Twins

Sometimes in life we forget what really matters. We let the small stuff get in the way of living and make mountains out of mole hills. The last several months have been a real roller coaster for my family. I am going to write about it in hopes that I can let some of my stress go. 

In May of this year I found out I was going to be a grandmother of identical twin little girls. We all rejoiced and were thankful for this blessing. My 27 year old daughter had gestational diabetes with my 4 year old grandson so we have worried about her staying healthy to keep the babies healthy. When my daughter went to her next doctor appointment she was told that baby B had passed and her body would just absorb the baby. This was horrifying to all of us and we prayed for a miracle. At her second ultra sound they said that baby A is doing great, however, baby be was still growing. They told her that she needed to prepare to have two full term babies.  However, baby B would not live after it was born. We have been devastated by the news. I keep praying that they are wrong and the little one will make it. 

 My daughter has been a trouper. She has had 7 ultrasounds and each saying the same thing. Baby A is growing as expected and baby B is also growing but they cannot detect a heartbeat.  Last Wednesday she had her 9th ultra sound. She is now 26 weeks and she actually got to see baby A's face, then baby B was visible and she was able to see baby B's face.   It was so bitter sweet, the ultrasound tech told her they were not identical. This only caused more questions. Now we need to know what is really going on with the babies. She has an appointment with  a different Ultrasound Technician  in Seattle specializing in multiple pregnancies. Finally we will have some answers.

 Friday afternoon my son in-law called to tell me my daughter was in the local hospital with server pain and would call later with an update. He called me 20 minutes later tell me she is headed 80 miles to Tacoma by ambulance.  The babies at this point are fine. She is still having pain and they believe it to be her kidneys.  The tests have all come back as normal and tomorrow she will be seeing a urologist.  I am praying that her kidneys are good and there is no damage to her or the babies. 

The doctors have done several ultrasounds of my daughter kidney's and the babies. The good news is they have found the heartbeat of Baby B. So at this time they are planning for two babies.  They have concerns that Baby B is not growing correctly. They again are not sure if they are paternal or identical. Therefore, we will be waiting to get the test and then the results. I will be praying for them all. 

My daughter is scared and I wish I was able to be with her. We live over 400 miles away and I have a nasty cold.  I will be praying for healthy happy grand babies and a healthy daughter. I look forward to the Doctors seeing her tomorrow to find out if they are able to help her. Tuesday is the scheduled ultra sound and I look forward to see if the babies are good.   They say God, only gives you what you can handle.  I know she can handle this and I pray everyone is healthy and we can go to full term.

Time

I am amazed how time flies by. Where does it go? Can I add hours to a day?  I perplexed with the fact 25 years ago I had two small children and I found time for everything I needed to do. I made clothing for the girls. I would crochet them sweater. I had a garden and attended church without ever feeling like it took my Sunday up. I worked and still found time to can my own vegetables and read to my children.

What is different? I asked myself. What is different is I now have Television, Internet and a telephone. I must be spending too much time wasting time.  So, I have a goal. I think I am going to cut the T.V. time out and start doing things that I like to do. I really want to start exercising and I think I can do that if I just turn off the TV for an hour. I can do that. My friends at T.O.P.S. have challenged me to make the change.

I ask myself can I give up the internet. This is my real time waster. But, am I really wasting time if I am reading and researching papers.  I think I need to be a little more honest with myself and start skipping Facebook.  I want to learn about great ways to communicate with students in the classroom using Google docs, Kidblog.com and Edmodo.com.  I am challenging myself to use the internet for educational purposes only.

The telephone really isn't an issue for me these days. I have a flip cell phone. No internet serves to worry about there. My children are working during the day and so are most of my friends. I think I will start to direct my time saving strategies for the internet and T.V.

So, I think I may have found some additional time to work on my writing skills.  Will there ever be enough time in a day to do all I want. I doubt it, but I sure am going to try and make it happen.

I know my post are not always quality. I am still just trying to make myself write.  

Grandma Dorothy

I have been thinking back to simpler times. I was remembering what life was like before electronics took over our lives.  As I set and ponder the evening sunset, I wonder how many people missed it because they are glued to an electronic advice. Then I started thinking about the last conversation that I had with my wonderful Grandma Dorothy.

Grandma Dorothy lived to be almost 90 years young. She was an amazing farm woman. She grew a wonderful garden and canned all the food. She had the biggest cellar. She cooked on a wood stove and didn't have a dishwasher.  She didn't even have a bathroom in the house until 1973.  There was an outhouse out back that they used. She was a tough woman and yet so gentle. I wondered what she would think of today’s world.

