Digging out.

I realize that Maggie is used to much more snow in the winter than the rest of us are, but I think that the thing that caught everyone here (and in Casper apparently) off guard was the speed with which the storm arrived, then the sheer volume of snow that it brought with it. Wednesday was cold and the wind was blowing, then the snow showers started about mid-morning. Thursday was another cold windy day, very little snow had accumulated in Cody or Powell, though from what I hear Meeteetse was buried Thursday.


Friday was when we received the big dump of snow. It started snowing at about 10:00 in the morning and was just steady throughout the day and into the evening. When I last measured the snow in our yard, I counted 18 inches of snow, 16 of those had fallen on Friday. This may not seem like a lot, but Powell is considered a high plains desert, so that is a lot for us.

Above is a picture of Jenny's car at about 5:00 Friday night.

Here's our cat enjoying the pleasant weather.

And here's a snowman that Jenny built today. She calls him her Smarch Snowman.

A lot of the snow has melted today, temps were in the 50's most of the day. I know that a lot of the area farmers are happy, they really needed the moisture. Hopefully everyone is enjoying their weekend, and I'm pretty happy about the Cowgirls winning the WNIT today. Have a good rest of the weekend!

My axe to grind.

Those of you that know me fairly well know that it takes quite a bit to rile me up. Today I was reading the Sports Guys basketball blog and he had this link on there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RKoXNToOnk

This player is OJ Mayo, the most recruited high school basketball player in the country. He has signed to play at USC next year for at least one year. My problem with this clip is this: His team is up by 40 in the closing minutes of the game. Now I can understand why he's in the game, it's his final high school game. The problem I have is that he steals a pass, alley-oops to himself from half court, then grabs the ball as it comes through the net and throws it into the stands. He is kicked out of the game and as you can see from the video, laps up all of the adoration.

This is why I can't wait to watch the Frozen Four. The kids that we watch play next weekend will be kids that love the sport they play and don't receive a lot of national attention. Most of you know that I love college basketball and it's one of my favorite things to watch. I can guarantee you this: next season I'll be rooting against USC every chance I get.

Snow Day

I guess you could say that the one good thing about commuting to work is that when the roads are bad, you get the day off. I was pretty excited this morning when my phone rang and I was told that school was canceled due to the freak snow storm. I changed back into pajamas and slept for a few more hours. I was excited to have the day off. The key word being was. It is really boring staying home by yourself. I have found nothing on television to hold my attention. My cat thinks that since I am home that I am to pay attention to her non-stop. Because of the winter weather, our hot water is luke-warm, so taking a relaxing bath turned into more of a quick dip. I feel sorry for my husband who had to drive to Cody and is probably outside working in this cold weather. I feel bad for anyone who had to travel on the ice covered roads. As Lori reported in her blog, four wheel drive is a necessary commodity for travel in this weather. I hope that all who traveled today make it home safe. I would post pictures of what the weather looks like here, but I took my camera to my classroom yesterday to take pictures of the kids when we made cookies, so it is still residing on my desk, in Burlington. So unfortunately you'll just have to take my word about the snow covering my car and the roads here in Powell. This post has eased the boredom for a few minutes, so I will end it and try to find something else to get me through the day. Enjoy the weather!
Jenny

Just a few pics

So one of the biggest changes in my life recently was the addition of an insulin pump to my daily routine. Having been a diabetic for almost 20 years now, I had grown a little bit tired of poking myself with a needle several times a day. So, to make a long story short, I was started on the pump. It's a pretty neat little device, I punch in my blood sugar and the number of grams of carbs that I'm going to eat or drink and it figures out how much insulin to give. It also delivers a basal dose throughout the day. So far the results have been favorable, I only have to change the insertion site every three days and refill the reservoir every 6 days.

Here's a picture of the pump and below that a picture of the pump next to my cell phone just for a size reference:

A bad day just gets worse

Just a liitle peak into what went on in my day yesterday.

The morning started off fairly early as I had to get up for my apprenticeship class at the college. For those that don't know, I'm am currently a electrician's apprentice working my way towards becoming a journeyman and hopefully someday a master electrician. This class is part of the requirement for that.

I came home for lunch break to check out the UNH score, confident that they would be up by at least 4 or 5 goals as it was the end of the first period. Imagine my surprise when the score said 1-0 Miami. A little bit shaken, I went back to class hoping that the Cats could come back and win in the second and third periods. Tragically, when I came home, they had lost.

A sidenote here: There are differing opinions on whether or not UNH losing is a good thing for those of us making the trip to St. Louis. While I wish that they could have gone farther, it's a bit of a relief that we won't have to be obsessed with the Wildcats and can just enjoy the amazing time we'll have. Plus they will win the title next year. For those of you that don't know, that last sentence is call the "Kiss of Death" as it jinxes the Cats for next year. Hopefully since the Frozen Four hasn't happened this year yet, all will be forgiven.

the only other thing that could have made my day any more miserable would have been to humiliate myself just for the fun of it. So I decided to go golfing. Powell has $5 for all day play, but only the front nine is open and it's all winter greens. It was a good chance to get out and shake the dust off. I realized after yesterday that there is quite a bit more dust to shake off.

Here's a pic of my longest, straightest drive of the day:



For those of you that golf with me, that's a definite improvement.

Have a good week everyone!

