Brain Droppings, Part Four

Bits and pieces of randomness...

1. My new kittens, Emmet (top) and Gideon (bottom) have been with me since August 7, which was a few weeks earlier than I expected. The friend who I adopted them from had contacted me to let me know that their mama had stopped nursing them, and since they were eating kitten food and using the litter box like champs, it was okay with her if I wanted to take them home. I‘ll admit I was a little scared because they were only 6 weeks old (and so tiny!), but my fear was unfounded-it took all of one day for them to become acclimated to their new environment. Now that we're three weeks in, the boys have had their first visit with the vet and have received their first set of vaccinations. Emmet weighs in at 2 lbs. 5 oz and Gideon is one ounce lighter, which surprises me because he looks bigger. I just love watching them play together, especially their wrestling matches😆. It's crazy how much energy kittens have! It's been 16 years since I last had a kitten, so I had forgotten.
2. My youngest niece, Jolene, turned 3 years old on Sunday, August 23rd. The large family party that my sister originally had planned was scaled down considerably due to the fact that the birthday girl came down with hand, foot, and mouth disease a few days prior to the celebration. My brother and sister-in-law opted out of attending because they were spending most of the following week babysitting their 7 month old granddaughter and didn't want to put her at risk. I'm not in contact with any children (more on that below), so I went to the party and enjoyed watching her open her presents and eat her cake. It doesn't seem possible that she's 3 already. Time is going by too damn fast.
3. I went back to work the week of August 17th, and to say that the start of the 2020-21 school year has been a shit show would be an understatement. The original plan of the district where I'm employed had the students attending in person on an A/B schedule with alternating Fridays, meaning some students would be in school Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday with the rest of the kids going Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday. Then, a week before school started, the school board decided that regular division students would be all virtual, while the students in special education and programs such as ESL and ELL would be attending in person on the aforementioned A/B schedule. Then, four days after that, that plan was scrapped and ALL students were virtual/remote learning. Oy vey! I understand the need to keep students and staff safe, but what the people in charge don't understand is that the severe and profound population does not have success with online learning. At all. They need their therapies and one-on-one instruction that involves communication devices and other adapted equipment, so it has been a challenge for me and my fellow teachers to come up with meaningful lessons that can be conducted at home. I really feel for our parents right now, especially the parents who have full time jobs and now have the added stress of helping their child complete their school work. I hope the return to in person learning comes sooner rather than later. Taking accurate data and meeting IEP goals is a nightmare when you’re not physically working with your students.
4. I'm thrilled with the addition of Sen. Kamala Harris to the Democratic ticket. I can't wait to see her smoke Mike Pence in the Vice Presidential debate. It will be glorious.
5. The St. Louis Blues are no longer the defending Stanley Cup champions. They lost all 4 of their round robin games, dropping from the top seed in the Western Conference down to the fourth. Their first round opponent, the Vancouver Canucks, won the series 4 games to 2. What’s weird is that I’m not even that upset about it. Whoever wins the Cup this year won’t be able to celebrate with a parade or a rally with their fans. Where’s the fun in that? Playoff hockey in August/September is just wrong.