SCHOOL'S OUT!

. . . but not forever.

I checked out and picked up my final check for the year. Our union is still in negotiations for next year's contract and I hope they settle soon. There's no reason not to settle soon, no big issues or anything.

Addictionary

In case you haven't seen this website yet I thought I'd post the link here. It's called the Addictionary, for people who are addicted to words. Here's a couple of examples. Just click on the title of this post to find more of the same.

Carcophony
the din of arguing or playing children in the back of the car
Flapjackulous
Of or related to the sensual deliciosity of the pancake eating experience

bAnAnAs Anyone?

So a few of us staff members were sitting around the teachers'
"lounge" this afternoon. I had a rare break from my library since the library was full of juniors having a "skip day." They were in there playing video games or watching movies. I called it the official skip day, sanctioned and in the library, since most days they just hang out in the hall when skipping class. "It's a tradition," they told me when they asked if they could use the library. I was wary about it since I didn't want to clean up after them, but I thought I'd better give them a chance so I could refuse next year's juniors when this year's left a mess. But they surprised me. When they left, it looked exactly like it had when I walked in the door this morning, so I guess it's a go for next year too.

Anyway, we were sitting around yakking about what went wrong this year and who was coming back next year and the little 7th grade girl who sneaked into the office of the suspended jr. high principal and used a phone to call her mother in South Dakota to come and get her and "take her home because she hated it here with her dad and step sisters, and the principal who was suspended and the new superintendent who was already demanding more in benefits than the CEO of Microsoft; when the cook walked into the lounge and left a small bunch of bananas on the table and said, "Help yourselves." A little while later the counselor walked into the room and asked, " Whose bananas?" I couldn't help myself, it's been a long, rough year. So I said, " Who's NOT?"

We all chuckled and went back to work.

Lame Deer/Ashland Divide

If you live in Ashland you call it the Lame Deer Divide. If you live in Lame Deer you call it the Ashland Divide, but where ever you live, there was snow this morning, May 23, 2007, the latest I've ever personally seen snow without being in the mountains.

Do I Hear $4.00 ?

This is what we're paying for gas on May 23, 2007. I'm betting the price will go up this weekend as it always goes up on Memorial Day. Anyway I'd thought I'd post it so you all could say, "At least we don't have to pay what she pays." Consider it a public service. If anyone is paying more, let me know so I can say, "At least I don't have to pay THAT much!" . . . yet.

Graduation Time

Well we've got one graduation down and one to go when the 8th graders graduate next week. 8th grade graduation used to be quite a big event in Lame Deer before a public high school was built. It was the last time the kids would be in a Lame Deer school since they would have to be bussed to a nearby high school. Now that they have their own high school, the 8th grade graduation has been scaled back a bit, but I think it serves a useful purpose to mark the end of childhood and the beginning of "young" adulthood.

The high school ceremony had just started when the thunderstorm that had been building outside finally broke loose. We were in the gym, which was quite full, when all the lights went out. The emergency lights went on immediatly and we watched the seniors get their scholarships in the soft glow of what could have been candle light. The main lights came on again eventully and the rest of the ceremony went off just fine, except for the valedictorian's speech. The valedictorian was the shyest girl in the school. We were all waiting to see if she would be able to give her speech, actually we were wondering if she would be able to make it to the stage to recieve her diploma. She did get her diploma, but the crowd just overwhelmed her and they just skipped over her speech. Really, she is so shy that it was painful to watch her answer the roll call when attendance was taken. She was a library assistant 1st semester and it would have taken me another couple of months to reorganize the library without her.

The ceremony began and ended with a short prayer in Cheyenne, offered to the creator. I think I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. Cheyenne prayers are so quiet that only the Creator can hear them. They are not the loud prayers spoken so loudly that the person in last row can hear. As long as the Creator can hear them, what does it matter who else does? And they are offered in Cheyenne, a language that few Cheyenne speak anymore, but what does that matter if the Creator can speak Cheyenne?

New Blog

Well we finally got our Internet back just in time for me to get an email from Andrew and the address for his new blog. I've added the link to my family blog list. He's in the same blogsphere as Russ, so if you signed up to read Russ's blog you can just use the same signin for Andrew's.

Internet Upset

Our internet connection has been very unreliable lately. I'm trying to read all the emails, blogs, etc, but if I don't respond right away, it's not you . . . really. Just the Internet Upset.

Happy Mother's Day

According to the back of the photo, this was taken in 1964, back when the world was analog B&W.

Win/Lose?

Well, my opponent got 4 more votes than I did ! So I don't have to sit on the school board this year. Maybe next time!

Montana Monsoon?

It's been a gray, dreary weekend. It started raining yesterday around noon and today, around noon, it's finally stopped. The wind is gusting now and will help dry things out, so hopefully, going to work tomorrow won't be like jet-skiing down the road. The yard is looking as green as I've ever seen it and I'm not sure, but I think I saw some moss growing in some spots. I guess a dreary weekend is the price we pay for a green spring.

This has been one of the longest school years I can remember. I was thinking about last fall when I was reorganizing the library and it seems like it happened a decade ago instead of a year ago. All the crisises at work, big and little have just sort of blurred together and we just get through one day at a time. We do have a new superintendent and probably 2 new principals next year and I know that it will make a difference; I just hope it is for the better, because if it's not better, I may be looking for a new job next spring.

Rereading this makes me think the dreary weather is getting me more morose than I thought, so I checked the weather forecast for tomorrow: Sunny. Now would be the time for everyone to break out into a rousing chourus of "Tomorrow." I know that you all know the words, don't be shy. "The sun'll come out tomorrow...."

Campaign Ad

This ad appeared in yesterday's Powder River Examiner, a weekly paper. According to dad, it's a loose / loose situation, so by Wednesday morning I should know how badly I lost.