Preparations

After a couple of last minute shopping runs for items we are told are must-haves when in the Galapagos, a new REI hat (Pictured on the left. Geeky but functional!) with +50 sun-block protection and these little stringy contraptions that hold your glasses on your face in case they fall off when around the water, we are packed and ready to head out on our adventure to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.

This is a copy of a poster for the opening night concert at the Choral Festival in which Leslie will be teaching.

We each have a small suitcase and large carry-ons, mine with camera gear and important papers for the trip and hers with all the important papers and gizmos she needs to teach her classes for the next week and a half. It was difficult to pack for this trip as we need the more formal wear to be in a classroom and attend concerts in the evening, but also the light weight, very informal gear for hiking and swimming in the Islands.

Also, the higher elevation of Quito (9,000+ feet) makes is a cooler climate necessitating warmer clothes versus the sea-level, near the equator warmer climate of the Galapagos. So, we layer in Quito, take a couple of nicer outfits and the rest of the clothes for the warmer days when we are out and about in Quito and in the islands. I think we have it figured out, but, hey, if we need anything. they have stores in Ecuador!

Our plane departs Seattle at about 10 pm and stops in Miami on our way to Quito (oh lord, a red-eye!). It is going to be a long journey. Sadly it will be in economy class and we all know what that feels like--can you say, "moooooooo!"

More later as time permits!

Off to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

Beginning this Friday, I will be starting a series on our travels to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Watch for updates on our adventures--travel and food experiences, people we meet and photos of our journey.

Most of our time in Ecuador will be spent in and around Quito with short excursions to outlying attractions. We will fly to the Galapagos Islands and board a cruise ship that will take us around the islands and on-shore excursions for 5 days.

I hope you will join me as I share my thoughts on our grand adventure to another South American destination.

A Day in the Garden!

After a year of ignoring our beautiful back garden, we, that is up until today mostly my wife, have begun the slow and steady process of ridding the beds of two year's growth of weeds and self-propagating plants and trees. We are under the gun a bit since we have hired an outfit to come in with, get this, 36 yards of bark to cover the beds. For those who may not know just how much that is, it is the amount that would fill a cube that is one yard wide, tall and deep. It will be quite a mountain of bark when it is dropped inn our driveway!

This stuff is supposed to dress up the beds, hold down weed growth and cut down on the amount of watering needed. So, the nasty stuff growing in the beds has to be gone before it makes sense for them to lay down the bark.

We also have the looming deadline of my retirement party for B'ham friends and family next week. Since there is the likelihood that the party will pour out into the garden, it should really look its best.

Yet to do:

• Get the 3 fountains up and running.
• Power wash the upper patio and lower decks.
• Plant up pots with annuals for color.
• Plant veggies in raised beds.
  
• Hanging baskets for Secret Garden entrance.
• Re-mount the bird house that fell when a section of fence went over last winter.
• Set up all irrigation systems.
• Set the front garden irrigation system.
• Sort the contents of the barn and get it organized.
• Cut down the cloches to fit the Secret Garden raised beds.
• Round-Up weeds and ivy poking through from neighbor's yards.
• Trim branches of trees hanging too low making mowing difficult.
• Fix spinning art in upper raised bed.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure my wife will add to the list but that's pretty good for now.

I must say, the yard is looking a lot better. The buttercups are pretty much gone or as gone as buttercups can ever be. The beds have been taken back from the wild and returned to civilization. A second truck load of weeds, branches and lawn has been accumulated and is ready to take down to the green dump.

Best of all, my wife said to me today that we have created something beautiful here and she is right. When I think back at what the back garden looked like when we moved into this house 16 years ago and consider it now, it is something to be proud of. Now that I am retired and have more time to call my own, I have an opportunity to make it even more beautiful and to better maintain what we already have. Hmmmm, maybe I can start work on the cascade and pond I have always dreamed of? Better stay tuned!

First day of Retirement

We spent the night at The Willows last night. Had a fabulous meal that lasted 3 and a half hours and included 12 courses. Incredible! After breakfast we packed up and headed for the Whatcom Chief, the little ferry that whisked us back to the mainland.

