It's picture day. My preschoolers all look so nice and cleaned up in their picture day clothes. All that is except Ronin who got on the bus from Lil' Cubs with his shirt all kinds of colors of lunch. His mom is in for a fun surprise. Kallie's rose colored, ruffle sleeved jumper was especially cute.
Kaci says she had a epic mom fail and forgot it was picture day. She usually has Linlee dressed to the 9s on any given regular day so I bet it's not as bad as she thinks. But she feels really bad about it.
I got a message from Olivia Glass's mom, Dorothy Mead this morning stating that she really needed my help getting Olivia to Alden today. She was home, not working at Lil' Cubs like usual, and she didn't have a car. I told her I was sorry but I couldn't alter the route like that or the entire PM preschool would be 20 minutes late to class. I suggested she call a family member, friend, or neighbor. My heart ached for her the entire route and I contemplated telling her that as an individual and not as an employee of the district, I could pick Olivia up in my personal vehicle and bring her home. The only draw back was that I went straight from my route to a funeral in Hutch and wouldn't be back in town until around 3:00.
My heart broke even more when after my route I found a message stating that she didn't have a family member, friend, or neighbor she could call on. I know how that feels. It helped me see how far I've come and how blessed I am to not be in that situation anymore. Dorothy said she'd call the district office and see what could be worked out. I haven't heard anything so I assume some solution was found.
It's Homecoming Week! This afternoon there was an assembly up at the high school and the grade school children were invited to attend. They were told to wear Black Bear gear, which I forgot all about. My girls were in their normal non-black bear clothes. I could see from the colors on the playground that they were among the very few who were not in black, grey and white. I contemplated running home after my route and dropping of shirts for them. Or possibly taking them to the assembly to throw on really quickly. As the day played out that never happened, but Vivian didn't care one bit and Isabel never mentioned it.
Aylise was wearing an adorable pre-school sized Black Bear cheer outfit that I'm sure her Grandma Tommer embroidered.
Mr. Riffel reached out to Wendy who reached out to the other drivers about shuttling the younger students up to the assembly. There was text conversation bouncing back and forth throughout the day. I first heard from Ms. Lydia asking if I could bus the preschoolers. Then, Balie and I worked out that she would pick up a big bus and I would take the shorter one, then I'd switch her for her route and go park the big bus for her. Then I called her because I realized that didn't make much sense. I would be better for her to leave the big bus at the school then go park it after her route because she'd have a car parked up at the lot. Then Wendy called saying we didn't really need to be taking four different buses and could I just use a big bus and take preK and kindergarten. That meant Balie wasn't driving a shuttle at all. Since I was still trying to emotionally process everything we learned from Isaac's heart doctor this morning I called Balie and asked if she wouldn't mind driving preK and Kindy instead. So after all that back and forth all day, I ended up not driving at all. Earlier today I had thought to get a picture of the grade-schoolers at the assembly that I could use for this post, but I ended up spending the afternoon at home napping off some emotional exhaustion.
Isabel and Vivian said the assembly was fun. Mostly because Mrs. Beagley dressed in full football gear and tackled her son who is a player. Some of the other football mom's did as well, but Mrs. Beagely is special because she's Vivian's teacher.
Oh, also, Balie left a bag of wire hangers on the bus for us to give to Dani VonV. I believe she's getting clothing ready for the upcoming consignment sale. Just a little something out of the norm.
Preschool takes off two Fridays each month. No PreK Fridays always feel like a special treat because I can really get into a project without interruption. Today that looked like: A little time at the piano, sorting papers and getting them into scrapbooks, and a general pick up of the house before the weekend.
Vivian and her friends were in the middle of an attempt at a cheer-leading stunt when we drove by. No waves for us today.
Ryker's mom wasn't out and waiting like she usually is. In face, she took long enough to come to the door, Ryker had knocked several times and I had my phone out to call her.
As we pulled up to Lil' Cubs I was remembering all the times last year that Betsy Dutson got stopped by the bus and had to wait for us. She was usually facing us on her way back to the high school. Today, Kaci had to walk the girls all the way upstairs and when I looked up there was a small, red hatchback waiting behind me. I was just feeling sorry for them, when they gave up and turned around. Kaci returned and I was headed down the street and out of town to Exum's when I suddenly remember I had Everleigh. I stopped just past the alley behind the Med Center and looked over to turn, only to find the entrance was blocked by that same red hatchback driven by none other than Betsy Dutson! I had to back up so she could pull out, so I could turn and pull in. Poor lady. I hope we're not in her away again all year.
