About us
I finished a long phone call with my Uncle Bill a bit ago. He's doing very well and seemed quite happy. He told me about his daughter having an easier class this year (she's a teacher), about his granddaughter going to San Francisco for a meeting about her internship, about the fireworks that were set off over Pretty Lake for the special camp they have there for burned children (I know that sounds strange for burned children but they love it!), about the weather and power outages, and about his various activities. It's good to hear him being so happy. He also invited us all for Labor Day of course. (It's become a tradition!)
*My school week went okay. I had some problems yesterday but nothing MAJORLY serious. Someone vandalized one of my drawings, the computer lab server would not work right for my classes and two of the computers are *down*, and I accidentally BROKE the pin that the school system gave me on my first day of work in 1975. That was rather ironic since this is my last year. The Tech teacher is going to try to repair it for me.
*I also had visitors after school. It was a Dad with his 6th grade daughter. He had seen my name on her schedule and had asked a teacher at the elementary school next door if it was the same Mrs. Nickel that he had when he was in grade school and she told him that it was. He said that he really wanted to stop by and say hi. That was very sweet. His daughter is a real beauty. She reminds me of one of the contemporary actresses, but of course I can't think of the actresses name. :-(
*I got a lot of my handouts re-written to fit the new seven week schedule and re-wrote the blurbs in the handout for Open House which is next Thursday. My seating charts for grades 7 and 8 have pictures attached, but 6th grade does not have them available yet.
*I think I have given my classes all of the orientation information that they need... that about killed my voice, but by friday my voice had gotten stronger.
******Oh and I want yellowrosetx to know that I have been carrying her cool handmade school bag with me every day. It's perfect for carrying my papers and sketchbook/journal.
The boat is still tied up to the neighbor's seawall and is safe at this time. Robert went down to check on it today. With all the rain the river is WAY up and the current is very strong. We MIGHT try to get the boat out tomorrow, but it really depends on the condition of the river. Robert is not worrying as much since the boat is safely tied up and has bumpers out to protect it.
HOWEVER... the insurance company that has been covering the cottage suddenly dropped the policy. They claimed that the insurance bill had not been paid. That is a flat out lie since we have the check that they cashed. When Robert called to get it cleared up the person who talked to him was flat out nasty. He faxed them the canceled check and all the information they needed and then they claimed that they could not read the check. Again, they were flat out nasty. SO Robert is going to get another company to cover the place. It may be more expensive but hopefully they won't STEAL the money from us. He was SO angry with them. They asked for all kinds of papers, which he sent, and then they even insisted that he send them the deed to the place, which is a BOOK. He said NO. Insurance companies make me angry anyway, and these people have effectively illustrated why.
The storms have done a LOT of damage in the area what with power outages, trees down, and bad flooding. Our house is okay though, and we only lost power for a few minutes. Other people have been way less fortunate.
Right now there is actually sunshine! As a result of the sun, the activity on the patio has been wild and crazy... all kinds of birds, the hummers, a pair of ground-squirrels (chipmunks), the usual gray squirrels, and even a frog (not sure if it's only one) has come back to resume residence in our pond. The worms have gone back into the ground for the time being. One of those even tried to crawl into our family room to take shelter yesterday.
*My school week went okay. I had some problems yesterday but nothing MAJORLY serious. Someone vandalized one of my drawings, the computer lab server would not work right for my classes and two of the computers are *down*, and I accidentally BROKE the pin that the school system gave me on my first day of work in 1975. That was rather ironic since this is my last year. The Tech teacher is going to try to repair it for me.
*I also had visitors after school. It was a Dad with his 6th grade daughter. He had seen my name on her schedule and had asked a teacher at the elementary school next door if it was the same Mrs. Nickel that he had when he was in grade school and she told him that it was. He said that he really wanted to stop by and say hi. That was very sweet. His daughter is a real beauty. She reminds me of one of the contemporary actresses, but of course I can't think of the actresses name. :-(
*I got a lot of my handouts re-written to fit the new seven week schedule and re-wrote the blurbs in the handout for Open House which is next Thursday. My seating charts for grades 7 and 8 have pictures attached, but 6th grade does not have them available yet.
*I think I have given my classes all of the orientation information that they need... that about killed my voice, but by friday my voice had gotten stronger.
******Oh and I want yellowrosetx to know that I have been carrying her cool handmade school bag with me every day. It's perfect for carrying my papers and sketchbook/journal.
The boat is still tied up to the neighbor's seawall and is safe at this time. Robert went down to check on it today. With all the rain the river is WAY up and the current is very strong. We MIGHT try to get the boat out tomorrow, but it really depends on the condition of the river. Robert is not worrying as much since the boat is safely tied up and has bumpers out to protect it.
HOWEVER... the insurance company that has been covering the cottage suddenly dropped the policy. They claimed that the insurance bill had not been paid. That is a flat out lie since we have the check that they cashed. When Robert called to get it cleared up the person who talked to him was flat out nasty. He faxed them the canceled check and all the information they needed and then they claimed that they could not read the check. Again, they were flat out nasty. SO Robert is going to get another company to cover the place. It may be more expensive but hopefully they won't STEAL the money from us. He was SO angry with them. They asked for all kinds of papers, which he sent, and then they even insisted that he send them the deed to the place, which is a BOOK. He said NO. Insurance companies make me angry anyway, and these people have effectively illustrated why.
The storms have done a LOT of damage in the area what with power outages, trees down, and bad flooding. Our house is okay though, and we only lost power for a few minutes. Other people have been way less fortunate.
Right now there is actually sunshine! As a result of the sun, the activity on the patio has been wild and crazy... all kinds of birds, the hummers, a pair of ground-squirrels (chipmunks), the usual gray squirrels, and even a frog (not sure if it's only one) has come back to resume residence in our pond. The worms have gone back into the ground for the time being. One of those even tried to crawl into our family room to take shelter yesterday.