LEAP Presentation

We have what are called LEAP Presentations at the school I work at.  It stands for Learning...something, something, something.  Anyway, it's a way for the kids to select their best work and then show it off at their conferences.  We just got done with those last week.  I was thinking, however, it would have been more fitting to have them today.

Here is mine:  This is what I woke up to this morning.  Cora mentioned it as she was coming to bed from getting up with Chloe...that it was still there!  It started last night.  We both thought it would be gone by morning, but this is the snow that could.  Apparently, it very much wants to be March Snow, but got the date wrong.

We already have tulips that are bursting out of the ground!  And we get snow?  Way to push Spring back some more Ol' Man Winter!

Happy Wednesday to all!  And Happy Leap Day!

The Weather

 Since there seems to be so little else to talk about, how about that there weather?  No, that's not true.  I have had two days at school watching the kids make their board games.  Some of them I have been pleasantly surprised by, others...well, I wonder how they tied their own shoes in the morning, really.  Seriously!!  These kids have never played board games!  Some of them anyway.  Jeez!

I have managed to pull through both days, though.  Tomorrow, they get to present their games to the class and then they will play other groups' games.  We'll see just how FUBAR that is.  Should be a joy...as to whether they demonstrate what they learned about the hardships experienced on the Oregon Trail...well, that remains to be seen.

I'll leave you with some pictures.

Another Sunny Day

 Well, Monday was here again.  From the cries of the child in her bed, I judge it to still be in the vicinity.  All-in-all, Monday wasn't as problematic as it could have been.  We had an awards assembly, which made class periods shorter.  That was fine, since I had my kids working on a board game of the Oregon Trail.  Some of them are downright creative.  Others I expect to be doing well on it seem to be floundering.  Or hoping someone else will do it for them.  All-in-all, it was a regular day.

On the downside, Cora got stuck at work and Chloe and I went to Gymkids alone.  Chloe did well, but she kept looking to the stands to see if Mommy had somehow shown up.  She DOES love her mommy.  We were both pleased to find Mommy had pulled in just minutes before we did.

On a Barny note:  I took these Friday.  I happened to be in another part of the valley.  I found a few barns and this one was the one I really liked.  Not bad for what was basically a drive-by.

On a second Barny note:  I took the word verification off last week and within what seemed like hours, but was really the next day, I got three SPAM comments, offering me everything from Electronic Cigarettes to Some sort of shampoo that would grow more hair on my head.  Given that I put the word-verification on to avoid that stuff, I am afraid I went back in and put the word-verification back on.  I sincerely apologize to those of you who mentioned difficulty commenting.  It is sad when people and corporations do things that make us HAVE to protect ourselves.  The thing is, I know some others who have no word-verification and never get SPAMMED!  It doesn't seem fair.

As ever, drop by Barn Charms and say hi to the wonderful folks who post barns!

Short Weekend

 Seems the weekends get shorter and shorter when you want to put more into them.  I guess we should just plan on doing something like going to the zoo or something, but it seems like we always need to do something else, or the weather is uncooperative.

As it was, we finally got the chance to celebrate a certain someone's second birthday.  Our niece turned two a couple weeks ago but it took until now for all of us to get together.  She is becoming quite the little girl.  Here she is with her cousin Chloe.

 She got a tricycle for her birthday.  It looks very similar to the one that Chloe got for Christmas.

We went shopping today.  We avoided going for groceries and instead walked around the mall with Chloe.  It was fun.  We all got to share a giant pretzel and all in all it was fun!  Then we came home for nap and then the day just seemed to disappear.

We did manage to get the exterior Christmas lights down...which shows how lazy I am and how out of the way the lights were.

For a day that began with a sunny disposition by noon we were watching snow fly sideways.  It cleared up again, and we saw sunshine again...weird.

Cora and I took a break during nap time and relaxed a bit.  We also played Wii for a bit.  And now we are waiting for bedtime to take us into another work-week.  I think we should all have at least one good four-day weekend every month just so we can catch up on all the crap that doesn't get done during the week.

A Few Pics

 I survived the week.  I'm looking forward to the weekend.  It was a crazy week, but I survived.

 I even took a few photos.

 Even the dreary winter can offer up a few colors, it seems.

