now reading, The Dive From Clausen's Pier

last night

Last night the wind blew in through the open window warm and salty betraying the desert.  Dragged across the salt grass that rings the lake it brought the idea of rain.  

The thin reeds of the blinds billowing like the sails of a ghost ship.  Whistling with the same slow cadence of the buttoned canvas cover over the boat as it rocked in the night on the waters of Lake Powell.   

A sound from deep inside my childhood.  Swirling with the smell of sunscreen and the sunlight making lighting bolts in the waves.  Sweet, but not enough to rest in.

I lay listening to the night.  Sleep ignoring the judgment of the street lights and the shadows.  

I rolled over with the darkness that never falls in the city.  The wind cooling with the hours.  It rattled the trees and they patted the house gently.  Somewhere off in the distance the real storm mounting.  The promise of the true end of a long hot summer.

I looked out into my room to the outline of this life here with him.  All the edges he neatly wrapped in blankets of wood.  The soft corners and raw lines.  Strong, but not enough to sleep in.

Then the wind died down.  It blew without making noise.  I listened to the dog slip into the kitchen for a drink.  I listened to the trains, to the trucks, to the cats creeping.  

I listened to his breathing in the bed beside me broken and big like the mountains.

Last night blew in restless and open across a long-dead lake.
The morning broke in the backfield without waking the rooster... or me.   
I was already wide awake waiting to see her come.
 

Region 1 Camp SLC 2018 (day 2)

I drove

I drove 4 of them.  Picked them up one at a time from their homes.

Do you have your grips?

I drove 2 different freeways. Navigated long south valley traffic, merged suddenly in late-blooming summer construction, and pulled into our destination on the first try 30 minutes early.

Smothered in their laughter like warm wind and then they were gone.

I sat with the other moms at a distance watching them.
We sat for hours.
There was nothing but this; these girls, their believing moms, and the coaches who back them.

The camp ran long.

I drove three of them back.
One quiet.
One on low.
And mine, bubbling over with excitement.

I dropped one off at home.
Drove 2 through the drive-thru window.
Dropped them off back at our gym for a party.

I sat for a moment in my car.
Then I drove home, alone.... knowing I get to do it all over again tomorrow.

I am part of a generation of mothers raising the women who will rise to power in the coming decades.  Our job is not trivial. We are the generals.  They are our army.  If you are not with them you are against them.

If you have wondered why I have never touched on the scandals rocking USAG, it is because that is not a world I know.  The gym my daughter is in is owned by a woman who is also a mother.  Our girls are protected as athletes and as women.  They are so "sheltered" by her knowledge and mother bear protections that what is going on in the outside world is even shocking to me.

The inequalities out in the wider world are at such contrast to the environment our daughters are being raised in.  In our gym, in this sport, it is the girls, and the women, who hold all the power.  Our girls are being coached to trust themselves, to look out for each other, and to speak up when something is wrong- no matter who it is to or what it is about.

Watching the news this week, I felt the moment of change.  I felt the breaking point of thousands of women rushing the elevator doors.
   
I know someday someone will ask me what I was doing at this moment of change and revolution, what was my role in #MeToo and the 2nd revolution for women's rights?  I will answer, I was there, I was part of the driving force behind them.

I protected, I fueled, I educated, I listened, I gave counsel, I comforted, I held my tongue, I held onto them, and I let them go.

But mostly I drove.

English 9 Language and Composition

Course Name: English 9 Language and Composition

Grade/Year Taken: 9th Graduation Credit: English (1.0)

Teacher of Record: Misty L. Brown

Prerequisite: None

Text(s) and Materials Used: SAT and ACT Test Prep Books. Other materials and text TBA.

Curriculum Provider: Misty L. Brown

Course Description:

This course is designed to give the student a firm foundation in basic writing skills. The student will learn techniques such as brainstorming and outlining to help develop writing clarity. This course aims to expand the students skills in researching, proper citation of source materials, and basic proofreading as well as increasing vocabulary and grammar.

Course Content:

Letter Writing October 26

Persuasive Writing (5 paragraph format) January 18

Comparison Writing (5 paragraph format) March 22

Research/Definition (5 paragraph format with sources) June 5

Editing skills

Types of Assessments Used:

Class discussion

Writing/Essays

Assessments Designed By: Misty L. Brown

Assessments Graded By: Misty L. Brown

Grade Based On: A. 500-450 B. 449-400 C. 399-350 D. 349-300 F. 299-0

Letter Unit, 4 letters 25 points each = 100 points

ACT and SAT test questions (25 points a quarter) = 100 points

3 Essays, 5 paragraph format 100 points each = 300 points

Grade Achieved: TBA

and the dog came back...

