So...Wrestling?

November and Phase 3 allowed for sports to start in our county. Part of my bachelor weekend was spent completing online training courses to be eligible to coach. 

There are lots of rules.

November is only for pre-season conditioning. Practices are twice a week and limited to an hour and a half. Seasons will start delayed and out of order. Winter sports will be the first sports to have a season. That will start in December. There will be no spectators allowed at events. Students have to be socially distant and masked leading up to practices. Coaches will remain masked at all times.

I expected most of these things save the no spectators allowed. 

The biggest restriction for wrestling I haven't mentioned yet? No physical contact.

None of the sports are allowed to have contact between students or any shared equipment (such as using the same ball).

There are individual drills in all sports, but at some point there has to be contact. Especially for wrestling.

Even with the restrictions, overall turnout was decent. I think they said something like 120 kids showed up for the first Monday of pre-season training (roughly 10% of the student population). More students should have showed up for the sports on the Tuesday/Thursday rotation.

Wrestling had two. Two wrestlers. Two coaches. A cleverly angled picture made the room less empty than it really was.

I didn't go to the first practice, and I'm glad. Coaches would've outnumbered the wrestlers, so I would've driven 40 minutes to do nothing. 

I've traded texts with Coach Rick and said that I was going to hold off until the season. I don't see the point if I would be of no use. 

Practice hours are at a terrible time for me, too (5:30 - 7 PM). Class ends on average around 4:45 PM for me and then it's time for barn chores before we run out of light. I host a Wednesday night office hours at 7 PM each week that would be disrupted, as well.

There's a required online Zoom meeting at 8 AM on Dec. 2. The season is supposed to start Dec 14. I've completed the required courses, but I'm really not sure if I'm going to coach this year or not.

And that's why I haven't posted anything about wrestling lately. 

I'm not sad, per se. I just don't think about it much, because I'm busy doing other things. I would have felt the absence more keenly if I was physically at school and the program was running, but there's a different flow of life working at home.

Welcome Back...to Chores!

After over 2 weeks of cousins and play time galore, Shane returned home to chores. The mornings are cool out, too, so he had to wear a coat!

Scooping horse poop in the cool is a big change from Pop Tarts and TV time in the morning! 

Don't worry too much about Shane. We really don't work him that hard. If I get half an hour of effort out of him, it's fine. Chores are a good excuse to make Shane outside. He usually has to hang out for an hour, but he chases bugs, twirls in circles, or runs with the dog for a chunk of it. Shane likes to talk and be around people anyway.

Sometimes funny things happen if you're observant. We heard some odd noises while we were working. It was Maddy.

You have to be clever about scratching your butt when you have no hands! We got a good laugh out of it.

And then I sent Shane to run and collect the bucket before it got bent out of shape!

The cats were out while we worked. Aria kept Shane and I company from a hay feeder.

From there it became a normal school day. I went to work and Shane.....Shane's computer broke. 

A fan failed and there were all sorts of error bleeps. Thankfully, Shane doesn't do anything other than zoom and browse the internet, so it functioned for the day. We'll need to contact tech support and get a loaner at some point. It's a short week, so it won't happen until after break. 

Shane was in class until around 3 PM and took care of his Japanese practice. I got off work near 5 PM, we did evening chores, and then relaxed with electronics for the night. A much quieter day than he's probably used to, but normal for here.

Some of the cats may have gotten complacent while Shane was out of town. That's not a smart place to sleep, Moose.

I was talking in general, too. I gave in to temptation and his the start button on the walking machine...

It led to Loki showing off his treadmill skills. 

Loki learned, because of Shane! 

Shane ran with Loki some and it wasn't really all the quiet. You can definitely tell Shane's home!

Bringing the Boy Home!

Sunday was the Day of the Return. I didn't want to get caught by surprise again, so I came prepared.

I could defecate in there. Shane's kept it as a drum and it's been taking up space under the sink. At least this way it could have a use (but hopefully not!).

The drive down was uneventful, but pretty. I listened to a short Agatha Raisin mystery and a sermon to fill most of the time (It was Sunday!). I beat the SC crew to the rendezvous Zaxby's by 15 minutes or so. I hopped straight into their car in the drive-through.

Nana and Pop were gracious enough to buy lunch for everyone. They saw a homeless man and drove over to give him a mana bag before we parked to eat. We saw another van drive up first and hand out coats before we drove over! It was nice to see people trying to spread God's love!

We sat, talked, ate, and enjoyed each other's company before transferring the luggage. Shane had a goofy smile on for the picture, so Pop helped him make it more natural.

Pop didn't stop when Shane hit the natural smile, though! 

Darkness starts after 5 PM in the fall, so things were getting dim as Shane and I pulled up to the barn. Carrie was helping Ellie with the evening chores. She took a time out to catch Shane as he launched himself at her!

