I'm supposed to be organizing my technology building that I now call my office. In the midst of feeling like taking advantage of the little "free" time I have to myself lately, I find myself taking long pauses to write down and explore a few thoughts. The learning catches me. I'm off task.
Along the way, as I searched for this great new song by John Mayer, "Dreaming With a Broken Heart", purchased btw on iTunes for 99 cents @ 10:44 a.m. today. Good song.
I'm feeling a bit depressed these days...when my quest to save the world, in my own little ways, aren't successful under my own roof. I'm trying to practice self-control, perseverance, compassion, and remain honest under the cloud.
Thinking about family keeps me inspired. I love you all!!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Happy Birthday Nettie!
Today is my aunts birthday. She is our guardian angel, our beloved and favorite aunt, a saint and hero. She is our second mom...and today is her birthday. I did not get her called and I failed in any efforts to send one of my favorite simple things that a person can delight in .... a beautiful and inspiring card.
Happy Birthday Nettie! I love you!
My life is so consumed by data and tech and everything school. It's also consumed with baby Jayden. There is a truth that babies are a miracle of God's work. The myth is that they will fix relationships.
Today was a special day. Terry stopped by to see me. He decided to change his plan of stopping in Denver at a clinic and instead choose Goodland for his stop. He had a nice story of how friendly it was. You see he went straight to the doctor here and had, what looked like a sewing needle broken in half, removed from the ball of his foot.
He had been carrying it around in there he said for almost three weeks. He was hopeful his foot would heal in time to take in some hiking in the Grand Canyon and beyond with Wayne who is flying in to Las Vegas, Wednesday night for a trek down the canyon.
What a great time that would be!!
I loved having Terry stop by, like all family travelers. [smile] Hailey, Jayden, Terry and I went out for buffet at Pizza Hut. It was a good lunch and needed time away from the office.
Well, I'm back down here at he office sitting here writing this post, my shoulders aching from the load of data-loading (up and down) due to state reporting time.
It's late and I was on another mission but was distracted by thoughts of family!
Take care and safe travels all.
Happy Birthday Nettie! I love you!
My life is so consumed by data and tech and everything school. It's also consumed with baby Jayden. There is a truth that babies are a miracle of God's work. The myth is that they will fix relationships.
Today was a special day. Terry stopped by to see me. He decided to change his plan of stopping in Denver at a clinic and instead choose Goodland for his stop. He had a nice story of how friendly it was. You see he went straight to the doctor here and had, what looked like a sewing needle broken in half, removed from the ball of his foot.
He had been carrying it around in there he said for almost three weeks. He was hopeful his foot would heal in time to take in some hiking in the Grand Canyon and beyond with Wayne who is flying in to Las Vegas, Wednesday night for a trek down the canyon.
What a great time that would be!!
I loved having Terry stop by, like all family travelers. [smile] Hailey, Jayden, Terry and I went out for buffet at Pizza Hut. It was a good lunch and needed time away from the office.
Well, I'm back down here at he office sitting here writing this post, my shoulders aching from the load of data-loading (up and down) due to state reporting time.
It's late and I was on another mission but was distracted by thoughts of family!
Take care and safe travels all.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
On the road to Sturgis S.D.
8-4-07 1:28 pm MDT
This is just what I needed. A great road trip and I do love road trips. It’s a time to be alone with your thoughts. As I ride shotgun with my husband in his little green S10 pickup, the bed filled with camping gear…we just discovered we forgot our sleeping bags. Guess one of the kids will inherit the old bags we left at the house.
Seaboard Foods…..Gas pipeline?? What’s happening in the rural community , mile marker 305 on Hwy. 385 traveling through the corner of SouthEast Colorado. Enjoying the view of green pastures, horses drinking in windmill powered tanks stretched out in the middle of nowhere. The beauty of rural America.
The new little inexpensive cameras I purchased for our [Visual Literacy] class said memory full! Downloaded picts. What?? Only 13? Wishing I had brough the manual for this road trip! 1:42 pm.
