Please Forward

Since we moved into our cozy little condo in 1999, it's been mostly us and our pets. (The pets? Well... That's another blog post, but there have been many: 5 cats, 2 dogs, 3 turtles, 2 hamsters, 2 gerbils, and countless fish.) There have been periods, though, when we have had a couple of temporary co-residents, first our godson, Josh, and then my cousin Elaine. Both moved on years ago, though, so imagine our surprise this afternoon when, turning the key on the mailbox, we found correspondence addressed to both.

Door Number Two

When the FaceTime ringtone jangled my phone last night at around 9:30, Heidi and I exchanged glances. "It's Bill!" I said. "He's calling both me and Courtney." I shook my head and tapped join. "This is going to be either really bad or really random."

When the call connected, the screen was dark and jerky, like a scene from the Blair Witch Project. "Hello? Hello?" I called.

"Tracey?" my brother's voice answered, and I could just make out his shadowy figure somewhere in the night, surrounded by trees. "I'm crossing a swaying bridge at Gary's farm, and the bouncing must have butt dialed you. Sorry!"

"No problem!" I replied. "As long as everything is okay, I'll talk to you soon."

"Really random," I reported to Heidi.

"Much better than really bad," she agreed.

Setting the Tone

In their enthusiasm and love of the outdoors, our cats have scratched the hell out of the screen doors leading out to the decks. In recent weeks I have been on the hunt for a replacement, without much luck. It seems that all the local hardware and big box home improvement stores are out of stock on the item we need. 

And so, in a spurt of handiness, I decided to order a repair kit instead, and try to replace the screen myself. The first day of summer vacation dawned quiet and warm, and when I stepped outside to water the plants, I knew that the time was right to DIM. 

Flathead screwdriver, razor knife, and roller tool in hand, I pried a corner of the old screen up and zipped out the 35-year-old spline and torn aluminum netting. Then I rolled out my new, fiberglass pet-proof mesh and pushed it into the channel at the top. Heidi came over to assist as I stretched and rolled the new spline into place, then trimmed the extra screen with my utility knife. 

Unlike so many superficially simple but practically complicated projects, this one went off without a hitch, and it turned out great! Every time I look out and see the perfect expanse completely unmarred by claws, I am as pleased and proud as can be. 

Call me overly optimistic, but I have to think that's a sign-- it's going to be a very good summer.

What I Learned in School Today

1.  How to draw an English muffin:

2. How to draw a cat:

3. It was harder than I thought it would be to say good bye to these kids. 

What a year!

Traditional Learner

 In case anyone needed any confirmation that my learning style is old school, here ya go: 

The teacher for a day pulled up his slides. "The only things you will need for this lesson are a piece of paper and a pencil to take notes."

I was on it! In no time every in-person student, the teaching assistant, and me all had our materials on the desk and ready to go. What followed was an extremely detailed presentation on Sonic the Hedgehog, a topic upon which I know virtually nothing. But, although the teacher moved quickly through the dense material, my pen moved even faster as I evaluated information, created bullet lists, and made connections, using arrows and boxes to organize the facts. 

When I turned my loose leaf paper over, the kids in the room with me looked up surprised. They had already given up, and their notes were sparse. "C'mon you guys!" I encouraged them. "I bet the assessment is open note. The more you have, the better you can do!"

What followed was a 30 question Kahoot! With mics muted, our little group joined forces. I pointedly referred to my noted throughout, and in the end? Our team won the day! But the real prize was when one of the in-person kids shook his head and said with a bit of disbelief, "I gotta start taking better notes!"

Fine-tuning

Teacher-for-a-day has not been quite as successful this year as it has in the past, which is hardly surprising, considering that many would say teaching in general has not been as successful this year as it has in the past. 

Even so, a lesson today was just too short to be a hit, but it was designed by a student who really did her best, so I turned off my mic and camera and let her present  five slides on drawing an ice cream cone. I learned along with the class, completing all the activities with enthusiasm, as I do with all the lessons, and when we got to the end with a simple ice cream cone drawn on my paper and no assessment in sight, I unmuted. "Why don't we all color these as our favorite kind of ice cream cone and post photos of them in the chat?" I suggested. It was what I would have done if I had underplanned the lesson (which happens more often than you might think).

Fortunately? The teacher liked my idea, and her comments as she moderated the drawings really ended the lesson on a positive note. And later, when I read through the feedback before sending her a summary, I was pleased to see that all the kids enjoyed the activity. 

Non-stop

The question of the day was What are your three road trip must-haves? 

First answer? Food, phone, and a bottle to pee in.

Well.

Safe travels, kid.