Conferences

Our school has a very effective set up for conferences. The teachers choose to work two 12 hour days. This allows us to have Wednesday off, which gives us a nice five day weekend with MEA.

I don't think I have ever been so booked. Today I had at least 20 parents stop in. After 5:30 I was booked solid, with two walk ins. Then there was an hour scheduled for an IEP for one of my student's but neither they nor their parents showed up. Too bad.

I have to admit that I have a rather good group of students this semester. So I was pretty much gushing to the parents the whole time. Several mentioned how their students liked my classes and talked about them at home. That's about as good as it gets for me.

When I got home, I found that Kristie and KoKo had the house all set up for Halloween. Kristie stopped off in GF after work and picked up some goodies. We now have signs leading up the sidewalk. There is a ghoul hanging next to our front door that, if touched, groans and shakes and its eyes glow purple. Inside they had our "Spooky Town" mausoleum and theatre set up. Kristie had Halloween lights ready to hang up. It was perfect.

KoKo, though, is still recovering from a near tragedy. On Saturday, Kristie and I were getting ready to go out with Lon and Sara (it was Sara's 30th birthday). Before we were about to walk out the door, Kristie asked where Buddy (Gail's dog after whom we are looking) was. Just then a look of woe came over KoKo's face. She dropped everything and ran out the door - minus shoes - screaming, "Buddy! Buddy!" Apparently, she let him out to go to the bathroom; however, he is close to 19 years old and is quite blind and deaf.

Kristie joined the search. Who knows how far he could go? For a blind dog, that little shit can navigate his way around.

Kristie was searching in the bushes next to our house when she heard him whimper. Evidently, he stepped next to our outdoor sump pump, which, little did we know, had a large wash out around it. So poor Buddie tumbled down a good four feet into the small hole, of course, out of reach. At least we know why we get so much water leaking into the basement in that area.

Of course, Buddy doesn't wear a collar, so there was no real way for us to get him out since he was well out of arm reach. Without many options, I had to call the police. Gulp. I had flashbacks of when my brother's dog was trapped in a small culvert beneath their driveway. His wife panicked, called him home from work, and when he arrived, he found not only the police, but the fire department too. And they were talking about getting the jaws of life!

Luckily, the police officer brought a very handy animal noose, and we were able to snatch Buddy out of his would-be grave with ease.

Needless to say, KoKo was relieved. And we hope she learned a lesson.