Our Paths Diverge - My Tale

Friday morning, Shane hopped into the truck with his clothes, school work, and birthday tablet from Nana and Pop. He was en route to Charlotte, NC where Pop and Bruce would pick him up for two weeks of virtual school in SC.

Carrie and Grandma wouldn't stop there. The trailer was hooked up to the truck and they were bound for Charleston, SC to pick up Nibs. From there, they'd transport Nibs to a farm near Orlando, FL before returning home.

I wasn't going anywhere. It was a work day for me and someone had to manage the barn and feed six hungry horses. 

There's usually at least two hours of work every morning provided that things are handled properly the last time chores were done. 

For example, Magic gets beet pulp at his meals. It starts as pellets, but when given time to soak expands tremendously.

The idea is to set the beet pulp soaking for the future feeding each time meals are made.

Little things like that can add time to the process if not handled. 

I'd say the main bulk of the chores are: Feeding, scooping, throwing hay, and picking up stems. Those usually take at least an hour and a half. Then there's usually odds and ends like running the spreader, picking up stalls, stuffing hay bags, or stall waters that pop up and fill the other half hour.

Ernie's off stall rest now, so the workload should lessen some. It's more work to clean a stall than it is scoop in the dry lot. 

I have to walk the stall mess and bedding to the woods and dump it by hand rather than use the spreader.

When all the horses are allowed back out into the pastures then the workload should lessen even further. The horses are all locked from the fields as they baby grass takes root. We were told to keep them off of it for two months and I'm looking forward to December.

Loki was my  happy companion, throughout. He disappears when I'm with a horse, but shows back up when called. He's taken an interest in the hose and washing the buckets lately.

Loki would prefer to stay right beside me as I teach virtually, but he has to hang out with the cats instead.

Friday was remarkable for Loki, because he got to sniff a new person. An appraiser came by to examine the house for a refinancing. 

And he came in the house, too. Socializing is a little more awkward these days. If the appraiser wanted to stop and chat I was happy to. But if he wanted to get his job done quick and get out of the house I was fine with that, too!

I took a picture or two of him taking pictures for my lunch break. He didn't stay for long and I had to get back to work and grab Shane's supply drop from the bus.

Laura came out later to walk Ernie and let him eat some clover. Loki's a big fan of Laura if not the horses.

Dumplings and rice have become my standard bachelor meal when the day ends. This time, I had beef mandu instead of gyoza and a ginger beer to wash it down.

I was either outside or locked up working all day, so I laid down on the couch for a little bit. The cats swarmed me. They like their space, but with Carrie and Shane gone it must've been too much space for them!

Saturday morning, I noticed Loki trying to eat shadows on the wall. He wasn't very successful.

He's got a much higher success rate with catching his tail!

I started to miss Shane when I went to scoop the cat poop myself. The kittens are potent!

They supervised, too (and nearly went for a swim).

Normally, Carrie would've let the cats outside to play, but I was taking no chances without her there. Loki was my only companion (and wheel-biting hindrance) as I wheeled down they hay for the day and did barn chores.

I don't know how it got there, but there was a log in the girls' dry lot. Other than that, it was business as usual.

Barbara and Heidi came out to ride later on.

I played host and checked in on them before going back to work and housework.

Which included dishes and cleaning up after the cats.

Thanks, kittens.

There's really not much exciting things I can write about doing laundry and taking care of business. Without my family around, I get bored and take care of things.

My only adventure of the weekend came Saturday night. I tried to do some chores ahead of time, because I knew I wouldn't get home until after 8 PM (Barbara was nice and scoop Maddy's dry lot before she left. Thanks, Barbara!).

In a typical case of "Opportunities happen simultaneously just to make it difficult," I made two social calls. The first was to meet my co-teacher, Marcell, in person. I showed up on his back porch while his kids napped. He's a little hard of hearing, so it was hard to talk at just the right level and not wake anyone up!

However, my book club decided to meet at the same time. I talked for a little bit before scooting along and arriving late to that...partly because Carrie had said, "Goodbye! I love you! Oh, and the rear driver's side tire on the Subaru is low and the fuel light came on if you're going to go anywhere." I made it to Costco on fumes.

Gas prices are low, at least.

When I got home, I had to finish the barn chores and make supplement cups for the morning. I made an oops, too. Carrie reorganized things since the last time I'd made the cups. Do you see a difference between these pellets? 

I certainly couldn't. They even smelled the same. On one side, the pellets were magnesium. On the other, they were a joint supplement. 

I sat down on the couch at the end of a long day and was immediately swarmed by cats again. Happy literally got in my face and started licking my nose.

I'd have been happy to go to the bedroom, but keeping the animals happy and healthy is part of watching the house.

Our cats seem to actually care about us, too. Aria waited for me to sit down Sunday morning for my morning routine.

Loki tried to catch her shadow on the wall! I thought it was funny enough to take a picture!

Laura and Amy arrived to do their round of barn chores. Loki and I went out to help. I was more useful, but he was more photogenic.

