Happenings 7/27 - 8/17

We haven't written for awhile, so here is a synopsis of the last part of the summer. My two summer session classes went quite quickly, but I was kept busy with the reading and grading for the two classes throughout the month, and so I didn't do a whole lot of other other things. I didn't have time to keep my garden weed-free or to play golf, but I was able to play tennis two mornings each week with Thomas. The garden didn't have any trouble producing, though -- the whole month of July we had squash, beans, and tomatoes. I didn't use a very good tomato plant controller this year, so my tomatoes spread all over the place which made kind of a mess, but they produced lots of fruit. I started a compost system and it was amazing to notice how much organic material we had previously thrown in the garbage. We also started paying for a recycling service to come by the house twice a month, and so now our regular garbage is quite minimal. (Aren't we being "green"? :)- Actually, mostly Paul, I refuse to touch the rotten fruits and veggies for the compost pile. The flies and smell are enough to discourage me. )

The last day of the summer session was August 1, and the composition class handed their papers in the day before and I spent the afternoon, evening, and morning grading those papers so that they could be picked up on the last day of class. Of course, only three students showed up to pick them up, but I didn't care because grades had to be in on Monday morning anyway and I didn't mind having them done. The other class, with only 6 students, met on the last day at Dairy Queen and I bought them ice cream cones and we chatted for awhile and then they turned in their papers. I ended up grading their papers on Monday morning because immediately after we had ice cream I went home and we made final preparations to drive to St. Louis to meet Alan, Lisa, and their family.

We started a little later than we had planned, which turned okay because they were running a bit late as well, and so we met them at the Gateway Arch and were there only about 20 minutes before they arrived. When we walked up to the arch from the parking lot, Claire saw the arch and said, "This is the biggest thing I have ever seen!" Alan had reserved tickets for us and them, and so we waited in line and then rode up to the top in the small, egg-shaped elevator/train car. It took about 3 minutes and then we joined the crowd at the top looking out the small windows. They are set up so that you can lean out and look straight down, and it is a good view. We could see the Cardinals playing in their stadium and then had a good view of the Mississippi River looking the other direction. (I got a little nervous when I saw the small doors that led to the "pods" that take you to the top, and even more nervous when the door opened and I saw that the pods looked like something Mork from Ork came to earth in. You can't stand up in them and they fit five people in each one. They are a little cramped and a little stuffy and warm. Being pregnant - oh yeah, if you didn't already know, we are expecting another baby- due February 1- a bit unexpected but very exciting- anyway, not feeling great from the whole pregnancy thing, I was not excited about getting in, but I survived. I'm not fond of elevators anyway and this was the worst elevator ride ever. At the top, there was not much relief. It is a small crowded area at the top. It does have pretty good views though and it is pretty cool being that high up in the arch.)

After going to the top we walked around the museum of western history that they have at the bottom, and then drove to the hotel that we stayed in that was outside of the city. It wasn't the greatest place, mainly because their website touted amenities that they didn't have. We didn't get there until fairly late, (I took Claire swimming in the indoor pool, which was a little cool, so I didn't want to swim for long. Claire didn't seem to mind and she had a great time until we saw a neon green bug on the side of the pool and then she was ready to get out.) so we took our time in the morning and since we were counting on breakfast provided at the hotel, we ended up finding a Denny's on the way to the Science Center, and that turned into an adventure as well. It was the most crowded Denny's I have ever seen, so we had to wait for a table, and then we had to wait a long, long time for our food to the point that I asked to see the manager and he ended up not charging for our meals. Alan and Lisa's table was under a small leak in the roof, so they got a discount as well. One of the funniest things was that when Alan and Lisa were seated, they asked for a table 10 feet away that was a little bigger, and the server said, "That's the smoking section." We ended up sitting in the table they didn't take, and the table 5 feet away was full of smokers just going to town. Aw, the humor of these smoking states -- Kentucky and Missouri and probably North Carolina have the highest percentage of population who smoke.

