My blog is moving!

I just registered the domain name not an hour ago!

The nice thing is that those of you that have commented will not have to re-register.  I'll be using the exact same database, so nothing will be disappearing.

In a day or two, I'll post the new link!

This morning, I received one of those calls that I dread. My son had been hurt at school.

Of course, when I first heard that my sixth grader had been hurt, the most drastic things raced through my mind. A stray bullet from a drive-by shooting had hit him! He had been trying to save the life of a poor kindergartener and had been crushed by the runaway bus! He hadn't quite been able to get out of the way of the stampeding herd of zoo animals!

But then, more rational, more calm thoughts began to prevail and I heard the teacher saying something about a metal gate and his mouth. HIS MOUTH?? I'm spending THOUSANDS of dollars on orthodontics for that mouth! NOT his MOUTH!! (See? Much more rational thoughts.)

Fortunately, I work only minutes away from the school, so I ran to the car and sped (It's hard not to speed when your child has been hurt. Trust me.) to the school. I found him in the office with an icepack and some wet paper towels that were red with blood.

After checking him out of the school, I called the dentist. I am, after all, paying thousands of dollars for orthodontics, so I wanted to make sure that there was no permanent damage!

Thoughts that went through my mind during my conversation with the dentist's office: Our dentist is out of town. GREAT! What do I do now? Oh! He has another dentist covering for him. Good. Dentists usually do that. How smart of them! WHAT?? The backup dentist is in PAYSON? That's 40 minutes' drive from here! What are they THINKING?? They have another dentist that is closer to me? Where is he? Hey idiot! Watch where you're driving! Sheesh. People shouldn't drive while using their cellular phones. Wait. I'm driving while using my cellular phone. BUT THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!!

While we were driving to the dentist's office, he clarified what had happened. There are large, metal gates at the school that keep cars from driving onto the playground. Today, they weren't locked, and some kids were playing a game. A child would sit on the end of the gate, and several others would push the gate as fast as they could, trying to get the "rider" to fall off. My son was watching this game on one gate, and as he watched, he drifted into the path of the second gate. Thunk! *ouch*

The backup dentist to the backup dentist was very nice. They rushed my son right in and checked out his teeth. The weren't wiggly. Not wiggly is definately good when you're dealing with teeth. (Unless you're my younger son, in which case, why, oh WHY can't he EVER have wiggly teeth?? ) His gums were a bloody, pulpy, bruised mess, and they're going to hurt for a few days. Then they took x-rays to make sure that there was nothing wrong with the teeth below the gumline.

The first viewing of the x-rays didn't show anything major wrong, but upon closer inspection, the dentist saw a tiny shadow of something that might possibly be a small crack in one of the teeth. So my son might end up losing one of his teeth, or everything may be just fine. They might be perfectly okay until the next phase of the orthodontic treatment, and then the tooth might become a problem. But there's nothing we can do about it now. We just have to wait and see.

My poor son was in tears when we left the dentist's office. He doesn't want one of his teeth to turn black and die, which is what the dentist said may happen. The only consolation I could give him was to tell him that because it was such a faint thing on the x-ray, the chances are good that his tooth will be just fine. We also discussed things we could do in case it's not, and he seemed to be okay with that.

I'm not okay with that. As I've written before, I'd rather have crap like this happen to ME instead of having it happen to my kids. Sometimes, it's hard to say "stuff like that happens," or "it's just part of life."

Right now, he's back at school, and even seemed happy and optimistic about things. That's one of the many, MANY things I love about my son!

It looks like the next phase in the landscaping is about to begin. Yesterday, a dump truck (or two?) dropped these off in the vacant lot next to my house:

Is it okay to get all excited about a bunch of rocks?

Maybe I'm just excited that they're not just in my head!

***EDIT***

They dropped off two more dump truck loads this morning. My neighbor on the other side of the vacant lot they dumped them in came out and wrote down the license plate number of the dump truck. I can't imagine that he thinks they're just dumping the rocks there to leave there! But then again, I don't know him yet, so maybe he DOES think that.

