heathbald

 

( Not ready for school )

Events have been...well eventutful lately.

•  
• My observation last week went well...but I don't know how well since i haven't had time to meet with the person who observed me.
• We lost last tuesday track meet, but it was close.
• I throw a medican ball at a kid (after getting his attention, achiving eye contact, and teling him to chatch) and the kid turns away as the ball is in the air and then freaks out when he sees the ball coming so he hits his head on the floor and wall and starts to bawl....I hate making kids cry, even if he should have been paying attention cause he was told that i'd toss the medican ball at people who were goofing off.
• Yesterday I found out next year I move from 7th to 8th grade science (this means I get to teach chem...I hate freaking chem)..part of the reason is I'm a good teacher and science is tested in 8th grade (so now I get to have way more stress if they are going to be looking at test scores for my job preformance ..and most of these kids might on a good day only equal my 4th grade science skills...though I do suck at chem so that might actually equal out)
• Today I found out that my 2nd favorite guys on the tream and one of the kids I teach helped to jump another student and is going to get suspended...that means automatic dismisial from the team.  And I saw the video and if he just went to classs instead of hanging out in the halls he wouldn't be involved..but no...he has to go and put anohter kid in a head lock, drag him back to other guys and then let the kid get on the ground and be kicked...It wasn't a go to the hosptial beating but assualt charges are being filed.  STUPID STUPID STUPID
• I get called to cover for another teacher today who found out thier child was in some kid of auto accident
• we lost the meet today big time..not even close.

And that is the highlights of the past week.

No school today so in the morning I went for a walk down to the greenway...but 1st I had to go my brothers and pick up the sled (the red one that roles up into a cylinder for those that might recall days of sliding down the hill and into traffic back in the Kent days).  Then I walked to the greenway..but I didn't wan to go on the greenway...well no the officialy opend one yet.  You see at the trail head for the green way they have this map with all these little dots of various colors that show the master plan for the entier greenway system....and they even have a symbol to show that these extensions are planed in the map key.  Not so much on the map so I don't know if it's officaly open or not. I didn't see any posted proporties signs so I figure I was OK.  Plus there is an access road or something that goes on the map where it says one of the greenways suprs is and those are normaly OK to go on.  So I go that way.  There is some big 18 in pipe the whole way so i figure that is why ya have the access road.  eventualy becomes a trail.  at one point I climb over an out crop cause that is what the trail looks like it does.  Anyway, very cool stuff.  every 20 or 30 ft there are cliff walls and outcrops, and you can see where there are ledges that cut accross the entire lenght of the river (whihc has a bunch of small islands in it).  It would be a fun section to paddle in the right water.  nothing major,  a drop of a few inches every so offten, but mostly just criss crossing to get to right spot in the ledges.  anyway, follow that up to a rail road bridge and an old dam.  the dam is from a textile mill that isn't operational, but I'm told they still get hydro power from it.  Get some nice shots there, walk out on the bridge and got some good shots.  Not sure if trains still go that way but I figured that with the snow proably not today at least.  Plus one side had a big straight away that I could tell if it was comeing.  I was more worried about having my foot fall through and get stuck. The cross beams were spaced out just far enough that this was a possiblity and right at  the end of the bridge there was a about a 3 ft x 3 ft hole too...guess they figured the stupid people would fall through and not make it on the bridge.  then I head back to way I've come and finialy get a picture of the great blue heron that Ive been scaring off before I could get a good shot the whole time.

