Coffee Break [19/8/24]

19/8/24 Hannibal 41

We’re halfway through August, and although Labor Day in the US is still two weeks away summer is coming to a close. The stores are full of backpacks, pencils, and notebooks. Children are walking to school in the morning. And Saturday I took Fanny to the annual Humane Society Doggie Paddle. It’s a chance for all good dogs to enjoy splashing in one of our public pools before it’s drained and cleaned. For me the final nail in summer’s coffin. What say’s summer is over to you, DeadSplinters?

Fanny
Some of her pals
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41 Comments

  1. …I don’t think I have a particular end of summer tradition…but I think maybe the point when I think it’s really on the way out is when I realize it’s gotten dark before I’ve figured out dinner?

      • …it’s pretty much the definition of a moveable feast…I go from small-people/retired-people early dinner (sometimes referred to as pre-dinner for the kids) to the spanish 22:00-is-fine depending on what sort of day it seems to be…which is maybe a bit late for supper-in-the-sunshine even in high summer…but I usually know what my plan is while it’s still light

        …winter it’s dark before I even get that far?

        • It is my father-in-law’s birthday this week and we had a birthday party for him (and his son and my son, who share a birthday a day after his) and we let him decide what time dinner was served and God help us we were eating at 3:55 in the afternoon, much to my bemusement.

          My stomach doesn’t love the Spanish let’s-eat-then-go-to-bed style but pre-4 p.m. dinners are just … I’m too young for that, I’m sorry.

    • I’m looking for an Airbnb near here with a pool that allows dogs. I’d like to rent it for an invitation only pup party. Fanny and her friends love it but there are so many dogs and people.

  3. When I was a kid, the weekend before school started my mom would drag each of one of me and my sisters into the bathtub to take a Korean scrub bath where we would be exfoliated with the wash cloth equivalent of sand paper aka scoured and scraped of all our dead skin.

  5. Instead of tennis balls they should have copied what the zoo in Rostock Germany does for its polar bears, and given the dogs balls made out of frozen fish. I’m sure the dog owners would have loved that.

    • I’m very much looking forward to fires in the chimnea on the patio. And indoors. I have a neighbor that keeps us supplied with wood from his nearby farm.

  7. We’re starting the last week of the Summer version of the “Before/After School program,” and Staff Trainings & Prep/Staff Development starts for the ECSE program next week we’ll have *two* weeks of prep time, because the Pre-K kids start the second week of Sept, rather than *directly* after Labor Day like the 1st-12th graders do (K typically has Half the kids start Tuesday/Thursday, Half Weds/Friday, and then *all* the class comes together the Monday *we* start, just to make that K transition a bit easier).

    I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to keep going at the school or not… there’s an “Advocate” position, with one of the Minneapolis Headstart programs, that is *REALLY* intriguing, and I’m thinking of applying for it.

    The starting pay when I *originally* saw the position advertised was $25.00/hr, but they wanted someone with a Bachelor’s already (or *maybe* within 12 credits?)… and then, when I looked it up again, the Bachelor’s had been dropped, but the *pay* also dropped to $23/hr.

    The position is intriguing, though, because it would be using a LOT of the skills I’ve gained over the last decade, and I’d be *directly* using the things I’ve learned regarding *both* Special Education, *AND* Navigating the state & county Social Services system, to help families access the supports they need for their little ones😉

    These are some of the things it says;

    “Job Summary: The primary function of this position is to create and maintain relationships with families and children to identify and address their needs in the community…

    Develop individualized partnership agreements (IFPA) with all families assisting them to set goals and address needs.

    • Ensure that full enrollment is maintained.

    • Ensure that child attendance is at a rate of at least 85%.

    • Provide parents with resources on literacy and child development to aide in school readiness goals.

    • Conduct home visits…”

    Basically, it *sounds* like it’s sort of in-between a Birth-3/Early Intervention home Visitor position, *and* Parent Education, with a bit of “Special Ed Support Services” thrown in.

