Saturday, September 28, 2013

fifth week of teaching complete

My fifth week of teaching is done and it was a pretty good week. My two British Literary History II classes went well and my other classes were both okay. I took a trip to Big Stone Gap (which I had never seen) and overall it was a disappointment. I didn’t find any pretty little trout streams although I did fish the Clinch and the North Fork of the Holston. I didn’t even get a hit although I fished the Holston seriously. Instead of walking around a cute little town, I ended up at an Applebee’s in nearby Norton. I guess I am glad I finally got out that way. Everything in the hollow is fine. I have done some more road and orchard trimming and I have been eating lettuce from my greenhouse. I have replanted the spinach and I am hoping the second planting does a lot better. Cathy Gallo sounds much better and I am very glad. I was pretty worried about her.

Friday, September 20, 2013

fourth week of classes--still slightly sane

It is Friday the 20th of September and my fourth week of teaching is over. I had a good class on Keats and a decent class on introducing the Victorians so I feel a little better toward the Literary History course. My other classes are going well but I don’t have many decent poets in my Poetry Writing class. I have the house in good shape and I will try to cut the grass on Sunday. It rained heavily this morning and we really needed the rain. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and that will also be good. I will see Gyorgyi for dinner and a movie tomorrow and that should be fun. I have made my reservations for Wild Dunes for the 23-27 of December (where I will see Gabe and Francesca and Julian) and I paid for my Big Bend tickets today in Lynchburg. With the thousand dollar voucher the train trip will only cost me 339 dollars. It should be a fairly inexpensive trip. David is supposed to come on Sunday and start work on the ailanthus infestation and I hope the weather is okay. I should be eating fresh lettuce from the greenhouse this week although the spinach hasn’t worked out to much. I will replant tomorrow and give it another try. I talked to Rosemary about this semester and explained how hard the Literary History course is and I asked her to give me the American Literary History course next time. I do have a good schedule of the spring and that will make my life a lot less difficult. I talked to Dean O’Brien today and we had a nice chat. He is doing well and I will see him over Thanksgiving. Cathy Gallo isn’t doing too well but hopefully the antibiotics will help soon.

Friday, September 6, 2013

a very busy and stressful second week

My blogging will have to be pretty occasional with all the work I have to do this semester. 331, British Literary History, is killing me. TV dish and up by the solar panels. I played golf for the first time in a week since I have been so busy, and though me back was aching (I had to take some ibuprophen) I shot a 45 with some very lucky shots. I am riding my bike every day and I practiced my sax for the first time in a week this morning. My greenhouse is doing well with the peas at least six inches tall and a lot of lettuce up. I should be eating some within two weeks. I had a talk with Jeff but he refuses to admit that Edward Snowden is a criminal and there is really no point of discussion. Snowden clearly broke some major laws and to me the question is whether his criminal behavior is justified. There is no doubt he is a criminal. I am too busy to waste time trying to get Jeff to at least accept the facts of the case. My health continues good although I am tired a lot. Part of that is my irregular sleeping and part of it is the heat and the pollen, which is very high. I got Dougie the GED book and I offered to help him with any things he doesn’t understand. I think he really appreciates my offer. I will be glad to celebrate with him when he gets his GED. I got my first walk in this week this morning and the wildflowers are still blooming. I saw touch me not, white snakeroot, great lobelia, heal all, thin leaved coneflower, heart leaved aster, and several others. It was great to get in some aerobic exercise.