End of the Week

 

 

 It's my least favourite day of the week.......... this is the day I go back to the city to get all the necessities done........... you know - laundry, shopping messages and the exchange of the lil one.

UGH!

I get up stressed... one eye on the clock .... cause if I am gonna be back here at a decent time - meaning time to unpack the groceries - put the laundry away - AND most importantly time to sit and chill before Sir Steve gets home - I have to be in the car by 8:30ish........ 

Sounds like a tough life eh??? (hanging head) I know....... I think this extended stay in the country has made me lazy (sad face).

AHHH well no more time to whine about my hate for Fridays.... gotta get the car loaded... 

Life IS good - even when Friday means schedules and work.

Tree Poop

Ever heard of 'tree poop'???

No?? well not to worry - it's a phrase we've coined around here....

Tree Poop is the bane of my existence...... the tree poop covers our deck every single day........ as fast as I sweep it off it is back!!

just a quick pic of a portion of our front deck rug.....

ok.... so I can hear you all saying 'just leave it - it's not that bad AND is part of living in the country safely tucked away under the trees' - right???

Let me show you this tree poop up close and personal..................

Do you see that pointy end?? that pointy end is the reason I sweep the deck multiple times a day........ that bloody point is as sharp as a needle....... and trust me!  getting one stuck in the bottom of your foot .. or in a toe is no fun at all!!!

AND somehow they manage to sneak into the trailer when you're not looking .... and they blend in with the floor colour ....... and sabotage a quick trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night!!!

Tree poop!  the joys of country living (grinning)

Surprise!!

yes I'm back for a second day!!!  It helps that we are on our 4th straight day of rain.... good for the farmers not so good for us 'campers'....... and the lil one is with her mother this week so free time for the wicked stepmother (grinning). 

Yesterday was Sir Steve's birthday.  It was a quiet year compared to the last 3..... the first year we were together he had a BIG birthday ... so I threw a BIG dinner party here in the country........ the next year his parents came down and we went to the Scottish Games ......... last year I arranged a small surprise party for him AND his parents came down..........this year it was just us.......... (big sigh) ....we're having a 'family' party on Friday night when the lil one is back... so last night was just the two of us... I planned a romantic dinner - steak and lobster with a 'turtles' birthday cake.............

I also thought (especially seeing as our internet was down due to a blown transformer) that perhaps a little sex after dinner would be the 'icing on the cake'.  However Sir Steve's family started texting him right after dinner ... and phoning him.... a nice surprise was a phone call from his brother - they haven't really spoken in 6 years!!  The 'extra dessert' (cheeky grin) can wait for another time.......

Life is good when you can celebrate with the one you love........

Worth Fighting for......... no?

I grew up during the peace movement days....... did a lot of marching for peace... and protested against injustice.  I believed we (my generation) could and would change the world.

Over the years my protests... outspoken outrage .. became more focused... maybe a little more realistic?? I stopped trying to change the world and tried to change MY world - I kept speaking out against local injustices.

I am not nearly as active anymore... tending to let the younger voices speak their words...

But I have become outspoken about how our government is handling reopening.... especially the schools.  I found myself writing to local newspapers and not so local.... found myself writing to Doug Ford (our Premier) to our school board and even despite realizing the futility of it .. writing to our education minister.  I am not talking out of my a** ... I know - after almost 30 years of teaching - what it means to be in a classroom. 

On Friday evening - after posting a scathing comment on the lil one's school's page on FB triggered by a letter from our school board - I received a text message from her teacher.  Apparently the principal contacted her and asked her to contact me........... GAH!!  my heart nearly stopped.  I was dreading the 'you are a shit disturber - stop it!' that I used to get when I taught and went against the voice of authority.  BUT NO... apparently the principal wanted to thank me for well thought out comments... wanted me to know how much she appreciated it...wanted me to continue speaking up and out..... and how she couldn't say so publicly because she is THE principal.  (we won't go into my thoughts on that - I am used to folks being scared to speak up against their employers)

Our government is sending the kiddies back to full time school in over crowded classrooms........ from K - grade 3 no masks necessary - social distancing is 1 meter for kids and 2 for teachers (le sigh) .......... our classrooms look like this

AND to accomplish the 2 meter distancing our classrooms would need this much space.....

During the worst of the first wave..... from March to June - 81% of the people in long term care homes here in Ontario died.  There were a lot of reasons for this.. overcrowding - no PPE - care givers working in many different homes - moving between them. 

Let's take a minute and look at schools let's compare the similarities between our schools and long term care homes....  we have substitute teachers that teach in many different schools.... top that off with .....our classrooms are over crowded and the ventilation is worse than poor... our youngest children don't have to wear masks... when they walk they touch everything - drag their hands along the walls - across the desks / tables... wash their hands by plunking a glob of soap in  their hands and then if we're lucky - they quickly rub their hands together then run them under the water.........

Let's look at lunch time....... how often do kiddies eat with their fingers - can't open their containers and need help - can't do up their coats / boots /shoes....... Remember the teachers are supposed to stay 2 meters away...........

AND just to make things better -- a day camp in Quebec where the kiddies are outside all the time - 26 children came down with covid....at a sleep away camp in the States 260 kiddies came down with covid. 

Experts are still compiling the data -- but it appears that the youngest of us "efficiently" store the virus - having a much larger percentage of it in their nasal cavities then adults......... and though they might not (MIGHT NOT) get as sick they are more 'efficient' at spreading it............

OH and don't get me started on the Children's Hospital in Ottawa and their recommendations....... cause it has come to light that they received 10$ million dollars from some foundation that has ties to our Mr. Doug Ford............ so much for their non-biased recommendations right???

AND lastly

tell me this reopening 'plan' has nothing to do with the economy....

our high school kids will only go back at 50% capacity.......... cause ya know they don't need child care - their parents can go to work......... it's the little ones that need looking after.......... and their parents have to work .............

We live in scary times.........

Rainy days.....

after nearly 4 months of perfect summer weather we have rain..... lots and lots of rain....

I took this picture yesterday morning on our front deck..........

Besides rainy weather - I had a flair up of an old medical condition that laid me low for a couple of days... today I am achy and weak but improving.

I'm thinking the flair up may have been stress induced...... they are opening the schools in September - full time - full classrooms - little or no precautions (like no social distancing - come on!!  they say 1 metre between kiddies but there is no reduction in class size - therefore no social distancing no mandatory masks for our age group) In my heart of hearts I knew home schooling was the only answer for us........... which means me back teaching again - with no down time except on weekends.  Like I said back in May/June I retired from teaching for a reason............ I'm already stressing about teaching grade 3!!  way beyond my pay scale........... which is gonna mean a whole mess of research on the weekends so I am prepared........ UGH.

Sir Steve approached the mother this weekend to get her feed back on what to do in September ...... he didn't have to has he has full guardianship but it was a nice gesture.  Mother is all for the lil one being home schooled..... and she actually - with some pushing from Sir Steve - admitted she is thankful that I can and will do the home schooling.  OHHHHHHH and she has agreed to do the french - we'll see.. she sure as hell didn't do any last time around............

I think I need to get back to doing stuff for me..... now......... before my life gets out of control again...... I am standing in the bedroom window writing this and thinking I should pull my camera out and get some pictures of the birds .......... photography always brought me great joy and seemed to fill a need I had to try and be creative.... so yeah it may be time to resurrect it .............

Life is good even when it rains.........