I finally have pictures of the finished steps to show! All-in-all, I think they turned out very nice. They DO tend to de-accentuate the rock wall in the front yard, but we'll have PLENTY of rock (eight freaking thousand dollars' worth) in the back yard, and these steps were to be, above all, FUNCTIONAL. I want to live in this house until I die. Just bury me in the back yard. So going up and down that driveway with creaky old knees will be next to impossible, thus the steps.

Anyway, it was a very exciting thing for my sons when the cement truck showed up. It's not EVERY day that such a truck drives right up into your front yard... and I MEAN right up into the front yard... and dumps a load of concrete.

Ok, so it was a very exciting thing for me too. I may be getting older, but the little boy is alive and well inside, and I loved watching the concrete being poured. It was funny to watch the driver of the truck too. He sat there in the cab of the truck, driving with his tongue. You know how some people talk with their hands? Well, this guy's hands were busy pushing and pulling levers to make the concrete chute go right where he needed it and to make the right amount of concrete slide out in the right places. All the time, his tongue was darting in and out and back and forth, mimicking the movements of the chute and the truck that he was driving. It was quite comical, actually.

After the concrete was poured, two of the concrete workers stayed for several more hours, finishing the surface. The whole concrete process cost $2800, and I'm sure that the majority was labor. But in the end, it looks good, but more importantly, it's funcitonal!

The color will lighten up more as the concrete continues to cure over the next few months. Yes, literally, over the next few months. Concrete is funny that way.

And.... Picture time!

(To the impatient Mr. B. in D.C.: There. You SATISFIED?)

In an earlier blog entry, I wrote about why I don't like boards.

The board finally voted on a fall show. We were supposed to vote between two alternatives. The choice was between Arsenic and Old Lace and Laura, a play I had put forward as an altrnative.

The voting came in at two for each of the plays listed above, plus two votes for And Then There Were None (AKA Ten Little Indians). What the?? Two people didn't even understand that there were TWO choices and that they should select one or the other?

Frustrating? YES! In the end, Arsenic and Old Lace won out based on several considerations unrelated to the actual vote.

So things didn't go my way. No big deal. However, the main reason I didn't want to go with Arsenic and Old Lace was because I know how difficult it will be to cast the show. There are roles for ten men and two women. TEN MEN?? This is COMMUNITY THEATRE! It'll be a miracle if ten men actually show up for auditions, let alone ten men that will actually fit the roles AND be good to work with AND be good enough for the roles. Not to mention the fact that the two women's roles are for OLD women, essentially alienating a majority of the people that actually show up for auditions.

However, as a member of the board, I'll support the board's decision--to a point. I've already told them that I'm not actually going to be IN the show. I know, it's probably rather mean of me. If I would be in the show, it would mean that there would be one less man to find to be on stage. But I don't really like the show, mostly because I think it's VERY overdone.

We'll see if this board becomes any less dysfunctional as time goes on.

The concrete guys put in a full day getting our sidewalk all ready to pour. It took three guys eight hours. That's quite a bit of work. And it wasn't EASY work either, not by any stretch of the imagination. I dug a couple of little trenches, and my back was plenty sore from that.

So now the forms are all ready and are looking good!

Oh, and it appears (from the flags and paint all over the place) that Blue Stakes has come and marked up the property. I can safely dig anywhere in my back yard, because there are no markings or flags anywhere behind my house at all.

Here's what it looks like tonight:

They're coming bright and early in the morning to pour the concrete. I'll probably post a picture or two of that as well.

Our landscaping project has started! The first thing we're doing is putting a walkway with steps right next to our driveway. In order to make things easier for our landscaper, I needed to extend the "sleeve" (basically, a 2 1/2" PVC pipe) that runs under our driveway. The landscaper can use it to run pipe and/or wires for the sprinkling system under the driveway, but if the sleeve doesn't extend past the walkway we're having poured, the existing sleeve is of absolutely no help at all.

Last night, I dug a trench for the extension of the pipe and went to Home Despot (hehehe) to buy the stuff I would need. When I got home, it was a little dark to continue working, so I thought I would get up this morning, glue the extension together, and then go to work.

I got up and the concrete contractors were there! They had started excavation and everything. I was able to cut the pipe to the right length and get it glued together, but the concrete guys had run into another problem when they were excavating. You know those green irrigation valve boxes that you see in yards? Well, one of them had been BURIED right in the middle of where the bottom of the walkway will be. There's a pretty big valve in that box. What to do? What to do?

