We spent 3 wonderful days out in the desert - we camped at the Borrego-Palm Canyon Campground in Anza-Borrego State Park. That's the only campground with full hookups - and it has llooonnnggg, spacious pull-through sites. I left as soon as I could escape from work on Friday afternoon, and found Don already set up in site #7. (We had decided this time to take the Liberty since we knew we'd be going 4-wheeling with Patrick and Patty.) I told him that I had heard about the Galleta Meadows sculptures, and had seen pics on several other people's blogs, so we hopped in the car and went to check them all out. They are all rusted now - when they were erected, they were silver-colored - so they look aged. One of the most fascinating things, to me, was the fact that anyone can camp near them on the Galleta Meadows Estates property. There were 5 different RVs camped near the northern group. I think if I were to camp there, I'd want to be in the section with all the bighorns.
This one reminded me of Godzilla!
Of course, this one was my favorite!
After that, we went back to the campsite, enjoyed our traditional chili dogs/first night out meal, and waited for Patrick and Patty to show up. They rolled in around 7. After a short chat in the chilly night air, we separated to our RVs and agreed to make plans over morning coffee.
We have our own herd of bighorns here in Forest Falls. We live just below San Gorgonio Wilderness, where they can roam free and undisturbed. But occasionally, they wander down to the base of San Bernardino Peak - and graze right next to the road. They were there last week when I was coming home from school. When you make the turn onto our road and see a couple cars parked alongside it, you know the bighorns are there. We wanted them to turn around so we cold get better pictures of them, but only one bothered to face the camera. It was still nice to see them.
I just have to share this - it's from my friend Darla. It's probably making the rounds and isn't new to some of you, but it was new to me.
How one's perspective changes with age
A group of 15 year old girlfriends discussed where they should meet for
dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Dairy
Queen next to the Ocean View restaurant because they only had $6.00
between them and Jimmy Johnson, that cute boy in Social Studies, lives
on that street and they might see him and they can ride their bikes
there.
10 years later, the group of 25 year old girlfriends discussed where
they should meet for dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that they
should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the beer was cheap,
they had free snacks, the band was good, there was no cover and there
were lots of cute guys.
10 years later, at 35 years of age, the group once again discussed
where they should meet for dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that
they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the cosmos were
good, it was right near the gym and if they go late enough, there
wouldn't be too many whiny little kids.
10 years later, at 45 years of age, the group once again discussed
where they should meet for dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that
they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the martinis were
big, and the waiters there had tight pants and nice buns.
10 years later, at 55 years of age, the group once again discussed
where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed they should
meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the food there was
reasonable, the wine list was good, they had windows that open in case
of a hot flash, and fish is good for your cholesterol.
10 years later, at 65 years of age, the group once again discussed
where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they
should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because lighting was good and
they have an early bird special.
10 years later, at 75 years of age, the group once again discussed
where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they
should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because food was not too
spicy, the restaurant was handicapped accessible and they even had an
elevator!
10 years later, at 85 years of age, the group once again discussed
where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they
should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they had never been
there before.
We're back from a fabulous 3-day weekend on the north shore of the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea sits at 224 feet below sea level - meaning it's blisteringly hot during the summer, but during the winter it's one of my favorite places. We left Friday afternoon, and took the drive east on I-10 to the 86S, and where it crosses over the 111, we got off and went south on the 111 about 9 miles to the Headquarters Campground. This is a state recreation area - but the full hookup sites here are only $30 - and since Don's now a real senior citizen, we paid $28 for each night. The 15 sites sit in a row at the upper end of a huge parking lot - which never has more than 2-3 cars parked in it, usually none - with a breathtaking view of the Salton Sea and the Santa Rosa Mountains to the west. There's a well-used train track that runs along the highway behind us, and the trains pass dozens of times each day, both north- and south-bound. Don and I have differing opinions about it. I like it - the rumbling, rumbling, rumbling as it approaches, the horn that sounds as it approaches a nearby crossing - but Don says it bothers him. He's said that he'll put up with it for my sake.
