Tuesday April 5th

Well, the rain today canceled the class trip to the landfill. It's an odd field trip, I know, but this is a sort of ecology/earth science class. I was kind of intrigued and since the water treatment plant was neat, I was planning on staying for the tour or whatever.

Instead, I transported portable students to the main school building due to the storm warnings. They get evacuated to real shelter when things look bad. Then, the gates were closed behind the buses and they couldn't get out! I was empty, being the furthest bus away, so no one came on mine. So, I parked in front of the gates, grabbed my keys and my poncho, and got my pants and sleeve cuffs all wet rescuing my poor trapped bus buddies. Wow it was coming down hard and was windy to top it off, so the poncho annoyed me by not doing its job very well.

The kids are all excited- they got the little chickens finally. They're plan, in case I haven't mentioned, it to keep the chickens and donate eggs to the food pantry. Doesn't sound like a bad plan to me, I might want some chickens. I like eggs, and they are easy to keep.  Strangely, the kids don't have peeps I guess, but chicks with adult-color feathers in, and they say 2 died, and they got 2 more, and I guess one more died today. Its a feed or pet store, and I'd be suspicious of disease or something, don't you think? So far I haven't seen the chicks outside, they are in a classroom, my kids tell me.

One of our drivers makes bird houses for a hobby. He made the cutest little schoolhouse bird feeder. It's red and adorable, with a peaked roof and little tinkly bell tower. The roof lifts off, he says, and the feed comes out on the porch and onto little windowsills, I think.

I discovered that my bike parking place becomes a bicycle swimming space in heavy rain. This sucks! I had the perfect little nook between the portable wall and the ramp to park it, using the ramp bars to lock it to. Out of the way, partially hidden from all view. But wet. I have fenders! I totally tested them out today, and they were so awesome I aimed for a few puddles.

I finished my couch cover over spring break. Or finished enough to do a final fit check and ran out of thread (again) and was convinced to leave it on unhemmed for now. It's gorgeous, in my opinion, though I've had a few "why plaid?"s thrown at me. Maybe because I wanted to fry my brain matching up all those stripes, ever think of that, huh?? However, they DO all match up so nicely. So its a great effect. If I cover the pillows, they would be solid black or brown, I think. Several people at work now are considering hiring me, I think. I made a few dollars hemming curtains, which was neat, since I learned to do a blind hem to finish them. My thread collection is lacking an earthy brown-green tone.

Let's see, spring break was otherwise uneventful and lazy. The trip by bicycle 12 blocks to the bank is entirely too short, but there isn't much you can do from the house due to the bridge restrictions. You end up going WAY too far (for me) to try and make a trip out of it to another bridge to make a circle. I did, however, find out that just over the bridge, which is about 2 flat miles away from home, is a little park that is supposed to have a doggie section. And if I don't like that one, then a mile away is another one! I want to take Jackjack for a bike ride. He did really well in a backpack. I've considered a milk crate on the rack.

Speaking of my poor dog, I think he's forgotten how to walk! He somehow damaged his rear foot and the nail came completely off, leaving just toe and a quick nub. That was a mystery in itself trying to figure out what he could have done. I ended up finding the nail (cleaned out by ants, eewww) just inside the laundry room door. Anyway, he's stopped limping and being forlorn.
Now, I get home today, and he walks outside- limping! He has done the same exact thing to his opposite front foot, outside nail. This one hasn't fallen off yet. I'm stumped- his nails are not unnormally long for the 7 years we've had him, and the quick inside them is long so I can't trim them much more than they are. Maybe a trip to the vet to have them purposely cut into to trim the quick back? Anyway, he's back to being poor little Jackjack for another few days.

And last but not least, in case you didn't know already- I LOVE MY BIKE! It's so pretty, especially with bright sparkly raindrops all on it, hehe.

Happy Tuesday!