Ayven is at her mom's and doesn't need to be picked up.
From 77° to 90°during the course of the route. This day went from lovely to hot in a hurry. My nick is bothering me a bit today. I'm glad I'll be seeing Kiley tomorrow to have it adjusted. I think the bumpy bus makes it worse.
Everleigh will be riding to Ms. Sharron's until Sep 6th, at which point nobody really know what will happen with her.
Back at Lil' Cubs in the afternoon, Leanna Hooks asked us to pass along the message that Jeremiah's sun glasses have all disappeared. He's not supposed to be outside without them. She's not sure if they are getting left at school or not coming back from home, but either way, they're all gone.
In other news, up near the college there's some new curb and gutter going in. We've been dodging the construction all week, but it looks like it will be all finished in a few more days.
Ayven's Dad was out on the sidewalk with Shelby to see Ayven off to school. He's sporting the new Goose crew cut & mustache look that is all the rage with the 20-30 somethings right now. It comes from the new Top Gun movie that was released this summer. You've think everyone would be wanting to look like Tom Cruise, but it's Goose that's setting the fashion trends this time.
I got a chuckle out of Pamela's instructions to her runners. "We'll be running down a path through the corn fields. It's not my corn. Don't touch it. Schecter's have cows out in the pasture right now. There's an electric wire fence around them. It's HOT! Don't touch it. I know most of you are smarter than that but I don't want to see anyone daring some city freshman to do touch the live wire." Good times.
In past years I've driven for all of the XC practices, but with Alexis in HS volleyball this year this is the only practice I'm available for. Alexis is actually playing in Sedgwick today, and I was hoping I might be able to catch a stream of her games while the team was out on their run. I spent the entire time unsuccessfully trying to find a live stream that worked. I think I may have even subscribed to some bogus even links that were set up to look like streams of actual high school sporting events. The links required a $1 subscription to "verify location." I tried three times before suspecting it was a scam. I can't believe the effort that hackers put into this. I convincing links to legitimate high school sporting events posted on YouTube every hour the day or so leading up to the event. The name associate with each was different but many of them look middle-eastern. So weird! I'll be canceling my credit card and asking for a new one to be issued in the very new future.
I'll be canceling my credit card in the very near future.
I found all kinds of ancient trash on the floor and seats of Bus #29 today. It appears to have been pulled from deep in the corners of the seats, almost like a squirrel got loose in the bus. Among the rubbish I found this treasure: A 1 Place 4-speaker State Debate Medal from 2015.
I posted my find in our Bus Driver group chat. Rick responded, "Are you sure it's not just a scheme to get the buses deep cleaned? My grandpa "planted" a silver dollar in his garden where I was sure to find it while pulling weeks. We never found and more but he had the most weed free garden around." 🤣
Surely someone has been missing this!
I've been seriously baffled at how the trash would have gotten there in that manner and the medal would be right on the seat in plain sight? 🤔 Then it dawned on me. This summer I saw the doors to one of the buses wide open on several occasions. It was the bus on the far right which would have been either #29 or #30. I bet we did have a little squirrel visitor who came and went as he pleased for a little while. How nice of him to help us clean out our nooks and crannies.
Update: The medal has been returned to its rightful owner! I sent to to school with Alexis to give to Mrs. Dutton. If anyone would know who this treasure belonged to it would be Betsy. Apparently, Kacie Wilson has been lamenting her missing medal for years.
Vivian and her friend, Laikyn have become our School Bus Cheerleaders. Their class is usually outside for recess when we pull away with the AM kids. The girls run to the edge of the playground to wave as we drive past. Today the playground was empty. I missed seeing them.
It's hot and humid out today, but I'll take it to keep the rain we've had the past few nights. The skies have been clear but the ground is damp every morning. It's makes a big difference in the amount of dust we have on the dirt roads, and how pleasant the view is as we drive past revived fields.
The highway construction has begun working on the segment that will connect the new highway to the existing road north of Sterling. Traffic is currently being routed to a temporary road just west of the construction. The speed limit through that section is 30 around the slight bend onto the new road, then a painfully slow 40 mph for a mile or so, then 30 again as the road bends back to the existing road just north of the Alden blacktop. Yesterday we passed an officer who had pulled someone over in that area. If I didn't have cruise control that could easily be me.