I remember going to her house in the early 1970’s and they had a small black and white TV and they only got PBS. Today they could have satellite TV, Telephone and Internet.  I don’t think she ever used a computer. I am sure she never used a cellphone. She would have never picked the phone up while talking to others.  I remember calling her as a child and she had a phone address with numbers and oh my things changes.

After my grandfather passed away she moved to live with my aunt in Spokane. I it wasn't until the early 1980’s that she moved to Spokane and got cable. I think life was easier for her in town. We talked once about all the different things that she had experienced in her life and she had witnessed a lot. I asked her what her most memorable moments were. She told me that she remembered the joy on my grandfather’s face when he came home from a long day. She remembers the birth of my children and the death of three of children. I will never forget what she said next. “A parent should never have to endure the pain and loss of a child. You never get over it no matter how old the child. She went on to tell me that she remembered the birth of her grandchildren.

In all the things my grandmother told shared with me that day. She never once told me she was upset that her phone didn't work. She never complained about cable. She was content with the people in her life.  She did say it was nice to heat water on an electric stove, but that can make a person lazy.  

Grandma, if you can hear me know. I miss you and keep you near and dear to my heart. 

Wrong Place and Time

I go to town once a week to grocery shop and other errors and don’t think a lot about what is going on or what I see. I usually always see the same people. 

Being in the wrong place and the wrong time happens to me more than I would like. Last week I witnesses an interaction that I thought was completely normal.  I learned later that the interaction was not pleasant and that accusations of assault were being thrown around like baseballs.

What really was disturbing to me is that this confrontation was between two very dear friends. Yesterday, I was called by the local police department regarding what I witnesses. I learned that Sue was pressing charges against Shawn for striking her and knocking her glasses off her face. I also learned that she accused him of screaming at her and causing such commotion that her glasses ended up broke.

There is so much more to the story and I feel bad for all parties involved. So, yesterday on my weekly trip to town I stopped by the police station to give my eyewitness account.

On Tuesday September 10, 2013 at approximately 4 pm I drove into the parking lot of the Joytown Post Office. I was there to meet Ton, the owner of Leaping Sheep Farms. On this day he had his vegetable stand set up in the corner next to Main Street in Republic.  When I pulled into the parking lot I noticed the Little’s truck coming around the corner of main and onto East Delaware and waited to see if Shelia was driving. I remained in my car until I saw Shawn Little get out and approach Sue Smith (standing on the side walk about 50 feet from the corner of Main and Delaware). Sue was on the sidewalk outside the windows of Esters (the Mexican Restaurant) they spoke for a short time. I moved around to the back of my car watching them and thinking, I am glad they have worked their differences out. I then say Shawn step back and wave his hand, as if he was saying goodbye and Sue looked at showed at Shawn and then walked away.  I did not hear their conversation. I was directly across the street about 50 feet may 60 feet. I felt it was a pleasant conversation because everything seemed calm, the body language didn't say anything was wrong.  I really believed that he was talking about an upcoming baby show for his daughter Abby. I am friends with both families and didn't notice anything unusual.

When I approached the vegetable stand I saw Jim Goon sister and his nephew purchasing vegetables from Ton: The homeless woman and her dog walked up and asked how long Ton would be at this location. His reply was just a few more minutes.  Nothing seemed out of place and was quiet.

I hope the charges are dropped because nothing happened.  I will write more if it makes the paper. I have changed their names and the city to avoid any judicial problems.    

Warmer waters.

I am setting in a wonderful Adirondack chair, drinking merlot wine as the warm waters of the Gulf Coast of Florida sweep across my feet. I am relaxing and enjoy the warm sun’s rays as they dance in the water and across my complexion. I forget the day to day routine of life. I watch hermit grabs meandering across the hot sand looking for a tide pool.   The smell of the ocean is clean and crisp. The sky is a beautiful azure blue. In the distance you can see a small boat with tourist learning to snorkel of scuba dive.

The water of the gulf is bloated with colorful tropic fish.  There seems to be no lack entertainment in the underwater world.  The world seems to be at peace with all and it surrounding. In the distance I hear a fog horn. I seek out a light house or a boat, but nothing is in my sight. I sit up to look and nothing. The sound in louder and grows loader with every passing moment.  Then I feel a tapping and I turn and look. 

I awake to my husband’s gentle touch asking me to please turn off the alarm. As I wake from my slumber I realize that it’s Monday. I so seek the refuge of my dream and wish to return to the peaceful world I was so enjoying.  Here is to another busy week and peaceful moments. 

Classmates

I find that it is so much easier to attend online classes when you see someone you know in your class. It is as if everything changes. Sure, we chat on Facebook and keep up in each other’s lives. But to have a fellow classmate in a class it is like the world is good. 