The view from my eyes

I tried to post in my usual pink color, but cannot figure out how. So here is my post anyway :)

I thought I would put my two cents on the issue of my job. I have been mulling it over in my head for some time now. They first talked about the big budget problem back in February. I didn't want to worry about it too much at that time because everything was up in the air. After a whole month of not knowing, the board had three meetings where they were supposed to discuss our future. At two of the board meetings the issue of the budget was not addressed, and at the last board meeting (Tuesday) I found myself on the chopping block. I am unsure how to feel about the situation that has been forced upon me. I feel cheated, and I want to blame some one, but there is no one to blame. Since I am a new teacher, I am not entitled to the luxuries of a tenure teacher, and thus I pull the short straw every time. My principal has been very good about talking to me, and he said if it were up to him, I would not be losing my job. I wish it were up to him. He reassures me that I am a great educator and will go far in the education world. I take his words as strength to begin my search for my next great teaching job.

So are the woes of my first year as a teacher, the tears have been cried, and now it is time to move on. I feel I am young yet, so hopefully this loss will open up a new door for me somewhere else. Who knows, maybe I will get a job in Powell, and won't have to commute for a change. Plus that would mean a whole extra hour of sleep in the morning! Wishful thinking. I am going to end my post with a saying from the Dahli Lama that is posted next to my desk at school:

*Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

Jenny

All the news that's fit to print.

Well, I wish that every post on here could be funny and about something humorous that happened to me during work. But unfortunately, real life doesn't work that way. Jenny found out yesterday that her contract with Burlington will not be renewed next fall, which means she'll no longer be teaching there. She's pretty upset about it and I can't say that I blame her.

It's pretty hard to believe that Big Horn County School District could be that hard up for money, but I'm not here to pass judgement on the school district. I know that all of those preschoolers love Jenny and I have no doubt that their first school experience was a positive one that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Jenny is a great teacher and I have no doubt that she will be teaching somewhere else in the fall. It's too bad that it won't be where she started her career, but that's Burlington's loss.

Have a good day everyone!

Shun the non-believer!

So I was at work today thinking about whether or not I left anything out of last nights post. The only thing I could come up with were a couple of links to some Youtube stuff. They are the top two links on the page. I can't take credit for finding either of these. Maggie directed me to Charlie the Unicorn and Dad sent me the Flight of the Concords one. I think that both of them are hilarious and I offer them to you as the gift of laughter. I'm sure that many of you have seen these already, but have a look at them again if you're having a bad day or just need a good laugh. Jenny loves Charlie and uses quotes from him to torture our cat.
If you like that Flight of the Concords, check out some of their other stuff on Youtube, all of it's good. That's about all I have for tonight, I am glad that Syracuse won last night and is well on their way to winning the NIT and solidifying themselves as the number 66 team in the nation.
No post from Jenny tonight, she's watching American Idol and I'm preparing to puncture both eardrums.
Zack

Welcome to the big show!

Live from the heart of sugar beet country: POWELL, WYOMING!
We think the idea of a blog as a way for everyone to keep up is a great idea. I have a feeling that I (Zack) will be doing a majority of the posting on here since Jenny spends most of her time on the computer doing pointless stuff like homework and bettering herself with online classes. I feel computer time is much more well spent checking out the Sports Guy's latest column on ESPN.com.
I won't go into as much detail about the past year as Cody did in his blog, but here's a little refresher for those that are behind:
I recently had eye surgery on my left eye to remove some scar tissue and other assorted debris from the eye. The recovery is going strong and vision in that eye has improved dramatically. I'd say vision is at about 65% right now and the doc has told me that it will improve in the next couple of weeks. I'm scheduled to see him in about a month for a shot in the other eye to prevent surgery down the road. Other than that the only big event coming up down the road is my first trip to the Frozen Four. I'm sure Cody will provide a play by play when we get back, but I'll have some pics to post on here after that weekend.
On to news about better looking people, Jenny is still teaching in Burlington and having fun just about everyday. Recently she found out that her contract may not be renewed next year due to budget issues and the fact that she's a first year teacher. So she's a little stressed out about that. But that's not for sure yet, and even if it does happen she's a great teacher so I'm confident that she'll be teaching again somewhere in the fall, even if it isn't Burlington.
I don't really know how much I'll be posting on here since nothing real exciting happens around here, but I'll try to post a few times a week, even if it is just a few paragraphs. I'll also always try to keep current pictures of Jenny and myself on here.
For those of you that only tune in here to see what Jenny has to say, she'll be adding her spin on what I post and contributing anything she thinks I left out at the end of each post. You'll be able to tell it's her post because the font will look like this.
So I'll end this initial post now, because I seemed to have rambled a little bit. Happy reading!

I figured that I should put my two cents into this posting a la Sports Gal. Zack and I have decided that we are the Powell, WY version of the sports guy and sports girl, so our blog will resemble their column in a few ways.
I have to admit that I am happy about Zack's surgery. It is a great relief that they were able to fix the damage and improve his eye sight. I would much rather go to Billings and shop than go for medical reasons, but I am just glad everything worked out for us!
As for the job situation, being part of a small school district, there is always chance of not getting your contract renewed. I will have to face this problem until I am able to be tenured, and hopefully I will be tenured in Burlington (3 continuous years of teaching for the district). If that isn't in my cards, then I will just have to see what comes my way.
Well Zack pretty much said the other exciting news, omitting the fact that at the same time as his St. Louis trip is my wisdom tooth surgery (Yes it is time all four come out). I'll let him off the hook this time, but only if he brings me back the best St. Louis Cardinals souvenir he can find!
That's all I have to say, and as Zack said earlier, Happy Reading!