who excel in both.  And there are those who don’t get either.

          Jenna prefers math.  Although there may be different ways of getting the same answer – the answer is consistent.  It won’t ever change.  There is only correct answer.  No exceptions.  English, on the other hand, is full of exceptions.  It’s a wonder that anyone is able to learn it at all!  I would think learning it as a second language would be even more challenging than it is as a first language – but I can’t say for certain as it is my native language – but still confusing at that.

         Math NEVER ends.  Some of us are taught to count before kindergarten.  We are taught that numbers start with 1.  Somewhere along the way we are taught that "1" is really not the starting number, nor is 0 as there are all the negative numbers that take place before 0 comes along.  And then there are a whole slew of fractions and decimals that take place between each number causing numbers to have no beginning and no end.  Nothing about numbers is final - except for the answer to every problem - well, except for complicated algebra that may have no definite answer except for C-2x=xyb.  What kind of answer is that?  Why are we using letters in math anyway?

          I don’t think there are any “solid” rules in English.  There are ALWAYS exceptions. “i” before “e” except after C.  And yet we have words like forfeit, weird, and science that destroy that theory.  Or how about G takes on a different sound when followed by a, o, and u as opposed to e, and i which would make the “g” take on the “j” sound such as “giraffe” and “gem” but uh-oh.  What about  “girl” and “geyser’?  And what is up with Y sometimes passing itself off as a vowel and a consonant? 

          I don’t have a problem with the basics of math.  It gives me a headache when we have to start finding the value of X and Y and the chart that points up and down and to either side and how y dominates these two areas while x I part of something else.  Huh?  And triangles will always add up to 180 – a term that perhaps I had learned in my youth but did not store it in my memory and so had never even thought much about it until yesterday when the instructor explained it to the class and I re-explained to a couple of students who weren’t either paying attention or just didn’t care – sort of like me.  I mean, really, what relevance does that triangle value have in my life?

Oh, and let’s not forget all the vocabulary words that are needed for math.  Words like integers, diameter, circumference . . . why is it that English is needed for math, but one doesn’t have to be familiar with shapes or numbers in order to  learn English?  Even with all the silly rules and exceptions, I prefer English to math. 

Good For Her

          There are five students in the seminary class which Jenna attends.  Each of them has an opportunity to present a devotional.  Jenna’s assigned day is on Wednesday morning.  This week she passed out this card:

She challenged each member of her class to carry the Book of Mormon on his or her person (she is in actuality the only female student, but the female instructor had been challenged as well) and has been carrying the Book of Mormon with her ever since.  She not only reads it at school, but writes down her thoughts, searches for pictures to insert into her book to help her remember the focus of certain chapters, and will discuss her thoughts with whoever will listen.

          I have been so blessed to have such an awesome daughter.

Schools and Weather

          There are five schools in the district – which I may have mentioned before.  Two elementary schools are from K-5 (I think both offer Pre-K.  I know that one does for sure), a middle school from 6-8, high school 9-12 and the Canyonville School ages K-8.  I will accept assignments for three of the schools.  I have worked at all the schools accept for the high school.  Currently I will fill in for aides at either the elementary school closest to the middle school, the middle school or Canyonville.  Four of the schools are about equal distance from my house (the two I accept assignments for are to my east and the other two are in Tri City to the west) but it takes more than twice as long to get to Canyonville as the others.

         

          I think the high school and other elementary are fairly new in comparison to the others.  For the past two days I have been at Canyonville – which at some point had only one building.  But now there are five.  I haven’t accepted many assignments with Canyonville this year, though I have five lined up for future dates – starting with Monday and Tuesday of this week.

       It’s been cold the last couple of days.  I meant to wear long sleeves to school yesterday, but came across a short sleeve top I hadn’t worn in a while.  Normally I get hot at the schools, but yesterday I was cold in the main building and didn’t become overly warm until the last 30 minutes with the 2^nd grade.  I had taken my long green coat on Monday.  Roland refers to it as my “bag lady” coat. (Refer to this site) as I knew I’d be outside at least during lunch.  The agenda also required that I spend the first 15 minutes and last 15 minutes outside as well.

          I notice the rain always chases the fog.  I had brought my umbrella the on Monday but hadn’t needed it.   Yesterday morning was foggy.  Normally I haven’t had to arrive at Canyonville so early and so I haven’t seen where the bus drops off the students until yesterday.  I left my umbrella in the car and was surprised the fog had lifted by the time I got up the hill.  

I wore my wolf jacket and not my green coat.  My legs and buttocks were cold and I wished I had worn my long coat instead. 

          As the day progressed, the clouds moved to reveal the sun and the air felt colder.  I’ll be sure to take my green coat with me as I work the next two days at the middle school.