Two in Five Hours

I got some requests to take the word verification on my blog off.  It has been a few years since I last got that snotty kind of automated advertisement comment, so I thought, "why not?"  Within eight hours I got an anonymous advertisement comment asking me to visit their site.  Then less than five hours later I got another, this time telling me just how entirely awesome the new electronic cigarette is and how I should buy one.  Given my previous experience and the speed with which my blog was attacked, I am afraid I am putting the word verification back on.  I'm sorry, but I don't like the automated comments coming through like they do.  It's really sad that you cannot have a nice thing without having to defend it in some way.  The weird thing is some people don't have that problem.  I wish I knew the secret.

I have to go to my happy place...

Ahhh, that's better.

I had another split shift.  On the up-side, tomorrow is a day I can come home at a regular time.  We still have a half-day of classes.  There are more student led conferences, though.  Speaking of which, OMG!  A couple of them were horrible.  The rest were pretty good.  I guess, given my duty as a responsible human being and educator, I cannot elaborate.  I'd love to, but, ah, hell...I gotta.  One of the kids looked like he was trying to arrange himself so he could sit comfortably on a very sharp stick.  He looked like he was physically in pain.

Alas, there are many things I see each day that I should not share.  Let's just say, "Kids are funny."

A Couple Barns

It's been awhile, and I probably could have joined last week, but the old barn photos never rival the ones I COULD take this week.  So, just to prove that, here are a few I took last week.  As usual, I have upped the contrast and colors and used the "Magic Bullet" to help with the plain-ness brought about by our winter weather.  

As I type, it is nap time for one very tired little girl.  As it turns out, it is very hard for me to keep my own eyes open.  Apparently keeping up with her burns more energy than teaching 140 freshmen.  

 I thought I was finished when I got to the one above, then I decided to try one more thing on it and that's how I got the bottom.  I like it, too, but I put both up because I'd like to hear your opinions.

Click on over and see the rest of Barn Charms after you're done here!

A good Weekend and President's Day.

 I haven't taken pictures of Chloe's cute little feet for awhile, so here is a shot I got the other day.

Chloe, Cora and I went to the park for awhile yesterday and Chloe was extremely happy to be there.

 I spied Cora through the "telescope" on the playground equipment.

 Chloe loved going down the slide.

 This morning Chloe put on her Princess outfit and I helped her accessorize.

 She helped me clean off the table...she was aiming to grab my camera.  I took her portrait instead.

 Then we watched Sesame Street.  She had to have a snack and "POP" and be covered.

So far we've had a good morning!

Walkin', and Ridin', and Looking for Buthes.

 Chloe and I went for a walk...only to discover it was too cold.

 So we jumped in the truck and went to the park.  The wind was biting cold, but she swung anyway.  Not for very long, but long enough.

On our drive we looked for big trucks and school buses.  Finally, since we'd not see any in the wild, I drove over to the bus barn and we saw the buses in their corral.  She seemed to get a kick out of it!  "'Cool Buth?!"

Nap time looms and we will not be sad to see the darling sleep for awhile.  When she got her colors taken away for writing on herself, she quickly went from quiet to crying.  Noisily.  Alas, parenting runs the gamut daily.

My Recent Inactivity

It's been a long week.  We have been busy with Chloe, as usual.  She is a spitfire.  We are having full conversations now.  Seriously!  She uses fewer words than most, but we still know what she is talking about.  For instance, she and I discussed the time when Santa's truck with lights was parked outside the house.  We also remembered how Chloe, Me, and Mommy jumped in the car to go see Santa and how we ran to see him.  He waved at Chloe.  She remembered this, with remarkable accuracy.  ( our town always has Santa drive by the houses and wave at those who will come out into the dark cold night.  We were afraid they might miss our house this last year, so we hunted Santa down.  Good thing we did, since they never did drive by the house, though one of the drivers is our neighbor and he dropped by his house at the end of the night...he parked where Chloe could see out her window.)  She is amazing.

I've been teaching about the Oregon Trail.  This is where I realize that my knowledge of history is limited to more modern eras.  Well, that's not true, I know about the hardships.  Let's just say the amount I truly care is limited to more modern eras.  I like airplanes.  They didn't have airplanes on the Oregon Trail, so I tend to nod off whenever I look into it.  It's just not as exciting as I hoped it might be.  Of course, I will find the next part (Politics and the whole progressivism era) less interesting (honestly, who cares about the Wobblies?).  Still, eventually, we will get to the WWII era, where my favorite thing happened!  Washington State became a war machine.  This state pumped out thousands of bombers and...what the heck was that...hmmm...oh, yeah!  and atomic bomb.  OK, maybe it was a plutonium paste, but still, Tennessee is the only state that can reasonably claim a similar feat!

