Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Less than two weeks to the beginning of spring break. Aye yi yi. Time just keeps on slipping by. I'm okay with this, though, because for my spring break I'll be setting off for Nebraska! Yep, you read that right. Nebraska. Most people head south to warmer weather. Me? I head west, to a state that could experience a blizzard during the time I'll be there. But hey, that's what adventure is all about, right? My spring break adventure is a short trip to experience the spectacle that is the Sandhill Crane migration . I've booked an overnight stay in a blind on the Platte River, so hopefully I'll witness some serious crane behavior that happens at dusk and then again at dawn. I'm so stoked for this. The only thing I really need to get before my trip is some long johns. I have everything else thanks to the backpacking trip in Iceland. When I bought all the gear for Iceland, I worried over paying for things that might not be used all that often, so it's re...

With no meetings scheduled for tomorrow, I am officially on spring break. I do have papers to grade over break, so I won't have a week of no work-related items to finish up, but since I have no plans whatsoever, I don't mind having papers in need of grading. This semester has been quite strange for me. I've always taught five or six writing classes each semester for the past 17 years. That's a lot of papers to read and respond to. This semester, because of the release time I have for WAC and the Writing Center, I'm only teaching two writing classes, one of which is online. This puts me in the classroom for one class twice a week. The reduction in assignments to grade has been such that I have not had to spend several hours in the evenings and during the weekends grading. I've been able to do other things. Like read. Take Ado for longer walks. Clean my shop. Sit in my hammock swing on the back deck. Just so many non-work related activities that have been good f...

A last minute decision made today. I was headed out the door to go to work, during my spring break mind you, when I received a text from Hubby telling me to ride up to the lake and see the house he's been doing some work on. I stopped and said, "That sounds way better than going to work." So I hustled about the house, changing clothes and gathering up my cycling gear, and within 20 minutes I was on the road. Sometimes the work just has to wait.