Happy Birthday Bob! 66 years young

Well I started on Fri for 4 hrs to trim trees and encroaching vine, I got to Home Depot today at 6 and rented a chain saw for 6o. I had 2 guys and for 6 hours the cut up cut off and hauled branched into the street for pickup tomorrow. My neighbor's gardener quoted him 750. to trim and cut off the top. Brian wanted to go 1/2 on that. In hindsight that would have been the way to go. 40 and 60 and 90 and 70 equal 260 and a threat...not worth it.

The 2 from yesterday did not show today, The two new one's wanted more than 10.00 an hour. I said no. If they didn't want to do the job I would get someone else. So the day ends and I give one 79, and the other says since the work was so difficult he should get 90. I said no and he went on to threaten he knows where I live... He handed me back the 80 I offered as a compromise. I dropped it on the ground closed my door and drove off. I've put locks on the gates and have been gearing up to call 911. Most scary and distressing.

The trees are clear up to 12 ft. trunk only then they continue to be a tree again. The fence now needs replacing. It's been held together with spit and nails for several years now. I didn't want to have to deal with them both now.

I have had a bronchial cough. I sounds like a fog horn. I took some old medicine and I took too much or I took it with a sleeping pill and couldn't walk, weaved to the toilet. Fell asleep on the toilet and slept all day. Then my hacking would wake me. I need some lozenges.
I tried to lift the chain saw to cut some branches on my orange tree. It was too heavy for me, especially over my head. It gave me some perspective on how difficult the gob was. Glad I had a hat and goggles.

trees

My neighbor and asked me to shell out 1/2 of 750. to trim the populars in my yard that are cutting his light and mine too. There are 4 and I said let me just rent a chain saw and cut them all down. They also have a diseased bush in them that has a mildew. I may be very surprised how difficult it is to cut down a 60 ft. evergreen. It's not like you can climb it. It's as big around as 12 or 3 or 4 dads.

I have about 12 in the back and the 4 on the r side. Since both of those neighbors have pools, I'm sure that they hate the mess. I know what it does just on my deck every day in needles. I might be surprised how long it takes too.

I'm trying to limit my grocery bill to 50. for the month. That's more than half what is usually is.

I need to learn to use a scanner. I took documents to be scanned today-6, and it was 6 dollars. It can't be that hard= you scan it into the computer and name the file then copy it onto a c/d. Then I have to upload it to my ed-join profile and attach it to my application.

I'm off to visit my friend Caro on Wed. She seeks me out if I've been out of contact too long. The times 3 that I've gone by her house I was not in the place to stop for a variety of reasons.

One parent of a 7th grade boy's mom called to complain he had not done enough grammar and writing. I started him on a diagnostic test of 30 pages today to see what he knows, and gave 6 pages of grammar h/w and an essay or two one had been assigned but he says he forgot.

In had an interview

That's where they send kids that are on there last chance. I'd need much better classroom control to do that. I got a sub for an hour. I was only gone from 1/2. Classroom discipline, how do you enforce it. how do you maintain it. Many do. The answer here is to build relationships with the kids. empathy not friendship, understanding not giving in, Like parenting without the love. They push your buttons.

I think I'll research it. Obviously I didn't learn it in school.

Ironic to go from there to the lovely quiet Vietnamese kids. They do assignments and they or their parents want them to get ahead.

Well subbing will be nice for next year. There are two jobs as librarians open/posted. One in Palo Alto 80% and another. I have to learn to scan and attach documents. Mail and faxes are a thing of the past they need to be pdf attached.

Tuning out the world

I read 5 books this weekend. I also went to the Farmers Market. Conveniently I left The Sound and The Fury at school.

I'll catch up tonight.

I pulled 2 all nighters..my favorite.


I went to the Farmers market 2x. I like the Friday one downtown. They have nan and Indian food. I took back the roasted eggplant I got from them last week. It tasted like kerosene. After a verbal discussion, she replaced it with spinach. Not my favorite but I didn't think them chicken tika cost the same but it does and that's my favorite.

I roasted 2 more trays of veggies, 3 eggplant,zucchini, 2 red peppers and some carrots. I'll make some whole wheat tortillas and peel the peppers, make the eggplant into "caviar".

My mammogram and ultrasound were normal, although I have a palpable mass about the size of a dime in the r breast. My doctor feels it's a cyst. My 2 previous one's were.

Not a good teacher

It's good I am not a parent or teaching a class of 38 like yesterday that throw things at me and swear with impunity. I know I did too but they get me to the point of yelling which is when they and I know Ive lost it and need help keeping it together. I know it's normal for these teenagers to question everything and refuse to do things but it drives me crazy. After the 4th time explaining the assignment that is on the board I want to scream and walk out.
If I could have identifies the creature that called me a fucking bitch he would be out of there. As it is I sent 2 kids to the office. One came back. Security came in 3 times and the principal and I assume the vice principal came in once. Apparently their normal teacher doesn't have any problems. I wouldn't either if I had then [lay for 5 hrs. It's only that I had them reading and writing and doing vocab. that there was a problem. I expected them to do the work. My error. I even gave them a pop quiz.
I'm glad noone called today. Or they called today but only to tell me I had gotten the wrong form and I needed to come in and fill out another. I didn't get any on Tuesday.
Tomorrow I won't go either because I want to go to the farmers market. I'm out of fruit and veggies and I missed the small one trying to babysit the class from hell.

I'd slit my throat or quit before I would subject myself to that every day. At least subbing I can choose.

Estrogen

I need to use some only for a week but I don't want to hear parts are thinning! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW... STOP IT NOW!

Today I'm subbing 10th grade. So far I've been called a fucking bitch. Sent a referral on a girl who said I can't see with all that shit on the board. I am getting hate from the whole class. I have 2 more hours to go. I was hoping I might get a 2nd class, but no same group all day.
I gave them vocabulary. We read a chapter of Lord of the Flies and reread it out loud. I made an outline for kids to do writing in preparation for an essay and they grown about anything.

They say, I already did the vocabulary, I'm not going to do it again, when there are different words.

We did a writing prompt. Now I'm going to have them write an introductory paragraph for a composition.

Teaching anything is a huge fight. The talk.... I finally got them quiet for the last part by calling security. Then they went to brunch, and as they and I both said, THANK GOODNESS!
I don't like their behavior and expect them to work. This time I'll try them in groups since sit and listen and be quiet didn't work. Once I explained what they had to do they kept asking even though it was on the board. These must be kids that flunked. There are a lot of kids that do nothing. Some are really low in reading too.

I've taught 10th grade English before. Once where I had them for 4 hrs. and once when I had 2 classes. One were kids I had before. The other was really hard. Once I let them have some flexibility they did fine. I had some drama students, one smart boy one dancer and a football player who plagerized entire essay's off the internet and then wanted to know how I knew.