There are several other state campgrounds along the north and east shore of the Salton Sea, but they don't have hookups. Mecca Beach Campground has a dump station, though. Corvina Beach and Salt Creek Campgrounds are laid out in a long line along the beach, and you pull in to your site parallel to the road. Mecca Beach is a loop. If I were camping without hookups I'd pick the two along the beach.
Don went fishing after we got set up - the Salton Sea is crammed full of tilapia, corvina, sargo, and croaker - but none of them were biting. Dinner Friday night was simple - grilled cheese and soup - and we then went outside to enjoy the sunset.
Friday night's sunset. The structures along the water's edge are picnic cabanas.
Saturday morning's sunrise.
Saturday morning we were up before the sun, since we wanted to see the sunrise. Not only did we see that, but we were treated to the sounds of thousands of birds - seagulls, doves, egrets, and many many more that I can't name. (Sometimes I regret not getting into birding, but I've had many other passions in my life and just can't add another one at this stage!) We sat for an hour, enjoying our coffee and the view of the sea.
After a breakfast of waffles and sausage, we decided to take a hike. The camp host had given us a little sheet of things to do in the area, and one of them was a hike into Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills Wilderness. I had no idea either existed. We drove back up the 111 to Mecca, then took Box Canyon Road east out of Mecca to the turnoff for Painted Canyon Road. That road was only graded this past week - many parts of it had washed out after the winter storms. This area has some twisted and turned rocks and hills due to its location along the southern end of the San Andreas Fault.
The Mecca Hills
Our road was going to end up in the far left of the picture, between the very low light hills and the higher dark hills.
When we got into the canyon, we hit a very sandy patch in the road - the truck bogged down, and Don was worried we were going to get stuck. Our truck is light in the rear and is not 4WD, so getting stuck in the sand was a strong possibility. He backed up onto a solid piece of ground to the side of the road, and we decided to hike from there. We noticed several places set aside for 14-day camping, but saw only some young men with their tents. This would make a great boondocking spot if you could get past the sandy portion of the road.
Some of the rock layers that are standing on end in this part of the canyon.
The view back west, down the canyon. The tallest peak to the right is Santa Rosa Peak. It's at the center of its own wilderness.
Looking east up Painted Canyon as we began our hike.
The canyon begins to narrow.
As we hiked up the canyon, we were passed by about 4 Jeeps, trucks, and cars. About 2 miles in, we arrived at the parking area for Painted Canyon. There were already 5-6 vehicles there. From this point, according to a sign at the entrance to this part of the canyon, you're in the Mecca Hills Wilderness.
A pair of hikers heads into the narrows.
Don
Yours truly!
As we continued towards the narrower part of the canyon, I developed a pretty painful tug in my right groin, and we were forced to turn around since we knew we had a pretty good hike back to the truck. (That groin pull is still pretty tender - I have to lift my thigh with my hand if I want to raise my leg. That's what I get for being out of shape!)
On the way back, I was drawn to this area of greenery - and discovered a seep (small spring) at the base of the canyon wall.
We made it back to the campground in time for the two football games - and since I really wasn't interested in the first one, I decided to go in search of the closest geocache I could find. This one was called Bob Uker Seats. It was located at the Mecca Beach Campground, in the rear of the outdoor amphitheater. It was hidden under a bush.
The general area of the cache.
The cache is back in those bushes!
After locating the cache and submitting my "find" report, I came back to the trailer and watched the football games with Don. Dinner was a treat - steak, dilled new potatoes, and peas.
Sunday morning again found us enjoying the sunrise with our coffee, and Don pointed out how the sun was hitting "our" mountains. We live up in the ones in the picture below - and believe me, we were glad to be leaving that snow behind for the weekend!
