The other day I was visiting with our daughter, Melissa. She’s a second grade teacher, a very good second grade teacher in my humble opinion. š
Melissa was talking about how she and her fellow second grade teachers level the children for reading and math into four different groups.
I asked her what the benefits of leveling are. She explained in highly technical teacher terms that the children learn more.
And then she went on to say that the children are also VERY comfortable when they are with others in their own level. I asked her to share an example of that comfortableness.
I was skeptical because I remember in second grade that there being only two levels of reading groups: Robins and Bluebirds.
Everyone KNEW that robins weren’t as pretty or as good as bluebirds, so it was better to be in the bluebird group. Being a robin was frowned upon, especially by the nuns. They virtually sang the bluebird’s name and spat out the robin’s name as they called us to our groups.
But apparently things are different now. There’s no judging based on leveling; it just is what it is…
And the amazing thing is how comfortable Melissa’s students are in their leveled groups.
They toot in front of one another. Yep, toot… And they they all giggle together about it. No judgments.
And it doesn’t matter which group they are in. A student can be in the higher math group and the lower reading group. As long as the students are in their OWN group, tootings are allowed and accepted.
ButĀ they don’t freely toot when they are in their own homeroom even though they spend more time with their homeroom classmates.
I just find that fascinating.
They are most comfortable within a certain level with their true peers, but they hold back when with a non-leveled group.
Made me start wondering what levels I’m most comfortable with in various areas of my life. Like in pickleball, I’m most comfortable with lower-level advanced players. But I’m not sure I’m comfortable enough to toot while playing…
And here’s a blurb about it from the company’s Web site:
Prepare to be locked in a room with up to 11 other people and a Zombie that is chained to the wall!
Hidden in the room is a key that will unlock the door to your freedom.Ā To find the key you must locate numerous clues and solve riddles.
Every five minutes the hungry Zombieās chain will be released another foot.
Within an hour, the Zombie will be able to reach you.
You have 60 minutes to the find clues, solve the puzzles, unlock the door and escape the room without getting eaten!
Are you smarter than a Zombie?Ā Find out!
So what you do is
~FOLLOW THE CLUES~ ~SOLVE THE PUZZLES~ ~FIND THE KEY~ ~ESCAPE THE ROOM~ ~DONāT GET EATEN BY THE ZOMBIE~
Richie and his friends worked hard to complete a series of puzzles in order to escape from the Zombie.
What type of puzzles?
Remember the famous water jug scene from Die Hard 3? (I’m a die hard Die Hard fan.) That was one of the puzzles.
Richie and his friends didn’t make it out in time and were eaten by the Zombie. Can’t believe I forgot to ask him what that actually entails. Only about 30% of teams actually escape the room.
I asked if the Zombie was scary, and Richie said that the actress did a very good job! The situation was very tense.
This is something I definitely want to do next time we’re visiting with Richie in Seattle.
We did it! We put an offer in on a house and it was accepted.Ā So we are buying a house!
First a short side story to set this post up…
When our son, Richie, was getting ready to go off to college, we had to buy him a suit and dress shoes as required byĀ the football team.
Melissa, Richie, and I went shopping together on what was one of the longest days in our lives…
Suits didn’t fit well because, at the time, Richie was 6’3″ and over 230 pounds of pure football muscle. As an 18-year-old kid, he wasn’t interested in getting dress up clothes. And the shoes to go with the suit were nothing like Nike Air Jordans…
After multiple stores, we found a suit that worked. Then came the shoes. I think he wore a size 13 then, so it was challenging to find shoes that fit let alone looked good.
I held up yet another pair of shoes and asked, “What about these?”
His response, “They make me want to throw up!”
I never missed a beat and said, “Well, at least they don’t make you want to throw up twice!” And we bought those shoes. š *
As Rich as I were comparing needs and wants to find the best house and lot for both of us, I thought of that episode often.
We’d find a house that I loved, but the electricity was on the wrong side of the garage for the shop placement.
Rich found a shop that was perfect, and I’d leave the house nearly crying because it was so bloody ugly.
We almost got to the point of asking each other if the property was bad enough to throw up twice.
Then I checked realtor.com again late one afternoon, and a new listing came up. We got in the Jeep immediately to go drive by. Maybe, this one might work.
We then called Katie, our fabulous real estate agent, who arranged for us to look inside the house that very evening.
And so the morningĀ after the house listed, we made an offer and it was accepted late that night. There’s more to the story, but that’s for another post…
We hope to close within two weeks.
Still thousands of decisions to make. Big ones like do we keep Homer? How much are we going to travel?
And small ones like what Internet provider is best? How about for television?
We’ll get to those, but for now it’s nice to know that we’re no longer homeless.
And we’ll be in a home that’s on a lot that doesn’t make us want to throw up! š
When we first moved to Boise nine years ago, I thought I was going to freeze to death.
I moved in mid-February and Rich in April. I expected to be cold during the winter. But I didn’t expect to be cold when Rich came in April. And I certainly didn’t expect to be cold until nearly the end of summer.
I had lived in cold areas before moving to Boise, but those areas were desert–virtually no humidity.
Boise humidity isn’t exceptionally high, but it’s much higher than the Nevada desert.
Just checked humidity as I wrote this post. Boise is 84%, and Reno is 47%.
Since returning to Boise last week, I feel the same way again: freezing to death!
