Purdue vs. Northwestern - Big Ten Opener

Purdue and Northwestern clashed last night here at Purdue, and Craig and I were in attendance. It was the Big Ten opener for the Big Ten Conference and shown on ESPN.

We had an A parking pass and free tickets to the Shively Club seats and food. (Those tickets run over $200 apiece!)

 Aside from an old "Purdue Mom" tee shirt that Curt got me about eight years ago, I had no Purdue gear and had to go buy a polo.

Our parking pass meant that we were right in the thick of things by the stadium.

The Boilermaker Special paraded right by us...

 ... followed by the Purdue Marching Band.

Gary Lehman, a member of the Purdue Board of Trustees, was our host. He's an old high school buddy of Craig's. It was fun having access to places most don't get to go or see, meeting people you read about (for example, Morgan Burke, Purdue's Athletic Director for over a decade), sitting in comfortable seats (with backs!), and free food.

 The pregame show included the band performing songs and formations...

 ... while four parachutists brought the flag into the stadium.

They guided their parachutes precisely, missing all the wires from the ESPN aerial camera that hovers above the football field.

 The student section was absolutely packed while the rest of the stands were mostly full, too.

 We could not have had a better night to attend a football game - no humidity, temps in the 60s.

 I enjoyed the game and had watched the pregame news shows and other reports about the Boilermakers, so I was able to follow the game well.

But honestly, my heart really was with the marching band - there is something about those that warm my heart and lift my spirits.

Purdue ended up losing 31-27, but we got to watch Rondale Moore, a true freshman, make his college debut and set a new Purdue record for most yards (all purpose) at 313 yards!

Gary has invited us back for the September 22 game against Boston College. I'm in!

A Very Bad Day

Yesterday was National Dog Day.

Miss Molly did NOT have the best of days. I had been up in Chicago for an overnight trip, and Millie (who has been coming daily for two weeks) did not come over to keep her company due to it being the weekend. There were terrible thunderstorms that lasted for most of a day and so Molly was too afraid to go outside. Add to that me coming home and then heading off to church a few hours later plus the fact that we were experimenting with backing off of her calming medications, and we had the perfect storm for a disaster.

 She chewed up her bed and she peed on the floor even though she had just been outside.

 And Molly chewed up both TV remotes while we were at church. Knowing that she was out of sorts and anxious, Craig came home after Sacrament to check on her, but he never expected to find that! Good thing he came home - who knows what more might've happened during our absence?

Needless to say, Molly is going back on her meds and we have learned a lesson about watching for potential anxiety triggers occurring together.

To put the cherry on top of the day, I knocked this piece over and onto the floor - a piece that I had waited decades to find at an affordable price and had just gotten in June.

I couldn't even look - I just stood there squeezing my eyes shut and facing up toward the ceiling while Craig came running into the living room to see what had happened. He kindly picked up the pieces (one hoof was missing for a couple of hours until Lisa found it inside the china hutch) and gave me the bad news that it was in multiple pieces.

If ever I was glad to see a day come to a close, it was yesterday.

Molly - Livin' the Outdoor Life

We took Molly off her calming meds to see how she would do, and we have been enormously pleased. Their purpose was to help her relax as she adjusted to her new home and they seem to have served their purpose.

And now that she is more secure, a saucy, happy dog is emerging.

She likes to be outdoors, so a couple of times a day I take her outside into the back yard where she can poke around to her heart's content. She tends to lie where Zeus used to lie. (That's brought me to tears a time or two.)

 Millie has been a good mentor and gives her confidence to explore.

 I love these photos of her following Millie around the yard!

She loves to run around the yard, and will just explode and run like a Quarter Horse with her hindquarters low and close to the ground. The exuberance is a joy to behold.

And, she's relaxed enough now to have a good roll (or two, or three, or four!) in the grass, again in Zeus's spot.

Yesterday she spent so much time outside that she tuckered out and fell asleep - a clear sign that she felt safe and secure.

Molly has come so far since her rescue last December. Our main goal has been for her to be happy, and I think we are getting there!

Always Caring, Good or Bad

Just because you have retired doesn't mean that you don't care about your former students, their families, or your colleagues. Hearing from them can make your day or break your heart.

Like this one, from Danny, who I had my third and fourth years of teaching. He made me smile when he quoted the Yankee Ridge school song and then cry with his last line.

This is so exciting! Even when I was there in the 90s as a student, I'm pretty sure it was noticeably due for this work! I think I remember being unimpressed when the fans went in.
Yankee Ridge was such a great school. Definitely "real cool", I know that you will agree. 😍 As always, it was the people there that made it special, like you!