Traveling a two lane highway with no shoulder and faded yellow lines. Bad pot holes filled in with pavement. Makes me wonder about the many miles of Interstate and the disrepair of our bridges and roadways. Frightening thought. Merging on to I-80.
Interesting rail cars. This part of Colorado/Nebraska has much more rail service than my neck of the woods.
Lodgepole Exit 8 miles. Listening to static radio and having to re-scan every 40 miles or so. Nothing out here but trucks moving cargo… Fields of corn tasseled out. It’s a different lifestyle for sure!
I’m still amazed at how green even this part of the country is. Who would imagine we are sucking our aquifers dry?
Wow. I’m impressed with the choices of camera settings on this little $124 Kodak EasyShare C653. Lots of learning in those little menus. Gotta love the power of photography!
Listening to my husband tell one of his motercycle stories when him and Jimmy McLelland rode one year to Sturgis. Rick’s Harley broke down out here in the middle of nowhere, 80 miles from Cheyenne, Wy. They were blessed to have broke down by the driveway of a Nebraska farming family who took them in like friends. The adult daughter went to town and bought beer and steaks and put them up in tents for the night. Wow. America…land of the beautiful. Jimmy…he’s gone now. 2:26 pm. MDT
Gurley, NE. Wow…wheat grain piled on the ground. More stories about the wheel bearing that went out of the QuinStar trailer of my dad’s in Alliance, NE. This was the year Rick and I pulled our motorcycle to the 50th Sturgis rally back in 1990. Oh the good old days of being young and wild and free. I am really going to have to record Rick’s tales. He is so good at remembering ALL the details. (smile)
The day the music died. I started singing Bye Bye Miss American pie…..a favorite song of our two young daughters, now grown. We used to crank up the radio and sing at the top of our voices. Oh the days…wonderful memories!
You and Kenny hauled your motorcycles all the way to Sturgis and never even unloaded them. Drove back home. “The technology they got…ya ought to be able to wake up your camera by just shaking it.” Quote by my husband. Great idea.
Just thinking how much further we’d have been had we gotten up at the sound of our 5 am alarm. But we just didn’t care. It was a leisurly, not a hurry in the world feeling. Something we haven’t experienced in a very long time and it was a wonderful feeling. God is good.
Mile marker 64… headed down Hwy. 385 and some great tunes playing on the old FM channel. The haze of the rolling hills of Nebraska in the distance. Oshkosh, NE 8 miles ahead. Missing the simple days when our own children were traveling with us.
We are at a crossroads in our lives. New to this thing call grand-parenting. Pumpkin Creek. How fun of a name is that for an old Nebraska creek-bed!
Will soon be arriving in Alliance, NE. The official “potty” break. (smile) Mile marker 93. No traffic problems out here as we speed across the plains of Nebraska. Mile marker 100. We are always amazed, driving through here at the number of trains and the length of cars! A mile of brand new empty railroad cars headed North and he’s a blowin his horn. Forgot how the how the hot summer days smell up a cattle yard. Just been gone a little over 2 hours with 265 miles on the odomator. Cole coming from up around Gillette, WY. Do we have abundance of this raw material? Ahhh, time to stretch the legs. Alliance.
On the road again. 3:45 pm MDT Chaddron—56 miles. Two hundred seventy miles and 10.83 gallons. Not bad. Large cup of iced coffee and a French fry at McDonalds and we’re good for another 3 hours.
Listening to NPR. Great content with chellist Eric Freedlander’s story. He mentioned the importance of being a good improviser. Great inspiration for teachers headed back to the classroom. We need to be more improvisational in our work with children.
I just heard my husbands story of how he is the owner of only one baseball card. It just so happens to be an unopened ”rooky” card of Barry Bonns. He said he’s had the card for about 15 years, found in a box of junk purchased at an antique shop in Quinter, KS. He’s about to one home run away from tying Hank Ernas homerun record. Very cool! Ticket to paradise? (smile)
Still reminiscing about days gone by. Motorcycle trip back in 1983. Oh to be young again!
