Slow Week - Sort Of - Update

Not that I haven't been busy. There just hasn't been much going on around here.

Ray has managed to stay out of the hospital and Carol is settled in and content in Turlock. However, for some reason, she's supposed to see the doctor in Merced so that's one more thing I have to try to fix. I could make the drive back and forth but that trip would be hard on her.

The net went down again this morning but it's back now. Others are having the same problem with the off again-on again so I don't think it's anything here. Probably just something with their satellite or whatever makes all this work.

Tim called the other night to tell me my blog looked very lonely. I said "so write something". He hasn't so far but he's been checking out some of my blog reading recommendations. We had lunch together yesterday.

I've made it through an entire week without an appliance breakdown, not counting the net but I never did find my camera. If I ever replace it, I'll lock it in a drawer.

Anything else? Oh yes, Rebecca was suspended for one day on her second afternoon bus. Changing seats, talking too loud, "inappropriate" language (you can probably guess what word she chose to use), and putting her arm out the window and flipping someone off. Everytime I hear a teacher (or a bus driver) start off with "Rebecca is a great kid", I wait for the "but".

There's always a "but".

She's grounded until the weekend and I haven't decided about that yet. The driver says it's a bad mix of kids on his bus and Rebecca has picked up some of the behavior from them. Probably but she doesn't have to jump off a bridge just because everyone else does. On the other hand, neither of the other two drivers have complained about her. So part of it may be an unusually strict driver so far as the talking is concerned. And part may be that the afternoon trip involves two buses and by bus #2, she's tired and antsy. On suspension day, I drove them in the morning - they walked home in the afternoon and did fine. They had a phone with them just in case.

Anyhow, maybe she learned something. According to her, Rochelle isn't the innocent she appears to be - she just doesn't get caught. Sounds right to me so Rochelle and I had a chat too.

Other than that, the week has gone fairly well. I took Elcie to an open house at the high school she will probably be attending. It wasn't her first choice but it's a much newer school, just as close if not a little closer, and once she looked around and found a few friends from elementary school and the church, she was much happier with it. Both high schools have problems with gangs but these days it's hard to find one that doesn't. We have the two high schools and a "continuation" school so there's not a lot to choose from. I don't worry about Elcie and gangs (except for her being in the wrong place at the wrong time) but it's something I watch carefully with the other two. So far, so good.

Update. Some of you have asked about "continuation" school. It's called different things in different places. It's a school for kids who have been in and out of juvenile detention or expelled from the other schools and either aren't old enough to drop out or have been sent there by the courts.

I know they must have some success stories but unfortunately by the time most kids get there the successes are far outnumbered by the failures. If we can save even one kid out of ten or even one out of 100, it's worth doing. Kids are not supposed to be thrown away and so many are.

We have a high poverty rate, a volatile racial mix, and far too many gangs (formed strictly along racial lines), drugs, and crime. The schools try hard and so does law enforcement but it can still be dangerous to anyone caught in the crossfire. Almost all of it stems directly from poverty and continues generation to generation.

Of course this isn't unique to Merced but I was surprised to see so much of it in this relatively small city.

Golden Valley High was built since we've lived here - maybe 10 years ago. It has won awards for music and art which is encouraging since so much of that has been dropped from the schools in this country. Elcie was fascinated by all the choices she could make by the end of her freshman year. She thrived in middle school and I hope with some help she'll keep on keeping on.

The rest of the week was the usual. I managed to have coffee with my friend David. His trip is getting closer and closer and he'll be gone for a year. I still plan to write a post about it - maybe next week. He's leaving on the 15th of next month; first for a jaunt through the Pacific Northwest, then across Canada and back down our east coast, across the southern part of the USA, and then back here.

He's made a couple of trial runs. You can read about them here. The blog has links to his forum, podcast, photos, etc.

Sorry I haven't posted more or read more of your blogs. I'll try to do better if the net will cooperate. Meantime, thanks to all for the comments and I apologize for not getting back to everyone.

Take care everyone and have a great weekend.