At 5:00 AM the sound of scurrying nails on the wood floor is followed by Ginger barking twice- from underneath our bed.

I was already awake ready to launch the second pillow at the cat creeping through our room. I only had to free the pillow from beneath BC's head first. 

I am a light sleeper.  The faintest noise stirs me wide awake.  

The night often finds me hurling pillows at tip toeing cats, pulling back blinds to peer at empty street lights, tracking shadows across the ceiling, listening into the dark at far away voices, dancing in my mind to the night calls of trains. 

But Ginger barking at night is incredible rare so instantly I woke BC.  He mumbled, "Bear is in the house again."  Took up a pair of underpants off the floor and headed out of the room.  

His footsteps were joined by the sound of Beach but only BC's voice carried enough to really make out the words.  "I know I am getting him."

Then I knew the issue.  Bear, our new neighbor's giant husky had once again gotten into our house and tried to get in bed with Beach.

Beach has been a pretty good sport about these sudden, surprise "sleepovers" with the neighbor's giant dog.  Ginger Dog, not so much.

Ginger, smarter than she is brave, abandoned Beach for the shelter of our room before sounding the alarm.

This, in one form or another, has been going on for weeks. Yesterday, my fb friends got a snapshot of it.  So far, that we know of, Bear has killed 2 of our hens and gave our rooster an attitude adjustment via what I would call extreme grooming.  That one was more of a favor than an incident.  That rooster is a dick.  Less so now.

Bear tried for my rabbit but good thing for Bear's sake, my rabbit is too fast.   

BC stumbled back in 20 minutes later.  "Misty, were is Ginger's leash?"  Translated as: things are not going well. 

I told him and 20 more minutes passed before BC was heard on the stairs returning to bed.  He fell back to sleep but my cause was hopeless.  

I got up and made coffee.  I found my gray dress coat on the table.  This image appeared to me: BC in his black underwear wearing a ladies wool dress coat chasing the neighbor's dog up and down 10th West at 5 AM.  Stranger things have happened around here.  

I spent the morning editing photos from our Sunday day trip.  Around 8 AM BC left for work.  I wandered into the kitchen for the last of the coffee pot only to see outside the kitchen's glass doors our neighbor hanging over the fence trying desperately, but quietly, to talk Bear into leaving our yard- again.  

No doubt his house sitter passed on my words from yesterday's encounter... including the heavy tone of the "cop knock" on the front door and the dead chicken I gave her.

I stuck my head out.  "Yeah, so that's your dog and I think that is your squirrel now too...."

We had a nice long talk about dogs like Bear and what they need.  While Bear loudly ate a squirrel between us. Turns out Bear's visits to our side of the fence line up with our neighbor breaking his leg ending their long daily runs together.

Solution: I offer that if he pays my kid she will walk his dog for him.  It feels a little like blackmail but I can live with that.  And if it end the chicken killing, my hens can too. 

    

at the edge of afternoon

 Baby J has rituals on the farm.  She pulls out the play dough, asks to make pancakes and pizza, gets eggs, washes the eggs, hand feeds Ginger pieces of dog food, asks for Popsicles, looks for the cats, asks to go to the park, plays with the playmobile, finds and feeds the rabbit, and when all that is done she watches "Max".  

At the store she tells me she is too big to ride in the cart and always seems surprised when I agree.  She asks to see Colby at his work.  Tells me her dad is at work and her mom, Sage, & Jake are at home sleeping.  I tell her, her dad is a plumber.  She tells me he's not a plumber, he's a boy! 

She knows the streets and her way home.  She knows where Pops and Nana (her other grandparents) live.  She knows the way down; the freeway exits to take to get to my house.  She spots airplanes in the sky.  It always surprises me how much she can see.  

She says she will got to her Dan-astics again when she is big like Beach. 

And speaking of Beach, when anything goes wrong, according to Baby J, it's Beach's fault.

By far her favorite ritual on the farm is to go out to the greenhouse to feed the fish and turtles in the big old dairy vat pond.

Grandma, I want to feed the fish.  

I want to see the turtles. 

Grandma, them [sic] hungry.

Yes, they are hungry and I think Jessie is sleepy?

I'm not tired, grandma.  

Grandma, can we go the park?

Maple Grove Hot Springs, Idaho

 Saturday night sleepover with this crew.  Turns into a daytrip towards hot water.

 One of my favorite spots, Maple Grove Hot Springs.  The right amount of developed and the right amount of natural, right on the river.  And it's dog-friendly!