Then there are those communications or messages that absolutely break your heart, even though you suspected that things might turn out the way that they did.

Hi. I wanted to tell you about our child's 6th grade year but it’s a lot to absorb. The first semester went well for the most part. He did end up getting moved out of PE and put in a study hall. It was too much of a stressor. He got into some trouble in November but that seemed isolated. As soon as they returned from Winter Break, all hell broke loose for him. He was in trouble regularly and some of his trouble involved violence. He was treated so very fairly by the school. They went above and beyond to help him. Despite several extra chances, he had in school suspension and after school detention. The final straw was at the end of the year with 3 school days remaining.  He was suspended from school for 3 days. He deserved the suspension. I’ll not make any excuses for him. He didn’t take his finals but they averaged out his grades at that point. 

My son ended up with C’s in high ability Math and English.  He could go into them next year on probation but we have decided to take the teachers’ advice and put him in mainstream classes. 

We have him back in talk therapy and we have an appt with a child psychiatrist in Indy in August. (There are no child psychs in Lafayette and the good ones in Indy are hard to get into.). We will re-evaluate his meds and see if the anti-depressant that he is on is the best fit. 

He is doing very well right now but it’s summer and the pressure is gone for now. We won’t be able to gauge things until the Fall. 

I’m going to send a copy of this to all my child's former teachers who have all been so supportive of him long after he was in their classes. Thank you for the role you played in his development and I’m hoping that a year from now, I am writing a much different report.

The woman who wrote this has always had my respect - despite her child's difficulties, she was supportive of school and our efforts to help her son. I used to think how lucky he was that she was his mama.

From smiles to tears, hearing from formers can be a roller coaster of emotion. But I am always glad when one of them checks in. After all, I will always care about them.

Yankee Ridge Remodel

URBANA — In at the new-and-improved Yankee Ridge Elementary: 11 classrooms, including ones for drama and dance; central air; an updated kitchen; and space for the addition of a French dual-language program.

Out: Window air-conditioning units; food prepared and hauled in from Urbana Middle School; and, eventually, all traces of construction workers, who were hard to miss at this time last year.

Ask Principal Brian Anderson what he thinks of the $9 million overhaul the Urbana elementary got, and he'll tell you — not that he's complaining — that it's been "a long time" coming.

Like most here heading into today's start of school, he's excited about changes big and small that are equally important for the experience of the school's nearly 350 students.

One of those was as simple as desks.

"(Our music teacher) wanted to get new furniture at a higher level, so that kids can play music without having to sit down," Anderson said during a weekend tour of the building.

So they did. The desks are adjustable for height, but they stand higher than normal and allow more flexibility than desks that require students to sit.

Anderson also noted that, in addition to being able to prepare school breakfast and lunches on-site, students will now be served in lunch trays made of plastic, a more environmentally friendly option than the disposable Styrofoam versions of past years.

There are also lighting upgrades that school officials hope will be a hit in the classrooms. No longer must a switch be flipped to turn them off or on — now, there are programmable options that range from warm lighting ("test" mode) to all overhead lights but two being off ("presentation" mode) or bright lighting for high-energy situations.

It's something to set a mood, but Anderson also believes it offers a chance to "empower" students.

"We like to give them jobs," he said. "Immediately, some of us started talking about how we have another job for a student in every classroom. They can be the light technician."

Light played a large role in the renovations, ranging from low-energy LED lights in the new gym to the opening of a skylight installed in the building in 1967 but closed afterward for reasons Anderson and longtime Yankee Ridge staffers still don't know.

"I think it's been at least 20 or 30 years since it's been opened up," he said. "I don't recall anyone in the building remembering it as a staff member. There's a teacher that has taught here for 22 years, and she hadn't seen this."

The skylight brightens what has been a dark space near the kindergarten classrooms, one of which is now dedicated to the French dual-language program.

"We're in the upper 20s, nearly 30 students enrolled in the program," Anderson said. "We have two dedicated classroom teachers to it."

Yankee Ridge's addition of the dual-language program, which teaches students in French and supplements the district's Spanish dual-language program, had been hotly debated by Urbana school board members, who worried about exceeding capacity at the school and thought it could be a better fit at Wiley Elementary.

But enough Yankee Ridge parents had expressed interest in the program for it to start here. Two classroom teachers will be dedicated to the kindergarten and first-grade participants.

Fourth-grade teacher Megan McCannon remembers what construction was like last school year and the restrictions it placed on students at the time.

