May Day

The phone rang at 6am. It was Kathlyn from Bisbee.

"Good Morning!" said Kathlyn. "Can you come in and work today?" she asked in her ever-chipper voice. Since the other school was closed for the day, I said yes, although it was an advanced math class.

At least the teacher kept me with enough to do. The students were all well-behaved as they were advanced math students, independently working on assignments. A lot of students were absent today due to sporting events, and it was also May Day, where Mexicans and Mexican-Americans took the day off to rally in Tucson and Phoenix for illegal immigrant rights. So many students were absent today I had no one show up for 3rd hour. The only full class I had was the last class.

A school district alert went out to all students via letter: stay away from Mexico until the swine flu advisory is cancelled. That alert went ignored. There are too many Mexicans going to school in Bisbee for that alert to mean anything.

I didn't stay in Bisbee after school. At first I thought of checking out the Grand Hotel for some Moose Drool Ale, but opted instead to drive home and get some more gardening done. A quick stop at the ALCO Garden shop (and another $54 gone!) I came home with two more large pots and 12 more sweet pepper plants.

Two white-shirted missionaries had just left our property and were moving down the street. I waved at them, but was glad they did not come back to our house when they saw me pull in. The barking dogs in the backyard probably scared the Be-Jesus out of them. But the two men did leave a card in the screen door: it showed the Great Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. Had they come back I would have answered the door holding a bottle of beer and would have offered them each one...just like my own dad did whenever missionaries came by our door.

We are slowly developing a large array of sweet green pepper plants. And many more seedlings are popping up in our raised bed gardens.

The sky was grey overcast. That was odd, as this wasn't forecasted for today. A storm is sweeping southern California but it will hit Arizona too far to the north of us to have an impact. But the overcast skies tonight will also keep the temperatures high. The real heat will come again Sunday for the season, and another hot and dry May is in store.

The swine flu seems to have slowed down these last few days. Although the flu is still spreading to other countries, the cases of new patients has slowed a bit. As of 11am today, the CDC has reported 141 swine flu cases in the US, although there are new states now like Florida that reported two cases tonight.

Tomorrow morning I'm joining the club for a hike up Slavin Gulch. I've never been in that part of the Dragoons. Weather should be cooler tomorrow, which should make hiking a nice treat.

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
http://www.miamiherald.com/1484/story/1028611.html