I worked in the school office and the first couple of hours on that day were always controlled chaos. The office would be flooded with parents and students, some who were just enrolling, many who wanted schedule changes, and those who just had questions about the first day. The hallways were full of students looking for their classroom and seeing if their friends were in that class with them. Let's just say there was a lot of exciting crowd noise with the sound of phones ringing in the background. When the first bell rang signaling time to go to class, the hallways emptied and everything became quiet. The year had begun.
These days Labor Day and the day after are pretty much the same. There is no controlled chaos, just a leisurely cup of coffee or two to start the day. We have had a gorgeous weekend weather-wise with sunshine and near perfect temperatures. There's still a bit of haze blowing in from the wildfires in California and Oregon, but it's not quite as bad as earlier in the summer.
Yesterday I canned eight jars of peach salsa. It sounded like it would taste good and it does, but I'm a little disappointed in how it looks. It seemed like it should have a "peachy" color, but it does not. Hopefully, someone will eat it.
My onions are drying and papering up. I will store them in the basement soon and will have onions all winter long for homemade soup.
I am happy that the garden is getting down to the final crops to harvest. The pumpkins and squash look good. Plus, it's nice weather to begin taking out the cornstalks and tearing down the green bean poles.
We have been watching a little football and are ready for the season to begin. Jon and I are in a football pool, which we have been playing in for as long as I can remember. Years ago it was all on paper, but nowadays it's all done online. Each week we make our picks for both NFL and college game winners. The competition is fierce with the ultimate goal of having the most "wins" over the entire season. It is officially Fall when the football season begins.
We had new window glass installed a week ago by Selkirk glass. All of the windows are the original ones from 41 years ago and each of them had slowly lost their seals. It was time to do something about it. The installers from Selkirk, Jim Webb and Tyrell, were very good at their job. Jim was one of Jon's students years ago and they had a great time chatting about that.
Looking out the windows - I can see clearly now. (Sorry, couldn't help myself)
Along the same lines with home improvement we are contemplating changing our heating system from a wood furnace to another source, probably propane. It turns out that all of the heating companies are swamped with work and so far we haven't even been able to get someone to stop by here to give us an estimate. That seems to run par for the course with everything during a pandemic.
Last spring with the vaccines happening it seemed like we would be getting out of the pandemic, but who knew so many people would refuse to get vaccinated. The news about our hospitals and how many people are now ill with the virus is deeply sad. So much needless suffering is hard to understand. Growing up with polio as a life-threatening disease, we were thrilled when the polio vaccine came along. Especially in our family, since my dad had polio when I wasn't even a year old. The vaccine was a miracle.
Which brings me back to the first day of school tomorrow. I am sure that the students are so excited to be back in school with their friends, with teachers and staff feeling the same. In the era of Covid-19 I am hoping that our school officials and those making the tough decisions about how to keep our kids safe will make good choices. It was a tough year last year and it doesn't look any easier this year. Our community is depending on you. I would like to thank all of the teachers, school staff, and school board members for everything that you do. You are appreciated.
The chores for today include mowing the lawn. I'm sure there are others that will crop up from the list.
Happy Labor Day!
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