Miss Ruark's Adventures: Lock Downs, Puppies, and Other Things

A couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready for work when I got a call from my friend Owen. He said not to leave the house because there was some major shooting going on outside and the principal had called a lock down. Parents were being called to keep their kids home until further notice.

The lock down went on for a couple of hours. I spend most of that time on the internet and on the phone with my colleagues. We all wanted the latest update. There was nothing really to do. But then I started thinking, "How am I going to spend the day with my kids? Will they be scared? Will they be shaken up? What kind of condition will they be in?"

As a teacher, I am expect to get results no matter what condition my students are in. It doesn't matter if a child is abused, neglected, scared, traumatized, hungry, tired, angry, etc. If that child doesn't show growth according to a standardized test, then I am a BAD TEACHER. I am not doing a good enough job. It doesn't even matter if they show even a little bit of growth. If it's not the predetermined score (which increases every year by the way), then again, I am a BAD TEACHER.

I had decided that my students would need to feel comfort and secure on that lock down day. I planned to have some cool activities and just take it easy with them. Almost all of my students entered the room shouting "There was shooting!" But aside from that, I found out they hadn't been scared. The shooting was outside the school where there aren't a lot of houses. But I still made sure I was extra gentle and patient. The rest of the day was uneventful.

The biggest change in my house has been Dakota leaving behind his puppy stage and entering his adolescent stage. This will be his stage for the next couple of years. I read a book by the Dog Whisperer, and he said that Dakota will be testing me. So far, he's been pretty annoying. Like today, we went on a long walk down the beach (it was -8 degrees) and he's had plenty of food & water. He's housebroken so I took him out when he needed to go....but darn if he didn't follow me all day barking at me. I pet him, walked him.....finally, I filled a kong with some peanut butter hoping for a few minutes peace. Two minutes. He had that thing cleaned out in two minutes.

He just went through a growth spurt. Which means he has to learn how to be gentle all over again. His body changes and he doesn't know his own strength. Right now, Daisy the cat won't leave the safety of her cat room and my arms have bruises. He'll relearn "gentle" just in time for his next growth spurt. I'm sure of it!

There has been some sad news in Laraland. It seems my dearest friends the Ms may not be coming back next year. I can't go into the specifics, but I really don't want to see them go. I wish things were different. I really do.

And now for something completely different......I am coming to the end of my first week on Weight Watchers. I don't like to go on about my weight challenges, but I thought some people might be interested to know that you can eat healthy and lose weight out in the bush. At least for one week! ;) I have heard a lot of people say that you can't eat healthy, lose weight, etc and I think if you really want to, it can happen. I had everything I needed to start thanks to last year's failed attempt. But this week went really well. I get fresh fruit & veggies delivered from Full Circle Farms and Weight Watchers will deliver out here as well. I also have a good internet connection, so I can look up the food points. That was a stumbling block last year. I ordered a points calculator, but it hasn't gotten here. So I needed some way to look up the information. And last year they were sold out of the calculators for a while. But like I said, so far, so good. I'll post big milestones if people are interested.

I am heading to Anchorage the weekend after next for a girl's weekend. I want to get my Alaskan Driver's License and I need to have H&R Block do my taxes. The coolest thing about the trip is I used my Alaskan Airlines miles I had saved up and instead of paying $400, I only had to pay $5. That's right! I got a $5 trip to Anchorage...well, the flight anyways....renting a car & hotels will cost extra.

I leave you with some recent pics of Dakota.....