No Trip story this year. The only trip we took was a visit to California in June. We also did make a short trip to Los Angeles in April for the funeral of Irene's uncle Nicholas. The year was not without some sorrow.
Home has worked out well in both senses. Silver City is a nice place to live, and the house we bought and evicted the roaches from has also turned out to be quite comfortable after the fix-up. We are happy to report that after some effort, both cars are now regularly parked in the garage! Not many people can say that. It is true that a new tool-shed was added to accomplish the garage trick.
In addition to accommodating our garden tools and spare lumber, the new shed also serves as home to the cat. A pet door was added soon after the shed's completion and Tolia the Cat now calls it home. Kipper the Schipperke had no trouble getting in and out through the pet door either, but Pasha the Pushy Manchester kept howling till someone would open the door for him. At long last, even Pasha learned to go in and out by himself. Nika the Chihuahua found the pet door just fine.
"What Chihuahua?" you say. Irene could not help herself and decided to give me a dog for my birthday. All four and a half pounds of him are now a regular item roaming the rooms of the house, going on trips in the car, and barking at every dog and person he may see on the street. We got him late in the game at ten months of age. There were some housebreaking problems at first since he had not been trained as a pup. But now all is well as he has learned all of the rules of the house.
Peter's job has worked out well. He has become the Systems Administrator and runs all the main computers on campus. At first, his boss was reluctant to let Peter modify the computer configuration. Now he asks Peter how to do some of the more advanced things. With the new fiscal year that started in July, new computer equipment was purchased. Peter specified the desktop workstations for all the staff in Computer Services and configured them using Microsoft Windows NT. No one there was familiar with NT, but they went with Peter's recommendation.
In addition to his other duties, Peter writes a monthly newsletter for the department. Instead of being criticized for doing so, as he had been in Las Vegas, here his writing is encouraged and appreciated!
Although it took a while, the school has finally seen the error of their ways. The instructor who was hired for the computer teaching position last year is finally being terminated. If you recall, Peter applied for the position but was told he needed a Ph.D. which he does not have yet. However, the teacher they hired not only does not have a Ph.D., he did not have prior teaching experience, and he even had to come up to Peter to learn how to use the computer!
Peter is well thought of at the university, and if when the teaching position opens up (probably in May), he will apply for it. Perhaps this time he may get the interview.
Irene spent a good amount of time doing volunteer work at the La Plata Middle School library. This was a consequence of Peter's original volunteer work there before he started his job at the university. Irene enjoyed the library work a lot. She also met Aimee, the school nurse, and got along with her just fine. At times, Irene would help out in the Nurse's Office and eventually got called in as a substitute nurse. She got known at the middle school and was getting substitute work in the library as well.
Although Irene had taught classes at the colleges where I worked, she did not anticipate teaching at the middle school. One day she was called by the secretary of the middle school to teach a social studies class. The regular teacher suddenly could not come in and Irene became the teacher for the day. With great reservations Irene took the task, but managed to survive in good shape. Later she worked a day as the sub for a computer class. Although Irene had never worked with Apple computers before, she felt rather comfortable by the end of the day. However, she does not want to do that again!
Irene got to be friends with Aimee, the school nurse and at the beginning of the Fall semester, they agreed to job share. Aimee was covering the high school as well as the middle school, but she wanted to reduce her work to half time. Her husband was starting a business at home and Aimee wanted to have more time to help out.
The decision was to have Aimee cover the high school, and Irene would cover the middle school. Both jobs would be half time with the remaining days at each school being covered by the nurse's aide. The aide's name happened to be Irene, and that is where the trouble began.
Besides having a confusion with first names, it turned out that the aide is old, confused, uncooperative and incompetent. Aimee had somehow put up with her for the past three years, but with a new nurse coming on board, the aide became downright ornery.
Irene put up with some of the trouble at first. Then she complained to Aimee and the Principal of the school. At last there was a meeting with the aide to discuss the problems. Nothing seemed to help, so Irene turned in her resignation in early October, but in respect for Aimee, she agreed to stay on as long as she could.
Aimee decided that no competent nurse would deal with the aide, so it was decided that Aimee would take over again as a full-time nurse (as she had been). Irene would stay on till the end of the year. This is where the situation is now. Irene works through December, Aimee takes over in January, and both nurses are gone if the aide does not retire at the end of the school year in May.
With the bureaucratic procedures involved, the school district seems willing to lose two good nurses by keeping an incompetent aide on board, but that is the way of things in a small town.
Alexis is doing just fine in school. She was one of only five students in the seventh grade to be on the honor roll with straight A's. She is a good student, yet finds time to put together her own newsletters. Her topic is often the dogs and her cat. She carefully made copies of some photographs, created text on the computer, and then pasted it all together to produce the master copy. Some of you may have gotten her publication earlier.
Showing signs of growing up, Alexis made a decision to get her ears pierced. She has been sporting some stud earrings for the past couple of months. She also takes care to see that her hair is properly in place and that her bangs are curled. She even makes a cute, small braid in the morning before going to school.
On our June trip to California, Irene's mother came back with us for a short visit. She got to see the town so well hidden from the Interstate highway. We turned off Interstate 10 at Lordsburg and it is another 45 miles to Silver City. Ina thought that we were "almost to the moon" as we went through the gently curving mountainous road. In the end, she thought it was nice here, but the elevation bothered her a bit.
During the Summer, Irene's sister Katja came to visit us with her daughter Marina. Alexis and Marina had a good time visiting with each other. Peter took a day off and took Katja, Marina, and Alexis to visit the catwalk near the town of Glenwood. This is visitor attraction about 50 miles from Silver City. There is a trail through a canyon where old time miners piped water through.
The catwalk itself is a narrow, metal walkway hanging from the side of a cliff. The floor of the walk is made of metal grating so the long drop down is clearly visible. Peter and the two girls went right on the green catwalk, but Katja took one look at it and halted. Although the walkway is only about a 100 feet long, its full length is not visible since it goes around a curve. Katja said that she would have gone on it if she knew how short it was. In all, it was a fun trip.
The neighbor next door was getting ready for retirement when his employer relocated them to South Dakota. Since he was not ready to quit just then, he and his wife reluctantly moved. Good neighbors, they were, and we have gotten calls from them occasionally.
After only a short while on the market, the house was sold to a retiring couple from Arkansas. He got an early retirement from the railroad where he was an instructor. He is also a former ham radio operator. Peter and the new neighbor seem to have some things in common. Peter just needs more free time to spend doing things with him.
That is our story for this year. May you have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy a prosperous New Year.
