run for the trees

Today I was nearly savagely murdered by a hoard of eagles because they wanted my sweet puppy for lunch.

Not really. But what actually happened was kind of creepy.

My attention was first drawn to the fact that large birds of prey enjoy feasting on small dogs in the wonderful romantic comedy, The Proposal. (Which was disappointingly filmed in Boston with a fake mountain backdrop, instead of in Alaska or Canada with a real mountain backdrop.) I didn't think much of it because at the time, the only dog in my life was an eighty-pound labradoodle who was not exactly in danger of being snatched by an eagle.

It didn't come up again until I brought Charlie home for the first time. We took him on walks around our neighbourhood, where there is a lot of forest, and consequently a lot of hawks.

"Keep him on a leash," my mother warned, "lest he be picked up by a hawk." So I did.

Then recently, while Charlie was playing with a small dog in front of my apartment, the owner of that dog commented on how he one time saw an eagle STAB A CAT and then wait for it to die, because the cat was too difficult to abscond with while among the living. I stared at the man in horror, because I dislike hearing stories in which predators are eerily clever. I like it when they are like the bad guys in cartoons: not too bright.

Which brings us back to today. It was a lovely day in Campbell River, so I decided to take Charlie to the beach. We walked merrily along, him playing with seaweed and me trying not to fall over all the rocks. Then I heard an eagle, and I looked around until I saw it sitting in the tree, with three of its pals. "Neat," I said to myself. "I've never seen that many eagles at a time."

Then I noticed another eagle in a tree not too far away, and I swear it was watching us. It watched us until it decided to join its brethren in the tree that was closer to us than its previous tree. "Cool," I said to myself. "It's like an eagle party."

THEN I noticed two eagles sitting on the beach by a stream, and I am 100% POSITIVE they were staring at us. I froze, while Charlie continued to play with his seaweed, oblivious to the giant, creepy birds that were watching him. At this point, I remembered how in The Proposal the bird wasn't scared of Sandra Bullock, and snatched her phone right out of her hands. Maybe, I realized, seven eagles wouldn't be afraid of me.

I was, admittedly, torn for a moment between seeing how close I could get to the two sitting on the ground, and relocating Charlie to the safety of the path, but obviously I ended up choosing the path. We continued our walk, and the two eagles continued to watch us, until I noticed ANOTHER EAGLE in the sky above us!

So we went back to the car and went home, leaving eight eagles to plot for the next time.

like almost nothing in the world

The sun came out today. I love all types of weather, especially extreme weather: I danced in the wind and hail all the way to Tim Horton's with my grade sevens yesterday. However, sometimes it's just nice to see the sun. I went for a walk beside the ocean and it seemed like everything was basking - there were these birds sitting on a rock with their wings open, like they were going to take off, but they stayed that way for a really long time. Either taking a really long time to psych themselves up for flying, or airing out the armpits, or warming the feathers in the unexpected sun. I wore several layers for my walk, but shed most of the outer ones as I went because not only was it sunny, it was a tiny bit warm. Do you remember what warm feels like? I had almost forgotten that you can be outside and be warm at the same time.

cougars ruin everything

The sun came out today. It's been weather from a Jane Austen book for the whole week, so when I saw the sun I gasped and ran to my car and drove to the beach. It was wonderful and peaceful, and I was quite enjoying myself until I had a sudden flashback to a staff room conversation from Friday.

Teacher 1: "There's more cougars on Vancouver Island than anywhere else."
Teacher 2: "I know what you mean. When I go for a walk with my son in the forest, there is no distance between them and us. They watch us."
Teacher 1: "They like the little guys. They can pick you up and climb up a tree no sweat."

I know I'm not a little guy objectively speaking, but relative to a cougar? I don't know! I've never seen a cougar in real life! Maybe they're three times the size as me so to them I am a little guy! So then my wonderful morning at the beach was ruined, and I had to convince myself not to run to my car, lest there be cougars about and all they were waiting for was for me to give chase. Sometimes my penchant for eavesdropping gets me in trouble.

Last weekend I had the best pork ever to exist in the world, and I got the recipe but the recipe called for a crock pot. So yesterday I bought a crock pot, and this morning I plopped all the pork inside, and mixed up the ingredients for the fantastic sauce. You know how when you're making something wonderful, you want to smell it while you're making it? I smelled it, and that was a mistake. That may be because there is cider vinegar in the sauce, and that stuff smells disgusting, and also it could be because I was supposed to use chili sauce but I used sweet thai chili sauce instead. I hope it works! I am so concerned.

Report cards are due on Monday. Guess what I'm doing today? Not report cards! Because I finished yesterday! I am totally a report card pro now. Starting on Monday I get to teach English 7, which I am SO EXCITED ABOUT, and also I get a prep every day, which I am EVEN MORE EXCITED ABOUT. It's going to be amazing.

is it ever really yelling time

Yesterday my students had a giant test on acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, because they have been driving me bananas. After that, during Bible class, I asked them about what kind of volume was acceptable, and one student said, "WHISPERING AND NOT YELLING." I said, "WHY NOT YELLING?" and he said, "BECAUSE THIS IS BIBLE CLASS, NOT YELLING TIME." I found this hilarious because he and I were on opposite ends of the room, having that conversation at yelling volume, and I liked how he called it "yelling time."

