Month in Review: January 2023 (Q4!)

Some highlights:

The new year started off strong: With the Pink Panther remake and a new car!

January is the last month before the post-season for wrestling. There have been meets most Wednesdays and a tournament one Saturday.

Shane's missed a lot of Youth Group, but going to an arcade was fun and new.

Shane got braces.

Shane's not been involved in any team sports, but he's been taking riding lessons. 

Carrie's used the new car a lot and even started a part time job at Dover Saddlery.

Between work, wrestling, and the barn it's been busy!

The baby horses are doing well. They even got to wear their blankets for the first time.

Loki's acting interested in Kila again. Not that anything is happening with it.

Nana said she loves whatever I write, but then objected to me saying she used to send me to school sick. Megan said she remembers things closer to how I do than Nana. :)

Summary: 

January's normally a very busy month. I come out of Winter Break with energy to run. School is busy, because the semester ends mid-month. That means kids do the last minute hustle, grades are do, and there's usually a midterm. Wrestling ramps up into the post season. It's cold outside which means there's more work at the barn and it's less pleasant to do it. It's nice when there are snow day breaks, but we haven't had any this year. 

In Heat? (Q4!)

 Loki's at it again. Not that he's had any success.

Kila enjoys the attention without getting his intention.

It's comical and just a little sad.

Air humps!

When the awkward mating dance ritual fails enough times, we sometimes separate the pups to give ourselves a break from the show. 

It's roughly been 2 months since the last time Loki acted cuckoo for Kila. Sheltie's are only supposed to have a couple of heat cycles a year. 

We don't want Kila pregnant before she's a year old, so we're not encouraging the behavior. We're not taking steps to prevent it, either. Loki's chances seem so low, what's the point? Kila spends more time on top of him!

When Loki does manage to get behind Kila and hop up, she just sits down. *Plop*. Access denied.

I don't think Kila's even aware, though. The general cluelessness of it all amuses me. I hope they figure it out one day or there was no point in keeping them intact!

Riding Lessons....and it's me again? Experiences are important (Q4!)

 Another Saturday, another riding lesson. Hi, puppies.

Experience is a powerful counter to anxiety. 

It's good to get out, about, and do things. That way you can compare what you've done to anything new that comes your way.

Shane will grow up more comfortable around animals and farms than your average kid.

I can't comment on how much Shane's riding skills have improved, but he's more comfortable with tacking up, brushing, and taking care of a horse for sure. 

We're at the point the lessons are normal. Shane knows the what he needs to get ready, he knows PG, and he knows Phoenix. 

Shane's even comfortable with spectators.....that are horses.

The big tell will be if Shane can go riding with Carrie some this summer. Her moonshot hope is for Shane to fall in love and share the horse craze with her. Her realistic hope is that they can go on trail rides together. That should be doable. The bigger question is: Would I go on those rides? 

Trashy Bag (Q4!)

 For some reason, Shane has been bringing his trash home from school.

"Why don't you throw away your trash AT school?"

"I dunno." Shrug.

And on a related note, Shane complains sometimes that his backpack is heavy. The trash doesn't way much, but the stash of library books do.

They're probably half Dogman books. Shane's already read them, but sees no reason to trim down the collection when he can complain about how heavy his backpack is instead.

Which is technically exercise, so I don't pull them out. Let him struggle and burn an extra calorie or two if he doesn't want to use his brain on the matter! He can build back muscles or brain neurons to build character. Learning how to analyze and make those decisions (or paying the penalty for failing to do so) is an important part of the teenage years in my mind.

Advantages to a Compact (Q4!)

The barn dominates the view from our back porch. The gator is normally parked right beside it to cart all the horse poop off into the woods.

We've driven the gator through the aisleway before, but now we have a car that can do the same.

Carrie bought some horse feed, salt blocks, or something. Instead of carrying it into the barn from the car, she drove the car to where she wanted to unload it!

Normally, I'd be the one schlepping things form here to there, so I was happy to save the calories. The right tool is the one that fits the job. Bigger isn't always better.

Youth Group (Q4!)