Shane's learned that things change whenever he's gone for long enough. He spotted the new trailer right away and met Eowyn at the barn Honestly, I was surprised he recognized the differences in the trailer to know it was a new one!

Shane noticed Carrie had moved around the couches after the pee incident, as well. He might have said something else, but Loki was ecstatic and barking! He missed his boy!

Shane did some pushups to earn some electronics after running around like a madman. Loki helped.

Carrie fell asleep on the couch while we all watched some TV to end the night.

Shane had his Happy cat.

I put Shane to bed later and locked everything up. That included taking Loki out for one last bathroom break in the cold.

Then it was time to grade! I got in a full day's work between driving and grading.

Next week is going to be a short one for school. There's only two days and then we'll have some holiday time together as a family. I'm looking forward to it! 

November Virtual School at Nana and Pop's

November Nana-School started off with a party. 

There were trees to climb, games to play, and a 'queen' to walk!

The good times rolled!

Bryce left and things quieted down, but only a little. Shane and the cousins played every day like their days were numbered!

Nana and Pop were on it when it came to Shane's school work. I texted them pictures of whatever the bus dropped off and they'd help him attend AND pay attention in his classes.

And they'd quiz him outside of class, too! There was a clear reward structure based on performance. That's the sort of thing I'd want to do with unlimited time and energy. 

Structure is good for kids. You don't want to overdo it, but I knew Nana and Pop wouldn't. There were tons of time to hit up playgrounds and have fun!

 

And hopefully Shane's positive energy and novelty made things more fun for everyone!

Schools are back to in-person in SC. Class sizes are small and the wee ones are the least likely to catch anything. Hopefully, they just took the masks off for a quick picture here. Evelyn and Cole are not the most extroverted, so they're not going to spend much time inside other kids' orbits.

We'll keep Shane at home for a week once he gets home. I'm not terribly concerned based on my family's precautions, but it doesn't hurt to be considerate (just not paranoid!).

In the meantime, I'm thrilled Shane gets the chance to be around his cousins. He plays with all of them.

I laughed out loud when I read the story. I showed Carrie and Shane the texts, too. He was home by then! It shows his visit had a lasting effect.

But that's getting ahead of things. One of the other perks of Shane visiting Nana and Pop is he gets exposed to new things. We have our own routines here and Carrie largely controls the TV. What she watches is different from Nana and Pop. I remember watching Nick at Nite shows and other things like Murder She Wrote at Jama's house from my own childhood. That knowledge has made me able to make references and jokes with older colleagues to connect with them.

I mentioned Shane got to see some Highway to Heaven to some of the barn people and Barbara said she loved Michael Landon! Variety is a spice of life. I'm convinced God wouldn't have made such a diverse world if he didn't want us to experience diverse things.

We kept in contact with Shane over the phone. I think he started to miss us more (or Nana wanted us to keep him busy some) the second week, because we got more calls then.

In addition to calls and texts, Nana wrote emails. 

Some were funny.

Shane has been enjoying taking baths, but after the typhoon in the bathtub last night, he will have to take a shower next time. We'll let him take a bath again in a few days after the memory of the flooding lessons. No one enjoys water play and simulating hurricanes more than Shane. 

Some were cute.

Shane asked me today what I would do with it if I won a million dollars.  I said that I would probably donate some and save some of it, but wouldn't change my lifestyle. He said he would pay for a 2nd week's rent for the beach house and for a cruise for all the family so he could have more good times with his cousins. He sure loves family. 

Some were future blackmail material.

Yesterday, I asked Shane to explain why his poop coats the front of the toilet bowl where there is no water. I asked him if he sat on the toilet backwards. He said, no, that that would be ridiculous. He also explained that he sits only halfway back on the toilet seat so that toilet water will not splash on him when his poop drops. He likes his poop to land in very shallow water so there is no splash. Since he has a voracious appetite and loves fruit, I have been cleaning the toilet more often than desirable. Once I made him clean up after his "art work" in the bowl. I have suggested that he put 2 squares of toilet paper on the front of the bowl where his "art work" is landing frequently or put 2 squares of toilet paper in the middle of the bowl to prevent the splash as he sits further back. Honestly, I have not had a problem with splash-back myself, but I can empathize that it doesn't sound pleasant. 

And others exemplified he's my son.

Pop picked up donuts this morning and is bribing Shane to work harder with one. It takes a lot of encouragement and hands-on supervision to keep him working on his assignments. Shane says he's tired when it comes to school work, but has boundless energy otherwise. Pop is very determined though and persists in getting Shane to work. Shane reminds me so much of our sons growing up. The twins worked too hard and you boys excelled at relaxation. I told Shane that his standard for work will determine what kind of house, car and lifestyle he will have as an adult. I think he is tired of me nagging him to work harder. Expect complaints when he gets home. hahah

Oh boy! Nana's a better writer than she admits. I can hear her telling the stories in her own voice when I read them.