Arriving home I headed off for my first nap of my retirement. Unable to sleep I got up and mowed the lawn. We also hired an outfit to shovel in 3 inches of new bark into the back garden beds next week. The rest of the day has been about finishing the few details still unfinished with my school website and e-mailing or Facebooking thank you notes to so many that took the time to show up at my departure from school the last time yesterday.

That's it! 1 paragraph describes my first day of retirement. Not too exciting, huh? Well, there's always tomorrow!
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The Last Time!

Where did the time go?

I remember so vividly those freshman at the new Kamiakin High School in Kennewick, Washington in 1978. My job was to make sure those freshman were on campus and that I was tutoring them in the subjects that struggled with--math, English, science.n I had my own portable out in the gravel parking lot and I thought this was a pretty cool job. I saw it snow for the very first time out the window of my room that year.

I remember the little pre-kindergartners who walked into my classroom in Benecia, California two years later. I had completed the coursework for my Montessori certificate and was hired at the school where I trained. It was a five year run that ended with my being the Learning Director/consultant that saw the school grow into a Pre-K through 3rd grade school. Not a great school by any stretch but a great learning ground for me. I knew within a couple of years that I wanted and needed to go earn my public school teaching certificate which I did at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California.

At the end of that year of classes and student teaching, I was hired at little Jackson Elementary School in Fresno, California where I was hired to teach the 6th grade. My very first class is still the one I remember most. Those kids really kept me on my toes. They were and are the standard that every class since has had to attempt to measure up to. Except for a year off (I subbed in Boulder, CO) to follow my wife to do her Doctoral coursework, I stayed at Jackson from 1986 until we left for Hawaii in 1995.

A year in Hawaii working with special needs kids while my wife taught at the University of Hawaii, Hilo and then we moved to Bellingham, Washington. Here is where we at last found our home, nestled between the mountains and the sea--the place I had always dreamed of living. Here also I found Mount Vernon, Washington, a small town 30 miles south of Bellingham, where I began the final segment of my teaching career, again in a little school--Lincoln Elementary.

Here I began a 15 year partnership with Teresa Vaughn. I helped build an award-winning children's theater company, I Can Fly Productions, which produced a musical theater show each year mostly based on a Disney Broadway shows. With other teachers involved, we produced sold-out shows year after year that became huge money makers for funding field trips and other school activities that we could not otherwise have afforded.

I won numerous technology grants that brought tens of thousands of dollars in new computer hardware and software, digital still and video cameras, Smartboards, projectors and lots of training.

I also created the very first school website for an elementary school in Mount Vernon and continued as the webmaster of that site until my retirement 15 years later.

Now, I am about to walk out the door for the last time.

I have touched the lives o well over a 1,000 children in those 33 years. The exact number I'll never know. My hope is that I have done some good in the world.

Bilge Pump Issue Resolved

Ever wander down the dock at a marina and notice water coming out of a hole in the side of a boat's hull? Water drains out of small holes called scuppers that can be for removing gray water used for washing hands, showering or doing dishes. These scuppers also allow the overflow of fresh water when the holding tank is full.

One other reason might be that the bilge, that place deep down in the lowest bowels of the boat, has filled to0 full of water and one or more of the boat's bilge pumps have turned on. Bilge pumps are rated as to the number of gallons of water they can move in a certain amount of time. On my boat, for example, I have two 500 gal./hour pumps and one 1500 gal./hour pump. When all are working that is 2000 gal./hour of water that can be removed from the boat. Sounds impressive but in the worst of conditions, I'd probably be heading the boat to the nearest shore to run it aground before it sank. Or, there is always the dinghy if an immediate exit was necessary.

My point in writing about this blog is that I recently had issues with one of my pumps that lead me to have to have some service done. We docked in our home slip last weekend after a tour around Bellingham Bay. After a near picture perfect landing, I shut down the engines and headed down the ladder to the main deck. A whirring sound could be heard coming from the engine room. We pulled open the hatches and peered in to discover what sounded like one of the bulge pumps was running. No amount of effort could get it to stop. Our only solution was to cut one of the power wires before it drained the batteries. I called my electrician and he came by this past week to take a look at it. While he was at it I suggested he look at the third pump hidden under the floor of the master stateroom which had never worked.

