Native American Week

It's been a very eventful week, partly because of Native American Week and partly because things are still unsettled at school. I took this picture this morning after it had been raining. They set the tipi up yesterday and explained a few things about how it used to be done by the women. The opening is facing east as is customary for the most part.

The corn on the hillside is was planted by the FFA club and is quite good eating.

Indian Summer

It seems that the warm afternoons of Indian Summer are over and the cool days of autumn are here. It has been cold and drizzling all day. I think a few snowflakes sneaked in among the raindrops. It got so cold that I had to bake some cookies to warm up the kitchen;)

Things at work have settled down to a routine. Not very many patrons dropping into the library, but then the computers have been down with a virus, and most of the patrons are digitally oriented, makes me wonder why I'm spending so much time trying to get the books in order. My new bookshelves are supposed to be shipped this week. Since it's also Native American Week, if they do come on schedule, they probably won't get set up for another week or two. There's talk in the lounge that we're going to switch from a 7 period day to an 8 period day. Seems to me that decision should have been made before school even started, not 5 weeks into the 1st quarter. The longer I work here, the more amazed I am at our students. They have learned everything we've shown them about school. Teachers dropping out, no long term plans, talking back to supervisors, they've seen it all, and copied it.

As I said, Native American Week is coming up and I intend to enjoy it. It used to make me stress a lot to think of the interuptions and kids all wound up. But now that I know it will all settled down again, I enjoy learning what I can about the heritage of my students. Some of them get a little hostile towards school and "white" teachers when they spend a week hearing about the way their ancestors were treated. I can't say as I blame them.

Bird Soup

A few moments before this picture was taken, there was a small flock of birds waiting to take their turns at the birdbath. Guess who took cuts? He seems to want to drink out of anything but his water dish. I'm guessing it had the delicate flavor of feathers and bird droppings.

Project Organize

Here's what the top of my dresser looks like. I know it looks messy, but if I hide (store) my jewelry in a box I never wear it. I've got to have it out so I can see it every morning when I get dressed. Also, a lot of it was given to me by either mom or Bill, or by Dad after mom died. So when I see it, I have to smile. Sometimes I pretend it's my armor, like in a video game I play. I have a bracelet of good health +25 or a ring of invicibility +47, somedays, I wish it really worked that way.

Anyway, I saw this cool earring holder that Natalie had and I finally found one like hers, just where she said, Claire's. It makes it a lot easier to pick out a pair of earrings for the day. The rings fit nicely on the red, glass hand that Andrew gave me a long time ago, but I've got nothing for all the bangly bracelets. Any one got any ideas? The just sort of sit in a heap on the dresser.

This & That

This
In spite of the fact that our school's computer network broke down this week due to a massive virus infection, I had a pretty good week at work. We got all of the books on the shelves sorted and weeded, the noxious weeds at least. Weeding is what librarians call pulling outdated, tattered or unneeded books from the collection. I've had the books placed on tables so that people can take them if they want. After all, one man's weed is another's flower, right? After two weeks, I still have quite a few books on the tables. A staff member asked me what I was going to do with the books that no one wanted. I said that I would start taking them to the dumpster on Tuesday, after the long weekend. She got a pained look on her face. I mean, in my eyes it proves I made a good choice to pull the books. No one even wanted to take them for free. Chances are really good that no one would check them out of the library, right? I keep explaining that we can't get new books if there is no place to put them. I do believe that our students deserve to have at least a few books in their library that were written in this century, and now we'll have some place to put them.

That
After a few weeks of brutal heat, the weather has turned mild, downright chilly at times. What a relief. It's starting to feel like fall weather, cool mornings and warm afternoons. I've even seen a few trees that are starting to turn yellow and birds that are starting to gather in large groups. Fall is probably my favorite time of the year.