Graduation 2013

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Today was John Mall High School’s graduation. For a small town, it’s a big event. 31 seniors graduated this year. The center of the gym was filled with their families. Aunts, uncles, dads, moms, siblings and children. In the bleachers are all the friends and community members. Up near the stage on one side was the Board of Education and honoured guests. The staff and band sat on the other side. Morgan went with me and was up in the bleachers, watching a ceremony she skipped by going to college at 15.

At 10:30am, the band began to play Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance. Band has only recently returned to the district, and they will get better. I watched people flinch at the wrong notes at the same time they smiled. The seniors filed in and filled the seats on the stage to the sound of hoots, whistles, cheers and clapping.

We listened to speeches. We watched our foreign exchange student receive an honorary diploma. We clapped and cheered as scholarships were handed out for merit, public service, educational excellence and for overcoming obstacles.

We laughed and tried not to cry as the power point program shared pictures of the students as babies and then seniors. We smiled as it shared goofy pictures of school events as well as Prom, Homecoming and everyday classrooms.

Then it was time. As board president, it’s my duty to hand out diplomas to the students and shake their hands. I’m the point of transition from student to graduate. 31 nervous students. 30 hot and sticky or cold and clammy handshakes as I handed them their diplomas and wished them well. One diploma was handed out by a former board member to his niece. He thanked me for letting him honour her, and tried not to cry when he shook her hand and gave her the diploma.

Then it was over and caps flew in the air. They were graduates. All these young people celebrating their achievements  Some so tall when I remember them in diapers. Others so grown up, and poised.  As we moved out of the gym, we shook hands with friends, chatted with people and felt the collective sigh of relief.

Colorado, the Menopausal State

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Last Tuesday, we went from warm to freezing snow storm. Probably 2 inches of the stuff. Then it got warm. 70’s. We had a couple of cool nights, but nothing dire. I even packed away most of the winter clothes. And before you laugh and tell me it’s all my fault for packing away the clothes, keep in mind it has been Hot! Warm! Sunny! In fact, today it has been as high as 74F. (9% humidity and 20-25mph gusts)

However, wait… hold on… Tonight the temps are due to drop to the mid 30’s and we are suppose to have snow again by 5am.  (humidity 45%) If we are lucky, we might have as much as 4 to 8 inches of snow accompanied by 50 mph winds. Yes, a blizzard. Akkkk!

So, I am hauling wood into the house. The stove is ready to lite and we will be going over to my parents to chop wood. Such fun. I am wondering if this year will be like the one we had in 1993, where May 1st was greeted with 5 inches of snow. Brr….

Tomorrow’s school board meeting will be fun. Ugh.

Maybe by June the weather will be nice.

A Snowy Tuesday

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It’s been a while since I felt like writing. On January 18th, after some of the most bitter temperatures in a while, I headed to Cheyenne. It had been 39 Very Long Days since I’d seen Dan. I swear that the travel fairies were with me as I literally flew up I-25. It is usually a 4.5 hour trip and I made it in just under 4 hours. 🙂 It was so good to be together again.

We had a computer client in Denver on Saturday. When we got back, we packed up all of Dan’s stuff and came home on Sunday afternoon. He will continue to look for work, but that will be done from here, instead of Cheyenne. Neither one of us liked being apart.

This last week has been hectic. Meetings, rearranging the house once more to accommodate the offices to the front porch where it is warm, and dinner with my parents. In that Dan missed Christmas dinner, he got to pick what he wanted for dinner. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans with bacon. Mom made oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips for dessert.

Friday we had a Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival meeting. We are planning for the 9th Festival. It looks like it will be very good.

 

On Sunday we had a birthday party with a group we are a part of called Mach30. It was fun.  Monday was interesting. Dan got an offer to build some electrical parts for a local WISP. It is exciting and should actually net us some income. We had a school district meeting as well that lasted until nearly 8pm.

Today we were suppose to go visit Morgan in La Junta. It was going to be a quick trip as I had yet another school board meeting tonight. Well, we woke up to about 4 inches of snow with more falling. Right now I think we have had about 6-7 inches. The wind has settled down, but the snow is still falling. We stayed home and I canceled the meeting. My parents didn’t go to Pueblo either. They got about 25 miles up the road and turned back. About 30 minutes ago I took some pictures. We are snugged up in the Guest house keeping warm by the woodstove. 🙂

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Meetings and concerts and printers Oh My!