Just picked up two sleeping bags and extra camera batteries at Wal-Mart in Chaddron, NE. Sixty miles to Hot Springs, S.D. at 4:55 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Hot Springs, S.D. 36 miles. Almost there…
Reminiscing … a Turner family reunion in Hill City, S.D. …a train ride with my mom and dad, a night’s stay at Mary & Dan’s…July of 2005.
Wounded Knee, S. D. Boy, it’s been awhile since I’ve read that book. The Black Hills loom in the distance, a blue haze overlaying the landscape.
Awning in the middle of the South-bound lane on a two lane highway right over a hill no less. About 200 feet was the motor home it belonged on. Glad it’s not us. I bet that sounded like the sky was falling. Eeek.
Oh boy….feedlot to the right. Oooeeee, does that ever stink!
It’s 5:40 pm. Rolling down the canyon entering in to the Black Hills. Did you know they are only 50 miles wide and 100 miles long? Looking for a campground. First stop right outside Hot Springs. Allen Ranch. Very cool place to stay. Almost spent the night in a Tipee. What fun. Camera was full so not as many pictures as I would have liked.
Camera note: At 6.1 MP I got 13 pictures on the internal memory. Set it to 4 MP, 20 pics to full.
On to Custer… The air is cool and collecting a few drops of rain on the windshield. Windows are down and there’s hardly any traffic. I love the smell of the air. Beautiful. Makes me want to watch Dances With Wolves again. Starting to see a few more bikes. Just driving out of the Black Hills National Forest. 6:22 pm.
Reminiscing about our trip with the girls to Jewell cave and 4th of July on Mount Rushmore. There’s an openness about the Black Hills that is inviting. Forgot the roll of toilet paper. We never traveled without it with the girls. (smile)
Starting to get hungry now. I passed on the Subway sandwich in Ray, CO. Wasn’t hungry and opted for a large diet coke.
Downtown Custer, S.D. at 6:41 pm. Missing the kids. Just drove past Mary & Dan’s old house. Quite a few bikes in Custer already. Roadpics.com..see yourself online was the caption on the van in ront of us.
Stopped to check on some camping cabins we spied in a roadside campground just outside Custer …. $22.95 for a tent site and $55 for a cabin. We may come back. Heading on down the road toward Hill City. Just passing by Carzy Horse Mountain. Hill City 9 miles.
I’ve forgotten how much it cools down up here when the sun starts to set. Just passed the Crooked Creek Resort...Turner reunion 2005.
Stopped at another camp ground on the outskirts of Hill City. Nice cabins. Checking on prices…oh dear, this ones $99. More than I wanted to spend but Rick was begging. Should have gotten money at the ATM. Okay…it’s worth every penny and there’s wireless access!!! I would highly recommend spending a night at the PineRest Cabins!
Sorry...no time to add links tonight.
Signing off for today….7:52 pm MDT
Love you all--Mom
This is just what I needed. A great road trip and I do love road trips. It’s a time to be alone with your thoughts. As I ride shotgun with my husband in his little green S10 pickup, the bed filled with camping gear…we just discovered we forgot our sleeping bags. Guess one of the kids will inherit the old bags we left at the house.
Seaboard Foods…..Gas pipeline?? What’s happening in the rural community , mile marker 305 on Hwy. 385 traveling through the corner of SouthEast Colorado. Enjoying the view of green pastures, horses drinking in windmill powered tanks stretched out in the middle of nowhere. The beauty of rural America.
The new little inexpensive cameras I purchased for our [Visual Literacy] class said memory full! Downloaded picts. What?? Only 13? Wishing I had brough the manual for this road trip! 1:42 pm.
Traveling a two lane highway with no shoulder and faded yellow lines. Bad pot holes filled in with pavement. Makes me wonder about the many miles of Interstate and the disrepair of our bridges and roadways. Frightening thought. Merging on to I-80.
Interesting rail cars. This part of Colorado/Nebraska has much more rail service than my neck of the woods.
Lodgepole Exit 8 miles. Listening to static radio and having to re-scan every 40 miles or so. Nothing out here but trucks moving cargo… Fields of corn tasseled out. It’s a different lifestyle for sure!