Sunday morning's sun hits the San Bernardino Mountains
Breakfast was biscuits and gravy - I had to use up the other half of the package of Jimmy Dean. Since the football game was coming on earlier than the day before, I told Don he didn't have to go with me on the morning's exploration. I had heard about the mud pots and mud volcanoes, and had go find them.
First, I went south on the 111 about 26 miles to the Wister Waterfowl Managment Area - turned right and headed towards the Salton Sea. I saw the small "Mud Pots" sign, and followed the road to where it ended.
"Boiling mud? Actually, it's carbon dioxide gas rising from below the water table. Mud pots are vent points and they tend to occur along the earthquake faults which run through this valley. Look for them along this field between here and the Salton Sea."
View from the parking area. Two large and one small hole.
This one, which was quiet while I was there, showed signs of recent activity.
This one appeared to have been dormant for a while.
So, I was a bit disappointed that the mud pots weren't bubbling. I'd seen a couple videos of them on YouTube, and was hoping to see them in action. Oh well.
From there I headed south in search of the Mud Volcanoes. I found them - but you can't get close to them since they're surrounded by a deep canal and then a field of mud.
Here's a very well-done video of the Mud Volcanoes:
The Mud Volcanoes
I made it back in time to watch most of the football games with Don - way to go, Jets! - and then we enjoyed some barbecued chicken and yet another gorgeous sunset.
The colors darken in the eastern sky
I was able to capture the moon in this one
I can't get enough!
Love the red glows in the western sky
Last one.
This morning we enjoyed our last sunrise, then a breakfast of corned beef hash and eggs. We were packed up and on the road by 9, and made it home in time for lunch. There's still snow on the ground here, but it was 55˚, so it continues to melt. Inside the house it was 48˚ - the heater ran for a long time to warm it up, and now Don has a nice fire going. Back to work tomorrow!
What's missing from this picture is what Don and I saw yesterday - the pickup truck upside down in front of the sign. I talked about this in my previous post; we saw the accident and are surprised we didn't see anything in the paper today about it. The driver took the turn at the bottom of the canyon too quickly; over-compensated when he started going off on the right side of the road, veered left across the far lane and flipped twice, coming to rest upside down up against the sign.
This is one of the results of having Highway 330 closed - lots of drivers who are unfamiliar with Highway 38.
...about the traffic on Highway 38. Normally my commute is pretty quiet; the most traffic we see is on Friday afternoons and Sunday afternoons as people are coming up and down from a weekend in the mountains. But during the massive winter storms we had around Christmas, an enormous section of Highway 330 collapsed. The engineers predict the road will be closed at least one year, possibly two.
This means there are now only two routes up to and down (well, three if you count the "back" way from Lucerne Valley) from Big Bear. You either have to take the 18 at Running Springs across to Crestline and down Waterman Canyon, or the 38 over Onyx Summit, through Barton Flats and Angelus Oaks, and down past Forest Falls (where I live) and Mountain Home Village.
I still have my same 20-minute drive. So I won't complain about the traffic.
On Wednesday, I heard on the radio as I was driving home that a head-on collision had closed the 38 just past the turnoff for Forest Falls. Whew! I was going to be able to make it home, but hundreds and hundreds of people were forced to park on the side of the road and wait until everything was cleared so they could continue. When I got up to my turnoff, I saw all the people waiting - and yes, there were hundreds of them.
Judy and John, who write RV Life on Wheels, had spent their day visiting Big Bear, and were attempting to go back to Desert Hot Springs via the 38. They got all the way to within 2 miles of Forest Falls - and were forced to turn around, go all the way back to Big Bear, and then back to Running Springs and the route down the 18. A HUGE detour.
But people are driving too fast on the 38. At the bottom of the canyon there's a turn in the road that isn't (in my opinion) banked very well - so it's easy to get caught off guard and have to stand on the brakes. Yesterday Don and I witnessed a pickup truck take that turn too quickly, and he rolled his truck several times - coming to rest upside down against the National Forest sign. (I'll try to take a picture of that sign today and add it to this post). He destroyed that sign - but apparently he's okay - we didn't see anything in the paper about it and I can't find anything on the 'net.
