Friday, November 15, 2019

Looks like a rainy day--no tennis??

This is what you do if:
  • you are old
  • you live in Naples
  • you have a lot of money (that is about a $250,000 Bentley)
It looks like a slow, rainy and stay at home day here in Naples.  On my daily bike ride I got to within a quarter mile of home before the clouds opened up and dumped!  It looked like the early tennis got in about a half hour of play before the rain.  I am supposed to play at 10:30 but that is a big IF.  
What a day.  It looks like a good chance of rain AM and PM, a high of 77, NO appt or things to do!  Sounds almost like a perfect day.  I may just brew myself a second pot of FP and open up a new book.

April 25, 1969
It was a Friday afternoon and Gail and I were nearing the end of our student teaching at the School for the Deaf in Devils Lake.  It had been a LONG and DIFFICULT quarter in many ways.  Student teaching had been perhaps 200-300% more work than we had figured.  We had moved in the fall, moved back to Minot in the winter and then moved back to Devils Lake in the spring!  In addition to teaching pretty much full time there were lesson plans due each Thursday for the next week and those plans often covered 15 to 20 pages.  In our plans we were expected to write down EVERYTHING we would say in each 55 minute lesson!  We were looking at only 4 weeks left of student teaching and then there was the big question.  There were 6 in our class and we knew of 3 openings at the school for the next year.  The 6 of us would sit around on weekends talking about when/who would be offered a job for the coming year.  It was getting down to crunch time as we needed to look towards the following fall and what we would be doing and where we might be.  We had found out a short time ago that Gail was pregnant and the baby would be coming in December.  We had not told Superindent Hayek.  On this Friday I glanced out the window about 2:45 and noticed Mr. Hayek walking towards the school building.  He seldom came over from his office so I wondered what he was up to.  A few minutes later he stepped into my room where I was teaching and asked if I could stop by his office around 4:00.  He gave No indication what it was about but I suspected it may be about the next year.  The school bell rang at 3:30 and I hurriedly packed my things and headed over to Old Main where Gail and I lived.  Shortly after I got there Gail came in the door and said Mr. Hayek asked to see her at 4:30.  This was interesting.  Shortly thereafter I knocked on his office door and entered.  With a smile on his face he said he was offering me a teaching position for the fall.  He said he would like to offer me a salary of $6000 for the year and in order to do that I would need to help Mr. Brenner with football and basketball!  I said I would think about it and let him know on Monday.  As I left I knew the decision would be to stay and teach but I did not want to say so on the spot.  On my way back to Old Main I walked through the school building just to get a sense of "this would be my place next school year"  Gail left our apartment in Old Main and walked over a bit later.  We had already talked and decided that with the baby coming in December teaching was not in the cards.  Later she related that Mr. Hayek made some attempt to convince her she could have the baby and still teach but of course he was not going to make his case, "for sure".  So by the middle of the following week we were set for the upcoming school year.  I would be teaching fourth grade, a group of students that had been difficult, at best, this year.  We would live in Old Main, on campus, and our rent would be $95 a month.  That may sound like a good deal and it was except our apartment in Old Main had NO kitchen.  We would be walking down two flights of stairs into the basement and then walking through the underground tunnel into the main building where there was a kitchen we could use!  So begin our journey into family life and the world of work.

The end of the school year came and went and I needed to earn money.  There just were not many places one could look for a job in Devils Lake.  Finally, after sitting around for a week or so, I decided to drive out to Lake Ready Mix to see if they needed a driver.  An hour later I walked out not knowing what I had gotten myself into.  They had offered me a job driving cement truck and my salary would be a whopping $1.90 an hour with maybe some over time!  I knew nothing about cement, I did not know the area around Devils Lake and I certainly did not know anything about how to keep up a truck that was just a bit larger than "Big Red" on the farm!  However we needed the summer income and my line was "I grew up on a farm with trucks and tractors so I can do this job!"  It turned out to be a good gig for me over the next three summers.
The 69/70 school year came and went.  I helped coach football and I coached the grade school basketball team.  I also kept the clock, kept the score box and called in all the scores for the varsity team.  In my classroom I had enough challenges to keep me more than busy.  I had Loren C who challenged me to a fight with the point of a compass, I had Loren L who was too smart for his own good and then there was Jim who was challenged in ways you could not imagine.  I should not forget Diana who peed on the carpet one morning and Cheryl who had a hard time in any endever she took on including her school work!  I am not sure what Mr. Hayek saw but in the spring of the year he offered to renew my contract and said he wanted me to move up to 5th grade with the SAME KIDS!!! Perhaps all the other teachers refused to have them!  
The next year we were forced to move off campus and find our own home.  That turned out to be one of the best moves ever but in getting it done we had more than our share of "interesting events".  At the end of my second year of teaching Mr. Hayek approached me and said he would like me to be employed under Title 1 for the next year.  I was apprehensive as I could see that not working out and then I could be out of a job.  He assured me that would not be the case.  He said there would be money to purchase extra things for the classroom and also for a teacher aide.  That sealed the deal and I accepted  the offer.
this is getting too long, to be continued tomorrow

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