It's sunny today! It hasn't been sunny in a very long time. I think I will go to the beach, after I make a dent in my giant pile of marking. Of course, since the ground is covered in frost, I will need to go to the beach in a scarf and gloves. I love going to the beach in a scarf and gloves!

curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight

This is what happened today:

In the computer lab one of my students slams his hand down on the desk. "What is going on here?" I ask him, outraged because the computer lab is supposed to be a quiet place. "He touched me weird," the student whines, pointing to the person beside him. "It was a reflex." This, naturally, sends me into a laughing fit so intense I am not breathing for practically 3 minutes. (Students are used to this by now so nobody is alarmed.)

At the Shoreline Clean-Up this afternoon one of my students grabs a rope he spots under a log, tugs it SUPER HARD and goes flying backwards with the rope in his hand, doing a crazy dance so he doesn't lose his balance. I immediately burst out laughing so hard I almost pee my pants. "I thought it was going to be stuck!" he protests.

Yesterday in Science I mentioned to my students that if they find a dead thing on the beach like they did last year, DO NOT TOUCH IT because that's how the Black Plague started, by touching one dead rat. (I'm not sure if this is historically accurate. If I say something passionately and with conviction, pretty much everyone believes me. Anyway, the origin of the Black Plague was not the important part, it was emphasizing that they were NOT to touch dead stuff.) But since it was Science class, I told them if they saw a dead thing to call me over and we'd investigate it safely! So today we found a dead seal who had MELTED into RUBBER so his FACE was FLAT. No joke. Flat face. Then we found a dead porpoise with a missing eyeball. (I had to yell at the grade two students to not touch it, because they missed the Black Plague conversation.)

Then a student found a condom, which I had to pick up with two sticks and secretly put into a garbage bag so nobody freaked out. Sometimes I don't like being the teacher.

This is what's happening tomorrow:

A wedding! I brought two outfits with me and can't decide which one to wear, but it's important that I choose soon so I can paint my nails to match. Of course the wedding is more important. It's going to be lovely and wonderful and I am very excited!

A friend who is attending the same wedding is bringing this for me, which I ordered to an American address she supplied to save on shipping. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS. I am going to wear it every day.

Then I need to go to Value Village to buy stuff to be a pirate for Pirate Day at school, because there is no Value Village in Campbell River.

On a different note: FINALLY THE NOISE HAS STOPPED IN MY APARTMENT. The night before last I burst into tears because I couldn't tell if I was hearing it or not, and when I put in my earplugs I couldn't tell if it was my heartbeat I was hearing or the noise, so I thought I was going crazy. Last night I was pretty sure that I couldn't hear it, and I figure that if I have to listen that hard to hear it, it's probably okay. That kind of volume I can handle. I have been hearing the noise every night since I moved in the middle of AUGUST, and calling and calling the guy who is in charge of my building to come and fix it, and FINALLY it is fixed.

Standing at the Beginning With You (Inaugural Post!)

I love that word, 'inaugural.' I so rarely get to use it. In fact, I had to google it to make sure I was spelling it correctly, that is how rarely I use it. But now I have used it twice, and I am happy.

Today marks my return to the beach with my puppy, after a brief hiatus that resulted from me not being able to drag myself out of bed at the early hour at which I set my alarm clock. Each day I would press snooze probably three times, and then just turn the thing off. Because I have no reason to be up that early, you see - it was just part of my plan to get exercise in the morning and start the day right. Plus, I love the beach. But today, I dragged myself out of bed (after only two snoozes) and drove myself and my ecstatic puppy back to the beach. The sky was filled with ominous clouds for the whole drive, until I crossed the railroad tracks into Crescent Beach, and then I was greeted with marvelous blue skies. I think the beach missed me, too.

However, I did notice that the other people at the beach were not as cheerful as I. Downcast eyes and no jaunty "Hello!", as I felt the morning deserved. Although, I just thought of this now - I have always been really bad at knowing when to make eye contact with a stranger you are passing. Like, I don't want to have a creepy staring contest with you for ten minutes as you approach... so I look elsewhere until we are almost passing and then I make eye contact and offer a greeting. Maybe I am waiting too long, and the strangers passing me today were trying to greet me at a distance and I was the one with downcast eyes, so they thought I was being a jerk! Now I feel terrible. You know how they had those cheesy etiquette books in the 40s and 50s? I wish I could find one for now that could once and for all deal with my eye contact issue. At what point is it polite, and not creepy or rude, to meet eyes with a stranger? Or maybe everyone already knows, and I'm the only one in the dark.

Anyway. There's my story for today and my first ever blog post. I don't really know if this is going to work out, but I'll give it a try! Let me know what you think.