I’m still amazed at how green even this part of the country is. Who would imagine we are sucking our aquifers dry?
Wow. I’m impressed with the choices of camera settings on this little $124 Kodak EasyShare C653. Lots of learning in those little menus. Gotta love the power of photography!
Listening to my husband tell one of his motercycle stories when him and Jimmy McLelland rode one year to Sturgis. Rick’s Harley broke down out here in the middle of nowhere, 80 miles from Cheyenne, Wy. They were blessed to have broke down by the driveway of a Nebraska farming family who took them in like friends. The adult daughter went to town and bought beer and steaks and put them up in tents for the night. Wow. America…land of the beautiful. Jimmy…he’s gone now. 2:26 pm. MDT
Gurley, NE. Wow…wheat grain piled on the ground. More stories about the wheel bearing that went out of the QuinStar trailer of my dad’s in Alliance, NE. This was the year Rick and I pulled our motorcycle to the 50th Sturgis rally back in 1990. Oh the good old days of being young and wild and free. I am really going to have to record Rick’s tales. He is so good at remembering ALL the details. (smile)
The day the music died. I started singing Bye Bye Miss American pie…..a favorite song of our two young daughters, now grown. We used to crank up the radio and sing at the top of our voices. Oh the days…wonderful memories!
You and Kenny hauled your motorcycles all the way to Sturgis and never even unloaded them. Drove back home. “The technology they got…ya ought to be able to wake up your camera by just shaking it.” Quote by my husband. Great idea.
Just thinking how much further we’d have been had we gotten up at the sound of our 5 am alarm. But we just didn’t care. It was a leisurly, not a hurry in the world feeling. Something we haven’t experienced in a very long time and it was a wonderful feeling. God is good.
Mile marker 64… headed down Hwy. 385 and some great tunes playing on the old FM channel. The haze of the rolling hills of Nebraska in the distance. Oshkosh, NE 8 miles ahead. Missing the simple days when our own children were traveling with us.
We are at a crossroads in our lives. New to this thing call grand-parenting. Pumpkin Creek. How fun of a name is that for an old Nebraska creek-bed!
Will soon be arriving in Alliance, NE. The official “potty” break. (smile) Mile marker 93. No traffic problems out here as we speed across the plains of Nebraska. Mile marker 100. We are always amazed, driving through here at the number of trains and the length of cars! A mile of brand new empty railroad cars headed North and he’s a blowin his horn. Forgot how the how the hot summer days smell up a cattle yard. Just been gone a little over 2 hours with 265 miles on the odomator. Cole coming from up around Gillette, WY. Do we have abundance of this raw material? Ahhh, time to stretch the legs. Alliance.
On the road again. 3:45 pm MDT Chaddron—56 miles. Two hundred seventy miles and 10.83 gallons. Not bad. Large cup of iced coffee and a French fry at McDonalds and we’re good for another 3 hours.
Listening to NPR. Great content with chellist Eric Freedlander’s story. He mentioned the importance of being a good improviser. Great inspiration for teachers headed back to the classroom. We need to be more improvisational in our work with children.
I just heard my husbands story of how he is the owner of only one baseball card. It just so happens to be an unopened ”rooky” card of Barry Bonns. He said he’s had the card for about 15 years, found in a box of junk purchased at an antique shop in Quinter, KS. He’s about to one home run away from tying Hank Ernas homerun record. Very cool! Ticket to paradise? (smile)
Still reminiscing about days gone by. Motorcycle trip back in 1983. Oh to be young again!
Just picked up two sleeping bags and extra camera batteries at Wal-Mart in Chaddron, NE. Sixty miles to Hot Springs, S.D. at 4:55 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Hot Springs, S.D. 36 miles. Almost there…
Reminiscing … a Turner family reunion in Hill City, S.D. …a train ride with my mom and dad, a night’s stay at Mary & Dan’s…July of 2005.
Wounded Knee, S. D. Boy, it’s been awhile since I’ve read that book. The Black Hills loom in the distance, a blue haze overlaying the landscape.
