Tropicals & Tender Perennials: new brug..., 0 by bettydee

bettydee wrote:
Gordon, you have such a magnificent view of the New York skyline. I'm green with envy. You don't get answers if you don't ask the questions. LOL. I love learning, picking up new information I didn't know before, acquiring new skills, new techniques, reading, asking questions .... Long ago, I taught biology and chemistry to high school students. After 6 years, I quit to start a family and stayed at home until our two boys were in 5th and 7th grade. I did some volunteer work in their classrooms and saw a sense of wonder and an eagerness in children that was pretty much gone by the time they reached high school. When I returned to teaching, I got a teaching job as a 4th grade teacher. A few years later, I followed my fourth grade class into 5th grade. Neat experience being with the same group of students for two years.

When my husband and I moved to Texas, I switched careers. I became a rancher. Thank god for computers. I had a lot to learn. Besides when I quit, I gave all my personal equipment and materials — a mini-van, a pick-up truck and my Jeep all filled leaving only enough space for the driver — to the elementary school my children had attended.

Spider, sometimes the worst treatment a teacher receives comes from within the school system. Notice I didn't leave my equipment and materials with the school where I taught. That last year I taught, I was out most of the spring semester on medical leave due to rotator cuff surgery and the physical therapy that followed. On a Friday, about a month before the semester was over, my principal calls to tell me I had the weekend to get all my personal materials out of my classroom because my class was moving into another classroom. The janitors would not be allowed to move my things because it would set a bad precedent. She knew I'd just had surgery and couldn't life heavy objects. Her answer was: "You have two sons. Get them and their friends to move your things" Up to that point my intentions had been to leave all my materials with the school, but she ticked me off so much I didn't. That week-end, while I directed them, my sons and a few of their friends loaded up all the things I had purchased during the twelve years I had taught at that school — thousands of library books, two large bookcases and several small ones I had made, art materials, science equipment, teacher reference books, and the 10 Macs I received from a local university — and packed them into the three vehicles we had access to. It took all week-end to do it. The following Monday, my younger son and two of his friends drove up to his old school during lunch hour. He said watching the teachers unload the vehicles was like watching sharks in a feeding frenzy. Everything cleared out in minutes! The computers went back to the university to become part of a mobile computer lab project my older son had started when he donated a refurbished school bus. Two elementary schools near the university would have use of the lab manned by university student volunteers. After all that I was put through, the principal called me again to tell me I could move my materials back into my old room, because the classroom moves had been canceled. I told her I had donated all my materials to another school.

I really enjoyed working with children and miss it at times, but I've moved on. So far, I have hand reared three little heifers. I can get all our cattle into the corral all by myself. I'm the record keeper. I can tell you the names of all our cows...tell you who is related to whom. I hate sending our little bull calves to market cause I know that eventually they will end up on someone's plate. Hoping for a better future for some of our animals, I started asking for bred registered Angus heifers or cows. LOL I never, never in my wildest nightmare dream I'd end up here. It's been an interesting 7 years.

About the photo: The little newborn heifer, Dawn, pictured is now 18 months old and will be a mom next May. They are sooooo cute when they are small. Most will be about my height (5'2") at the shoulders, some taller. They can be down right intimidating at times especially when they want their treats, but they are gentle creatures. I can go right up to all of them as long as I don't try to touch them. I lost the second one I hand reared, my favorite, when she died giving birth. She was raised in the dog pen with our Australian Shephard. She though she was a dog. She'd come up to me and want to be petted and rubbed, all 1200 lbs of her. LOL