Next week is "Student Led conferences."  That should be interesting, but at least I have seniors.  If they don't know what they are doing already, then they're in big trouble.  On the down side, I'll be working a split shift...yuck.

Time has not been on my side and I have taken an absolute minimum of pictures...well, more than last week, but less than I'd like.  The house is semi clean and I would love to get away from the house.  Cora, however, seems to have other plans.  She seems to have the strangest idea:  We should take down our exterior Christmas lights.  I know, huh!?  I said the same thing!  "It's NOT EVEN July!"

The weather is warming and I am looking forward to Spring.  The days are getting longer.  Soon we'll be back on Daylight Savings.

The other night Chloe was feeling sick.  I got up with her at 11pm and sat in my chair with her for a long time. At 1AM I awoke and tried to put her back in her crib.  She would have nothing to do with it.  So I gave her a drink of hot milk and let her sit in my chair.  A few minutes later I noticed she was asleep...and NOT in my ARMs!  She was in an awkward position, so I had to take a picture before I changed it for her.  Still, since she was comfortable where she was, after rearranging her I was reluctant to move her back to the crib, so I lay out in the living room until morning with her.

 I took a few photos of other things this week...but not many.

 Twenty-eight wheeler anyone?  Chloe alerts us to the presence of "BIG TRUCKS."

  I get Monday off...I'd love to find a babysitter, though.

Sunday Morning Walk

 Sometimes you don't have to explain a walk.

Truckin', Got My Chips Cashed In

 I took my camera out today.

but, I got stuck teaching for most of the day.  Stupid kids, why can't they just suck up information without me shoving it down their throats?

Funny thing is I was showing a movie, "Modern Marvels" on gasoline.  This morning, during first period, I had a girl come in late, but that wasn't a big deal.  The movie had just started.  I swear she sat there for a full five minutes while the narrator said the word "GASOLINE" about 32 times.  Then she raised her hand.  I walked over.  She said, "Mr. H, what is this movie about?"  It's times like those that you don't know whether to slap your own forehead or the kid.  Obviously, there was no help for this child, and I wanted to let the office know we lost another to abject stupidity.  We don't have a code for that yet, but I'm thinking we should get one.

Well, the day finally ended, and I think I impressed upon one or two of them that petroleum is very important to our daily lives and that the Straight of Hormuz is important for keeping us in oil, and should it ever close, fuel prices will rise accordingly.

So, I got off work, after some work at deciding what I would do on Monday.  (You know, real teachers do this a bit ahead of time, I think)  I had to get milk, since Chloe seems to be drinking us out of milk these days. As I drove to the store, I saw this military truck outside Lowes.  I had the camera, and had yet to use it this week, so I pulled in and did a drive by.  Here are a few edits.  Nothing special, just a little fun with my computer program.

 I think this last one looks like a picture from a 1980s Time magazine article...well, I think it should.

 I picked up Chloe and she was in top form.  We got home just after Cora pulled in and we had a good evening.  At one point, just before bed, she got on her pajamas and THEN put on her COW costume.  I had to take a picture.  Especially when she said, "Cheese."

Our little girl is potty training herself now.  I feel like I am along for the ride most days.  Chloe is a soul with so much life, as if she got extra.  I am forever amazed by this little girl.  She practically glitters, you know, Vampire-like, but better.  She crackles with energy.  She is just SO CHLOE!  I love this little girl.  If you meet her you fall in love with her.  It's inevitable, so you may as well not fight it.

Yeah, she's good.

Retread

In the golden age, you could buy retreaded tires.  Tires that had been used once and then their old worn tread replaced.  These tires sometimes broke into pieces, but they were cheaper than new tires.  I am retreading an older photo for Barn Charms.  I altered diffusion and saturation to make this.

I have been chosen to teach a class until the end of the year.  Lately, I have been proctoring tests, administering grades and in general busy.  I WANT to get out and take photos, but time, she ain't on my side (Stupid Rolling Stones, they had it wrong).

So, for Barn Charms, I enter this specimen in the hopes that you find it enlightening and entertaining.