Will the Real Big Bad Wolf Please Stand?

“Johnny Depp is great, but the fact that he is not Joey Fatone bothers me.” - Jenna on January 5.

The quote made me laugh when Jenna said it, and then I had her repeat what she said so I could get the right quote, but still might not have it exact.

Allow me to explain: 

When Jenna was three Roland had purchased a copy of Red Riding Hood (here)  which she has loved and watched often.  Joey Fatone plays the wolf.  In Disney’s version of Into the Woods (here), the Wolf is played by Johnny Depp. 

You may not find this as amusing as I did.  But her quote did strike me funny enough that I thought I’d share.

When the Train Stops

Yesterday I was watching a movie on Hallmark.  The movie title is one I have seen before – but with a different description.  I enjoyed the 2019 version of “Christmas Town” starring Candace Cameron Bure (here). 

           The movie starts out with the focus on a man and his little girl.  He is struggling with some health issues.  The tree has been put up and decorated and he somehow loses his balance causing the angel to fall and breaks off a wing.  He promises that he will send it off to have it fixed.  If he had just used a form of Elmer’s or Gorilla glue, we might not have the story that takes place roughly twenty years later.

Lauren has recently accepted a teaching position in Springfield, Mass. and is anxious to leave behind her life in Boston. We learn that she has a boyfriend and a promised relationship, but her wants and his wants are not the same.  She is frustrated that she hasn’t been able to contact him to let him know that she is leaving and is a bit put-off to find him home ready to pick up where they left off.  She lets him know that maybe they really aren’t meant to be.

          She takes the train toward Springfield. As the train nears a small “tourist trap type”  town full of the Christmas spirit, they make an unscheduled shop as either the weather has failed them or the train is need of repair or something . . . they stop and all the passengers are required to get off and find some means of lodging.

The scenario reminded me of how many of us have chosen a destination and create a path for ourselves on how to fulfill our goals.  There are many of us who may ride a metaphorical train that makes an unscheduled stop that may throw our entire plan off course.  We don’t know why, but something prevents us from arriving to the destination that we thought we wanted in order to fulfill something greater – although we may not see it that way in the beginning.

         I have grandnephews and a grandniece that I’ve never met.  Lucas is the oldest and was born a few months before my second and third granddaughter.  Each of them will be turning five this year.  Holy Cow!  Lucas has a younger brother.  The two of them are inseparable.   Each of them has had a hard time sleeping without the other in the same room.

            Lucas has cancer.  He’s been in and out of the hospital in order to get the treatments that he needs.  His mom and dad have become writers of a blog (here)  though even if writing had been a part of their plans, they most likely would not have chosen gaining strength in a collided “two worlds, one family” quoting Phil Collins December 31 because that is how it felt.  One parent with Lucas in the hospital while the other stayed at the house with the two-year old – who at first was allowed to visit his brother but banned after flu season – though not completely.  Just at the hospital. 

            Lucas came home for Christmas before going into the hospital again for what hopefully will be his final treatment.  I think the cancer probably made a lot of people stronger – though I don’t associate with them as they are in Minnesota and we are in Oregon and I don’t even see my brother who is the grandfather of these two boys and currently resides in Utah.

            The train not only stopped for their family but several others as well.  And each has had his or her free agency on how to react to what wasn’t a part of their plan.  From what I’ve read, they seem to be enduring greatly and yes, at times mom and dad have been emotional boobs.  But who can blame them for that.  All the while they have tried to remain strong for Lucas.  It turned out that Lucas was the strongest one of all.

            That’s only one example of a stopped train.  Not all lives experiences end being wrapped up as neatly as the Hallmark movies and certainly not in such a small amount of time.  Trials are not easy.  Some callings are not easy – especially when the person called really isn’t comfortable about having the calling.  Again, we have our free agency.  We don’t have to accept the callings.  But it is an opportunity to grow if we will accept the challenge.

            I am reminded of a sister in the ward I currently attend.  She has had the calling of a Relief Society instructor.  She taught lessons once a month and always made it known that she was not comfortable in her position.  Never vocalize your thoughts in front of a congregation.  She is now the adult Sunday School teacher and now gets the opportunity of teaching not just once, but twice a month.

            I am reminded of a poem written by Carolyn Pearson (here) in which she talks about auditioning for a play and not getting the desired role, but the coveted role actually goes to one that she doesn’t consider worthy to play the part.  A transition is made for the girl who lands the part and it makes the author realize that we all have potential if given the opportunity.

            I hope that when I find myself on a path that I don’t particular think fits in my plans, I will focus on Him who knows better than I and I may express more gratitude for where I am.