Monday, January 31, 2011

More Jordan Valley News

1. Last week my student Matt returned to school. It is amazing that just 3 months after his stroke he is back at school. Getting around is not a big problem. He has a cane that he will use some of time but he does not need it all the time. His arm is still not used much. I noticed that when he sits he will stretch out his hand. He is at school 2 days a week and then he go to physical therapy the other 3 days. His biggest problem is still talking. He knows what he wants to say but it is hard for his to say or write it. He does have a word book and he will show me what he wants to say. Today for the first time he used the computer. He played a game but at least he was using the mouse and keyboard. It is amazing how people can recover.

2. In Personal Finance the students were to do a worksheet on simple interest. However the conservation centered around Big Foot, Spider Bears, and other creatures of the real or unreal world.

3. A student was telling me today that when a cow has not feed her calf you can tell because it looks like her bag is going to burst. I guess this student has a cow like this during the weekend. He looked in the field for the calf to no success. The next day he was ridding his four wheeler and found the calf. It had fallen in a badger hole and all he could see was the calf's head. He got the calf out of the hole and took him back to his mother. Everything was doing good however this morning he again notice that the cow's bag was full and the calf was no where to be found. The kids tell me that cows are dumb. I am thinking that they may be right.

4. The middle kids won their ball game this weekend against Harper. The high school also won. They even got to eat at Subway on the way home. If you live in a town with no fast food this really is a treat.

5. The kids are on the mend. However some are still sick with colds. I have them all sit as far from me as possible.

6. We had snow this morning. Last week we had lost of sunshine. I guess it still is winter but.....

7. Health is learning about eating right. We researched fad diets last week. The most interesting according to the kids was the tape worm diet. It is when you eat a tape worm so you will loose weight. Why anyone would go to this extreem is strange. The kids say it must be true because it is on the internet.

Friday, January 21, 2011

UPDATE

The cows that were stuck on the island have been saved. The water went down enough that they were able to walk off the island. No cows were hurt!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

TIDBITS FROM JORDAN VALLEY

It has been a long time since I have blogged so I decided to catch you up with some tidbits of what has been going on in the big town of Jordan Valley, Oregon.

1. Everyone is sick. I was out all last week witht he flu and now the students are starting to fall. Yesterday 1/3 of our students were gone. With only 35 students in the school that does not leave many students in classs.

2. We have had some flooding around the area. On of my students has 8 cows that are stranded on an island that was created when the field flooded. There is about 8 feet of rushing water around the island. The cows are not able to get off the island (I guess they are not good swimmers) and there is no way to get food to them. My student thinks that they can last a week or so without food. On the bright side, he does not have to worry about hauling water to them.

3. My student Matt that had a stroke is now out of the hospital. He was at our last basketball game which was a very welcome site. He is able to walk with a cane but he still is only able to say a few words.

4. I bought gas at the local Shell station at lunch today. When I got back to school I had several students mention that I bought gas in town. (I usually do ot buy gas in town). I did not realize how quick the rumor mill worked in Jordan Valley.

5. Progress reports go out on Monday so students are rusing to get all of their assignments in so they will not be ground from basketball. Basketball is a very big motivator in this town. This year we do not have enough girls in the high school to have a team so the girls have been playing with the JV Boys team. We have two girls with black eyes and one with stitches in her lip. I guess it is safe to say that the girls are learning to play aggressive basketball.

6. My across the street neighbor got a new cow dog puppy. He is a little butterball so of course his name is Slim. Turkey was also suggested as a possible name.

7. This weekend (Friday and Saturday) we have two home basketball games. These games are the only social event in Jordan Valley. The little kids start at noon, and the high school games start at 4:00. In between a potluck. What better way to spend the weekend.

8. In personal finance class today we were talking about home mortages. One of my students said he was going to build a home of mud and sticks and he would not have a home mortage. I reminded him that most women now a days usually wanted a home with running water. He advised me that the creek could run through the house to provide running water. Think how nice this would be she would not even have to go out of the house to fetch the water. I hope he never marries.

9. Love is not in the air. So far today we have two breakups. This is hard to take for the guys when there are only 5 girls in the high school. I guess the girls have a bigger choice on a replacement.

10. The school year is more than half over. January and February are the worst months for school in Jordan Valley. The students are busy with school work and basketball six days a week. Practice is over at 6 and for some they have more than an hour to drive home or ride on the bus. Like a large family that is locked up in the house together the kids start to fight over little things. Drama is at a high among the students and staff. Maybe this world of mine would make a good soap opera!