Now, this whole time I've been carrying my sled mind you, and that is what i'm finialy going to do.  I get back to the offical part  of the greenway and sled there.  nice steep hill, but short.  so I walk down looking for a biger hill.  I again follow the water/sewer lines up some access road and end up seeing a deer.  Didn't get such a good shot at that.  I had hoped the road would go up a hill and it kinda did, but at an angle that it carried me more into a ditch with running water.  So I head back and where I saw the deer at earlier I decied to sled.  again it's short, but it's also wooded with a creek at the bottom, so I figure this will make up for the short ride. I try to get my camera in a sutiable place to record teh trip, didn't work so well.  the 1st tim was great, was geting bumped around like crazy with the rocks, tree limbs, and so forth.    the 2nd time my butt was too sore to enjoy it cause the 1st time I bruised my butt (hurts to walk, sit, bend, or generaly move now).  I also noticed that my sled has some gashes in it, but the plastic is holding togather in those spots by about about 1/2 a mm.  I go back to the short but steep hill that has not rocks, but too sore to enjoy it.  I go home and rip the sleve of my coat on a mail box after I had moved over to get out of a cars way (no side walk there). ...  thus ended my 1st adventure....later rachel and I went and had a short snowball fight, took a walk around the block, and made a snowman (sorta)....  it was fun...

I did post a selection of pics on facebook, but for those that care here is the unabridged version. 
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=y4jnvxo.4uwl4vd8&x=0&y=-wsh415&localeid=en_US

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=y4jnvxo.435krsjw&x=0&y=adphb8&localeid=en_US    for those on facebook, you'll have seen many of these pics in one of my albums there.  but this album has them all.....for those that have not seen the pictures this is what is left of a revolutanary war era house in stokes co.  it's falling apart, but you can see that when it was first built it must have been very impresive. 

http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/rockingham_news/article/grammys_bag_madisons_catdaddy/8946/

So i'm not enjoying the color i get with the 3D glasses...but I do like the 3D part...i just really miss seeing green on the buy more shirts.

So this weekend I had expected to go camping, but that feel through. Then I thought I was going hiking with my brother on Saturday, but that fell through and I went by myself. I ended up hiking the 10.8 mile Rock Castle Creek Gorge Trail in the Rocky Knob area of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a very nice, but cold day. My water started to freeze in my bottle, which has not happened to me on a hike before. Nothing major, but it got to the point where I had to unscrew my cap to drink since the squirt part was frozen and there were small bits of ice in there. This was after only a few hours and it let me think of ways of how I’d deal with keeping my bottles from freezing on an over night trip. Obviously with a small bottle in the sleeping bag with me and then leaving the others near the fire, with some rocks propped behind them to help radiate more heat back to them. And not filled too much so that if it does freeze a tad it won’t break the containers. And I did enjoy seeing bits of the creeks and feeder streams frozen, with water running on the ice. In the few places I had to walk across a patch of ice it was nice in thick. Today more plans to hike fell through, but Rachel went with me to Hanging Rock State Park. We did about 2 or 3 miles of trails, looking at different waterfalls. It was way warmer than on Saturday, but there were still pockets of ice on the water and there were snow flurries when we started.    

so there is to be no camping this weekend.  At one point I thought there would be up to 6 people going and then they started to fall out.  First Angela and Murry coudln't go.  Then Mark had to work (and that took out the girl he was bringing) and my brother was worried that the road mights be closed.  To get to Mount Mitchell Sp park you have to take the blue ridge parkway, which will get closed for fog and will be closed for any snow/ice since they don't salt the road (it being a national park and all traffic is recretational).  And it seems they have gone from sat/sun/monday being all sunny to sunday and monday having snow in the forcast, so he is proably right.  but still, I was looking fwd to the experiance of being out there.  I mean the temp there right now, according to the weather station, is -2 F right now.. how awsome is that?  Of course I sugrested we go out east instead and do camping there, but we're just going to do a day hike to hanging rock state park.  I mean it's a nice state park (and isolated mountain range so it' has great views) and I think I'll go to a waterfall I've never been to before so that will be cool (esp if it is frozen over) and if I hadn't been so pumped for the camping trip I'd be all abou the day hike...but I won't get huddle by a fire to stay warm at night siping hot choclate. I'm also not going to get to do as much hiking.  in the orgional plan people were going to get to pick which trails they wanted and I was going to do the big loops while my brother would proably have done the smaller ones.   So I'm not going to be buring crazy amouts of calories to stay warm and cover distnace becasue it would be not cool for us to go there for a day hike and then not hike togather.  And there won't be snow up there, and I was hoping there'd be a bit of snow on the high peaks so I'd get that chlange + I love playing in the snow which I don't really get here.  .....I might take the new found free time to go kayking on sunday or monday, but only if I can still fit into my wet suit. 