So, today I am thankful for all the online classmates that I have and the ones I met this summer.  There are times when I doubt what I am doing and then BANG!  I see or hear from someone who is feeling the same way. Life as an online student can get lonely at times. 

I realize that all I have to do is remember to use my resources and keep going forward. I read everyone's blogs about their families and I think they are amazing. Some are working all day at schools, come home to families and then set down to do their homework. There are a lot of dedicated students in this program. Lewis-Clark puts out some amazing teachers and I am so proud to be part of the group. I look forward to having my own classroom someday, more over I look forward to making a difference in the life of my students.   Have a great day and I will see you online. 

With summer coming to a end and school going full force, I find myself with so many things to do and no idea where to start. The garden needs to be put to bed, the horse barn needs to be shoveled out and the dogs are feeling abandon. I think I have lost my motivation, mojo.  As  the days grow shorter so does my attention span.

I have been trying to think about what to say in my blog.  I have no idea, I keep hoping if I just keep writing something will come my way and I will have an amazing idea.

I wonder if this is how students feel during writing workshop.  Do they have writers block?  Are they stumped with all the mechanical issues of writing? Are they writing and rewriting or editing because they're not comfortable with all the conventions of writing? These are all questions that I would love to have answered.

As a writer or at least a blogger, I have to say, I feel like everything I write is being judged or graded. I feel like all  of  my inadequacies are showing. I feel so, exposed. The feeling is raw and I unpleasant.  I know the only way to become a better writer is to keep writing, so that is what I am going to do.

Pack Rat

Life on a farm has really changed my way of thinking. Yesterday, I wrote about my encounter with a wild pack rat that had taken up residence in the guest bathroom in my home.   Here is what happened next.

Upon finding the pack rat and realizing why the cat was so afraid to use her cat door, I understood I needed to catch the critter and remove it from the home.  I went outside and found my fiancé and informed him of the problem. He immediately came into the house and told me to wait in the living room. I asked, why?  What are you going to do? That is when he came out of the bedroom with a pistol and said, “I am going to shoot it.”

I thought, Wow! What have I got myself into! 

My next thought was has my honey lost his mind?  What was he thinking shooting a gun in the house? What was the bathroom going to look like? 

The next thing I hear is a BANG, BANG, BANG and then a final BANG.

The house was filled with the smell of gunsmoke. The first 3 shots missed and the last shot killed the rat. The bathroom was relatively untouched. There was only a small hole in the drawer and bird shot everywhere.

When my husband tells the story it is way different.  I married an amazing man and he keeps me laughing. It has been three years and we have just finished remodeling the bathroom. There is no longer a cat door because Miss Kitty has refused to ever go into the room again. My sweet husband had promised not to shoot the gun again in the house. 

Miss Kitty

I woke from a deep slumber to the sound of thunder pounding the sky above the small mountain cabin. Natures late summer night show of lights dancing across the sky and trumpeting sound bouncing throughout the mountain valley walls for almost an hour. The rain had been pounding the tin roof for hours and sleep was absent in the night.

Beneath the bedroom window I you could hear small creature’s surrey for shelter to avoid natures furry.  Moments later I heard the cat door open in the guest bathroom. I wondered if the cat was coming in to avoid the violent rain.  Soon I heard, Miss Kitty snuggle into her bed in the corner of my room.  The storm was starting to diminish and become tranquil with a cleansing rain.  I was able to drift into a slumber and sleep for a few more hours.

With summer storms sometime we get unexpected surprises that leave use wondering what happened and why.  This day was no different. I walked by Miss Kitty in the hallway and she was mowing up a storm almost equal to the night before. I wondered what her problem was. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. She was refusing to use her cat door. She wouldn't go into the guest bathroom and when I tried to make her she started to claw and gasp at the walls to get out of the room.

I wondered what it in world was going on with my cat. I started to reason with the cat, like that would make a difference. I finally picked her up and used the front door to let her out.  She spent the day outside sunning on the front deck. She was refusing to use her cat door or eat her food form the guest bathroom. That night she came and meowed at the front door to enter the house. I wondered what her problem was and went and looked into the bathroom again and found nothing usual. The cat water was full and her dish had been untouched.

This behavior, with the cat, went on for about three more days. On the fourth day I decided it would be a good day to clean and stock the bathroom. I was going to be getting married in the upcoming weeks and needed to clean the guest bath and get it reading for family I hadn't seen in years. I thought maybe if I cleaned the bathroom the cat might use her door.   I was putting away the guest towels underneath the sink and thought what kitty is doing under the sink. I was excited that she had decided to use the bathroom cat door to go freely to and from the house.  I opened the cupboard door and called to kitty and she meowed at the bathroom door.  I looked into the cupboard and to my surprise I saw the largest Pack rat I have ever seen staring back at me. I calmly shut the cupboard and looked at kitty and she seemed to have an understanding look on her face.  For the first time since the storm I understood what was causing her so much stress.

