September 26, 2004

We're Having Fun Now!

School has taken a backseat again to the new hurricane, Jeanne. I'm sitting here watching the occasional gusts and showers as the outermost bands are approaching St. Augustine. The kids went wild when they found out that school would be cancelled Monday and I spent most of the afternoon Friday 'beating them down' and trying to get them to complete a gene selection lab. It was a very frustrating day trying to motivate excited 9th fraders who basically wanted to just get out of there.

By Saturday night we had finished our hurricane preparations at home. I should have known better than to partake in a couple of drinks to relax me for sleep. The rosacea flared up tremendously and I suddenly looked like I had been pelted with scarlet paint balls on my face, shoulders, and arms. Ice packs, aspirin, clonodine, and chamomile cream helped to tame the symptoms during the night and most of the redness is gone now.

Power went out for a short while this morning but it is currently back on. The worst is expected in the next few hours, but NOAA has downgraded the threat so we are now expecting just 2-4 inches of rain and 50 mph winds. This may still cause some major power problems here since some trees weakened from Frances will probably take down some lines. Florida Power and Light did not have time to repair all of the previous damage and we have a lot of power poles here that are leaning at crazy angles and lines that have been jury-rigged together. I have my fingers crossed that we will escape any major power loss this time and we will not have to relocate all of the pets like last time.

When things get back to normal next week I am going to have to regroup and arrange a teaching schedule for the next few weeks that will cut a few corners on time. Sequencing material with all of these breaks is a major headache but I'll do the best I can to keep the kids learning and involved. No more hurricanes!!!

Posted by Ken Albin on September 26, 2004 05:55 AM

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