What else will I need for my camping trip next weekend....If all goes well I'll be 6,000 + feet this next next week so I need to pack for that. 

hand/feet warmers
1 pair flece pants
1 pair warm up pants
1 pair sweat pants
2 long sleeve teas
2 t-shirts  couple pair lite shorts
1 sweat shirt/pull over
4 pair hiking socks
gloves & tobogon
camera (charge battery)
biniculars
sleeping bag + liner
ground pad
5 gallon water thing
hydropack + 2 qt
flash light + battiers
hatchet/camp saw
old toys + box under kitchen table
camp stove/fuel & mess kit
(2) grits/oatmeal) (2) romon noodle, candy (6) hot choclate
rope
lantern
poncho + coat
pillow
multi tool
1st aid kit
mazine to read
 
?
extra sleeping bags
tarp
tent

I want to walk.  To go over hill and dale.  To see the stones and fish in the bottom of a brook.  To see a bee landing on a flower.  To look at gray lichen covering gray rock.  To loose site of the mountains going endlessly into the distance.  To feel the sun beating down on me and to find rejuvation by stikcing my head under a waterfall.  To make my bed some soft spot of level ground.  To spend the last hours of day light scavaging for fire wood and making camp.  To know that my last moments of wakefulness will be spent by a fire looking at the stars.  And at end of it all my legs and body will be tired but my heart and spirt will be strong.  

this is what I did today  http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=y4jnvxo.63ahcjro&x=0&y=xsjvmz&localeid=en_US  

the higest point east of the mississipi is in NC and the state park camp ground is open all year...and if you go before the end of march the sites are only 9 bucks...or you could just hike in to the national forsest for free (or the NF campground might do like the VA one did and open the group site up for free in the off season) and you just hike that much further up...but I'm thinking there is a chance for some snow or something up there or some other fun things for a Jan/Feb or even March trip...any takers?

Camping was great this weekend. It did rain proably over an inch Friday/Saturday. But I did learn waterproof boots do nothing is the socks soak up all the water runing down my legs. And the winds were so crazy Sat. night/Sun morning. The tent we used was pushed so hard the stakes got pulled out and three of the poles broke from the wind pushing on them. I also need a new poncho as I set fire to mine while I was wearing it on Saturday with good size hole melting away. Of course the poncho was old with a few small nicks anyway and when I went hiking i didn't care so much that the thorns were cuting big gashes in it. But even with the rain, wind, and property damage it was a great trip. The lakes looked really cool and would be fun to swim in during warm weather. The trails were great and there are all kinds of loops that can be made. Def will be back to this palce.


http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=y4jnvxo.b2rsxcak&x=0&y=-2pe3fe&localeid=en_US

so the weather looks like it is going to suck this weekend and I just saw on the website that there is a fee for the group camp......this after the person at the forest service told me that the group camping was free....now the camp closed at the end of Oct. so mabey he was saying you can go and pitch a tent there now and it's not a problem but it still has me kinda anxious and I'm going to be calling them to double check tomarrow...but if there is a fee then that is a big change of plans and it's goign to suck. 