"A lot of our students last year saw all the construction, so I think the kids will be really excited to see what all the new classrooms look like," she said. "I'm really excited for my new classroom. I've got great new windows."

Ill Again

I have been ill with diverticulitis, one of the health issues that caused my early retirement. (I was in the hospital the first day back for students - I can only imagine trying to have found a sub had I not retired!) I've been sick since a week ago Sunday morning and was admitted to the hospital last Monday afternoon.

At least someone tried to beautifully present the clear liquid diet that I was on! (Those are popsicles on that covered plate. I needed the giggle they gave me.)

I went home Wednesday afternoon, but am still under the weather and recovering at home.

Welcome, Susan Jane!

Welcome to our newest grandbaby!

Susan Jane Isenbarger, 8/11/18, 12:44 AM CDT, 8 lbs. 13 oz., 21 in. long.  (I love that the birthdate is a palindrome)

 It was a fast delivery, but mama and baby are fine.

 I think our new little miss looks a lot like her daddy.

 The big sisters are thrilled!

Susan is our 15th grandchild, and our second "birthday pair." She shares her birthday with her cousin, Titan, who turned three the day she was born, while Sarah has given birth twice on the same day, with Isaac being eight years older than Trinity.

I can hardly wait to meet her!

It's Time for Friday Night Lights!

It's time for Friday night lights again - football season has begun!

Craig, Lisa, and I follow the West Lafayette team, Craig's alma mater (and where he was named to the 100 Year Team a few years ago.)

Rain poured before the scrimmage and then threatened again just as we were getting started, but the skies cleared and we stayed dry.

The scrimmage was against my alma mater, Harrison.

 I wore West Side's color of scarlet, but I also showed my loyalty to Harrison with a blue horse. (Their colors are orange and blue.) And, despite being surrounded by West Side fans, I cheered on Harrison.

 The Harrison buses roll in.

Both teams looked fairly average, so who knows what the season will hold, but still it was fun to be sitting out in the bleachers on a warm summer night watching  the scrimmage.

Are you ready for some football? We sure are!

Volunteering - Helping Lisa

Teachers go back to work today (although most have been working unpaid in their classrooms for the past two weeks!) and so yesterday and Wednesday I worked in Lisa's room helping her finish her room prep.

She teaches at Burnett Creek Elementary which is across the road from Harrison High School, cattycorner to Battleground Middle School, and two miles from the barn!

The art teacher for her building had a creative door - the paint pots are Chinet paper plates! So clever!

The mom in me got a little sniffly at seeing Lisa's new name tag posted by her door. She is going to love teaching High Ability!

I worked on her open house packets, labeled things, put together her student supplies, and just did whatever she asked.

 I also helped her hang her photo booth for the open house, so naturally we had to try it out.

She's all ready to go, and will be in meetings all day today and then have her open house tonight.

Best of luck, Lisa! Your students are lucky to have you!

Volunteering - Kathy Nimmer to Attica

Friday morning Allyson Anthrop and I met at Kathy's place to go to Attica with her for a speaking engagement. Sadly, I did not get any photos of the three of us together, but I did take some while Kathy spoke.

As always, Kathy did a tremendous job - she is very inspiring.

She has a way of connecting to her audience and then zeroing in on her point.

 Using a lesson she first taught to my class, she used waltzing as a means to reach the audience.

 The entire staff and faculty of Attica schools stood up with some trepidation...

 ... watched her demonstrate, and then did the box step in place!

 When she concluded her speech, Kathy received a standing ovation.

She also got a tee shirt from the assistant principal.

Volunteering - Hershey Registration

TSC registration is all online unless you are new to the district. If you are, then you need to bring in documents such as birth certificates, immunization records, and proof of residence to the school your children will be attending. I have volunteered to help at registration for the past three or four years, and did so again this year despite having recently retired.

Tables and chairs were set out in the foyer for people to fill out forms that were on a welcome table along with instructions as to what to do.

 I spent a good deal of my time xeroxing and collating the packets for registration.

 Jackie had made a bunch up, but we were getting a lot of walk-ins and needed more.

I ended up working ahead for the coming school year, making some for Jackie to use with kids who move in during the school year.

 I had to smile - the file folders I was using were recycled ones from my classroom!

And, I found a map of the building with me still listed as a teacher at Hershey. That was a bit bittersweet.

While there, I also committed to helping with bus duty the first day of school and then with the Open House the night before, so I will be back soon.

Between helping Lisa, helping Kathy, and helping Hershey, I still feel very much a part of things and that is helping to stave off the sadness I feel as the education world goes on with out me.