This 70’s retro building is where I spend most of my time throughout the year. I am sure at one point in History people said, “Wow, what a groovy looking school!” Now, thirty-two years later all you hear is, “When are they going to tear it down and build a new one?” The fact is that the school is not doing so well on the inside… I know, surprise - right! I mean from the groovy wooden panels on the exterior you would never guess that inside was going to hell. The building looks okay - it’s what’s lurking within the walls that will make your skin crawl. Earlier this year there was a busted water heater, and water came pouring out of the ceiling, flooding a lot of that main building there. It was so bad we had to miss a day of school while folks tried to clean her up and dry her out. They wanted to protect us all from mold exposure and so they sprayed some chemicals all over to prevent mold from growing…. My question is, “What about the mold that was already there?” We came back to school and spent the week thinking the awful smell in the building would go away… Then we waited the next week… and the next… and the next… My point is that the smell never fully went away - and while we sat in the teacher’s lounge and ate our lunch we felt we were being poisoned. While teachers taught in the classrooms closest to the flood, they breathed in mystery air. Yep - so the building looks real groovy from the outside - inside might be killing us…. in more ways than just the mystery air. *dun, dun, dun!*

A light at the end of a dark damp tunnel was that yesterday - yes, a Monday - was our last day of school! (the students anyhow) It ended on a Monday - because we needed to make up a day for the missed flood day… I won’t go there. As I walked out of the groovy retro 70’s building, and felt the freedom I had been waiting all year to feel, I heard a tune in my head that went a little something like this, “SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!” I was free from the complaining kids who are never happy no matter what! I was free from the people who never get what I do and I am sure never will - not that they want to. I am free from retro stinky building that will, I am sure, be waiting for me. I am free to spend time with my family - something (oddly enough) the school district frowns upon. And after next year I will be free from this job that has consumed my life for the past seven years. I’ll be back you old retro bitch - but not for long! You cannot take my soul… Okay - that might have been a little over the top. *wink*

All together now - “SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!”

My cousin and ME at her place…
(Smile for the camera!)

Throw a couple mothers into the mix and you get a cousin sandwich!
(my Aunt is on the left and my mother is on the right)

This ALWAYS happens when we get together!
Some kind of weird chemical reaction to our genetic build-up…

Hello Mr. Kitty in my wild rose bush!

My mother has this habit of random kitty cats wandering into her house looking for food. They are always super cute - but what kitty is not? - and she always gives into them and feeds them! A big “No No” because once you feed a cat - they ALWAYS come back! The largest problem here is that my mother has two kitties, “Stinker-Bell” and “Sparky” who live in the house and do not like the idea of new kitties invading their territory… Quite understandable if you ask me. So - my mother sees helpless, thin, homeless kitty and thinks, “Poor kitty, here let me feed you.” But what she’s really saying is, “Here’s some food, and my cats are going to fight with you and then I’ll call my daughter to get you out of here.” Yep - and call her daughter is just what she did. Well - at first she called the landlord of the park she lives in and they wanted to set out a trap for this lovable little kitty. When I heard that I had a fit. Then my mother had a better idea - Scott can come get the cat and take him to our no-kill shelter here… The problem with that is that our no-kill shelter is tiny and filled! So, without saying anything, because we didn’t want some jerk trapping this kitty, Scott went and brought kitty, dubbed “Chester,” home.

I already have three cats who live in my house, plus one my neighbors so thankfully adopted from us… Wait - the adopted kitty named, Friendly, was also a rescue kitty from my mothers “good deeds” of feeding the poor little kitty who then is beat up by her cat! Friendly has a fairy tale ending as he found the perfect family to love him.  Chester cannot live in my house because my cats have been here for a long time and I don’t want to piss them off - piss being the key word there (anyone with cats knows what I mean). So, we set up our utility room with a litter box, warm pillow bed, a nice crate he can go into for a warm closed in feeling, and we took the screen off the window so Chester can go out back and enjoy the sun - something the indoor cats cannot do. I think Chester is a happy enough kitty here. Sam has adopted him as his cat - which is fine because Chester seems to enjoy Sam’s hyper attention. Then when Chester’s had enough, he simply jumps out the window.

Chester sadly needs to take a trip to the Vet for a little ball removal. He needs to be “FIXED” but shhhhh, we don’t want him to know what we’re planning to do. Right now he can sit under the wild rose bush and enjoy life…