Long Exhale

This week my life included frantic finishing up of grade cards, two long evenings of parent-teacher conferences, a lot of time spent designing  a current events study on zoonoses--not zoo noses, but zoe-uh-noe-ses, teaching four composition and typing classes and one Bible class, attending a funeral, reading a very intense book on reactive attachment disorder (RAD)--Dandelion on My Pillow, Butcher Knife Beneath, listening to CD's on the book Heaven is for Real, and trying out the treadmill.  I also cogitated further on a book I read last week, How to Set Boundaries with your Adult Children--not because I feel that I'm in a crisis with my children, but I know others who are in crisis with theirs, and I'd like to be able to help.  For the first time in a number of weeks, I don't have anything to go to or any immediate deadline hanging over my head, although I need to get caught up with some grading.

My compressed brain is beginning to bloom again--not to be confused with blinking again.

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Last week the results of a recent ballot were announced, in which the vote carried by a 4% majority to do any school construction on a site separate from a church.  Ervin Miller's funeral today reminded me of one reason why that makes good sense--perhaps the best reason of all.  The grade school had to clear out for calling hours yesterday afternoon and the funeral today because they could not both carry on at the same time in the same space.  The high school continued in a slightly altered format, with any students who attended the funeral being freely excused, and Wesley being the only teacher for much of the day.  Ervin was the grandfather of my co-teacher, Norma, so  not all classes continued as usual.  If the funeral had been at CCC, the high school would have had to be dismissed.  

With more than 40 people in our area churches age 80 or older,  we all know that funerals will be frequent in the years to come.   It would be nice to be able to continue with school when that happens.  

I heard from several people who voted in favor of doing school construction at a church--probably Center.  The reasons I heard for doing so included these:

1.  Economics--cheaper than starting new

2.  Simplifying the preservation of a distinctively religious character in education

3.  Minimizing a sense of entitlement for children--deliberately not choosing the biggest and best and forcing a certain level of accommodation for all involved
4.  A desire to see less money invested in local infrastructure and more invested in evangelism

On the other side of the question (building at a different site), in my circle of contacts, these reasons were given in favor of doing so:

1.  Potential awkwardness of building at a church if the sponsoring churches do not continue in exactly the same configuration as they are now

2.  Complications of building at a church if the grade school and high school are ever to be combined at the same location

3.  Clouding the lines of responsibility by building at a church because of how it reinforces the idea that education is primarily a church duty instead of a parental duty
4.  Keeping the school separate from other large gathering places makes a desirable statement about the value of education as distinct from recreation or socializing, and helps preserve a reverent atmosphere for places of worship and other milestone ceremonies.

5.  Better potential for accessing a rich natural environment at a separate location.  (Yeah, that last one was mine, although the shelterbelt across the road is a nice feature at Center.)

If you're interested in this discussion, feel free to weigh in with what seems important to  you.  

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The high school boys have a campout planned for tonight.  I'm glad the weather is beautiful, unlike last weekend when the young people nearly froze at their retreat in an unheated facility.  Wesley plans to stay with them.

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The expected arrival of Joel and Hilda's baby coincides with the time of year when deer/car accidents reach their peak.  I hope the deer stay far away if there's a need for a night time run to the birth center.

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Jonny came to school last week with a tale of having spent a very unusual night just before the day when he told me the story.  He and a group of other men had spent most of the night--till 3:00 AM, gutting and presumably skinning about 13 cattle that had been severely injured or killed in an accident.  

Jonny had missed some of the earlier excitement when a big truck pulling a huge gooseneck trailer encountered a bovine on the hoof in the roadway.  He swerved to avoid hitting it and, as a result, he lost control and his truck and trailer went down over a very steep bank.  Somewhere along the line the trailer twisted upside down and came to rest against a power line pole, with severely scrambled cattle inside the trailer.  Before Jonny arrived officers and emergency workers had used the "Jaws of Life" to wrench an opening into the trailer to allow the live cattle to exit.  Apparently one irate animal that did so injured a firefighter before the cattle were all confined in a temporary corral.  The firefighter was the only one who had to go to the hospital.  Amazingly, the driver of the truck escaped injury.

The meat cooled naturally overnight, and plans were made to tackle further processing today.

The term "roadkill" just acquired an expanded definition in my mind.  Before, the fate that that bovine on the hoof escaped is what I thought the term meant.  I hope the term doesn't expand further in other people's minds during the consumption of a meal that includes beef.

The accident happened several miles south of Jake Kings in the Arlington area.

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Random fact:  Ervin Miller's parents were Joseph and Josephine.  I sat across the table from Josephine's niece and namesake during the meal that followed the funeral.  From her I learned that they used to call Ervin's mother "Feeny."

How many such couples do you know--with the wife's name being an elaboration of the husband's?  I know Don and Donna, but surely somewhere a couple has one of the following combinations:

Glen and Glenda (or Glendora)

Daniel and Danielle

Carl and Carla

Gerald and Geraldine

Henry and Henrietta

Harry and Harriet

Paul and Paula

Joel and Joelle

Eugene and Eugenia

Loren and Lorene

Ken and Kendra

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And now I am officially going to bed without setting an alarm.