We just finished spending four months in Phoenix, and the humidity there is a whopping 7%.
So NOW I know why I have been feeling like I’m freezing to death since we’ve returned to Boise.
Like everyone else I know, we’ve got a lot going on right now.
And like everyone else I know, what we have going in isn’t easily explained.
So it feels like each time I am asked a question, I give an answer that has to have an asterisk.
Case in point:
As we are trying to transition from permanent traveling nomads life to occasional traveling nomads life, we don’t have a physical address right now and haven’t had one for 11 months.*
The asterisk indicates that there’s a bit more to that statement.
While we don’t REALLY have a permanent address, we are using Melissa’s because there are many things in life that you can’t buy without a physical address.
(Health insurance requires a physical address because rares are based on where you live,
Buying and financing a major purchase like a house or car requires a physical address because part of your credit score is calculated on where you live and how long you’ve been there.)
So asterisk #1 for our address is: We are pretending that we live at 123 Somewhere Street…
We’re working towards purchasing a home, so asterisk #2 is: If all goes well, we plan to be living at 123 Dream Home Way in a few weeks.
But if the deal falls through, asterisk #3 will be: We will be living back at Square One because we don’t have a backup plan.
Living the asterisked life means there are very few Yes or No or uncomplicated answers.
Everything requires extra explanation.
One * leads to another * which leads to another *.
We’ve been “house shopping” or, as our wise real estate agent corrected me, we’ve been “house looking” since we got into Boise onĀ Wednesday afternoon.
That’s two and a half days that poor Sophie has been stuck in the Jeep while we drive and discuss and look and discuss and whine because it’s hard to find the best fit to meet our needs.
Sophie’s been a trooper and hasn’t complained. She’s whined a bit along with us, but she’s been really quite agreeable as we muddle through the ‘house looking’.
I didn’t take any pictures of her forlornly looking at us from inside the Jeep. She just looked too sad…
Instead, I’ll honor her today by showing some pictures of Sophie over the last few years!
Taking a Nap
Taking a Lawn Bath
Tending a New Friend
On Homer Dash Patrol
Munching the Pet Grass
Welcoming Richie
On Local News
Stand Up Paddleboarding
On Squirrel Patrol
Chipmunk Teasing
Napping with Rich
“You Looking at Me?”
Looking for “My People”
Swimming
I LOVE MY DOG! (And she loves me ALMOST as much as she loves Rich!)
So I just figured out in the last eleven months, I’ve probably driven less than 30 times.
Yep, less than three times month.
Rich has done all of the motor home driving.
And he’s done all of the Jeep driving when we’re together.
The only time I’ve driven is when I go somewhere by myself. And that’s been about three times month.
I didn’t realize how little I’ve driven until I drove to get some Diet Pepsi our first night back in Boise.
Not only was it strange to be driving, it was amazing to drive to the store without having to use Mapquest to find it. For almost a year I’ve had to use my smart phone to figure out how to get to where I need toĀ go.
How refreshing to know where to find my favorite drink quickly here in Boise!
While we were visiting the Great Basin National Park, we stayed in the small town of Baker, Nevada.
Baker is home to 68 people according to the 2010 census. It’s very, very small.
But even though it is small, Baker is very, very interesting…
Clock of the Long Now
The Clock of the Long Now, also called the 10,000-year clock, is a proposed mechanical clock designed to keep time for 10,000 years.Ā The project to build the clock is part of the Long Now Foundation. (Learn more…)
In researching this, I found out that one of the prototypes for this clock is built on land that Jeff Bezos (founder and CEO of amazon.com) owns in Texas. Bezos has donated $42 million towards the project.
The final clock will be housed on land near Baker. Ā (PS You can’t make this stuff up! š Read more… )
Artists in Residence
Youāll see a number of tongue-in-cheek āfence-artā sculptures along the roads leading to and from Baker. Termed āPost-Impression Artā by local residents (because the art is mounted on fence posts). The movement began in the mid-1990ās when āDocā Sherman created the āPermanent Wave Society.ā This sculpture consisted of rubber gloves filled with cement and mounted on the tops of fence posts. Docās artistic endeavors were amazing therapy for him as he was partially paralyzed by a crippling stroke.
At least one of the artists has a very bizarre sense of humor. This work is named “Horse with No Name Mane”.
And it really is a horse, complete with a skull and the two front legs with hooves.
These two lovers are affectionately called Bob and Barb Wire.
Here’s a tribute to the Grate Basin area. š
Apparently this guy was too tall for his grave hole.
Water Fights
Water is a very precious commodity everywhere, and especially in the drought ridden western US. We paused at an exhibit put together by local ranchers and the Nevada Land Trust explaining ranch life, the use of water, and the practices utilized to increase productivity.
Local ranchers completed the display and the artwork inside.Ā The views from the exhibit show the raw, natural beauty of the area.Ā
Home Means Nevada
Coming back to Nevada has made me realize that I will always consider Nevada home. The snow covered (hopefully) mountains, the fragrant sagebrush, and the miles of uninhabited lands instill a serenity in me.
I was talking with Rich about this as we drove down a dirt road. He agreed.
And then he said, “But there’s one thing I don’t miss about living in Nevada. Look back in the mirror.”
Following us was a HUGE cloud of dust. š
I don’t want to move back, but I will continue to love to visit Nevada because “Home Means Nevada”.
(Nothing tastes as good as an ice cold DP after PB. š )
