The stomach issue isn't really new

Started feeling it in clermont last spring. Guess I was dealing with so many other things that I barely took notice....

Dumb....

The pain is hardly excruciating. More like an ache.  And they gave me meds to deal with it if I need to. Funny....hydrocodone; they gave me some in Florida when I went to the ER there. Still have some.

Cancer

That spot on my lung is still there  Going to have qa CAT scan to see if it is any bigger.  There is a cyst on my pancreas.

I learned all of this when I went to the ER this morning.  My stomach pain won't go away and I was having issues breathing this morning.

The heart is fine. BP 229/79.

Never a dull moment for me.

Done

Finished.

Just notified the school, via email. Sone would say that was unprofessional.  It was how the school did most of their communication with me.  Very tough getting to actually speak to the principal...a part of the reason I have opted out.

John put it well.

I needed to just "cut my losses" and move on. No, I didn't want to end with the xctatstrophe at Clermont, but what if the situation at the charter school was poor or worse?  What would I have gained?

In the end, I don't think it was worth the relocation, not worth the risk.

Over and done.

That is how I see it.

So it's back to being retired.  I've held my last full time job, I think, unless something very strange occurs.

Not even sure I will do sub work.  Might just cast the public education routine adrift altogether.

Mddness

Would love to wave a magic wand and fix all this, but I AM NO Harry Potter.

mut decide by Monday.  (f( I m going to Florida, I must leave by Tuesday.

Just went through an entire week of Science ad venture without nary a comment either here or on Facebook look.

Another cute little stink bug!!!  This one was trying to follow me across the yard while we explored some trees.

This went much better than the 5/6 year old camp.

Exploring the nature trail

Compared to two weeks ago, this session ws  rousing success. Eight boys; 6 girls.  A good mix.

This session wS quite ex[ensive: Minerals from the mountains. Fossils from Florida. Rockets. I submitted most of my receipts.

Dragon's tail.  In this case, the dragon wAS QUITE BLIND.

Maybe I shouldn't have done it.....

but I did.

Sent a text to the 7th grade science teacher at Renaissance and asked him about staff dress code.

"Business casual," with a monogrammed school staff shirt every day.  What struck me most oddly is that, for the most part, staff has to pay for them.  No pet policy.  Data driven.  Lesson plans due two weeks ahead of time.  This place is starting to sound and look like North Korea!

That last item set the alarm bells clanging.  Something about requiring school staff to wear a staff shirt every day just struck me as excessive.

uh huh

So I decide to go online and do some research. Started out with the school name.  Not much information available, even on  the Great Schools site.

Expanded my search to include all of Chatrer Schools USA.  Most of the reviews are abominable.

"Don't do it!"

"Terrible place to work!"

"Awful leadership."

"Schools more interested in money than children."

Yes, there were a few very good reviews, almost sterling, but I am given to wonder if those weren't done by "trolls," people paid to write them. Corporations do that kind of thing you know.

Couple that with the principal there not seeming to know who I was when I called, not once but three times and not responding to my messages for two weeks.

This might explain why they were so willing to accept two senior citizens on staff and why they seem to eager to have me.  Each time they spoke to me it sounded as though they were afraid I would back out.

My stomach is in turmoil tonight.  as if it didn't hurt enough already.

Another week and a half....

and I head back south.

Not looking forward to the trek. Driving that RV is no fun but pulling a car hauler behind it makes things even more stressful.

Round three of Science adventures begins tomorrow.  15 kids. A bunch.  Again, my fault. They were willing to cap it at 12.  I told them it was okay to go over that.  They did.

Not doing the ooblek this go around. Too messy.

It runs all week this time,Monday - Friday.

A wonderful day

haven't been able to say something like that very often recently.

Mike was nowhere to be seen.  Neither did he figure prominently in any discussions.  His name did come up but only in connection with things that happened.

Acrophobia was a factor when we went up on Chimney Rock.  I had never been there despite my many summers "mid the hills."

We could see forever.

Robin was one of my CITs (counselors in training) way back in 1974.  Now she is married, has two sons, sleep apnea, and hearing issues.  Age can be brutal.

If things had not gone awry, our reunion would be taking place beginning today.  (interest waned this past spring and so when someone else took over the responsibility  for it, the reunion was postponed. Can't rid myself of the notion that much of the fault is Mike's.  When he made an issue of my being in charge and demanded that as part of the deal, I had to get back in contact, things went south in a hurry.

Won't dwell on that because I do not know, for a fact, that this was the case. Regardless, it did not cone up during out time in Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, yesterday, and that was good.

My time in the Carolinas is growing short and I've had a few second thoughts about whether I really want to head back to Florida.  That was going to happen.

Cherokee

Stopped down by the Nantahala River for breakfast this morning.  The water was already running and   it wasn't even 1030.  There were some very hard rains here a week or so back.  Flooded part of the
ridge top.  Could be why the river is running so often.  I didn't see any rafts or boats on the river yet, but my visit was just enough  to give me a twinge of regret at not being on the river anymore....

I'm in Cherokee today. Thinking about going to Unto These Hills, the drama about the Cherokee people.  Last time I did, years ago, the theme had changed radically and was quite acrimonious toward whites. Attendance was down.  No summer camps were in sight. Not a one.
Wonder if the tribe has learned their lesson yet...