After three weeks off, Shane went back to youth group today. I'd hoped Carrie would take him while I was coaching, but it seemed like something came up or she was too tired each time. 

Shane will complain about having less time to play video games or call someone, but he needs to be social. I let him skip his 30 minutes of Japanese as an extra bribe, because "I think Youth Group is that important." 

Whatever resistant I get about going ends when we get in the car. Shane wants to listen to whatever our current audiobook is. Sometimes I make him wait, because I want to talk. You'd think that this would meet with Shane's approval. He has no inner monologue. If I sit down with a book, he'll sit down next to me with a toy or book and start talking about what he's doing. If I try to write, he's looking over my shoulder or fighting with the dogs under my feet. The kid can't stand to go without attention and talking! 

But the moment I try to have a conversation with him about his day? It's all short replies and "Can we start the book now?"

No pictures today. I'm sure I stayed in the car and either napped or caught up on my Spanish Bible practice. There's another meet next Wednesday, but after that Shane will be a regular attendee at the Wednesday night gatherings. 

Blog Update (Q4!)

I started this post right after Spring Break. There were only a few sentences drafted out that looked like this.

• Monday....I...have...time!? What to do?
  
  
• Tuesday - Transferred files....did nothing....and then stayed up late uploading everything. Why not earlier? I couldn't say.

Six weeks later, I'm back to it. I didn't do much that Monday, but I was refreshed enough from Spring Break I drafted out a ton of posts. That's made today's catch-up marathon possible! 

What day is today? Memorial Day. There's two weeks of school left and I'm ready to be done. I spent a week or two playing around with writing fiction instead of the blog before I got fully into the SOL grind. 

The massive backlog irks me, though, so I'm back to it. It's easy to look at something as insurmountable when you're far enough behind. I've learned that the best way to feel better about something is to do something! 

I know these sort of posts are boring for readers, but I look at them as good for personal accountability, venting some thoughts, providing historical context, and easily filling a gap in the posting record (ha, ha!). 

Sick Day (Q4!)

Monday was a teacher workday (Thank God!). Which paired up well with a doctor's appointment for Shane. He gets headaches at least a couple of times a month. We decided to be proactive rather than reactive and talk to someone.

Max is on the list for a check-up, as well. She's not been doing the best. She's been very clingy and was all over me. Ironically, I wasn't feeling well myself, so maybe she wanted likeminded company. 

I made sure to put the AC on and drop my windows when Shane and I got near the doctor's. I didn't think I was sick, but I didn't want a hot car to increase my forehead temperature and prohibit me from entering with Shane.

Shane is very good at describing symptoms and talking medical. Too good. 

Some headaches are normal at Shane's age. He does occasionally forget to drink water, get sucked into too much screen time, and stress over things. The doctor thought Shane might occasionally get more of a migraine style headache, though. He recommended immediately talking medicine if Shane ever felt that style of headache starting. 

I wondered if Shane would use his new headache descriptive vocabulary more post-visit, but he has not. If anything, I feel like he's had less headaches after we had him talk to someone!

We went out for gas and errands afterward. I was running on fumes and needed to fill up!

I don't recall if I took this picture of my temperature before or after Shane's appointment. Typically, pictures are pasted in chronological order, so it was probably after we got home. 99.5 F is high for me. 

My guess is it was exhaustion related. Nana would have still sent my butt to school. Nevermind that I run low naturally. It was "Show me 100+, puke, or blood. Otherwise, get to school!"

Which, as heartless as that was, did help me not to be a wimp. I want to walk the line with Shane where he gets some sympathy but prevent him from wussing out! 

Weekend Tourney (Q4!)

It was a tournament weekend, but we only had five wrestlers show up. Mohammed had texted me. His brother was supposed to give him a ride, but the car had broken down. He was excused. The rest of the no shows? Not so much.

It's been a good season, but things are starting to deflate at the end. Maybe if we had more early victories, but w's are earned and not given. Oversleeping is the kind of thing my coach would have railroaded my a** for..., but he had spares. We don't have enough kids for a full lineup, so unless someone is toxic we need them in the room. It's a different place to be.