Awning in the middle of the South-bound lane on a two lane highway right over a hill no less. About 200 feet was the motor home it belonged on. Glad it’s not us. I bet that sounded like the sky was falling. Eeek.
Oh boy….feedlot to the right. Oooeeee, does that ever stink!
It’s 5:40 pm. Rolling down the canyon entering in to the Black Hills. Did you know they are only 50 miles wide and 100 miles long? Looking for a campground. First stop right outside Hot Springs. Allen Ranch. Very cool place to stay. Almost spent the night in a Tipee. What fun. Camera was full so not as many pictures as I would have liked.
Camera note: At 6.1 MP I got 13 pictures on the internal memory. Set it to 4 MP, 20 pics to full.
On to Custer… The air is cool and collecting a few drops of rain on the windshield. Windows are down and there’s hardly any traffic. I love the smell of the air. Beautiful. Makes me want to watch Dances With Wolves again. Starting to see a few more bikes. Just driving out of the Black Hills National Forest. 6:22 pm.
Reminiscing about our trip with the girls to Jewell cave and 4th of July on Mount Rushmore. There’s an openness about the Black Hills that is inviting. Forgot the roll of toilet paper. We never traveled without it with the girls. (smile)
Starting to get hungry now. I passed on the Subway sandwich in Ray, CO. Wasn’t hungry and opted for a large diet coke.
Downtown Custer, S.D. at 6:41 pm. Missing the kids. Just drove past Mary & Dan’s old house. Quite a few bikes in Custer already. Roadpics.com..see yourself online was the caption on the van in ront of us.
Stopped to check on some camping cabins we spied in a roadside campground just outside Custer …. $22.95 for a tent site and $55 for a cabin. We may come back. Heading on down the road toward Hill City. Just passing by Carzy Horse Mountain. Hill City 9 miles.
I’ve forgotten how much it cools down up here when the sun starts to set. Just passed the Crooked Creek Resort...Turner reunion 2005.
Stopped at another camp ground on the outskirts of Hill City. Nice cabins. Checking on prices…oh dear, this ones $99. More than I wanted to spend but Rick was begging. Should have gotten money at the ATM. Okay…it’s worth every penny and there’s wireless access!!! I would highly recommend spending a night at the PineRest Cabins!
Sorry...no time to add links tonight.
Signing off for today….7:52 pm MDT
Love you all--Mom
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Our Children's Monsters
I can't take too much time to think about this or I could get caught in all of the messy mistakes we experience as parents.
I've been writing on one of my professional blogs and just posted something relating to a book I bought back in 2003 called "The Monster Under The Bed". Recommended reading from a cohort group of individuals I continue to learn from as I struggle with resistance to mediocrity in the continuous work of building and sustaining an EdTech program. I've filled my head with lots of information to understand change and adaptation as it pertains to creating learners in I.T.
This morning, when I was rummaging through my top dresser drawer I unburied a note that I had saved as one of the many artifacts of my children's growing up years for both of us. I forgot to date the note but I would guess, Senior in high school. (sigh)
My youngest daughter left this note for me, written like a journal entry...very nice-neat handwriting that was delivered with pencil on a piece of lined steno-book paper, the top torn from the notebook rings it was bound to.
I was gently reminded that we all have played our role as a "monster under the bed". (typed exactly as written (smile))
My....the trials and tribulations of life. I never cease to learn.
Love to all.
I've been writing on one of my professional blogs and just posted something relating to a book I bought back in 2003 called "The Monster Under The Bed". Recommended reading from a cohort group of individuals I continue to learn from as I struggle with resistance to mediocrity in the continuous work of building and sustaining an EdTech program. I've filled my head with lots of information to understand change and adaptation as it pertains to creating learners in I.T.
This morning, when I was rummaging through my top dresser drawer I unburied a note that I had saved as one of the many artifacts of my children's growing up years for both of us. I forgot to date the note but I would guess, Senior in high school. (sigh)
My youngest daughter left this note for me, written like a journal entry...very nice-neat handwriting that was delivered with pencil on a piece of lined steno-book paper, the top torn from the notebook rings it was bound to.