Don and I turned in our passport applications today. We used to have passports - I've had several since I was three; Don got his first one at the age of five. But since he retired 20 years ago from the Air Force, we no longer used the ones we had and they expired.
Now that the rules have changed regarding travel to Canada and Mexico we decided we'd better get them taken care of so we can cross the border.
Kenny's leaving for New Mexico and his new assignment at Holloman Air Force Base. He already has an apartment in Alamogordo and will be picking up the keys Friday afternoon. We've lent him a sleeping bag and pad to use until his furniture arrives from Japan (if it's not already there). It'll be strange to have him within cell phone range - we've gone so many years without being able to call him since he was in Kyrgyzstan, Diego Garcia, Korea, and Japan. Now I can just text him for a quick hello. I'll try not to be a pest.
Theresa hosted a farewell barbecue for him last night - her roommate got carne asada, and they had a Mexican feast. She's having lunch with him today before he hits the road. She's so proud to have him for a brother.
This is the year I retire. This is the year Don and I will finally make it to the Canadian Rockies, and probably Alaska. This is the year we don't have to hurry back from our summer trip in order to be at work for the first day of school. We have big plans, including short trips during some 3-day weekends, a medium trip over our 2-week spring break, and then our big trip north.
Today we are sloths. There's so much good football on, and later some hockey, so we're just enjoying the sports. (I tell Don all the time he's lucky to have found a woman who's a sports fanatic.) I made Paradise Potatoes and Eggs for breakfast, heavy on the mushrooms for me to cut a few of the carbs. For lunch, we had Zannie's Black-Eyed Pea Dip with tortilla chips, therefore getting our "good luck" black-eyed peas for New Year's Day. It was a really good way to use black-eyed peas - and Don and Kenny gobbled it up.
My Texas Tech Red Raider won the Cotton Bowl - though they gave me a scare with some defensive breakdowns and some great Northwestern offensive plays during the second half. Way to go, Tech! Now we're getting ready to watch the Rose Bowl, and I think we're both going to root for TCU. I'd like to see them finish unbeaten and get the respect they deserve. Then tonight we'll start with the outdoor hockey game in Pittsburgh, and switch over to the Kings-Sharks at 6.
I might sit down at my sewing machine for a bit, but I might not. Who knows? It's my next-to-last day of winter break, and I'm in no rush to get anything done. I could get used to this!
I'm glad 2010 is over. It had too much stress in it job-wise, due to the horrendous state of the California budget and all the cuts made to public education. I've had more phone calls and emails from teachers with stress-related issues than ever before, and it just doesn't look like it's going to get any better.
For a GREAT metaphor, consider this. During this morning's Tournament of Rose Parade, the float that won the trophy for "Best Presentation of Life in California" broke down and had to be towed. Talk about irony.
But now I have 93 work days left. But who's counting?!
First of all - it stopped raining and snowing; we actually had a beautiful sunny day. Don, Kenny and I were up early, and I made our usual Christmas morning breakfast of cinnamon rolls. (I'd love to say that I used my mom's recipe, but I needed a break from all the cooking and used Pilsbury!) We saved some for Theresa, since she wasn't due to get off work until 10:45. Since there's no room for her to park up here, and her father knew she'd be tired, he picked her up and brought her up here for a few hours. We opened our Christmas gifts, and then ate a hearty meal: ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and ambrosia salad. I'd made cornbread dressing, but forgot to cook it! We'll have it tomorrow and for the next few days.
We took some pics - it had been a while since we had some:
Theresa's now 29, and Kenny is 27.
Theresa got a mini-computer, a case for it, and a gift card to Sport Chalet so she can get some soccer gear.
