Mrs. Pearsons class revisited

  Yesterday I subbed in Mrs. Pearson's class in the morning.  I had subbed regularly for them last year and this is a looping class so only 2 students were no longer in her class.  When Andrew saw me he said,"Mr. Pratt my dream came true".  He has always liked me and was hoping I would sub for them this year but they had a student teacher so the chances would be rarer for me.  He gave me a big hug and told me not to tell Mrs. Pearson as he didn't hug her.  All the kids were glad to see me and Justin also gave me a hug.  The day before I was at Sheridan Road for gym class and had many students I had subbed for the year before.  I was introduced to crab soccer and the students did a good job on their warm ups and refereeing the game.  It is still very cold  and Monday I was at Reo and they went outside many in tennis shoes and without hats or gloves but as bad as most were they deserved it.  On Valentines day I was with 5th graders at Grand River and they spent the last hour not watching a movie and exchanging cards and candy.  Phillip sent Jane a dozen roses at work, he was proud of himself showing up his dad who is too cheap.  Histopher or Fluffy or Hister is now a regular at staying inside and he loves running around playing with mice, climbing the pole, and watching TV or just lying on the floor in your way.   Jon came home for the weekend and had no problem driving around the Lake Michigan snow drift corner. 

Old man

   Quite often when I sub for younger children I hear them say "We have a boy teacher today."  On 2/1/07 I had a job at Attwood school teaching kindergarteners. I was preparing for the day in a class that usually had an MSU student helping and the calendar was still set as January.  The students started to come in and I began to see how they moved their stick for lunch choice and I gave them their seat work.  I had about 5 students and one boy was saying the teacher was a grandpa and then asked me if I was.  I told him no and then he asked if I was old, to which I replied some days I feel it.  So as more students trickled in he told them the teacher told us he's old making, me feel this may be one of those days that would make me old.  Ten minutes after class time I had 11 students and tardies should have been in by now, so I found 6 students absent making a very manageable class.  We did the calendar for February and despite Ryan's and some other active students we had a good day even when a twelfth student showed up at 10:00.  The old man label thankfully was soon forgotten.  I also subbed for 2 former students, Kaylee at Windemere View and Taylor at Grand River.  Lukas had an operation for a deviated septum (cartilage in his nose) and except for a couple of bloody noses has been doing well.  The weather the past week has been either near zero or below with wind chills down to -18.  It is the first below 0 temperatures in 2 years and the longest cold spell since before 2000.  Lisa is now a Wickersham as she got married by the Potterville Justice of Peace Friday.  Well the old man shouldn't stay up too late so he can keep up the younger generation.  

It's 2007

O little town of Bethlehem a wall now stops the weary from getting to the Inn and the stables are bare because of terrorists.  Saddam Hussein's hanging live from Baghdad "plummeting  through the gallows trapdoor and dangling in death."  This past week there have been almost daily deaths of Michigan soldiers to add to the over 3000 total in Iraq.  Gerald R. Ford our 38th president and oldest at 93 died  Dec. 26.   He is to be buried in Grand Rapids today.  He was the only president from Michigan and was never elected Vice president, was appointed after Spiro Agnew's resignation. He assumed  the presidency after Nixon's Watergate impeachment avoidance and lost to Jimmy Carter when he ran for election.   Now on with 2007 it starts here with temperatures near 50 with little snow or cold weather.  Jobs now offer less security than ever and people have more debt than during the Great Depression.   Should we be optimistic or should responsibility and respectability become our personal and corporate guides?   Jon has been home for 3 weeks from school and  has been working at Sears and hoping he did well on his exams. He is worried about keeping his scholarship as he needs to maintain a 3 point average.   President Bush described Gerald Ford  as a rock of stability may we all take a lesson.    

Governor Election

Jane and I waited a half hour to vote this morning at 8:00am.   The ballot was marked with a pen in the bubble and then scanned.  We both voted for Jennifer Granholm as Dick DeVos did not do well in debates and the overall negative campaign hurt him.  I voted for numerous Green, Natural Law, U S Taxpayer, and Libertarian Party candidates.  It has been a rainy dreary day and I did not get a subbing job today as Lansing Schools had the day off.  I've been subbing quite regularly with some good multiple day assignments.   Jane went to a Dr. Messina yesterday who did a much more through job than the other neurologist she had seen who basically did nothing definite for her.   The end of the first quarter was last week and conferences are tomorrow for the boys.  We still have 3 kittens and 5 cats living here with Wiley and the fleas.   It was a cool October with the earliest over an inch snowfall.   I will be glad to see the end of all the political ads on TV and hearing them on radio and the calls with their minute messages.  A great waste of money that could have served a noble purpose but that's democracy today.   Granholm won with 56% of the vote and over 50% of citizens voting.