Pack rats are very cute little creatures. The have round ears like Mickey Mouse and there fur is camel color. However, they pack a smell that is retched and are filthy creatures.  I took a few minutes to sympathize with Miss. Kitty. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for her when she saw the larger than life pack rat. The poor city cat had only seen small field mice when we lived in Idaho. She wanted nothing to do with the super size mouse and has never used the cat door since.  It has been three years since the pack rat incident and she meows at the front door to come in at night.  

Bear

O.K. so for those of you who do not know me I live in a remote area of North Eastern Washington. I live on a mountain overlooking a valley. It is amazing. We do not have grass because I literally have a house the sets on the edge so there is really no room for grass. I am south of the Canadian border about 15 miles and about 80 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart.

We have abundant wildlife and great seasons. With this said I have to tell you what happened today while sat down to get my homework completed, I got the a good old soul jarring fright. It took me about an hour to settle myself to get focused on my assignment. I have to say we have had our share of gun shootings in the rural area lately. In fact yesterday we had a hunter killed 30 miles west of me.

Anyway, I heard a gunshot and I felt like it was coming from below the deck of my home. I look out the window and I see cows everywhere. (We don't have cows, but it is open range here.) There was a truck parked in the county road with the passenger side car door open. Now, I own both sides of the road and I am thinking this guy hit a cow and is just putting it out of his misery. I watched from the window of my home with binoculars for about 5 minutes thinking he would just move on. When he didn't I decided I would head down and see what was going on or if I could help. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't bring a weapon, only my cell phone. 

When I get down to road where he was at, I notice he was moved and turning to leave the area. I thought you are not going to kill a cow and leave it on my property to deal with the authorities. I am not buying a cow I didn't kill. I pulled up to get his license plate number and before I realized it I blocked his truck and  had gotten out of the car and confronted this man. I asked him what he was doing and his reply was I saw a bear.  He reported that he wasn't hunting, but his partner got out and shot at the bear. I then reminded him he was on country road and shooting on private property. He had the nerve to tell he had the owner’s permission. I said. I kind of doubt that because I was the owner. At this point I realized I was all alone and only armed with my cell phone. I was wondering where the person with the gun was at and had I made a grave mistake. 

I informed the man that he best be on his way and that he doesn't have permission to hunt either side of the road. 

I called my husband as the man drove away and gave him the license plate number in case there was a problem later and we needed to contact someone.  I came up to the house and proceeded to distress when I heard a truck come up the drive way.  When it gets up to the house, the passenger pops out and says hello Mrs. Odell, and low and behold it was the young man who house sites for us. He apologized to me and said he would call next time. Oh, the life and times of city folks trying to live on a mountain.  

Happy New Year!

When I walked into school today it took me back to the days when I attend elementary school. There is a smell that an empty school bouquets. I don’t know if it is the fresh waxed floors or the new paper. All I do know is it reminds me of simpler times.

I enjoyed watching students chat with their friends that they haven’t seen since last year. I thought of all the memories the walls of this school has seen.  It was a new beginning.  Students in new clothes and shoes with backpacks and supplies and I wanted to visit every class just to see how the students and teacher were interacting.

Wow, what an amazing day. School was so much fun. I have to say I love working and I almost feel guilty for getting paid for having so much fun. The school was buzzing with excitement as the students found their lockers and learned the new combination.   I can’t wait to see the students grow and become wonderful writers. I have a great job.

I heard the Special Ed Teacher tell her students, Happy New Year! What a great way to start the school year.

Tomorrow, the First Day of school 2013

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I will be working in the 6th grade with students that I had last year. I am looking forward to being an aid during Reading and Writing. I am hoping that the students will inspire me to write.

 I absolutely admire the teacher I work for during Reading and Writing. He is an amazing writer and he inspires the students to read and write. I couldn't ask for a better mentor. He has the students create Google Doc. and Edmodo.com accounts and that enable the students to respond to their classmates writing.

The classroom has an amazing technology piece that allows students to create vocabulary lists, spelling lists and online journaling. We use iPads to learn spelling words. Each student creates their own spelling words from their daily journal writing. The students use the free A-plus app on the iPads to create list, record and later take the test. This allows the student to hear, see and spell the words that they frequently misspell. At the end of the week each student takes a test until they are satisfied with score and then email the exam to the teacher. 

Oh, how I feel like I am rambling on about school. I am excited to see the students and meet the new students. I love school and the children. Here is to a wonderful year full of great students and wonderful learning experiences. 

Hello, classmates!

Welcome to my blog.  I am learning how this all works and am a little confused. I could really use some free advice. Have a great day.