This was my gift to Kenny - it's an Eleanor Burns Victory Quilt. Since he's in the Air Force I thought a patriotic, military-themed quilt would be nice to throw on his couch. We also gave him some gift cards to use when he gets to Alamogordo and needs things for his apartment.
We're now in a food-induced stupor, our Lakers got killed by Miami, and the Cowboys are off to a bad start against the Cardinals. Theresa's back home, sleeping, since she has to go in to work at midnight.
I hope everyone had a great day! As for me, I'm enjoying some down time, planning our summer trip to Canada!
It rained all night; this morning it started to turn to snow. It's been snowing all day, but it's wet, heavy snow. Don and I ventured down the mountain to Home Depot to get him some rain gear, and saw the bulldozers and plows at work at 4 different places.
Picture our town: we're in a long, narrow box canyon, with our main road (Valley of the Falls Drive) running through that canyon. It's crossed by numerous creeks and gullies - most of which stay dry most of the year. When it rains a lot, the first to blow out is Rattlesnake Creek - which brings mud and rocks down across the road. There are dozens of piles of this debris - some as high as 15 feet - wherever the bulldozers could put it.
The second to blow is the one above us - I don't know the name of the creek but it runs down Summit Drive, crosses Valley of the Falls, and then crosses Island Drive. Island is a dirt road that goes out to about 15 homes, and when the water and debris come down, a gully is cut out through the road that's about 3-5 feet deep. So the residents of Island Drive are cut off until the storm passes and the 'dozers rebuild their road.
The third spot to blow is Snow Creek, which once destroyed a home on Spring Drive and killed the woman inside. When it comes down hard, you can't cross it because it's between what we call the "double hump," and is running too fast.
The fourth is down near Lower Canyon Drive - and it seems to consistently be mostly mud. There's a couple large trucks parked across the street that are now up to the tops of their wells in mud.
The local amateur weather sleuth told us at the post office that so far, this storm has dumped TWENTY-THREE INCHES of rain on Forest Falls. Our canyon faces west, so the storms coming in off the ocean and the Los Angeles Basin hit the San Bernardino Mountains, and just empty out. (That's why everything east of the mountains is desert.)
Mill Creek, looking upstream just below Mountain Home Village
Mill Creek, looking downstream from just below Mountain Home Village. It's roaring through 4 different channels.
We're fine - and so glad that our home is built far enough away from Mill Creek and the larger side canyons. We do have a small normally-dry creekbed behind our house that is now running, but it's deep and shouldn't cause any problems. On the news this morning, we saw some houses floating down the Virgin River in Mesquite, Nevada - this storm is hitting southern Nevada and Utah hard, too.
We're now on day #5 of this rain - more than we've ever seen, EVER, up here. Even the storm of 2005 couldn't compare to this. The meteorologists call this system an airborn river - it's been flowing out of the Pacific and over southern California and dumping record rainfall for 5 days. It's not supposed to stop for 3 more days, and this morning it turned to snow for a while. All day we've been getting sleet/rain/sleet - to where it's really slushy now. Tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night we're supposed to get several feet of snow.
The roads have been washed out in several places; the bulldozers worked all night (we can hear the loud back-up beeps); and the normally dry creek behind our house has been roaring. When you step out of the house, you can hear the roar of Mill Creek. Kenny went down the mountain today and said that the creek is 20-25 feet across (normally it's just a few feet).
One side effect of all this rain is the moisture and humidity that builds up inside the house. We have thermal curtains on many of the windows and they cause a lot of condensation to build up on the inside of the glass. The doors are all swollen and stick when you open and shut them.
I am grateful that this is a warmer system - up at Mammoth Lakes, they've gotten 13 FEET of snow. So I"m not going to complain too much about this rain - until Thursday, and we're shoveling it off our front walkways.
Our son Kenny is home for the winter holiday season. We picked him up at the Palm Springs Airport yesterday afternoon; he'd been on a plane for over 24 hours. He's in transit from his old base (Kadena Air Base) in Okinawa, Japan to his new one (Holloman Air Force Base) in New Mexico.