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April has been a busy month. Lots of school board meetings and plenty of long nights. Yesterday was a prime example of life around here.

7:am- Arrive at the bus garage to meet Dawn Olson our superintendent and head for Colorado Springs for a Professional Learning Committee meeting.

9:00am to 3pm- PLC meeting with teachers, superintendents, board members from 11 districts, and CDE. Lunch included.

3:15-4:25- Drive home from Colorado Springs

4:30-5:20pm- Attended Jeanne Wilkins retirement party at Peakview School.

5:30pm- 8:15pm- Board workshop with David Benson and Iris Williams. Lots of good work towards becoming good board members. Dinner included

8:30pm – 9:30pm- Watched and listened to the last half of the Outside Track Celtic Concert at the Fox Theater.

9:45pm-10:30pm- home, relax and go to bed!

And today, Lots of pictures of Dan’s latest project. He built a 3D printer. A RepRap. To say that he’s pleased is an understatement. He still needs to work on some of the firmware and await the arrival of the plastic.

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Busy, Hectic Week

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This week was something else. Monday I spent catching up on all the email from the weekend and met with Sandi Hansen of Edison Learning. She is working with our school district to help bring up our educational scores on the Colorado student assessment tests. (TCAP).

Tuesday was meeting day from hell. Dan and I had a Southeastern Workforce Investment Board meeting in La Junta. This was also the day that Colorado tried to blow all of it’s topsoil to Kansas. We had miles of dirt fog. So much dirt in the air that we couldn’t see. Tumbleweeds were passing us and we were going 65! It took 1 gallon of gas to get to La Junta and 3 to get home due to the wind.

At the meeting, we discussed the workforce/employment issues in our region. The map showing the regions can be found here. We also had a really good presentation on Demographics for regions 6 and 14, which is what we are according to the state. It was very interesting and we actually got to solve a question that the Demographers had. There was a statistical blip that they didn’t understand and I looked at it and knew in an instant what it was. There was a burst of households in the 44 to 65 yr range. They didn’t get it and I explained that it was the grandchildren coming to Huerfano County to occupy their grandparents houses. The reason I knew that was that I’m one of those. I escaped the big city, Littleton, to come down to Walsenburg to raise my family in a low cost, low crime/stress area.

After that meeting, we drove home, grabbed dinner and then headed to the board meeting. This was the first regular board meeting for RE-1 in February. All others had been special meetings and/or workshops. We got a lot accomplished and once again, there is more on that meeting on my other blog.

Wednesday should have been quiet. I got some stuff done around the office and then went to meet with David Benson around 4pm. He and his partner, Iris Williams are working to help our school district with trust issues. We have a situation whereby nearly 100% of the district dislikes/distrusts one person. Not healthy, and it is causing major issues. It was a really good discussion and we talked till nearly 5pm. Afterwards, I went to the library and then went to work to pick up Dan. We had to be to Peakview by 6pm to see a 4th grade play called the Emerald Egg. That was fun.

Thursday we were up early and went with my parents to Colorado Springs. Dad had his cancer checkup. Dan drove us home as Dad was a little loopy from the pain meds. We stopped at Romero’s for lunch. Yummm!

Friday was just as early a start. I had a State Youth Council meeting to be at in Denver. The weather was  bit nasty, so we left early. The meeting was very good. More info on that over on Untapped Potential. We drove home through bands of snow. We were going to stop in Pueblo for dinner, but with the snow, we changed our minds. Good thing we did as there was a huge car pileup accident due to the snow.

Friday was also Daniel’s 22nd birthday. 🙂

Saturday was sort of a stay in bed type day. We slept in, relaxed and did as little as possible. 🙂 Better yet, we went to Wonderful House in Trinidad with my parents. It was my parents way of thanking Dan for driving. They even promised him that he could bring a date if he wanted, or if he didn’t, they have this daughter…. that they’d set up as a blind date for him. ROFLOL!! Needless to say, there were a bunch of blind date jokes all evening.

Today is catch-up day. Dan has gone into work for the day and I’m writing blog posts, reading emails and cleaning house. Wheee!