Yesterday, Alayna's mom was inside an didn't hear us pull up, or hear Kaci knocking at the door. We finally called her and she waved at us from inside. Today, she was outside waiting for us.
In fact, all of our morning kids were super efficient. We got through the AM route with 10 minutes to spare. Kaci and I parked at the intersection just north of Kallie Gillespie's house and chatted for a little bit before starting the PM.
The Lil' Cubs kids have been out on the playground lately and come running to line up at the gate as the bus approaches. Today we noticed several without backpacks and Jeremiah was missing his cane. The gal who was watching them today said it had been a crazy morning. We waited while Kaci followed her in to retrieve the missing items.
Ayven had the cutest hairstyle today: Two braids coming up from the back of her head then tied into her ponytail.
Wednesday, August 24th.
Alayna's mom came and pulled her off the bus today. She said she was already in town so she might as well pick her up. Since we already fueled the bus yesterday, today we stopped in at the district office. I had paperwork to turn in from last week anyway. Jim is out of the office today, but we really stop in to visit with Amy and Laurie.
Mrs. Anthony always passes through on her way from the Grade School to her Spanish Class. This is her last year of teaching. Kaci was talking with Cindy about how Lynlie is a leader in her classroom, "Future Teachers of America" she likes to call them. We got back to the bus late and were pushing time for the entire PM route.
We drove past the tennis courts and after months and months of having the space cleared and gravel spread, suddenly the concrete is poured and finished! I guess that's what happens when you don't drive past the High School for four days.
Tuesday, August 23
It's the second day of school. Originally my doctor had a screening scheduled for me on top of my route today but I felt like it would be really unfair to have Jenny drive for me when I didn't quite know what to expect out of my route myself. I rescheduled for another day.
After what happened yesterday, I spent the morning re-doing the route so that the out-of-town kids were in the middle and the town kids were on either end. I use google maps so it isn't too tricky to move the stops around and see how long to plan for travel between each stop, but I have more stops in the complete route than Google maps allows so I had to split it and just make sure that between the two I was still getting the PM kids to school at the right time.
Once I had the route settled the way I liked it, I messaged any parents that were affected by the changes by more than a few minutes. I wasn't able to reach anyone at Lil' Cubs but since their morning time was only a few minutes different and their afternoon time was later than they were planning I didn't worry too much about it.
I went ahead and switched Exum and Alayna Maxwell so we could drop Exum off first, then head back to the highway and take the blacktop across Saxman road and over to Maxwell's. That should give us better consistency when there's weather and the roads get really muddy. Plus, the roads are so dry and dusty right now, and that trip across Ave S seemed to take FOREVER yesterday.
I'm really glad I set things up that way. Alayna Maxwell had some sort of appointment today and her mom picked her up. Were were able to take Exum at the time his mom was expecting and then head back to town instead of going out to Maxwell's house. Since we are coming from the other direction to Exum's now, we turned into the driveway then asked his mom if it was possible to pull through on the road that looked like it wrapped around the house. Exum's mom peeked around the house and shook her head regrettably "no," there were toys in the way. I then motioned to the large grassy area in front of us and she happily agreed that we could turn around there every day. It's just the right size and works out really well.
Back inside, Larry asked me if I needed an electric bicycle. There was a lovely aqua colored once sitting in the middle of the office charging up. He, Vicki, and Kaci chatted about some older guy that I don't know who had just bought it right before he started having dizzy spells and his doctor told him he could ride his bike anymore. Now he cruses around town on a tricycle. I fiddled with a 3D puzzle made out of large nails and metal rings. It baffled me, and Vicki admitted that they had never seen it solved and suspected it couldn't be.
There was a big construction mess up on the corner of 7th & Ave V right there by Zimmerman's. It looks like they're getting ready for new sidewalks and curb & gutter. There wasn't much room for us to squeeze by but we made it.
Our timing for arriving at the Grade School for PM came out just about right. Not having that kid out at the sandpit on Sante Fe gives us just enough time for a comfortable route.
Balie must have had trouble with the papers falling on her while driving too. Fancy new types schedule held up by a much stronge...