I was gently reminded that we all have played our role as a "monster under the bed". (typed exactly as written (smile))
Mom,
I don't understand why you are so upset with me right now. I don't see what I am doing wrong & dad can be so rude to me sometimes, espically in front of my friends like you did tonight. I Bust MY Ass trying to please you two & it seems like nothing is ever good enough for you. I go to school & I hardly ever miss, I have a job & pay my own car payment & cell phone bill. And I hardly ever ask you guys for money, so I guess you're going to have to accept me for who I am & not for who you want me to be.
your worthless daughter, Hailey Jo
My....the trials and tribulations of life. I never cease to learn.
Love to all.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Heartstrings...
Today was a tough day. Our oldest daughters two dogs, whom we have lovingly housed and fed we gave up for adoption today. They traveled to the Buddy Center in Colorado this morning. Bless those volunteers who help in placing the unwanted and homeless.
It has been a sad and emotional day for Rick, Cassie, and Travis B. I think my job was to hold them all together :)
Life is filled with heart-felt tugs. All my love--Mom
It has been a sad and emotional day for Rick, Cassie, and Travis B. I think my job was to hold them all together :)
Life is filled with heart-felt tugs. All my love--Mom
Monday, April 2, 2007
Connections
It's Monday and I sit in my hotel room 4.5 hours from home thinking about family and how important loving families are to the "whole" child.
I had the pleasure of eating dinner with my mom, dad, aunt Nettie, and brother Tom and I was reminded of how special these connections are to me and how short life really is.
My mother gave me a small gift while I was there. Something that was gifted to her by her brother 48 years ago. A rosary blessed by the Pope in Rome in 1959 during the war. I will cherish it all of my days.
It makes me sad to think about all our children in our schools and community who will never know the kind of love and commitment such a simple gift holds.
I had the pleasure of eating dinner with my mom, dad, aunt Nettie, and brother Tom and I was reminded of how special these connections are to me and how short life really is.
My mother gave me a small gift while I was there. Something that was gifted to her by her brother 48 years ago. A rosary blessed by the Pope in Rome in 1959 during the war. I will cherish it all of my days.
It makes me sad to think about all our children in our schools and community who will never know the kind of love and commitment such a simple gift holds.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
As Time Goes By
Our youngest daughter turns 21 tomorrow! It's actually making me sad when I think about those bygone years. I will cherish them forever. I can only hope and pray that she feels blessed and will grow to understand and treasure her heritage. I love you Hailey! Happy 21st Birthday!
--Love, Mom
--Love, Mom
Sunday, February 25, 2007
In thinking about mentors...
When I think about the people who have been integral to my own learning over the course of time, there have been countless people who have been my mentor. Most of them probably don't even know it. The obvious, or not so obvious, are my parents. Next I think about the "one" teacher who inspired and taught his students to question the answers and rebel against the status quo in an appropriate and connected civil literacy way of thinking.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
In choosing a name...
This blogging thing is new to me. Not new in my thinking but new in my doing and it took me forever to choose a name for this blog. In fact I've made at least 4 name changes before I was happy with myself. That probably says a lot about "digital immigrants" and "digital natives". Since I am a product of the Baby Boomer generation, barely, I am an immigrant :-)
Walks With Deer is the Lakota Indian name I choose for myself during a college course I took back in 1992. My good friend and colleague JoAnn Lillich taught this course, then offered through Colby Community College. It was the most powerful, sprititual, personal course I've ever experienced.
So why Walks With Deer? I wanted this particular blog to be a personal space where I could share my thoughts, feelings, memories, and stories with family and friends.
That said...welcome to my blog!
Walks With Deer is the Lakota Indian name I choose for myself during a college course I took back in 1992. My good friend and colleague JoAnn Lillich taught this course, then offered through Colby Community College. It was the most powerful, sprititual, personal course I've ever experienced.
So why Walks With Deer? I wanted this particular blog to be a personal space where I could share my thoughts, feelings, memories, and stories with family and friends.
That said...welcome to my blog!
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