Sunrise going to Florence on Friday morning

January 26, 2019 - Saturday morning
-12 degrees/partly cloudy/breezy
Pentoga Road

OK, so I'm bad. I slept in this morning. Hey, it was between twenty-five and thirty below zero, the wind was blowing, Sargie didn't have to work, and what, tell me, what was the incentive for getting out of bed? 

Oh yeah, I could have risen before daybreak and worked on world peace, hunger, solving fission or fusion, or perhaps, perpetual motion. After years of toiling on all the above, I decided to throw an arm over Sargie, snuggle deeper under the blankets, and get into that wonderful state of dozing and consciousness where lucid dreams occur. 

The fire is blazing in the wood stove and though I have a million and one things I'd like to do outside or in the shop, I've decided to sip coffee and soak up the heat inside the house. Matter of fact, if I had enough hair, it would probably be in rollers and if cucumbers weren't so scarce this time of the year, I'd probably have slices of those on my eyes while eating bon bons. 

I can tell you right now, it's going to be one of those days. I'm feeling downright fat, sassy, and lazy.

Friday was a good one at Florence High School, home of the Bobcats. I thought I was teaching English, but discovered I was the math instructor. Just what I hoped for, a subject that I failed four times during my high school tenure.

Yesterday brought back more than one memory, or nightmare, of my high school days.

Being in the non college-bound group of students destined for Vietnam, I had the lousiest math teachers imaginable. Our high school employed several. The best taught the college bound students who were destined to become productive and useful citizens. The rest, those who were simply putting in their time until retirement or should have never entered the field to begin with, were assigned to us who were thrown aside and forgotten.

As luck would have it, I FINALLY passed sophomore geometry the final semester of my senior year, squeaked into college, and the Vietnam conflict ended the year I graduated. I was never drafted.

While accepting a teaching award later in life, I was asked if there were any educators who inspired me. I named off my high school band director, Mr. Fogelberg, who was made famous in his son, Dan's, song, The Leader of the Band. I also emphasized gratitude to my lousy math and science teachers. As I told the reporter, all I had to do was remember their teaching methods and do the exact opposite. 

I've told underachieving students throughout the years to NEVER quit trying. I graduated close to the bottom of my high school class and even suffered through a high school counselor who, up until days before I was accepted to the university, told me that applying to college was a waste of time, that NO ONE would ever want me. 

I told her that she was wrong. She just smiled and asked me to close her door on the way out. 

Sure is nice to sit here fifty years later and think, "I TOLD YOU SO." She would never have made it through the teacher education program at the university where I worked so many years. Those with poor attitudes were quickly disqualified.

So Friday's math classes progressed at Florence High. The students were well behaved and thankfully, the teacher had left great lesson plans. 

I arrived home yesterday afternoon and soon after, Sargie and I took the Equinox to Mechanic Dave's. Seems the key loves to go in the ignition, but has difficulty coming out. It's a flaw that all 2007 Equinox's have and after battling with it for over a year and half, he'll simply remove the lock that holds it in place.

We'll be ordering the parts for the Kia this weekend. Sargie has scoured the internet and found the best bargains. Hopefully, they'll be arriving this next week so Dave can begin to put the Kia back together again.

I can't believe it. Since beginning to write earlier this morning, Sargie and I had breakfast, talked a while, and watched a program on the Smithsonian Channel about Alaska. Too bad they completely ignored the arctic, but I saw other places where I've either lived or visited. 

Guess I ought to end and get this uploaded now that the day is half over. So far, I've accomplished exactly... ZERO. Now if I can talk Sargie into carrying in today's supply of firewood, I can keep my lazy record intact.

This is getting to be a pattern during these days with far below zero temperatures. Oh well, the temperature will eventually warm and life will be back to normal.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Plowed and sanded, the area in front of our house is ready for the next snow storm.