There was one paragraph from an email that came to mind when we were discussing when we'd meet up for the hand-off.

Pop keeps trying to get Shane to do the See-Saw assignments, but Shane says he can do them next week, that there is no big rush. Good thing Pop is bigger and wil make him do some of those assignments. 

Natural consequences can lead to intrinsic motivation! And they did here!

I'm looking forward to seeing Shane again, but I'm also looking forward to the next time he gets to spend time in SC. Maybe we can make a whole family trip if we get a barn sitter. I've been ready for it, and Carrie brought it up!

Last Days "Off"

"Have fun on your 2nd honeymoon," Grandma said.

If she thought we'd have lots of spare time with Shane being away, she wrong. Shane being out of the house gave us an extra hour or two tops! There were lots of chores and work to do!

I took this picture when I was picking up stems from a feeder. It reminded me of a boneyard.

I spent a large chunk of my Friday making up a unit test for triangles after my office hours. I probably could've got done faster, but I got the idea in my head to add superhero stick figures to some of the questions.

Hopefully, I won't get sued.

I don't have the time or talent to make them all myself, so the internet came to the rescue. It wont' be enough to make anyone who hates trig like it, but if I can get a smile where there normally wouldn't have been one, I'll take it.

 .

Virtual school has only gotten more draining with time. I probably work at least 65 hours a week between it and the barn (and paid for 36.25!). 

It's gotten more frustrating, too. I have students who don't show up at all and others who do maybe 10 minutes of work for the week. Meanwhile, I think 5-6 hours of work a week is fair. Split between 4 classes, that's an expectation of 20-24 hours per week....and the students who actually give a consistent effort have made progress and can usually finish faster than that. In physical school, I could hunt slackers down, but in virtual school it's much harder. 

Saturday I got to take a break from grading to do something I've wanted to do for a while: We went to the dump!

Some tasks are 'Carrie-locked.' She knows how to haul and she's good at it. We need to get the small trailer inspected, so we can haul the gator and mower to get serviced. But for today, I got to help put on my first hitch lock.

Then I filled up the back of the truck with over 200 lbs of trash (according to the dump's scale). 

Including at least 20 lbs of cat waste (according to "That's a lot of poop!"). We left the metal trash can at the dump when I realized there was nothing to brace it against once I threw out all the bags. The cat pee had corroded the inside and it had warped over time, but it still felt a little wasteful. 

Shane going to my parents didn't give us a ton of time off, but the time it did give us off helped. For me, it was one less thing to juggle. I knew he was getting the best care and attention and I got to turn my focus elsewhere.....but apparently not to blogging! My last post was right before Shane got home and I didn't start to catch back up until Thanksgiving break! But it wasn't that I didn't have ideas of what to write.

I took this picture while trying to scoop poop in the waning light. There's still plenty of light to see and walk around, but the turns start to blend with the dirt in the shadows. It all sort of blurs. The big piles are easy enough to distinguish, but sometimes I'm scooping at nothing looking for little bits while stepping over (or on) others.  

I imagine it feels similar to slowly losing your vision. You think you see well enough most of the time, but then you find you're missing more and more little bits and it gets harder and harder.

And the metaphor could be extended to being desensitized to something. Or to having the right tools for the job, like light!

Sometimes mundane tasks are great for having time to think. I work in the quiet when mulling something over, but will put on music or the Dice Tower to fill time, as well.

Harvest Time (11/18)

I took Loki outside for his lunch time run, but the car he ended up "Go-go-go"ing for was not an ordinary car.

It was a much bigger boy. The kind of boy you'd hate to have tailgating you.

The harvesters showed up a couple of weeks ago. They took a few swipes of corn, packed up, and left. We weren't sure why.

They came back out in force today!

They brought a tractor and hopper to cart away the goods, too.

Big machines are cool.

The combines were as big, but, as crazy as it sounds, these would probably still be ranked as 'mediums' in the farm machinery world.

The horses were surprisingly calm. Well, except Magic. He flipped his tail, voided his bowels, and tried to get someone else to panic with him.

He settled down once he realized no one else cared.

They came out over a month later than last year. I don't know the significance of that, but the fields look similar now.

The combines had big light racks.

And they didn't stop when they sun dropped.

Or when it first got dark.

They stayed out and worked much later than I expected. Modern-day farming is an interesting life style.

They left the harvesters out in the field and slept in the next day. The ground was frozen when we went out for horse chores...

...but the corn guys didn't come back to their 'office' until near the afternoon.

They kept at it until they finished. It looks very different across the street...

...and behind the barn.

Carrie picked up an emptied cob to show me what the harvesters leave behind. 

And I showed all of these pictures to my classes. I think it's that interesting. I even wrote a blog post on it!