For more school board adventures, check out my other blog, Untapped Potential

Nineteen years ago…

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I was doing the last minute packings and goodbyes to life in England. We had one last night and on the 19th, we would fly back to America, a land I hadn’t lived in for the better part of 14 years. Some years the anniversary is easy. Others it is hard. This one is hard. I’ll curl up with my cup of tea, twiglets and watch movies. Good thing Dan understands my quirky moods.

So much has changed over time. The four boys have grown and changed. Each has their own family and most have children of their own. I have eight grandchildren. John and I have divorced and moved on in our lives. The pets that came with us have crossed the rainbow bridge and are buried in the yard at the Walsen house.

This year is another anniversary. In 1996, I was on my way to the CASB Legislative Conference in Denver. It was cold and snowy, so I went up the night before. Micky D’Ambrosia and our Superintendent Mike Hinnegan were suppose to follow up the next day. That was February 29th. That night, I got a call. Mike had died in a car accident. I stayed at the conference as there was nothing I could do at home. Micky was taking care of the district. I notified CASB and when we went up to the Capital the next day, I listened as the state congress was told of his death. Then I came home and with the rest of the board, we put our lives and the district back together.

I have to admit that going to that conference was difficult after that. When I went in 2002, it was a little easier. So, when I left for Denver on the 15th of this month to head up to the conference it was with a slightly heavy heart. Being back on the board has been interesting and stressful so far, but this was a good conference. It gave me heart to keep going forward.

After the conference we walked around IKEA and then drove home. I’ve got two days to synthesize all the information and figure out how to impart it to my board. I’ll write more info on that over on my other blog, Untapped Potential.

Hoppin’ Horny Toads!

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My January has been busy to say the least. I had 10 school board meetings on everything from TDIP to budget to board meetings in 8 days. Add to that school visits, work and a trip to Denver and I’m ready to call it a day and sleep for a month. No such luck though. I have a meeting this afternoon and another one on Friday. Ah, the life of being school board president.

Then there’s the house. The Wendy House. We have been trying to remove the springs from the garage door without taking our heads off. These are huge springs with tension on them and to be honest we have figured out how not to take them off. sigh… Our plans are to set the door in place for the rest of the winter and then in the springtime install a real wall, door and window. It has been a challenge.

As for the main house, we had some plumbing supplies go missing between Amazon and the vendor. They are still playing a game of ‘they lost it!” and we are minus the supplies.

The only really good thing we’ve had happen is that on New Year’s Eve, Dan rescued two dogs. Puppies actually, from in front of 7/11. We gave the one over to the animal control officer and it was reunited with it’s owner. The other one, a husky mix, now lives with us.  No one asked for it. Morgan named her Pasha. She is a sweet girl and so far, very trainable.

I survived!

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My first business board meeting that is… Normally when a new school board is elected, they get sworn in and before their next meeting, they get swooped off to CASB’s big Winter Conference where there is all kinds of training and opportunities for board members to learn how to be board members. Then they have their first serious/real meeting. Well… we voted not to spend the money and didn’t go. Instead, we are having workshop trainings, and the first one is Friday night.Yeah, we are doing it backwards.

So, we had our first real meeting and had to deal with some interesting issues. If you want to read about it, it is all here. It will be really nice when the board has more training. Even I understand that I need more training. Randy Black from CASB will be here to help us out.

Funny thing about the meeting is that I had to keep reminding myself that it was ME running the meeting. I’m the one who had to keep it moving. It is a big difference from sitting in the back of the room and writing note on what is being done. I was running the meeting, taking notes, listening and directing. Good think I can multi task!

I did have one small bit of revenge and gleeful delight last night. I got to put Dan on a sub-committee for safety. 🙂 And last night I had a terrible time unwinding. I must have laid there for thirty minutes until it struck me. I’m so use to writing an article for the paper and getting the meeting ‘out of my system’ and now I don’t have that. Hopefully writing the other blog will help.

Had another epiphany this afternoon. It went along with the … “I need to attend all of the little social gatherings like the holiday program.” We changed the date of graduation and I idly though… gee, that’s cool. Then it hit me. I have to BE THERE! I’m the president of the board…. and the president hands out the diplomas! Geep! Last time I handed out ONE was when Stefan graduated. Oh did my social calendar just get busy. Better get my sewing area up and running too. I need more clothes. I can’t attend a bunch of functions wearing the same skirt all the time. Aieee!