While I am not enamored with all the chores, I do like having a reason for people to visit our property. I like being part of a neighborhood/community. I stayed out, helped, and chatted most of the time Laura and Amy were around. I got to see Laura try to run around with Ernie in the arena after I told her Carrie had started letting him exercise some 'at liberty!'

I treated the rest of the afternoon as a sabbath. The work has been constant since school started and it's vital to be still sometimes. 

I did work on chores, transferred pictures to get ready to update the blog, and eventually hopped on the computer to do grading in the evening. 

Carrie got home in the evening, and our tales rejoined but that's another post.

Shane's at Camp Nana-Pop....and the timing was perfect

Shane got to spend two weeks at Nana and Pop's. He's been living it large with cousins, trampolines, fast food, and grandparents! Nana and Pop have him call many nights and he talks about how wonderful it is.

Meanwhile, it was been hectic and busy at the barn. Shane got a ticket to paradise that left the station just before the stress express came in behind!

It started with Carrie trailering horses three days in a row and me picking up the chores while she did so. Ernie had surgery and then gave us all a scare by starting to colic. Carrie was especially scared, because she'd recommended the surgery and the owner's dad went into the hospital and into hospice at the same time all this was happening! Throw some other ongoing issues/conflicts in and Carrie was at her limit.

So I picked up whatever slack I could and stayed busy the whole time. I didn't write a single thing. If I ever realized I had the energy and focus to write, I quickly spent it on something else (like work emails!).

My own virtual school workload has continued to increase throughout. No longer is it "less work, but more draining." It is now "more work, because everything takes longer and I'm still not able to help everybody." 

It's still going well for what it is, but the work/home divide was destroyed when I started having zoom meetings 6 or 7 days a week (Only 5 days are required, but I've had 30 minute chats here and there on Saturday and Sundays to help kids).

And that's why I'm two weeks behind on the blog. The only reason I'm catching up now is, because Carrie and Shane are both out of town and I'm two weeks behind! 

Consider this the "tip of the iceberg" post. 

School Happenings

Shane was drawing "bosses" when I picked him up from after school. He had an interesting day.

That's because he got to visit my high school! There was a field trip where elementary schools in our feeder pattern took turns gathering for a pep rally of sorts. Dylan's school came the same day as Shane's, so they got to say hi in the gym to each other!

Shane met several of my students while he was here, too. One of the girls in my freshman seminar said he gave her a really hard high five. Another said that he walked into the gym and loudly asked everyone if they knew who I was. "Because I'm his son!"

At least he's not embarrassed of me!

There was one rougher encounter where Shane was in the bathroom and some high schoolers came in. They were talking about something inappropriate and cussing. When Shane came out of the stall, he asked them not to curse around him!

Their first response was surprise and "Who are you to tell us what to do?" Shane asked them if they knew me, and the tune changed. One of them was in my class and Shane said that were very nice after that.

The student in question actually came to see me and told me he saw "my mini." I heard the story from both sides. He explained he hadn't even realized Shane was in the bathroom. There are a few lessons to be learned there, so the seed of wisdom grows.

Also -

I came to school and I heard a noise while I was getting ready.

The custodians never covered the hole in my wall and a mouse found it's way into the glue trap. I contacted the head guy and hoped he'd show up before class started. If not, I was just going to carry on and see if anyone realized we had a visitor! 

The head custodian showed up while there were kids in the room but before morning announcements. There were definitely some surprised customers.

Rain, Rain, Wash the Internet and County Away?

It rained A LOT from Wednesday into Thursday.

So much so my phone rang at 5:37 AM with an emergency fanout from Cville City Schools.

"We will be open on time."

....

SERIOUSLY?

I don't get upset easily, but being awoken early to a rush of excitement to be told, "Don't be late! Good luck getting back to sleep!?"

That struck me as asinine.

The counties around us were all on two hour delays and Albemarle decided to close later on. A large portion of the staff for CCS don't live in the city, so they were all affected by the rain/sleet and closures. We were short-staffed for the day at my school and the kids were all cranky about the rain.

Meanwhile, Shane had a field trip to Monticello that was still on. When I picked him up from school he was excited, because TWO trees had almost fallen on his bus. The first one fell on the road in front of them and they had to wait for it to be cut and cleared! The later one was a separate incident and his school had to send out messages that all the buses for kids to go home were delayed.

"Let's tell Mommy about that one tomorrow when the rain has passed," I said.

Friday, we were short staffed again. Three of my coworkers who did make it didn't arrive to work until after the kids! It took my boss over two hours to drive to work due to all the closed roads and backed up traffic in her county which is normally 30 minutes away!

The internet pooped out at start of our 2nd block and didn't return. The school behind us and the Upper Elementary school were completely without power. Naturally, this made our kids crazier than normal and being short-staffed it made for a rough day.

Transportation came and picked up the kids an hour early. That let me drop by the house before wrestling practice, so that was nice, at least. Next week is going to be interesting with only two days and the Thanksgiving feast!