We made it to the Science Center that was fun for everyone, with lots of things for kids and adults to see and do. My favorite was the radar guns in the walking bridge across the freeway and the large, soft building blocks that you could make into an arch, which took at least 2 adults to do. (I liked the operating table. Claire was actually pretty good at it. Maybe she will be a surgeon. :) Claire got to touch snakes and lizards and she liked that a lot. I passed on that opportunity. Rachel ended up falling asleep for a bit in the stroller so I just hung out with her in the eating area for awhile people watching.) After the Science Center we went to the Zoo, which was nearby in the big city park, and we stayed until it closed down at 7:00. It is a free zoo, and we didn't have to pay for parking as seemed usual, so that was nice. We saw bears, elephants, lions, penguins, monkeys, and lots of other animals, and all the kids enjoyed it. We stayed at a different hotel that night near the airport, and so after we checked in we ate at Golden Corral and then went to bed. It was another late night so J.J. and I weren't too sure that finding and going to church the next day would work out because the girls needed their rest and Rachel has been such a pill lately in Sacrament Meeting that we knew that a tired Rachel would be in the foyer all meeting anyway. The next morning they didn't wake up until 8:30, and though Alan and Lisa and their kids were up and ready, they still had to eat breakfast and when we told them we didn't think we would make it they decided not to try to find the church 7 miles away either. So we had breakfast at the hotel -- I've never seen so many people eat breakfast -- and visited for awhile, which was nice since with all of the running around in two cars and chasing kids we hadn't really had a chance to just chat.

After breakfast and check out, we headed to the east side of the Mississippi to some Indian mounds, which was quite interesting. We stayed there for a couple of hours and then we said goodbye and headed home from there. Lisa and the kids were leaving in a few days for Oregon, so we were glad we were able to spend the weekend with all of them.

On Monday I was able to hang out with the girls all day for the first time in 5 weeks, and take Claire to her first ballet/tap/gymnastics class. She is scheduled for Fridays, but since she would be gone on Friday, she went on Monday so she wouldn't be behind. I had to sit outside the dance room with the other parents and try to keep Rachel entertained, but Claire did great and had fun. On Tuesday I was back in my office to prepare for the fall semester. I took over the composition program as coordinator on July 1, and put off most of the work I needed to do for it until after my summer session teaching was over. There is not tons of work, but enough administrative things to take up hours here and there. The big thing was preparing and organizing a one-day orientation meeting for all composition instructors before the semester started. So I spent that Tuesday doing that and a few other things. Wednesday I was home again with the girls while J.J. worked.

Then on Thursday J.J.'s parents arrived in Nashville, and J.J., Claire, and Rachel left me here while they went and picked them up and then went to the World's Longest Yard Sale for the rest of the weekend. (My dad somehow had heard about this thing and decided he wanted to go. So we drove to eastern Tennessee and went along highway 127 up into eastern Kentucky looking at yard sales and other interesting things along the way. There are yard sales along the highway from Alabama up into Ohio. We didn't go the whole length, but hit what we heard was the best areas in Tennessee. We had a great time and Claire loved it. She carefully went through piles of things and looked very closely at all the items. So maybe she won't be a surgeon, she will be an antique shop owner or just run a flea market. Rachel did pretty good most of the time. We really enjoyed the food and atmosphere and "southern" culture. We took some detours off the highway to see some of the area and ended up in some pretty shady places - think "Deliverance" I'm sure I had banjos dueling. Check out the pictures from our trip on the blog - I promise I will put them up soon. On our way home we took very round about ways and checked out some sites in Kentucky including Lincoln's birthplace and homestead. We also went to a Shaker Village which was fascinating! Claire loved it too. We even took a horse and wagon ride through it, but unfortunately Rachel was freaked out by the horses, so Grammy Judy took her off the wagon and they didn't get to go. Claire sat up front and helped drive the horses with Bob, our guide. We were very lucky and had great weather the whole time - not sweltering but not rainy either. Claire and Rachel sure enjoyed all the time with Grammy Judy and Poppa Ken. I chose not to go, thinking that I wouldn't enjoy the yard sales too much (He sure missed out - it was much more than yard sales) and had some research I wanted to work on those days. So they left and I went to the university library and looked at 5 rolls of microfilm that I had received on loan from Cornell University special collections that had the writings of this guy named Charles Abrams, whose language and rhetoric I am analyzing for a project. I spent most of the day on Thursday and again on Friday looking at the microfilm reader. The Cornell library had stipulated that the film could not be photocopied, so anything I wanted to use I had to hand copy in my notebook. It was tedious, but also very interesting to read everything from speeches and published articles to personal correspondence and doodles of Abrams, who was an urban planning specialist/activist in New York City.