I should have known better

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Life didn’t mellow out, slow down or get easier. Instead, it got crazy.  The school board meeting that should have happened on the 8th was canceled. We had snow and the auditors that check the election couldn’t certify the vote. You can read all about that here . I started a blog about my school board life.

The 9th was my birthday. I made dinner and a carrot cake. It was great and while we did nothing really special, it was a good day. Thursday and Friday Dan had to work sound for the local high school play. Saturday we had dinner in Trinidad with my parents. We went to Wonderful House for my ‘birthday’ dinner. Yum!

Over the weekend, I attempted to seal cracks in the Wendy House. The wind was brutal and my parents called us on Sunday to tell us how they’d driven up HWY 12 and came across the wind damage at Stonewall. We were lucky here in Walsenburg. A few limbs down and that was about it.

Monday… Bryan and Katie have been having issues. Not exactly fighting, but issues. They decided to talk, but didn’t set a time. Katie kept pestering Bryan when he was either just waking up, going to sleep, heading to work, etc… Not a good time to talk. So, he said ‘let’s talk on the weekend’ (ie Nov 19th) She said okay. He went to work. Tuesday morning around 6:45am, Bryan knocks on our door. Katie and the kids are gone. The house was trashed and she apparently packed as much as she could get in the car and left.

We were all devastated. Eventually we found that she was in Ft. Smith, OK. with her girlfriends. I have to admit I am worried about the boys. I miss my two grandsons, Talon and Gavin.

Wednesday was the make up meeting for the school district and a Accountability meeting. Dan and I are now part of the District Accountability Committee. So, Dan went to the Accountability meeting and I went to the school board. We got sworn in and then held elections for officers. I’m now the president of the school board.

Thursday morning, we had the police doing a welfare check on Katie as she hadn’t reported to work. Then that afternoon, her boss from the hospital was by. Katie never called the school, daycare or her job. She just left. The day was lightened by the fact that I had a mouse try to run up my pant leg and then later ran across the sleeping dog.

Friday we went out to Gardner School for One Room Schoolhouse. Each year they have a day where the whole school reverts to the one room school system. It was a lot of fun. Dan helped make ice cream cone cones and we both helped Pam’s class make telephones. Afterwards we went up to see Jack and Barbara Yule. Dan did some computer work and then we had a nice lunch.

As for this weekend, it has been fairly quiet. We did some work, got paid, enjoyed a good meal in Pueblo and Brandy got sprayed by a skunk. We also took a drive where we saw at least 100 deer and 60 wild turkeys. It was great.  Today I got to spend two hours visiting with a dear friend I haven’t seen in 30 years. Bill Farquhar and his wife Kristen were on their way to Denver and stopped in town long enough to eat lunch and visit. 🙂 It was so good to chat and catch up with him.

Now I’m catching up on all the blogs, emails and other things, because if things go as they have been, the next two weeks will be busy!

 

Crazy November

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Today is Samhain when dated by the cross quarter days of the calendar. New Years. Dumb suppers on the table and pictures of loved ones on the altar.

November has been hectic, starting with Election Day. I got over 1000 votes and I am now the Director of District A in Huerfano RE-1 school district. Our first board meeting is tomorrow. I’m also on the District Accountability Committee and so is Dan. LOL… I told him that I was sharing the pain. He wanted information, so I handed him the CDE D.A. C. handbook and SB 09-163  Now he is gnashing his teeth and banging his head on his desk. This of course will be interesting as he is on the Colorado Workforce Development Council, the SouthEast Workforce board and I am on the CWDC State Youth Council.

Since Election day, our shop has gotten a ton of computer jobs. There is a new virus out there and so far we’ve seen 5 in the shop with it. For the most part it requires a total wipe of the system and a re-install. Not fun. It means money in our pockets though which is good as business has been slow all year.

On top of the work, we have lots of meetings. Two today. More later in the week. It’s my birthday on Wednesday and Dan has a light show to do on Thursday and Friday. Oh, and dinner with my parents on Thursday night.

Daylights savings time ended yesterday. We spent our ‘extra hour’ catching up on all the sleep we’ve lost over the last month. ZZZZZzzzzzz!

Here’s hoping for a mellow week next week.