Whoa. Hey. Monday. I worked a lot this weekend on the day job. Probably 12 hours? Maybe more. Not ideal. Grades are due. Am I done? Um. No. I will be. Whether I’m ready or not. Seriously, I have a small pile of late work to get through and one class of harder thinky stuff. I got through a lot of the thinky stuff on Saturday and Sunday, but couldn’t quite get it all done. I ran out of time. And energy. And ability to think straight. I have a knee doctor appointment today (FINALLY an actual doctor after 11 months), so I had to write a sub plan for my afternoon classes, and that meant recording a video like I was teaching the assignment, then turning it into a video with questions so the kids couldn’t just copy, they had to think. Probably harder than I would have done in class, but it will hopefully keep them occupied AND teach them the lesson. A teacher can hope. It’s not ideal to have a sub in there after having one for the literacy stuff on Thursday, so I’m bribing them with nachos. Reality…teaching is expensive, for the bribes alone.
So I also managed to get in a hike (by myself…the Man was feeling off)…
I wanted to be sure to do all the knee-challenging things this weekend before the doctor’s appointment, so it would be at its worst. I only had time for 3 1/2 miles, though…
The weather was weird…warm but with a chilly breeze…
There was hardly anyone else out there. Sometimes I get freaked out by that. There was some big guy sitting in his car in the parking lot…the only other car there. He was also still there when I got back after an hour plus. I shared my location with the Man in case I disappeared. Seriously. It was creepy. But I love to be outside and wish it never felt creepy.
This rattlesnake was cool…stretched out along the whole path when I walked up…
Never rattled. Just slowly moved across the path as I watched.
I rarely see them like this…
So it’s fascinating when I do.
Yes, I ironed…for at least an hour a night. Because I do my day job and I’m allowed to do my art. I didn’t get far on Friday night…mostly due to exhaustion.
Saturday night wasn’t a lot better, but a chunk of the swamp got done…
There was a family party, so that kind of put the nix on doing any more schoolwork. Talk about no brain power left…
Then last night, another hour, finishing the top part of the swamp and starting one of the pedestals on which the justices stand. This is Amy Coney Barrett’s pedestal.
She’s not a fan of the rainbow. Someone said there was an owl in here, but it’s actually the Swamp Thing. Some politician who’s gone native. There are a lot of them.
So that was the weekend. Grade things, plan things, hike a bit, eat a bit, socialize a bit, make a little art. This week is a little weird, but not as crazy as next week will be, so yeah. I’m not looking forward to parts of next week. Not looking forward to parts of this week either. I’ve got some serious rewriting or planning to do for the end of this unit. Not sure when I can get my head around that. Gonna have to, whether I like it or not.
Today? Teach independent and dependent variables. Leave early. Buy nacho stuff for tomorrow’s kids. Go to doctor’s appointment. Come home and finish grades…hopefully in time to make art. Another pedestal or two? Oh, there’s two snakes in there. Gotta do those first. I will be thinking of my friend above when I do that, although one’s a King snake…can’t remember what the other one is. Same old same old.
Kathy Nida 