Welcome to Fur Friday where I post a random picture (or more) of some of our pets and maybe write a thing or two about it.
Today Cody called us out into the backyard to witness the end results of a random science experiment. It involved soaking eggs in vinegar to see what would happen. Then he decided to drop them onto the concrete basketball pad in our yard as a grand finale.
The dogs enjoyed the show.
In case you were wondering, the eggs broke. It was nasty; the boys thought it was great. The nasty egg sludge was washed into the grass where I am sure Sasha will find it in a day or two and enjoy a lengthy roll around in it before coming into the house to sleep on my side of the bed.
The egg on the left was left to soak in vinegar for a couple days. The egg on the right is the control egg.
Grilled cheese sandwiches are my jam. They are my comfort food. I have very strong opinions about all things involving the great grilled cheese. Here is a sneak peek from the last time I made them, before putting their tops on.
Take a fan, preferably a box fan, a couple pieces of tape, and a sheet. Voilà, you have yourself a Fan Fort. Cody and Carter spent hours yesterday creating a variety of Fan Forts. Some incorporated the couch and pillows and others were build on their bed. Snacks were consumed inside the forts and books were read.
From what I could determine from their conversations, there was only one consistent rule across all these forts: No Fan Fort Flatulence.
One of Cody’s teachers had an activity today that required the students to pick a gif that they felt represented how they felt about going back to school. Cody picked this one.
It makes me so happy that both boys are enjoying their first week of school, virtual as it may be.
I wish I could say the same about my feelings. We are being told to use an entirely new teaching/learning platform that we have little to no training on as of now. It does not seem at all friendly to the user, especially if that user is an elementary aged student. Meet the teacher is Monday and live instruction starts on Tuesday. I think I cried three times today. Oh how I wish we could use Google Classroom, but it is not my call to make.
I am holding on to the pig and the pinwheel. I am focusing on the fact that the boys are off to a great year and I will do what I can to get my pinwheel moving, even if that feels like I am spinning around in circles.
Every morning, Husband and I take our dogs for a two + mile walk. For the last several months there has been a major construction project underway in our neighborhood that has caused us to have to modify our route. A stretch of road has gone from two way to one way traffic. Trenches have been dug. Sidewalks have been removed. This has causes us, on our way home, to have to walk along/in the street with our backs to oncoming traffic. Mind you, this is not a very busy street, but the construction traffic of water trucks, dump trucks, and other large and loud vehicles is a bit unsettling. There is a flagger person at each end of the road.
This morning on our walk along/in the street, I kept looking over my shoulder to ensure our survival, when I saw a large dump truck lumbering our way. I warned Husband and we reined in the dogs and tight-rope walked along the asphalt and into the dirt roadside. We walked on, anticipating the loud roar and rush of air as the overbearing vehicle passed us, but it never came. I kept looking over my shoulder. Then I noticed it. The truck had stopped way down the roadway and was idling, waiting.
At the four way intersection, which has recently become a three way intersection with the temporary road closure, there stood one of two flaggers. Each morning for months, he has happily greeted us, or rather our dogs. He crouches down, arms open, waiting for them to come to him. Sasha’s tail starts wagging the moment she sees him get to her level. Haley, more interested in what is in the back of his truck, is less welcoming, but usually gives him a lick or two.
He had seen me repeatably looking over my shoulder at the dump truck. As he ruffled Sasha’s fur and told her good morning, he looked up at us and said,”The trucks don’t go anywhere until I say they do. I’ve got your back.” And then he went back to hugging on our pups.
We thanked him and went on our way laughing at the grand and unexpected service offered to us by the flagger.
On an unrelated note, Cody and Carter completed their first day of school. Cody is a freshman and Carter is in seventh grade. Learning was done virtually with real time teaching. It went wonderfully! I was also back to work in my classroom nook/office, tucked in our bedroom. It was an in-service day with so much to cover my head is still spinning. I meet my kids on Monday for a brief meet and greet and we start our first week with four half days of instruction and professional development. It is going to be quite the year.
A little reminder to myself, that perspective, my perspective, is powerful and in my ability to control. I can choose to focus on the foreground, and let go of the background clutter as needed.
In life I can use the “portrait” setting to keep what is close, what is important, in focus and allow the distractions to blend, blur into a watercolor-like backdrop.
Or maybe I am just procrastinating cleaning the back patio…
There are many reasons I am looking forward to the school year starting back up, even if it will be done remotely. I am excited for Cody to start high school. I am glad Carter got his first choices of elective classes – applied technology and yearbook. I am trying to be positive about all the technology I will learn and utilize as I teach my third graders from the classroom nook I created in a corner of the bedroom.
But mostly I am excited that Husband and I will no longer lunch together at our dining room table to the delightful sound of machine gun fire.
About three weeks ago (although it feels like three months ago) under the guise of being concerned about our children’s socialization, we caved to the pressure of allowing them to play a popular video game, Fortnite. This is a third person shooter game that players can play in teams with others. As far as I can tell, players slaughter other players, using a variety of differently colored weapons, in hopes of being the last ones standing. The winners can then gloat and freak out over getting a “Victory Royale”. It may not be our best parenting decision, so don’t judge.
Once school starts, the boys will no longer have their Pandemic Summer Screen Time extended from 40 minutes a day to way-to-many minutes a day, and life will get back to somewhat normal.
We will all be able to have lunch together to the gentle sounds of NPR playing in the background.
Fortnite. I had to crop this picture because no one in our house wears pants anymore.
Shoes On The Wrong Feet 