Winter in Arizona

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to pull four As again this semester. My proudest A is the one in US History. The one in English was harder to earn than I initially thought. The A in Computer Essentials should be a B, but I won't complain. That A will give me an excuse to practice my skills more.

Next semester I'll be taking more history and English courses, and a course on Digital Photography. I'm not sure I'll learn all that much, but the instructor is a local pro and well-liked by students. Even some of my photography friends have recommended him. I've already dug out all my Canon dSLRs and sorted through the lenses. One thing I want to learn more about is shooting in RAW format and learning more advanced Photoshop techniques. If anything, this course will fulfill my "Arts" requirement should I go the Associates Degree route in history, although what I need to focus on is getting upper-degree courses completed in the near future.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a long hike up Carr Canyon Road with the dogs. Today was a great day to stay inside, start tidying up, and cuddle with a good book and a thick down blanket. Kevin left this morning for a week in his home state of Massachusetts. He called two hours ago to say he landed safely and is amazed at how much his old neighborhood has changed. He has not been back to Boston since we left the East Coast in 2004. He was long overdue on a family visit.

I will spend Christmas with my mother this year. I owe her that much.

A winter storm was forecasted for today and tonight. Winds have been blowing since sun rise and have been persistent all day. Grey clouds have dominated the skies. Not even the dogs want to stay outside. Birds have stayed low to the ground getting fat on our bird seed.

I've been busy washing loads of clothes that had been forgotten about in a bedroom corner (thanks to Reina who used that corner as a bed) and clothes found in the garage under boxes that the cats had dropped after nights of rampages. With Kevin gone for a few days, I can also clean out the frig and oven. I just hope I can make enough progress in the next few days as I still plan on leaving for Indiana by the 27th...by car.

I'm not sure driving to Indiana is such a wise decision. I do like the countryside and driving affords me the opportunity to stop whenever I want to, to take a break and to chat with store owners. But this trip will be on the interstate, across the boring plains of north Texas into Dallas and from there across Arkansas...a route I know all to well from my years living in CenTex.

I'm looking forward to two days of solitude. I'm not looking forward to the travel although seeing the family again will be nice, especially little Ethan who's looking more and more like his mom every day.

Billowing storm clouds are blowing across the mountains as I write this. Darkness has already set, so I will have to wait another 14 hours to discover whether we got more snow in the mountains or not.

The neighborhood looks so desertd this year compared to last year when most of the homes around us were occupied. Houses all around us had holiday lights on , this year this place looks abandoned. The few lit-up homes are a minority here this year. Even I don't have lights on the ocotillo this year. I simply never got around to stringing them up.

School closures

I read with shock of the closing of Apache Middle School in town. Why?!?! The town has a growing student rate and we don't have the money to build more schools. Where will the students now enrolled there go for next school year? And where will the teachers go?

I have realized that I'm entering the teaching profession at the worst possible time. Perhaps I should just give up any hopes of being a full-time teacher and going straight into researching as a historian. Of course, that means two more years of training anyway.

This proposed closure is due in part to the governor's proposal to reduce the state's funding for public education by 15%, translating to a local funding shortfall of $1,900,000. Closing this school will allegedly save the district about $663,000. A district-wide salary cut of 5% is also being proposed, as well as the standard cut in basic supplies. The district still needs to make more cuts of over $2 million...

www.svherald.com/content/news/2009/12/04/breaking-news-apache-middle-school-closure-halt-sports-funding-are-proposed