I left Shane at home this time and made it before the morning coach's meeting. 

I skipped breakfast with the intent to eat breakfast and lunch in the hospitality room! I snuck food out to Disha, our manager, in between matches.

The kids we had wrestled hard. One even got to puke! 

Next week is regionals. I love coaching, but I'm ready to catch my breath. We have a number of seniors, but there are enough underclassmen to be a seed if they come back. It's be nice to keep the progress going so that we'll be competitive again after COVID killed the team. 

Shane out loud (Q4!)

Shane loves to describe comics. If a picture is a thousand words and he could show you, he'll give you a thousand words instead.

His descriptions are accurate. I recognize most of the Far Side comics he brings up within the first sentence or two. 

He keeps going.

Shane does it for Far Sides, Garfields, memes, and whatever else he enjoys and wants to share. Brevity is not something he appreciates at the moment. I think his lowest grade in English class so far was on summarizing, and I know why!

New Job...for Carrie! (Q4!)

No pictures, but interesting news: Carrie started a part time job at Dover Saddlery.

Carrie was recruited. She was shopping and Shawnee said, "Want a job?" Carrie was flattered and decided, "Sure" (She got a kick filling out the application. She even wrote "I'm overqualified" when the form asked her qualifications!).

So now Carrie is working twice a week at Dover. She's excited about the employee discount and hopes the extra cash will pay off a few horse expenses here and there. We don't need the cash, but it should be fun as a social and networking opportunity. Carrie has the little green car now, too, so she's not worried about putting miles on the truck or eating up gas to drive back and forth to Cville.

However, this means Shane will have to be on his own for a little bit on work days.  It shouldn't be more than an hour. We're hoping it's a good opportunity for him to be a little more independent. Shane has to get home, contact us that he made it, scoop cat poop, and then he's allowed Roblox. With that restricted access fruit dangled in front of him, we're confident he'll be too busy on it that he won't get into much trouble elsewhere.  

Car Alignment and Another Meet!? (Q4!)

Somehow, Wednesday stay full. I drove in to town early to drop the Subaru off to get the wheel's aligned. 

There was a courtesy shuttle that took me to work and picked me up at the end of the day. I drove over to Wegmans to pick up soda for Carrie and dinner for myself.

I was irrationally happy to eat my sandwich. It was a Danny's Favorite. I remember being emotionally moved, no exaggeration. I'd intended to buy a medium, but accidentally said large. 

"This is my reward. I earned buying this by not going home and going to a wrestling match instead."

I could have gone home right then, but I would've felt guilty splurging to eat out. Subs at Wegmans were such a fantastic deal a couple years ago, but prices have gone everywhere since.

I drove out to Fluvanna High School for our wrestling meet of the night.

The Flucos had enough kids to have two teams. The old Coach (Mike) retired. I don't know if he's still active duty on the police force in Charlottesville, but he left a lively program. Fluvanna has the 8th grade at the high school. Academically and socially, I wouldn't want 8th graders picking up high school habits yet, but that probably makes it much easier on sports teams to recruit JV players!

Ironically, my big win of the night was academic instead of athletic. One of my CS2 students helped one of my CS1 students turn in some work on the sidelines! Ha!

The Wednesday blitzes will take a week off next week. The Wednesday after that will be districts, though. The Semester and the Season are both wrapping up!

When It's Rough (Q4)

Sometimes it's about the slog.

No job is always fun. 

Today is one of those days. 

We ate out as a family for lunch yesterday. Then I went out with Mark and Scott for trivia and ate out some more. I woke up in the middle of the night sweating with an upset stomach. 

Eventually, I got back to sleep without puking, but it was a near thing. 

While I don't have Crohn's, Celiac, or a worse condition, my digestive track has opinions. 

Strong ones. 

I knew Carrie was a keeper when on an early date some IHOP scrambled eggs sent me scrambling to the can. She left the table to check on me when I didn't come back. I'm amazed I didn't get dumped while taking that dump!

This morning, the pain moved lower. My intestines felt like they'd been tied in a knot. I pooped at home and at school.

It made for a more challenging day.