He's a Staff Sergeant in the AF now; I can't believe it's been 8 years since he graduated from Yucaipa High School and went into the AF. This will be the first time since 2004 that he's been in the states - so it'll be strange to be able to text and phone him on his cell. He never got to use a cell for across-the-ocean use when he was in Korea, Kyrgizstan, Diego Garcia, or Japan. He drove down the mountain today specifically to get a cell phone, and picked up a nifty smartphone (they were out of iPhones) at the AT&T store. I forget what kind it is, but it's made by Samsung.
He has his own truck this time - we picked it up for him before Thanksgiving in Yucca Valley - so he's not "stuck" here at home. That bit of freedom should make this visit a bit less boring for him. His sister has already reserved some of his time on her days off, and I intend to take him with me to breakfast with my Friday breakfast club. Don and I might take him out to Joshua Tree for some day hiking, or maybe some fishing up at Big Bear Lake.
So, I'm already enjoying feeding him, and looking forward to some nice holiday memory-making.
Yesterday was what I would call a momentous day. Three significant events occurred - and I've turned the corner to start the big countdown.
1) At lunch, I met with a friend, Linda, who shared with me her two giant scrapbooks of her trip up the Al-Can Highway to Fairbanks and Anchorage and then back down to the US. It jump-started my planning for our trip this coming summer - and I came back to the office and immediately got online to order a couple of books. (Milepost and another guide to camping along the highway in the Yukon and Alaska) Now the actual planning begins!
2) At 4:00 a notary came to my office to meet with me and my husband, and we signed all the final paperwork to refinance our house. This is a big deal to us since we knocked our mortgage payment down nearly $400/month - from $1087 to $709. We now have a bit more ready cash to pay off some bills.
3) At 4:45 I made it to the district office in time to turn in my retirement papers. Since the district is offering an incentive, and set 25 as the "magic number" of people it needed for the incentive to "go," I was thrilled to learn that we have 33 already. So I'm retiring, officially, on June 2nd!!!!!!!!!
As of today, there are exactly 100 school days left to go! The widget on my sidebar shows how long including weekends and holidays.
I've been catching up on various things since we returned from Texas yesterday. Today, I decided to tackle Google Reader - where I had 567 posts waiting to be read. At first, I scrolled through them chronologically - it shows the newest ones first. But after a while, I decided to select various bloggers and read all their posts at once.
I'm a little jealous of the full- and part-timers who have made their ways to the different warm spots they love to live in during the winter - from southern Arizona, to southern Texas, to Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia, and to the desert spots closest to me in Anza Borrego and the Mojave.
We returned from Texas to 5 inches of snow on the ground, and then last night it snowed another 2-3 inches. We ran the heater most of the morning and then Don got a fire going in the fireplace. So while I'm warm, it's not barbecuing or hiking weather!
My happy countdown continues - and we're looking forward to next winter, when maybe we can track some of these folks down and enjoy a taste of their lifestyle with them. Until then...
We're going to go to Lubbock, Texas to see my mother for Thanksgiving. For the past 10+ years, we've gone camping or RVing - but this year we're just taking the truck and staying with Mom.
Then our son's coming home on leave December 8 and will be here all through winter break - meaning we don't get to go anywhere then, either.
So I know that in February, which will be our first opportunity to go somewhere, we'll definitely be ready to go! Don's already decided we'll try to get a site at Camp Pendleton on the beach at Oceanside.
Until then, I'll just have to dream about this coming summer - when we get to hit the road and not have to hurry back for work in August!
The full-time RV-ing "family" has lost two of its own - Bruce and Margie. Her daughter posted on their blog this afternoon that both of them were killed in a horrible car accident this morning. She stated that they were out for one of their walks, and a driver who was suicidal hit them. The police are treating it as a homicide.
I've been following their blog for about a year now, and Margie has visited mine regularly to make comments - as recently as last night. Bruce and Margie had 132 followers to their blog - that's a LOT of people who called them friends.