Pondered going to theAquarium in Gatlinburg then decided the crush of tourists in mid-jury might be more than I cared to deal with.

Spoke to Sanjay briefly, awhile ago. The Griffins have not been here in a long long time, either. I guess I see why that would not be unexpected.  Their marine corp son was the big kayaker and he's an entire state (6-7 hours) away at Camp LeJeune.

Not sure just why those thoughts even entered my cranial concerns, except, maybe, that I, too, have begun to regret what's happened between me and the Griffins.....

Got to get those thoughts out of my head!

I meet up with Robin tomorrow morning.  Hope there are no surprises in store.

Bryson City

Didn't come here at all last summer.  First time this year.  It might be the final time.

That feels weird to say, but my reasons for coming here are gone.  Don't see my doing white water kayaking anymore. Truth was I wasn't into it all that much to begin with; something else Mike pressured me into doing.

The town looks unchanged.  So does the Ridge Top Motel.  Feels outright strange being here just myself. I've done it before but it feels more....more "final" this time. As I said, it might be.

Gonna have a good "last" look around, if, indeed this is that.

A lot of personal history here.

 Came to the vicinity (the river) with CCR in 72 or 73.

Brought my 7th & 8th grade class from BSS here in 84.

Mary and I came here after we escaped from St. Ann's School and Fayetteville, me enroute to UNC and Mary looking to rebuild her life and escape from her past. It was here, overlooking the river and in the shadow of the old courthouse that she made the decision to make the break and go out on that proverbial limb.  We had both just spent the summer at our LADY OF THE HILLS CAMP.

A lot of history here. Bunches.

The years have swept by. I neglected to say I lived in the RV camp next to the 'ridge top for several months. Yeah. History.

I head back to Florida exactly two weeks from today.  I plan to stick by my decision.  I needed to make one.

I'm meeting up with Robin, from my CCR days, tomorrow, in Hickory Nut Gorge, on the road that leads up to the site where Camp Chimney Rock once stood.  Talk about history.

She's the only one who is going to make it to the Gorge near the dates we had set for the reunion. I better be ready if Mike shows up. He could.  I just hope and pray that ?Robin isn't setting me up. Shouldn't be thinking the kind of thing, but I am.

Settled

And art all happened rather abruptly too.

My former compadre in crime, Kathy, has returned from Europe and gave me a call.  We spoke a long time. Kathy is a former nurse and world class listener.

Sometimes all it takes is talking it out. I did.

I will be returning to Florida for the school year. New school. New situation.

It really came down to two things. One I have mentioned before.

I don't want my years in the classroom to end on the note it did last school year. Don't want my final years to be a memory of calamity and disgrace.  They would be if I left things as they are today.

The other things is that I have never worked in a charter school and would always wonder if the horror stories I hear about corporate run charters was true. I would go to my final reward without knowing.  I've already decided, firmly, that the first hint or notion of poor leadership or lord of the flies from the students and I will be out the door swiftly and will not look back.

Kathy has already decided the same thing.

We both suffered the tortures of the damned last year and neither of us will endure that again in any form.  Kathy has already renewed her nursing license and will be able to make use of that, easily, if the need arises.  I have signed on to sub in Rockingham County, again, if that need comes up. Neither of us will feel trapped. We won't be.

Aside from all this, with another year (our two) in the classroom, all of my debts from the IRS to the Miata will b retired. I will still have a house mortgage (gotta pay that today or tomorrow!!!) and will still have the RV but if and when I retire, again, one of the other will be history. AT least, that is how I plan it now.  Once I have $1500 more of available income each month, many things will change.

I still haven't finished exploring my old haunts from my earlier days in Florida and want too.  Want to jaunt down to the keys and Ft. Lauderdale and, eventually, to both Sea world and Discovery Cove too.

Kim, at Bees RV will be delighted.

I am  still way bitter about what happened in Clermont but since the RV park is located North Of Clermont and my commute 25 minutes) will mostly be on the Turnpike, I won't need to go into Clermont anymore than absolutely necessary.  Should I encounter anyone I knew from CLMS, I will likely be most direct and blunt, de;endkng, of course, on who it is.

Going out to the western mountains tomorrow and the CCR compadre, someone I had as a CIT. Wish the reunion, scheduled for this coming week, had worked out, but Mike's selfishness pretty well deep mixed that. Won't dwell on that. Why?  Life is too short.

Gotta settle this thing...

been sitting at home most all week, resting the leg. Think it's getting better. I am visiting my orthopedic surgeon on Monday to get one of my knee shots and will know then.

I am scheduled to be in Florida in three weeks.  If I am going to back out, I should have done it already or, at the least, within the next few days.

This isn't merely about finance; I just don't want my years in the classroom to end in a catastrophe as this past year  did.  Peculiar.  I got a copy of my probationary contract from last year in the mail today.  Wonder what the purpose of that was. To remind me that I was not renewed? Already knew that.

Pride coms before the fall.  It really does.

The vengeful part of me wants to strike back.  That would be dumb.

Besides, I've become a firm believer in karma.  

"vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.I will repay."