Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

I really need to get myself back into school schedule. I stayed up far too late watching a series on Netflix called Best Medicine . It's really cute, sort of has Northern Exposure vibes. But getting up in the morning is awfully hard when you've stayed up watching TV. Every night I say I'm going to start going to bed earlier, but yeah... the allure of TV with no real consequences is there. But honestly, I have to get my body-schedule back on track. Y'know, when to pee, when to eat-- it's amazing how teachers have to hold it, wait for it, deny the urge to do...human bio things. And sleep. I know I need to go to bed a lot earlier, so 5:30 is not a horrid surprise.  Well, it's always a horrid surprise, but less horrid?  My schedule this year is blocks 2 and 3, so I don't technically have to be to work until 8:30 (blessings), and I leave at lunch (12:35). If the grant money comes in, I'll stay for lunch for writing lab time. MUCH better than block 1--  morni...

Tuesday: warm, humid, no bears.  Holly and I baked all day yesterday, and it was a load of fun. And we have plenty of zucchini muffins, a banana bread, and two loaves of sourdough bread. I froze a lot of it, to be honest. I should be making/freezing a lot more stuff, too. Once school gets into full swing, I have limited time to do much.  I am sitting here looking at the bright orange folder that holds the poems in some sort of order that should eventually become a manuscript. Enough time has lapsed so that I should be able to read through it carefully now. I suspect there will be more rearranging, there will be more revising and editing, and it'll probably sit for a week or two again. I might work on it tomorrow. Maybe even today. Who knows? My muse is on strike.  And I have a nail appointment set for 10 am. And I have to check back with the tax lady to find out if the amended forms are done. And I got a late notice from the electric/water company-- the check I mailed wee...

Raining, but warm. I'll take it. I need a day to lounge, to bake, and just hang out. And in a few minutes, Holly will be here, and I hope she wants a lazy day.  The day started at 5:30 when I opened the  blinds upstairs, looked out, and saw a HUGE bear. I mean, we know its been here for months, raiding trash and generally being a nuisance. But my goodness, I had not seen it live, and there it was. He (and we believe it's a he) is a wide-body bruin, to be sure. If G had the deck door curtain open, he would have had a front row seat while eating breakfast. We don't have trash out, and the feeders are pulled in at night (and will not be put out today). Meg's trash got hit last night and again this morning though. What a mess. Stupid bear. And before the lecture begins, there is absolutely nowhere else for her to put the trash -- no shed, no garage, no door on the breezeway (not that any of those things stop a determined and hungry bear). Ammonia and ratchet straps have bee...

Sunday, cool temps this morning, but it promises to be lovely later. I sure hope so.  Yesterday, after I completely wasted well over an hour and lost my mind, I gave up on the tax forms and called the professionals. I got an appointment immediately, and the nice lady at HR Block is fixing my errors --and yes, they are mine-- and we will refile the documents. What an ordeal. It used to be pretty easy to fill in the 1040 and move on with your day, but not so much now. I will never do them myself again. I teach English , as I tell people, for a reason . The worst part is, the directions to fill out the form didn't agree with the form, and that gets me irate. So, I gave up on that. Sometimes you just have to. The rest of the day was really good. Groceries went well, and I made a pretty dinner of a purchased shrimp ring, french rolls, and a caprese salad that was photo-worthy. Our tomatoes are coming in well, and it featured the bright yellow and deep red, coupled with locally-produced ...

I got up this morning a little groggy, but determined to confront the form that the IRS says I didn't fill out (which is true) that shows the math leading to the number that reflects something about HSA stuff. UGH. I am not at all comfortable with this. I paid for the use of the HR Block fill-and-print thingy, but I didn't spring for the Premium version-- and thus, I have this paperwork to do. And somehow they lost (!?) the copies of our W2 forms. What the actual hell.  Instead, I ended up revising two new poems, one of which is the anchor poem for the manuscript I'm working on. Words, even when they are being resistant, are a hell of a lot more understandable than government forms.  So yeah, that's how I'm starting my Saturday. Today is our 39th anniversary, too. My goal, other than surviving this stupid paperwork, is to head to the grocery store. Yes, there are a few other chores, but those are flexible enough that if I don't do them, there's always tomorr...

Brr. It is 49 degrees, and of course, this is the "Fun Friday" at the pool to celebrate the end of swimming lessons. I'm pretty sure that "I must find out for myself" Holly will want to go, so we'll go. I just think she might be a little cold. So be it. I'll bring her sweatshirt.  Other than that, it's a typical day. I, for one, would much rather it warmed up-- I still have not spent a lot of time on the deck. I need to. I'm feeling almost panicky about the start of school --too soon, too soon-- and I don't feel at all excited about anything much. I'm just dog-assed tired.  I'm going into Year 40.  Can you believe this? Forty years of getting ramped up to try to lead recalcitrant teenagers to the promised land of written and spoken literacy. And all they want to do is scroll Tik Tok, watch reels, and eat snacks. Boy, did I take a left turn at Albuquerque.  Well, I'm not bad at my job. I can do the work. I just hate the resistance ...