12 for 12 from Tuesday

This is what the clock read as I left this morning. It's saying I should have left 10 minutes ago. I was checking email and got.... distracted by a blog. I blame you.
My dear little Sproing has lost his spring. He is home sick today. Actually today he is feeling much better, but still not quite well enough to go to school. This is a difficult part of the healing process. He feels well enough to jump around and be annoying, but not well enough to go to school. I gave him some work to do. He also watched DVDs a lot of the day.

This is the town's soup kitchen. This was taken at around 9:30 a.m. Lunch is served at 11:00, I think. I met a homeless man last night at the church across the street from this location. He was asking about this place and if or when dinner was served. They only do lunch. I gave him a couple of dollars for some food, but I went back to the area to look for him. I gathered a few basic supplies (toothpaste, toilet paper, razor, bar of soap) to give him, and I wanted to ask a few questions about his situation. But I couldn't find him. Oh, well.
This is the county court house. I was trying to find some information on properties sold at tax auction. I got no satisfaction. But it's a nice shot of the courthouse, anyway.
Time to go back to work. Tuesday is my busy day at work. I finish my morning run around 8:15, give or take 10 minutes. On Tuesdays I have a student who goes to the alternative school that I need to pick up between 11:15 and 11:30. After taking him to school (assuming he's at the bus stop) I then go to one of the high schools to take the special needs classes to the YMCA. This is a shot of my bus, Henry, (the one in the center, farthest away) waiting for my return.

This is the bus stop for the alternative school student. Notice the absence of any student. I get paid for showing up. So I show up. He shows up less than half the time. This kid's schedule requires only 2 days of school a week, only 2 hours per day. He has a hard time making that committment. There are many problems with the school system. Some of them are the fault of the schools, some of them are the fault of the students and parents. In this case I think all parties are responsible for the failure. And that's all the soap-boxing I'm going to do at this time.

From the previous bus stop, I head straight for the high school. I am the unofficial bus driver for the two special ed classes at this school. Together there are about 18 students, 2 teachers, and 4 or 5 assistants/aides/para-professionals. (I'm not sure exactly what these associates are called.) Three of the students are in wheel chairs. I only have 2 wheel chair docking stations on my bus. It works because one of the students is able to sit in a seat as long as someone sits beside her to keep her from falling into the aisle. We stow her chair in front of one of the other wheelchairs, and that young man holds her chair to prevent it from sliding around. With everyone present we have a very full bus! They spend the hour from noon to 1 p.m. at the YMCA engaged in various athletic pursuits. I park the bus in the side parking lot and spend that hour engaged in various quiet solitary pursuits. It is one of my favorite times of the whole week at work. This picture shows my bus with the Y building in the background. It was a beautiful day. The clouds were particularly appealing, I thought. This shot would probably work better with some kind of colored filter, but this is what I got.
And I got it again from a slightly different perspective. Both these shots were taken as I was waiting for the students to leave the Y. The sky was a lovely shade of blue, and the contrast between cloud and sky was striking. I don't know how well that shows up here, though. This is one of my kindergarten students. I stop at her mailbox in the afternoon so she can check the mail. I wait for her to empty the box and get at least 10 feet up the driveway before I pull off. This prevents me from driving over her. We learn this stuff in training. Actually, she should just get off and go up the drive. I'm just nice (a sucker) and let her check the mail. It means so much to her. See how far away the house is? In the morning when I get to the house she is still in it. It takes her a long time to wonder down the long driveway in the dark. It is still dark when I get there at 6:30. If I were stricter (less of a sucker) I'd demand from her and her mother that she be at the end of the driveway by the time I get there. But it has been cold recently, and it's dark, and I'm a pushover. So I wait.
This is the toilet in the girls' bathroom at the day care center where Diva goes after school. Can you see that it is especially designed for small children? The thing is SHORT! I begin my afternoon work on Tuesdays at 11:00 in the morning. After I take the special ed classes back to school I go straight into my afternoon route. I'm not finished until 4:00-4:30, depending on the vagaries of the day. I usually take a pit stop at the high school before I pick up my first afternoon student. But by 4:30 when I got Diva from the day care it was obvious that I needed to stop by the little girl's room. I, however, am anything but a LITTLE girl. I could have searched for a more adult sized facility, but priorities today were different. It isn't as amazing that I got onto the toilet as it is that I got UP from the toilet. It wasn't a very good toileting experience. There wasn't any toilet paper in the dispenser, which of course I didn't notice until it was too late to do anything about it.

That's my Diva in the doorway beside a piss poor mural on the wall. Yes, it is a church opperated day care. They are conviently located and affordable, and I don't adamantly object to the message. But I'm settling. Since Sproing got kicked out (did I tell you about that fiasco?) a month ago, things have been pretty peaceful.