Thursday, September 24, 2009

News from the State of Jefferson

I hope all is well with everyone. It’s been a very busy time since everyone left. Sandi has had to change teaching assignments after about 10 years in the same position. She’s moved back to a self-contained 6th grade position and changing classrooms, twice. I don’t envy her at all, but I know that she’ll do a great job. As she is fond of saying, she's "been busier than a one-legged man in a $*##-kicking contest." Of course, her mom’s visit came at a very inopportune time. She was here for a week but Sandi didn’t really get much time to visit with her.

For me, it’s been business as usual. You know, teacher goes “blah, blah, blah” students goes ‘blah, blah, blah” and we all go home. Andrew and I went hunting last weekend…for four days. It was great. We saw 5 bears, 10 deer, 2 elk, a fox, a huge Bald Eagle, but no Bigfoot. The animals over near Orleans are really smart. Not just the animals I mentioned, but the ones in the campground where we were staying. I was just ready to fall asleep about 10:00 when I opened one of my eyes to see a dog walking quietly across in front of me about 5 feet away. He was carrying an opened full package of our banana muffins in his mouth. No, he didn’t take the opened package that had two muffins left, he had to take the unopened package. I opened up other eye and the last thing I saw as he walked by was the wagging happy tail that belonged to that light-toothed mongrel of a dog. About five minutes later I saw a mangy rat come by to see what may have been left. I shined a light at him and he took off. I rolled over and went to sleep not wanting to view any more of the local thieving wildlife.

By the way, have you seen the October issue of Nat Geo.? The feature story is the redwoods. Jed Smith Park and the local area are mentioned. This was especially interesting to me as I’m reading a book that Andrew and Rachael let me borrow. It’s called The Wild Trees, and it’s written by a guy named Richard Preston. It’s basically a story about how a few amateurs set about climbing and looking for the world’s tallest tree. The Stout Tree where we walked down to only rates in the top 50 of tall trees. They (without any government or corporate funding) have found the world’s tallest tree VERY close to where we took that hike to the falls. Only about 12 people have been there to view the tree. I highly recommend the book.
Jim

6 comments:

lueria said...

nice hearing for you. miss reading the updates. Thank you. Hope your doing well. Sandi stay strong! We love our teachers. hugs

Dick said...

it sounds like you and andrew had some good bonding time. I am glad that you finally got to see some wildlife that you "claim" to be in the area.
But, let me get this straight, you got skunked on the deer even after seeing 10 and you didnt have your bear tags? dosnt really matter. its nice to just get out and enjoy the things that really matter.

Jim said...

Kind of like the TV show, "just the facts." The 10 deer we saw were all does, I didn't want to shoot a bear, and I wasn't encouraging Andrew to shoot one even though he does have a bear tag.

I called my sickness, PHD: Proactive Health Disorder. A person can be none-to-careful when you're around kids all day.
Jim

Peter said...

Sounds like a wonderful hunting trip, made perfect by the fact that you didn't have to field dress a deer.

Claudia said...

glad you guys had fun, but i'm glad you're back home. we missed you.

Jim said...

You're right, Peter. As soon as you fire the shot the fun's over. No worries though, I'd have had Andrew do it.