New York August baseball trip

On August 2-5 Phillip, Tommy Graf, and Andy Wegener were in New York for a baseball tournament which also took us to Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame. The trip was Uncle Mark's brainchild and the 5 of us traveled to Williamsville NY to play baseball at North Tonawanda Wednesday night at 6:00 where we lost to a local team 15-11. We stayed at a nice Residence Inn with a loft, we arrived about 4:30 and were at the park by 5:30. It was sunny and hot and after an 8 run first inning we played a good game going ahead after 4 innings 10-9. Phil had pitched until then and Tommy took over but had a bad inning and eventually taking the loss. The next day we played again at 6:00 at a school a mile+ down the road in an off and on rain against the team from Stoney Creek Canada. Andy started and pitched 2 innings and the score was 0-3 when Phil came in to pitch 4 innings and the score now 5-4 . Tommy came in for the save in the bottom of the 7th but we lost 6-5 on a slow roller to PJ at ss and a low throw Phil couldn't hold for the third out and the score tied. It was now raining steadily and almost dark, and our baseball playing done for the trip. Andy found a puddle to slide in and after cleaning up at the Inn we went to Dave and Buster's at 10:00 in a now heavy rain. Friday we traveled on the NY Toll road to Cooperstown arriving at12:00 and staying until 4:00. We had pizza at Sal's and got back about 9:00 after riding up and down Main Street searching for the connector to Maple Road. We left the Inn at 10:00 Saturday and after a brief stop to wish the Canadians luck headed to Niagara Falls. We got to the Falls about 12:00 and walked around with Mark and I going over the bridge to the island to observe the Falls from the center of the 2 Falls. Mark then treated us to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and at 3:00 we crossed the Rainbow bridge to finish my 1000+ driving miles of the trip. It took us about 40 minutes to cross over the border and we got back to Lansing at 8:30. We then returned the Mazda MVP to the airport and after taking Mark home and unloading my day of driving was over. Surprisingly the trip was enjoyable and we all got along without ever being bored or uncomfortable with each other. It was refreshing to be home and Jon and Lukas had taken Jon's furniture to Indiana earlier and Jon left Sunday at 2:00pm for Valparaiso. I 'm still a little tired but God gave us a safe trip keeping me aware and on the road. Sadly Arthur Lee died Thursday August 3 at 61 of leukemia may Forever Changes finally get it's deserved recognition!

7/11/06 Ybarra's 60 years

   We spent last week in Grand Haven on vacation.   It was sunny with temperatures in the 70's or 80's and water was 65-70 with real strong waves on Saturday.   The Ybarra's came up the last 2 days and are celebrating their 60th anniversary today.   There is only 1 kitten left from last litter and it is the orange one with white boots, we named Rusty Fireball.   He will let you pet him while drinking milk and I'm working on bringing him inside but today he hid under the bed for an hour.  It has been a dry and 80ish summer so far but we had a good rain today to help keep things green.   Jon has an apartment and a roommate for the fall and will be leaving by August 7th.  I still await a summer job or something more permanent for the Fall.   Thoughts about life and what can help all to understand can be found in music, shared poems or journals or lost in the dangling conversation.    

JUNEteenth 2006

   Another school year has passed as I kept busy at Elmwood, Schavey Road and Lansing.   The desire to teach is still in me as I look at students I've had in the past and find many remember me.   I put in applications with Waverly and Dewitt.   Juneteenth celebrates the time at the end of the civil war when many slaves finally got the news of the end of slavery.  On 6/19/1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston Texas  freeing the country's last slaves, in Michigan last year, Gov. Granholm declared the 3rd Saturday of June to be Juneteenth National Freedom Day, to become the 20th state to make it a holiday.    The Pistons basketball team lost as the Red Wings did without a championship for Detroit.   Phillip played freshman baseball for Waverly and is playing for Uncle Mark's Panther team this summer.   He pitched and played 3rd base for a 9-9 team coached by Mr. Bird  and Mr. Dimick.    Santana gave birth to 5 kittens in May so the menagerie grows.   Jon bought a Pontiac G6 as he graduated from MSU with a Political Science degree.   Jane has been suffering with pain in her jaw that doctors have not diagnosed and have put her on anti-seizure drugs they give epileptics.   Her MRI came back normal so we don't know if this will be long term or some kind of nerve problem or blockage, that will clear up in time.   Growing old is not easy and challenges wait each new dawn.