Too Wet

No Point in Slogging Around

With nearly three inches of rain overnight and into this morning, there isn't any point in trying to ride. The trails will be way too muddy and the ring has taken enough of a beating. (Addendum here: 6 PM, checked the ring and it's not as bad as I thought. By tomorrow it should be pretty good footing, especially if I drag it in the morning. Yay!)

Just as well as I had to go to the chiropractor tonight anyhow. I think all the leftover coughing from my cold thingie helped me throw out a few vertebrae. Lower back, middle back, upper back and neck all had issues. Nothing major but I was getting a very slight warning of a headache and just felt kind of "off."

Tucker stayed in for the day and I'll probably keep him in again tonight because of the mud. I did let him out about an hour ago to play a little, taking the chance that he will keep his shoes in place. The sun was pretty strong and there as a bit of a breeze picking up, so if the thaw has truly set in for a few days the ground should dry up pretty quickly.

Here's hoping it get a ride or two in this weekend. The Patrice Edwards clinic is on Monday and I would like Tucker to be settled for that. He's been going like a charm so I should be able to learn a lot during my lesson.

I am not at all looking forward to school next week. The 11th grade students will be taking the New Jersey High School Proficiency test for four mornings of 3 hour testing sessions. This is a required test they all need to pass in order to graduate. I am a test adminstrator which requires me to give the test and supervise it every day to a group of 25 students. That's no problem since I know most of them, but while the test is going on, I am not to be doing anything except watching them. I will have another teacher as proctor with me, but she cannot even touch the test papers, so all the responsibility is on my shoulders.

But the worst is just sitting or walking around the room for all that time with nothing to do. I am not supposed to look at the kid's tests, read a book or magazine, or do anything except watch the kids take the test. I am going to be stir crazy by Thursday.

That kills the morning for four days, and then I have to go teach 4-5 classes in the afternoon. Meanwhile, my first class of the day will have to be covered by a substitute teacher and I have to make up lessons for the students to keep them occupied and interested while I am not there. All this goes on to fill a day so that I end up with perhaps a lunch break and no other time during the day without a scheduled duty or class.

The funny thing was that today, as I was teaching my own 11th graders, we were working on some of the test skills they need and we ran out of time. One of my students asked me if we could continue on Monday since the language arts/English part of the test doesn't come until Wednesday. Usually once they start the morning testing, the kids don't want to do anything challenging in the afternoon. Not my class! Gotta love 'em. They are good people.

Frankly, I'm pretty confident they are all going to pass "my" part of the test with flying colors. They write well and have good heads on their shoulders. But, the better prepared they are, the more confident they will be.

And confidence can make all the difference in the world in most everything you do.