    It would be *in* Minneapolis, not the ‘Burbs, and the knowledge I’ve *recently* gained about navigating the Metro Transit system *on TOP* of all those other supports, would DEFINITELY help me to help families in the program (dealing with those Metro Transit struggles TODAY, fwiw! Because my 8:30 Route 18 bus just didn’t show UP this morning, until 8:55, and I ended up completely missing my Express bus to the school–so I’m “hop, skip, and jump”-ing it up to the Transit station closest to the school, trying to catch a *different* bus that runs as close as I can get to the school, then walking 2-ish miles there🙃🫠

    But LEARNING how to do this stuff and “patch it together” IS honestly pretty useful, for a job like that position! Because *many* of the folks with kids in that Headstart Program DO use the bus to get around–and it’s stressful & confusing sometimes (even though the Drivers are largely AWESOME & helpful!😉💖)

    That advocate position might put me in a really good spot to *truly* work toward FIXING some of the damn inefficiencies I’ve seen over the last few years–where poor folks *trying* to access care & help for their loved ones, are *repeatedly* forced to bur unnecessary time, energy, *and* what little money they have, *trying to get the support they’re eligible for.

    And with it being a Headstart Program, it counts toward the “Ten Years of Community Service” to pay off one’s Student Loans. too

    • Ugh, there are advantages to living in Florida but I don’t think I could handle the heat that long. I hate it in August. November? No thank you!

      • The advantages are disappearing every day. The climate is pretty much “equatorial jungle” about nine months out of the year, and the other three months are what everyone else considers “summer” weather. Once the child’s schooling is done or mostly done and my mother-in-law is … no longer a factor, we’re thinking about hatting up and getting out.

              • Yeah, traffic is bad in Atlanta. I’m work-from-home so no problem for me. But librarians typically have to go to work. We’d have to factor all that stuff. Also, where my kid ends up getting a job will be a consideration. I’m not following her to California, but if she ended up in Raleigh I’d probably go there.

      • We don’t have many poisonous spiders in western WA but just before fall is when spiders are at peak numbers and webs are everywhere.  You will walk out your door and immediately through a web.  I usually walk around outside swinging my hands wildly in front of me to take down webs before I walk through them & get the heebie jeebies.  As soon as we have the first freezing night you don’t see them again until next year except in your garage or basement.

    • Thanks 🙂The chocolate lab in the other pic is her bestie, Lori. She’s at my house a lot because her human is very ill. She’s had multiple surgeries in the last year and Lori comes to stay with Fanny. She’ll be with us most of this week.

  11. This past weekend was Virginia Tech’s move-in week for freshman in Blacksburg, so when I went to town to teach a tai chi class I got to see all the activity.  My favorite is the young people with their parents in the grocery store and mom is making them buy all sorts of healthy food that needs preparation and fresh vegetables when in a few short weeks all they’ll be eating is ramen noodles and Doritos.  You can tell they’re just waiting for the parents to leave so they can color their hair blue and get that nose piercing.  Also, I like to see the pairs of students who clearly have just met but are now roomates and they’re negotiating the cereal aisle trying to accomodate one another’s preference for Honey Nut Cheerios over Frosted Flakes.

    Next week the upper classmen will be moving in and they go straight for the cases of beer.  I love back-to-school.

    • It’s move in week here too. My daughter has changed jobs and is working for the university now. She has to go in extra early for a couple of weeks because many new students don’t yet recognize where they’re allowed to park. They’ll figure it out when their cars get booted. It’s all a part of growing up. 😂

    • My youngest daughter is starting her senior year in a few weeks but she has been back at school for several weeks acting as event coordinator & a tour guide for the incoming freshmen.  It is so cool to see how she has grown from this tentative girl to the woman running the show.

    • My daughter is back to school this week as well. She got two new roommates in her apartment, and her mother and I had to tag-team nag her to contact them and welcome them. She had a terrible time with one that left — she’d pull the other girls’ stuff out of drawers and pantries and stick her own stuff in there and cause all kinds of havoc. My kid eventually reported her to management and it settled down into a simmering dislike rather than an outright feud. But it was uncomfortable as hell.

      So we badgered her to contact the new girls, meet them face-to-face (not over text, damn it), explain how much space each roommate is entitled to, and generally set up some ground rules. Seems to be working much better so far, but I swear, kids have zero socialization skills any more. I mean, I’m a diagnosed introvert, but I can introduce myself to people and engage with them. And this is all stuff the apartment complex recommends, so it’s not like it’s just something my wife and I dreamed up.

      • I’m your daughter’s defense you shouldn’t have to tell someone not to remove your items to make room for their own! But I’m not even shocked anymore by some people’s lack of manners and common sense.

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