we had our fall athletic banquet today.  Of the 18 players about 6 acctualy showed up.  Of course one of my noshows was the kid who got my coaches award and 3 of the people who did show up were kids who I sooo wanted to give an award too.  I even thought aobut geting them medals or something out of my own pocket before it was pointed out to me that if I give 1/3 of the team an award it kind of cheeapens the awards.    And the crazy thing is was that I got my own little award from the players.  Some parent had a team picture blown up and  framed and had the players sign the border (so right now there are only 6 signatures since that is all that showed up, but I'll get the rest of them later) and another player gave me a 5x7 framed picture of me geting water dumped on me at the end of the season.  Along with the picture he also wrore me a thank you note for coaching him.  Of couse the ones who got me the big picture and the little picture I'm sure were two of the kids who I almost gave an award too but didn't.....and I allready felt bad about not finding a way to get them an award too :(    and I even had one of the guys who was asking if I was going to go to the morehead games next year becuse they wanted me to come watch them still..I might have to try and make some of those games.

man I miss soccer...i almost wish the rules would let me have pratice once a week in the off season.  

This morning I joined DRBA for their monthly 1^st Saturday outing. This was the last paddle trip for a while (Dec, Jan, and Feb I think will be hikes). There were about 30 or 40 people in the group all total. We put in at the NC 704 Bridge in Madison (for the one person who knows where that is) and then we paddled about 5 miles to a private access on the river. On the way I saw a red tailed hawk, one or two blue herons, and a bald eagle right at the end. The other highlight of the trip was all the old navigation structures from when the areas cites were built on river traffic. Oh, and our lunch stop was at Long Island, which is where some of Greens army crossed the river when retreating from Cornwallis after the Battle of Guildford Court House (and for those of you who don’t what I’m talking about – basically this is the start of the end of Cornwallis as he had over extended his army and goes on to limp into Yorktown where he surrenders.)  Also, saw a random boat that appeared to have floated down river after a storm and got stuck on some rocks. Here is a link to the pics I got. Sadly, no pics of the herons or the bald eagle, (didn’t have time to get the camera out of the dry bag) but some nice ones of the river and scenery. 

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=y4jnvxo.ajrk95e4&x=0&y=hf86cp&localeid=en_US

 

 

 
the season is over....yesterday we lost 1-0 to the team that is probably the conference champion. And that was without one of our best players who did something stupid and got suspended last week.   that game was the only game we didn't score in but it was probably the fewest goals the other team scored all season and the closest win they had.  but today, in our last game, we went out on top and played a very complete game.  It was a 1-0 victory for us against a team that we should have beaten the first time but we gave up two easy goals to let them tie us.  So to win the season series with them was satisfying.  and it was the first time we held a team scoreless, so that was great for me, a former defensive player.  I even let the kids douse me with water (this became an obsession with them prior to the first game and I told them to wait to the last game).  So while the past few weeks the season was dragging and I was ready for it to be over today’s game has me kinda pumped and I know I'm going to miss having soccer every day....so will the kids too.  When I pointed out Monday was our last practice they started to beg me to have a Thursday practice, even though there were no more games to play. 

went hiking today at 2 spots along the smith river...very cool..nice colors...at the 1st spot I followed a side creek up to where this old small dam made a waterfall and that was rather nice...there was a great blue just chilling there too, so that's about as close as I've come without them flying off.  the 2nd place the army core has made a very big dam with a very big lake behind it.  after I went down to the river I hiked back up to dam/lake level and scrambled over loose rock, wet rock, undercut rock, wet leaves, and over/under fallen trees till I came to a boat ram..then I walked back up to the parking lot...those intrested here is a link to the phots I took today

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=y4jnvxo.1wv6owuc&x=0&y=-u18bm8&localeid=en_US

good day today...did some school work early...then went to vote.  kinda surpised to see all these judge and stuff on the ballot as i've not seen jack in terms of tv, radio, or even yard signs about these people...how I was suposed to maek an informed decesion i don't know....this is why rome with to an empier....after voting I went to my folks place..we ended up driving on the blue ridge parkway..leaves were very nice in spots but still green in others....kinda want to go hiking or kayaking tomarrow, but at the same time it'd be nice to have someone to hike/kayak with.

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