The results? He explained that something had been pulled up into the pump that wouldn't turn off and got the switch stuck in the on position. A little Simple Green cleaned it up and that problem was solved. The pump under the stateroom floor was a more serious problem. The float switch on it was dead and the pump was on its last legs, so it needed to be changed out completely which he did. $250 later, problem solved and I learned a few things as well. We are now good to go. Another of the older devices on the boat has been fixed and or replaced and The Key of Sea is that much more safe. The sad thing is that it is one of those "can't-be-seen-improvements" that homeowners always talk about like a hot water heater instead of say, new carpet. Oh, well! BOAT--Bring Over Another Thousand! You warned me, Rick!
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The following op-ed was copied from a posted article by David Reber of the Topeka, Kansas Examiner. It captures my feelings of frustration as I retire from the profession I have loved and enjoyed for 33+ years--teaching!
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I’m going to step out of my usual third-person writing voice for a moment. As a parent I received a letter last week from the Kansas State Board of Education, informing me that my children’s school district had been placed on “improvement” status for failing to meet “adequate yearly progress” under the No Child Left Behind law.

I thought it ironic that our schools were judged inadequate by people who haven’t set foot in them, so I wrote a letter to my local newspaper. Predictably, my letter elicited a deluge of comments in the paper’s online forum. Many remarks came from armchair educators and anti-teacher, anti-public school evangelists quick to discredit anything I had to say under the rationale of “he’s a teacher.” What could a teacher possibly know about education?

Countless arguments used to denigrate public school teachers begin with the phrase “in what other profession….” and conclude with practically anything the anti-teacher pundits find offensive about public education. Due process and collective bargaining are favorite targets, as are the erroneous but tightly held beliefs that teachers are under-worked, over-paid (earning million-dollar pensions), and not accountable for anything.

In what other profession, indeed.

In what other profession are the licensed professionals considered the LEAST knowledgeable about the job? You seldom if ever hear “that guy couldn’t possibly know a thing about law enforcement – he’s a police officer”, or “she can’t be trusted talking about fire safety – she’s a firefighter.”

In what other profession is experience viewed as a liability rather than an asset? You won’t find a contractor advertising “choose me – I’ve never done this before”, and your doctor won’t recommend a surgeon on the basis of her “having very little experience with the procedure”.

In what other profession is the desire for competitive salary viewed as proof of callous indifference towards the job? You won’t hear many say “that lawyer charges a lot of money, she obviously doesn’t care about her clients”, or “that coach earns millions – clearly he doesn’t care about the team.”

But look around. You’ll find droves of armchair educators who summarily dismiss any statement about education when it comes from a teacher. Likewise, it’s easy to find politicians, pundits, and profiteers who refer to our veteran teachers as ineffective, overpriced “dead wood”. Only the rookies could possibly be any good, or worth the food-stamp-eligible starting salaries we pay them.

And if teachers dare ask for a raise, this is taken by many as clear evidence that teachers don’t give a porcupine’s posterior about kids. In fact, some say if teachers really cared about their students they would insist on earning LESS money.

If that entire attitude weren’t bad enough, what other profession is legally held to PERFECTION by 2014? Are police required to eliminate all crime? Are firefighters required to eliminate all fires? Are doctors required to cure all patients? Are lawyers required to win all cases? Are coaches required to win all games? Of course they aren’t.

For no other profession do so many outsiders refuse to accept the realities of an imperfect world. Crime happens. Fire happens. Illness happens. As for lawyers and coaches, where there’s a winner there must also be a loser. People accept all these realities, until they apply to public education.

If a poverty-stricken, drug-addled meth-cooker burns down his house, suffers third degree burns, and then goes to jail; we don’t blame the police, fire department, doctors, and defense attorneys for his predicament. But if that kid doesn’t graduate high school, it’s clearly the teacher’s fault.

And if someone – anyone - tries to tell you otherwise; don’t listen. He must be a teacher.