My thoughts are with their family as they cope with this senseless tragedy. I regret not being able to meet them in person.
This is a Singer 99K hand crank sewing machine. It's an early Christmas present from Don. I'll be able to take it on all our trips where we know we'll be either boondocking or at a campground without hookups. It was "born" in 1936 in Clydebank, Scotland, and is in pristine condition. I am soooo thrilled that we'll be able to go to all the neat places we've been planning to go to, and I will still be able to sew!
I'm sure everyone reading this knows the feeling - when you've been too long in your house and need to get away. In our case, we wanted to take the trailer out since it had been over 2 months since we'd used it last, and we felt like spending a few days at the regional park. We had a very nice site - we used the newer loop that was built a few years ago. The site was level, and our big slide window faced the mountains. Our view out front was towards the Crafton Hills and the setting sun - which was lovely on Tuesday night since there were a few clouds.
We set up Sunday afternoon, and stayed for 3 nights. I went to work as usual - I just had a shorter drive to go "home."
The peak in the middle is higher than it looks - that's San Bernardino Peak. We live in a canyon just south of it (to the right).
Work has been interesting, to say the least. I'm doing my best to not be a "lame duck" president, and some of the battles are just plain silly. Others are extremely frustrating; others make me so angry. I know I have a countdown widget over on the right side of my blog - but there's also the countdown of school/work days - 133!
George's blog, Tioga and George, was the very first full-timer blog I followed, and have been reading his posts about life in Mexico and his travels to Israel for several years. My heart goes out to George this day and for days to come. After thinking for weeks that his son David had disappeared, he learned yesterday that he was dead. Such a heartbreaking story and situation. There's not much else to say.
Horsetail Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon - February 2005
Yes, it's been a LONG time since my last post. I've been busy with work and just not too interested in posting when I did have the time to post.
First of all, let me welcome my newest followers:
Jessica, who writes a blog called Happily Ever After
Rusted Granny
Tami
N&J
Thanks for finding me and reading my blog!
As I said, work has been pretty time-consuming. I'm the president of our local teachers' union, and have been busy with the beginning-of-school issues: transfers, reassignments, class sizes, administrator demands, potty training (kids in Kindergarten who haven't been potty trained!), daily schedules, extra duty assignments, evaluations, budget cuts, layoffs, rehires, catastrophic leave, student discipline, our governance documents review, professional development, dress code, testing - and all that just since August 10.
Things are beginning to slow down some, and this past 3-day weekend proved to be a perfect break between the beginning-of-the-year issues and settling in to a routine. Now that I've made the decision to retire at the end of the school year, there are a few issues I don't get as wound up about - it's more like "take it up with the new guy," since they're long-term issues. I'm still fighting the good fight for my members, don't get me wrong, but I'm focusing on the issues I can handle this year.
I wish I could fire our governor and state legislature. They're all clowns. Both sides are so entrenched in their positions, here it is September and we still don't have a state budget. There's not one in sight, either - rumor has it that they're just going to let the new governor have that battle. Until then, schools continue to suffer - more billions cut or deferred. Districts are beginning to have cash flow problems - which means our paychecks are in danger of being delayed - ouch!
But Don and I have had some great times the past month that we've been back. Now that we've officially made the decision to keep the house, all the unknowns about full-timing are gone. Instead of planning a big trip for next summer, he's going to Orlando to see his father next month, and I'm going to Lubbock to see Mom in November. We'll be home for Christmas, since Kenny's coming home on leave on his way to his new base. He's leaving Kadena AB (Okinawa, Japan) and going to Holloman AFB in New Mexico.
We ARE getting hitch itch, though - and need to schedule a 2-3 night outing somewhere close just because. I'll check at the Regional Park - that way I can just get up in the morning and go to work. We don't have to schedule a weekend.
I'll post again when there's more to talk about. Until then, we're
