At the end of infinity.

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Cats

Scum-sucking pig.

Somebody stole my “Cattle Crossing” sign.

It’s nothing more than a piece of plywood, 1½ feet square, with some writing carved into it.  I don’t remember where I found it, but it was weather beaten, the paint almost completely worn off.  I painted it, nice and lightly so it still looked rustic, and screwed it onto my front fence.

Now it’s gone.  I have to admit that I just noticed today, and looking through my old photos, I found out it disappeared sometime between April 6^th and June 17^th.  But just because it took me up to 3 months to notice it was gone, doesn’t mean the person who took it isn’t a butthead.  Because they are.

Hope they have a good place for it, and enjoy it for years to go.  Smeghead.

Tapping into my inner MacGyver.

My little brother is the king of MacGyvering.  A brace on my older brother’s snow blower broke one snowy day and we brought it over to my little brother’s house.  It took about an hour and a half, small piece of metal, drilling and the Dremel, but he fashioned the perfect part.  It would have cost $20 – $30 and probably would have had to wait for the part if we went to the snow blower dealer.

I’ve seen him pull this off on may things, and some of it must have rubbed off on me.

Today I totally pulled a MacGyver on my Mercury.  The panel that holds the window and door lock controls was loose.  The wide end, opposite the screw at the pointed end, wasn’t hooked in and was flopping around.  Driving me nuts.

The little clips that held it tight had broken off.  I tried gluing the one I found back on, but it popped off seconds after tightening down the screw.  (Above: the clips on the passenger side, still in proper place).

I noticed that bolt that holds the switch in at the back of the panel.  Rummaged through my junk drawers where have put every spare bolt, screw and fastener of any kind that I have had extra of, found laying on the ground or pulled off a car over the entire 20 years I’ve lived in this house.  There I found this copper plumbing fastener (picture above).

I bolted it on, bent it to where I thought it should work and presto – worked perfect.  Tight as it was when it came off the assembly line.  And now, since the passenger side ones are a little loose, I know what to do when they pop off.

‘Tis the Season

G’head, hit “play”.  You don’t have to watch it, read this post while it plays in the background.  It’s just a little musical encouragement for those of us who are on a downhill slide to a new school year.  (Yeah, I know.  There’s at least one person likely to read this that is on her downhill slide towards summer.  Don’t rub it in, we’re already jealous.)

The beginning of August marks the time when, psychologically, I start preparing for a new year.  Even though I don’t need to be back for another 2 or 3 weeks, I’ll start dropping by, preparing my classroom, checking my mail, annoying the administration and making myself zen with the coming beginning.  But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t use another month of summer.

Yes, I love my job, and on several levels I’m actually looking forward to the new school year.  I have a great schedule (3 math in the morning, 3 keyboarding after lunch), I have a student teacher this year (all year) and just the excitement of meeting a couple hundred new people and getting to know them.

But … not working a second job this summer has been great.  I’m going to miss sleeping in until, well, until I feel like getting out of bed.  Having to look at the morning paper to tell what day it is.  Being able to say “whenever is good for you” or “yeah, I’m free” when family or friends call to get together.

It’s the ying and yang that make teaching such a great job for me.  I’d go crazy with this totally unstructured time if it was all I had.  It’s nice for a while, but it will also be nice to have somewhere to go every day again.

As long as I can look forward to next summer.