I ended up going to Home Despot (hehehe) again and buying a new valve box, because the concrete guys had kinda knocked holes in the top of the old one. Who'da thunk that there would be a valve box buried several inches below the surface? They thought it was a rock until they knocked a hole in it. Anyway, I then took the rest of the pipe and dug a trench for a sleeve to this new box that will be brought up to be level with the concrete. I THINK the valve inside is for the pressurized irrigation system that the city is working on. They'll just surround the new box with concrete and we'll still have the access we need. In the future, if we hate it, we'll jackhammer out the concrete, get the city to extend the pipes to somewhere in the yard, and have a green box in the green grass instead of the middle of a concrete walkway, but again, that's only if we absolutely hate having the green box in the middle of the concrete. Tomorrow morning, cement trucks will show up. I'll have to make sure to get my boys up so they can watch!

Next step: Retaining walls. They'll start building those sometime next week. Hooray!

***EDIT***

Here are some "before" pictures so you will be able to see the progress:

Yesterday, when I arrived home from work, I got out of my car and heard a strange hissing noise coming from behind the garbage cans, or so I thought. It was actually noise reflected from the back tire of my car.

I wasn't in the mood to do anything about it right then. The tire was too flat to drive on, so I couldn't take it to get it repaired without changing the tire and putting on the donut spare, so I just decided to wait until morning.

This morning, I put on the spare and took it to Big O Tires, where I had purchased the tires. Because I bought Big O brand tires, flat fixes are free!

It seemed to take longer than usual for a simple flat tire fix. It wasn't a simple flat tire fix. Whatever it was, it punctured the sidewall and the tire was not fixable. Fortunately, Big O also warrants their tires against such damage. They had already replaced the tire and all I had to do was sign the paperwork for the warranty replacement and I was on my way.

Needless to say, I highly recommend Big O Tires for all of your tire needs.

I haven't been pulled over for a good long time. The last time was a dozen years or so ago. I had a headlight and a taillight out on the same side of my car. The policeman gave me a "fix it" ticket.

Well, today, I got pulled over again. This time, it was for speeding. I was doing 36 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone. But I didn't get a ticket. I got off on a technicality.

I was riding my bicycle at the time.

The poor officer couldn't get his computer system to print a ticket. You see, in order to issue a moving violation, he had to enter a vehicle license number unless he was also issuing a ticket for an unlicensed vehicle. My bike had no license number. Since no license is required, he couldn't ticket me for having an unlicensed vehicle. He called it in and they told him to let me off with a warning.

Dutifully, he lectured me about going too fast and told me that by next time, he will have figured out what to do and then I'll get a ticket.

I think he said a lot of other things, but I was too busy thinking "Cool! I was going 36 miles per hour!"

Good thing he took the time to deal with me, a true menace to society!

It's a delicate situation when your child has trouble with a teacher. You really have to treat the situation very carefully, because your child has to continue dealing with the teacher on a daily basis, at least for the rest of the school year. And it's even worse if the child has younger siblings, because causing any kind of trouble at all might result in problems in the future. "Oh, he's THAT guy's kid?!?" No, not something I want said about either of my children--at least, not in THAT way.

My oldest is a sixth grader. His school has three sixth grade classes. Each of the three teachers teaches a couple of subjects. The classes rotate between the classrooms. This will hopefully be a preparation for Junior High next year.

Lately, my sixth grader has had problems in math. Part of their week includes something called "Mountain Math." Each week, the math teacher puts up a bulletin board that is part of a kit that he has purchased. The Mountain Math bulletin board looks like this:

The student is given a sheet with questions on it. Questions like these:

11. Estimate the sum. ___________ Write the actual sum. _________
12. Find the Perimeter. ________________

In this particular math class, the teacher has them do Mountain Math as a "self-starter" activity, and during times when the student has finished other work or has nothing else to do, they are supposed to work on Mountain Math. Their answer sheet has to be completed by the end of the week, and at the end of the week, the sheet is graded.

This math teacher has added a dimension to Mountain Math. Each week, he sets a number of problems that is the maximum that a student should miss. If a student misses more than this number, then they have to join the "tutoring club" for the following week.

