One down , 8 more to go.

Weeks of school that is. This next week is the biggie.... TAKS testing that is. For those of you not living in Texas, it's 3 days of stress and terror for any student 3rd grade and up. In some grade levels if you don't pass the test you aren't promoted on to the next grade.

The big boys who set the schedules for the TAKS tests every year should really consult the Farmer's Almanac. They need to make sure the moon is not full the week before (or the week of...) The week before is almost as important as the week of the test. It's the last minute push for some of the kids. Come to think of it I don't think the moon was full last week... seems like we're in the no moon phase right about now. Who knows what was wrong with those kids.

We had a full week of kids in ISS... Thursday we had 7 kids in the office, camped out all day... The ISS room was full, the outer office of ISS had a child, Principal's office and Asst. Principal's office, my office, and conference room. Some were fighters, one was a screamer, and one was a fit thrower. Then during lunch they have to pull them all out into the walk ways of the office so they can be monitored while the people who occupy these spaces can do their lunch duties. This means we have kids lining the walls not facing each other, and Judi, Maria and I have to monitor them. Our school really needs a separate classroom just for ISS. Something set up with little cubicles for them to work in. Where they can't see other students.... then when they grow up and work in an office they will have fond memories of ISS.



Friday I went on a Field Trip with the 5th grade. We went to see EARTH The Movie. Classic Disney. Just what Walt would have made. G rating all the way. Fantastic photography, especially the underwater shots. The most gruesome things in the movie was when a Cheetah ran down a Impala and put it's mouth on the Impala's throat, and then a pride of lions all jumped on a sort of young elephant and rode him off into the brush, and a polar bear who tried to catch a walrus. No blood, no guts no gruesome death scenes. The teachers sounded as if they were disappointed by this. One said "I wonder if they toned it down for us?" I think they were expecting not only blood and guts but also the birds and bees part of it too.



I sat next to one of the ISS boys on the bus on the way to the movie.... yeah, he was excited to see me. He asked me if I had any referral sheets in my purse. He's really a sweet kid, just makes poor choices sometimes.









At the movie I sat next to one of our newest students, Esther. Esther's family just moved here from Kenya. We all love the way they speak.... "Excuse me...... (long pause) may I ask you a question..... " And each word is thought out, you can tell they are trying to translate everything into English. I'm going to start having her teach me hello and goodbye in her native language. At one point in the movie when the polar bear was desperately trying to kill the walrus but was failing miserably, Esther gently tugged on my sleeve and leaned over to whisper to me "He's just veeeerrrry hungry." She's so precious. This was the FIRST time she had ever been to a movie theater. I'll print this picture out for her to keep.

One of my co-workers is a real Mother Nature. A mother TO nature. Somehow she ends up with all the orphaned baby animals in our neighborhood. Dawn has raised so many baby dove that she could have her own flock. Baby sparrows, baby black birds (I wonder if she's the reason we have huge flocks down by the Burger King?) At the moment she's raising a litter (I guess that's what you call it, probably not) of baby cotton tail rabbits. A friend of Dawn's dog dug up the nest and the Mother rabbit took off. So in steps Dawn.






This is Maria's son Jean Luc, he is probably the only student in school (besides Dawn's son) that knows Dawn keeps a box of bunnies under her desk in the Computer Lab.





Jody and I attempted to go to Garland Friday night. Last weekend a few people said they were going to start going on Fridays and Saturdays. So we drove over to check it out. None of our buddies were there, only the Country pickers. These are the guys who play the old Country standards, Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams... that's OK, but they feel the need to sing. And there's a reason why they are standing on a street corner at the ripe old age of 70 singing and not living in a mansion outside Nashville. Talk about twang. We prefer the flat pickers, they just play and no vocals involved.

We drove down, parked on the square, Jody made a phone call to Mark and we left. No one was there. It ended up being a scenic drive, and it was a good thing, I was almost asleep by the time we got back home. After working all day, I don't think people will have the energy to come out on Friday and stay as late as they do on Saturday. Yeah the old folks get their naps in but us that work don't, and we're tired.

Last night was much better. Dave, Carol and Lucas came up and we had a good visit with them. Mark was in his usual funny mood. Doing the Bogart hands thing, trying to get people to notice he is holding his hands like claws. He swears Humphrey Bogart holds his hands like claws in all his movies. I need to check this out, one of the old photos in the sandwich shop on the square, shows him with his hands in sort of a claw shape. Jody said they were stuck like that from gripping a 5th of whiskey. Mark tries to get me to do it too, to see if people notice. Last week he said someone looked at my hands and then looked away several times, like they didn't want to stare. I can't knit with my hands in the claw formation and I crack-up if I look at Mark. He can stand there talking to people for the longest time and Jody and I are rolling with laughter. Then people start staring at us wondering what in the world we are laughing at. I'll have to take a picture of him next week. I may see if I can borrow Jeff's video camera. He's a riot.

I just remembered Jody doesn't want to go next week.... Mark told him they would play together. Now Jody is freaked out. Mark is by far the best guitar and mandolin player I've ever known. He's also an excellent teacher. Jody always takes his mandolin on Saturdays, but he never plays it. Jody has one of the best sounding mandolins out there, and many people play Jody's mandolin. But he never plays. He doesn't want to drag good players down by having a beginner play with them. We'll go.... he needs to go. He needs a little "go-kart' push.

Hope your week goes smoothly, and if you work a school in Texas, you may want to take up drinking after work. If you don't live in Texas or work at a school, go ahead and take up drinking in our honor.