After all of the research on Thursday, I went out by myself to the sushi place in town, and then watched episodes of "Arrested Development" at home. Friday after I ran in the morning I did more research until I had looked at the last roll of microfilm that I had requested -- from the 5 they sent me, I still have 5 more to look at later. I did some work in my office after that and then came home and worked around the house a little before watching more "Arrested Development." Saturday morning I got up real early to run and then went to help clear the small trees and brush around a member's home so that the county would not condemn his property. We worked for about 2 hours and got a lot done, so that was nice. I came home and weeded my garden seriously for about an hour or so, and then showered and went back to my office to do some writing on my Abrams project. I worked until about 4:30, and decided that I deserved to play golf, so I went to Murray State's course and walked 18 holes before in got dark. It was a nice time to play, cool and not crowded at all. The weather on these days was extremely nice -- very unusual for August they said. It didn't get over 80 for 5 days.

I went to church by myself the next morning, and was able to listen and participate in Sunday School and Priesthood for the first time since Rachel started walking. When she finally goes to nursery in September it will be nice -- she will love it and we will be able to sit in our classes. The rest of the family came home that afternoon, and they had some good stories to tell about the yard sales and other things they saw while they scampered about central Kentucky.

Ken and Judy stayed until Thursday, and on Monday while all of them were resting around the house, I went into work for a few hours and then they met me on campus so that I could give a campus tour. We had lunch at a new restaurant in town called Tumbleweeds, and then relaxed at the house that afternoon and evening, watching the Olympics as we seemed to do each night they were here and beyond.

Tuesday morning Ken and I left early for Paris Landing, which is 20 miles away, to play golf at Paris Landing State Park in the morning and then another course nearby in the afternoon. Paris Landing course is a course that I really like because it is really hilly and each hole is lined with forest. Plus, some of the holes are bordered by the lake, which is really pretty. Neither of us played too well there, but we enjoyed the day because it was unusually pleasant weather and the course was not that crowded when we started. We finished around 10:45, had lunch there, and the drove 5 miles to The Tennessean golf course, which has a story that I'm not familiar with totally, but my guess is that it opened 8 or 9 years ago and had rave reviews, but for some reason it was closed down for awhile. It was quite inexpensive -- $30 for me with a cart and $22 for Ken because he's a senior. His receipt showed $7 for golf and $15 for the cart. The cart was nice to have, though, because this course was wild. The grass in some places was trying to grow back and the greens had some dirt spots on them, but it was still in fine condition to play.

When we got to the first hole, you can only see the first 200 or so yards of the fairway, and the fairway was on a slight plateau -- you could see that if you were left your ball would run down into the woods. So we hit up there, and then when we got up there to our balls, we had to go a little farther and the green was about 200 feet below us down this set of tiers. Then the second hole was a par 3 across a huge gulf and the green was higher than the teebox. The third hole was like Monticello's number 13 with the twists multiplied by 4. You hit uphill, then the fairway went downhill another direction and then came back another way to the green. It was crazy. After the first 6 holes, the fairways became a little flatter, but they were still full of lots of twists and very few totally flat areas. The good thing about it was that landing areas for drives were mostly generous once you figured out where to hit. We didn't do too well on the front nine, but I finally was able to get it together on the back and played well, having several birdie putts and making one. That course is definitely one where scores would improve the more you play it. We had a good time playing both courses, and with the weather so cool and having the carts, we didn't get tired playing 36 holes. (Mom was very gracious and watched the girls so I could go to lunch with my friend Shara that day. It was so nice to be able to sit down and actually taste and enjoy the food I was eating. The girls loved their Grammy time)

Wednesday was my composition orientation, which started at 10:00 and finished around 3:30. I had organized everything and I had about a 30 minute presentation and then a Q&A time near the end. Otherwise I had some other people give various presentations and training during the time. I thought it went well and everyone seems to be fine with the slightly new direction that I and the composition committee worked out last year. Most of the instructors are adjunct instructors or part-time lecturers, and very few full-time faculty teach the class even though the dean is trying to change that. He, in fact, being an English professor, is teaching a section of composition this semester and was at the orientation. I was glad when the orientation was finished, feeling relieved that it was done and that everyone seemed supportive and willing to follow somewhat of a new direction. That night we had dinner at Culver's, and Bridget and Katy came with us.