Tutoring club basically means that the student must eat his lunch in the classroom and use the recess time to work on Mountain Math. In the past, the teacher would also eat his lunch in the classroom and would be there to help the kids learn. But for the last several weeks, the math teacher disappears and the kids are left, unsupervised, to fend for themselves. No tutoring is going on (so why not call it punishment, because that's what it is), and very little math gets done at all.

Now, understand that all of this information is second-hand to me. I hear it from the point of view of a rather imaginitive 11-year-old. In order to better understand the situation, I went to have lunch with my son a couple of weeks ago, and the situation was pretty much as he described it to me.

Yesterday, I wrote the following email to the math teacher:

Mr. XXXXXXXX

My son, XXXXX, is in the "tutoring club" once again and has expressed some frustration with it. I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to help out. Since Mountain Math is put up on a bulletin board at school, I never see the problems. I never see the answers. I never see what gaps there are in his understanding of the math concepts so that I can help him learn and understand what he is missing. [My son] also tends to work more slowly than others and has sometimes voiced concern that he can complete the problems in the time provided, but often doesn't have the time to double check his work. Is there an accompanying sheet that goes along with Mountain Math that [my son] can bring home so that I can help? If there is no printed resource available, will you allow [my son] to take a digital photograph of the Mountain Math bulletin board so that he can work on it with less stress?

I'm also a bit concerned about the "tutoring club." [My son] described to me what it used to be versus what it has become. He said that earlier in the year, you would eat your lunch in the classroom and be there as a resource to help them with Mountain Math when they needed it. He said that currently, tutoring club seems more like a punishment for doing poorly than a resource to help them do better because you no longer spend any of this tutoring club time in the classroom, tutoring. I thought he must be exaggerating, but a couple of weeks ago, I came and ate lunch with [my son], and it was pretty chaotic. Very little, if any, math got done at all, and there was certainly no supervision and no tutoring happening. Please help me better understand the purpose of the tutoring club, because what I see is from the point of view of an 11-year-old who has little hope that he will be able to spend another lunch recess outdoors and have a break from the classroom. This has become not a learning experience for him, but rather is a point of frustration and perceived failure. Having done very well in math myself in school, and having enjoyed the subject, I naturally want my son to have a more positive experience than he seems to be having.

Thank you,

Apparently, my son (and this email) was the topic of conversation among the sixth grade teachers suring their lunch today. They were comparing notes on how well my son uses his classroom time. How do I know this? Well, I have a very good friend that also happens to be a teacher at the school and this friend sat near the sixth grade teachers during lunch today and listened in.

I know that he's a rather imaginative sort. He doesn't use all of his time in class wisely. He's often doodling on his paper or talking to someone else. This is something that we're aware of and trying to help him work on. I understand completely why this might have been the topic of conversation. But why was that teacher in the teacher's lounge discussing my son rather than being in the classroom supervising my son?

I won't reprint the teacher's reply, because I don't have his permission. He agreed that the situation is exactly as I described, but he said that the events that led up to the current situation are too lengthy to put in an email. So I'm meeting with this teacher on Thursday morning to discuss this further.

I'm frankly a bit pissed off about the whole situation.

If my son uses his class time that poorly, why am I just finding out now, about four weeks before the end of the school year? What is the point of a "tutoring club" when there is no tutoring going on AT ALL? Why are the kids in the "tutoring club" left completely unsupervised during this time? If the teacher requires them to be there, I think the teacher should be required to supervise during this time. How can I find out what math skills my son is doing poorly on if I have no access to the questions/answers. I can see my son's answer sheet, but it makes no sense whatsoever without the accompanying bulletin board display.

But the worst of it is this: How can I actually do anything without worrying about what problems this may cause for my son during the rest of this school year and for my other son three years down the road? As evidenced by Mr. Math Teacher's reaction to a simple (and non-attacking, might I add) email, I have to tiptoe carefully around the situation, making sure that nothing I say or do offends this teacher. I have to tapdance around the issue, for fear that I might upset the teacher and risk my children being treated poorly. And heaven forbid that I go over his head, because that would give offense as well. As my friend put it:

Lack of supervision is an issue you could bring up with Mr. [Principal's name]. Just be aware the teachers might not like that.

In other words, I'm completely powerless in the situation and I'd better get used to it.