It's the time of year for a slog. Snow days can provide a break, but we haven't had any other than a delay so far.

Today the slog was due to something physical, but it doesn't have to be. It could be a lack of motivation, fatigue, a distraction, a stressor, or any fun combination of the like.

Bottom line: It happens. 

Anyone can do their best in ideal conditions. It's doing your best with what you have in the conditions you find yourself in day after day that define your character. Pray. Do what you can. Move on, and it will pass.

Wrestling and school are a bit of slog for me at the moment. I'm feeling my motivation burn out, but the end isn't too far away. This school year has been way better than last year. That's allowed me to pour more energy into school and wrestling, so I'm just as tired! Which, as I've said before, is a good thing. I'm answering my call and earning my pay. Summer will come. 

It's not all that far off as I finish this draft, either. I wrote most of this post months ago. I'm in a different place as I finish it, but I recognize where it came from. It passed. Two weeks until summer. Hallelujah!

Boys night and Decades arcade (Q4!)

Today was MLKJ Day. Carrie started with cleaning inside. 

Shane and I did chores outside. 

PS - I hate hay. It gets into everything. My screen protector has long suffered all sorts of indignity. One of the corners is loose and bits of hay keep sliding underneath somehow.

It was shaping up to a fun day after the work. We went into town for a small treat.

I got to be social in the afternoon. I met up with Mark and Scott at Alamo for half-price appetizers for happy hour.

The plan was to go to a trivia night at a local brewery. I got there with Scott and Mark. One of Scott's old friends arrived with one of her friends to give us a team of five. 

Meanwhile, Carrie took Shane to meet the youth group at Decade's Arcade. I signed Shane up a while back and made sure she was okay with taking him before I did my social thing. Carrie was supposed to drop Shane off and then I was going to pick him up. However, she didn't feel comfortable leaving him. There were a lot of people and she started to get anxious, so I called an audible. I was just down the street and since we were a team of five I scooted over to Decades. I wasn't feeling the trivia, so I was half-glad, half-sad for the excuse to bow out.

I ended up trying a DDR knockoff with Carrie.

I beat Carrie once, though!

Shane didn't even notice I was there at first.

Which was the way I wanted it. I got to spend some time goofing off with my woman instead!

After I toured the place, Carrie and I started a pinball competition.

Shane noticed us by then and wanted to jump in! We ended the night taking turns on the machine.

Shane rode home with me instead of Carrie, because I have audiobooks. I made him tell me about what he did before I'd hit play, though! He talked about how much he wanted to go back to Decades again. It was a big success!

It was a busy day off, but it was the fun kind of busy. Tuesday, it'd be back to the grind.

Cooold! (Q4!)

I'll be honest, I don't remember exactly why I posted this pictures. I mean, I assume they were near the date of this post. The title and Shane's coat seem to indicate it was a cold day!

PG was dressed up warm, too, so I guess that's what I'll be writing about. It was cold. Coldy, cold, cold, cold.

But this picture confuses me. I thought Shane learned he wasn't supposed to wear his chaps with the zipper on the inside way back in December. If it's here now, my internal timeline must be off. I'd check my phone's camera roll, but I have a new phone. I'd have to look through storage and that would take too long.

I do remember what happened. Shane put the chaps on incorrectly. He and I both recognized it at the house. I told him he should fix them, but he said, "Nah." I suggested he'd look foolish for not taking the time to fix the oops, but let him make the call. 

PG pointed it out immediately. It turned out she didn't want his zippers scratching up her saddles! Shane and I made eye contact, but I didn't say anything. He hasn't made the mistake again since (which is the proper use of a mistake - learn from it!).

It was a pretty day, but pictures don't convey temperature well.

I retreated into my cold weather gear as best as I could, but the wind sought to cut right through.

It blew hard and had a bite!

Which is another reason I'm glad we had the lesson. Kids need to accumulate times they walk to school uphill both ways, so they won't quit at the drop of a hat when they're older. Toughness is taught.

But I totally understood Shane's urge to bury himself under blankets and cats when he got home! Warm is better than freezing when it comes to weather!