Wednesday morning when I was cooling down outside after my run, I noticed that our upstairs A/C compressor never turned off, and so I reset it with the breaker, which didn't do anything, and then since I was worried about the strain on the electric bill, I shut it off. Since it was cool at night, I opened the upstairs windows and it stayed nice, according to Ken and Judy, until about 2:00 pm. I had called the A/C repair guy and he came over that afternoon and did some things that didn't actually work. He came back on Thursday and tried some more things, but since they didn't work, he said we would have to replace the outside compressor. So he did that on the following Tuesday. So, it was quite a temperature difference going upstairs for a few days. We were lucky that it wasn't as hot as it was last year at this time. Now we have at least 10 years of worry-free 1.5 of our 2 HVAC units -the other part of the electric unit in the attic is still original; we just had to replace the outside compressor.

Thursday all of us drove Ken and Judy to Nashville to drop them off at the airport and say goodbye, (I was very weepy, but I am just blaming it on the hormones) and then we stopped in Clarksville on the way home at Kohl's so that I could look for a few things there, (Paul said he needed a few things and I didn't, but I went ahead and looked and lo and behold, there were some things I desperately needed.) and then we ate at Arby's and then drove home. I went into the office when we got home and discovered that one of our sections had been closed to enrollment for some reason and didn't have any students but we had a teacher. So I had to make some adjustments to people's schedules, which they were all okay with luckily, and once that was finished I came home.

Friday was the official opening day of the semester for faculty, and we had our opening meeting for all the departments in our college, and then university luncheon for all faculty, where the president spoke about the state of the university and direction for the year. I did some work in the office afterward and then came home in time for Claire to go with J.J. to her dance class. (She loves the class and I sneak some watching in sometimes and I love to watch her. She is very intense.)

Saturday morning was Move-In day for incoming freshmen at Murray State, and faculty are encouraged to help at the residential colleges they belong to. So I went at about 10:00 and spent the time speaking with parents and directing people to the right places. Last year I helped take stuff to rooms, and it seemed a waste since there are so many students from campus there to help. It was much more satisfying to talk to the parents, and they like it too. When I finished, I went grocery shopping and then we relaxed in the afternoon around the house, watching the Olympics and reading. I watched the 100m race and was amazed at Usain Bolt's speed. That was my favorite part of the Olympics so far. As most of you know, I don't like American hype, so I wasn't that excited to watch Michael Phelps. I'm happy that he won the medals, but I'm with people like Gregg Easterbrook who doubt technology's ability to measure differences of 1/100 of a second, which two of Phelps races came down to. I also think that as a tall freak of nature, he should really prove that he's the best swimmer by racing in the longer races like the 1500m. When you have a foot on other swimmers with height and span, a 50m or 100m race seems like a foregone conclusion. (party pooper - just be excited for him)

Sunday we were all back in church for the first time in a couple of weeks, and Rachel was tired and wild so I spent most of sacrament meeting in the nursery with her. Sunday evening I had a dinner on campus with the author of Clay's Quilt, which is the freshman reading experience book for incoming freshmen this year, and is used in most composition classes. So I was asked to go to this small dinner and it was nice. The author, Silas House, is from Eastern Kentucky and he really has a strong hillbilly accent. I enjoyed talking to him and was glad to meet him. I had breakfast with him the next day as well along with more people. He spoke to all of the new freshmen and anyone else who wanted to attend on Monday afternoon, and he did a good job in emphasizing the importance of reading and of finding out about different perspectives. (I was hoping to go and listen to him since I am the book club lady and we read his book for this month, but I had to work so I missed out. Oh well.)