Warnings 16 November 2015

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Sally Gerard

blizzard warning

Sometimes it seems like we live from one warning to the next while we do our best to prepare. We are in our second blizzard warning in the last eight days, but this time it sounds like it will be much more intense. Forecasts vary of course, but somewhere between five and ten inches of snow and fifty MPH winds. Once again, the timing of the storm is giving students that hope of a snow day.

I confess that I could put a snow day to good use. While it isn’t really a ‘warning’ as such, I IMG_3875have a huge test on Thursday that I’ve been preparing for and I could use another chunk of time to study. In the teaching world, many states advertise reciprocity with other states and teaching licenses. To me, this should mean that if Colorado has granted me a professional teaching license, and I want to get a license in a state that has reciprocity with Colorado, then it should be a simple matter of filling out a form, providing my professional credential and receiving the new license from the other state. Not so fast.

Although background checks, official transcripts, teaching experience, courses and evaluations abound, that isn’t enough. I must do all of this again. The thing that is driving me nuts is that many of these requirements are federal, so why can’t they just apply nationally? If I proved with a FBI check in Colorado that I have no record, and if Colorado recognizes me as an IMG_2369official US citizen, then why doesn’t that apply in every single state? It is frustrating to say the least, especially when your livelihood depends on being able to teach in multiple states because you teach online.

So, I study for this particular state’s test because, apparently, my state’s is not good enough. My Master’s degree is not good enough. My FBI and USCIS checks are not good enough. Let the snow come and the wind blow, just not on Thursday.

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The Plains 12 November 2015

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Sally Gerard

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The plains can be so finicky. When I left to drive the sixty miles to school yesterday, it was a white-out kind of blizzard. I hate driving in those conditions. Snow drifts across the dirt road, but the dirt underneath gives a false sense of security because I figure it can’t be as bad as ice on pavement. Then, I turned onto the highway that takes me north and it was a disaster.

I was stuck driving in the ruts of the brave who ventured out before me. At times the wind Scan13_0013was so strong that I couldn’t see the hood in front of me. Slick and icy, I wondered why the plows hadn’t been out yet. I told myself that this was stupid; I should just turn around and go home. I couldn’t for the life of me, understand why school hadn’t been called off where I teach.

Taking more than twice my normal time, I finally got to Akron and found the snow plows just heading south-figures. Five miles west, there was nothing. Dry roads and no snow. It can be that way here. Sometimes you feel like you are leaving one world and entering one completely different. By the time school let out and I was headed home in the dark, the highways were clear and dry.

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First Snow 11 November 2015

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Sally Gerard

 

Cold, snowy mornings

Cold, snowy mornings

The first snow came in the very early morning hours today, along with a cold wind. There aren’t many days that I don’t rise and head out for my run by 4:30. Today was no different, except that when I looked out the window and felt the wind against the side of the house, I decided that crawling back into bed seemed the better choice. Like thousands of kids, I was hoping for that phone tree call to tell me that I wouldn’t have to get in the pick-up to drive through the drifting snow to school, but it IMG_2381never came.

I can be funny about snow days. For the most part, I never count on them. But this forecast for an early morning snow with strong winds was the recipe that usually results in a snow day, and indeed, the surrounding districts are out for the day. Last night, I’d made a list of things I’ve been wanting and needing to get done and a snow day would be just the ticket. I guess there’s always the weekend. I am having dreams of Christmas lights!

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Sestina 10 November 2015

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Sally Gerard

October is harvesting corn,IMG_0270

fourteen hours in a John Deere tractor.

Bumping along the rows,

followed by a bulky brown cart.

Drinking coffee on the way to the field,

plotting the demise of the circle of stalks.

 

Silver combine chews up stalks,

churning out leaves and cobs, sheltering golden corn.IMG_3946

A wide swath torn from the field;

the bright green tractor

labors with the fully loaded cart,

heaving it through the harvested rows.

 

Fair-haired leaves line the rows,

stripped from their once tall stalks.IMG_0279

The brown cart

cares only for the rich, yellow corn;

crushing the leaves, it rolls behind the tractor.

Rabbits flee the destruction in the field.

 

The sun moves higher as we work the field,

throttling, rotating, surging past the rows.

The world shrinks, becoming the tractor,

as tall graceful stalks

yield their treasure, and the corn

calls out to the empty cart.

 

Hungry semi’s wait for the cartDSCN1906

in a line at the end of the field.

Craving, longing, yearning for corn,

unmoved by the bleak and bitter rows.

The wind teases the remaining stalks,

swaying and bending when passed by the tractor.

 

Darkness approaches, stop and fuel the tractor,

its’ shadow swallows the cart.

Tripping over the shorn stalks,

time has come to leave the field.

Corn stalks in late November

Wraithlike sit the empty rows,

eerily weeping for their corn.

 

Another field, unsuspecting, will host the big, green tractor,

hauling the cart through the rows

yielding the stalks for the looting of the corn.

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Harvest 9 November 2015

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Sally Gerard

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Corn harvest likes to begin in October and sometimes last well into December when the weather doesn’t cooperate. I love to run the grain cart during corn harvest. I can’t say exactly what it is, but there is something about those long rows of stalks that call to me. The way the stalks crackle in the breeze and that mellow smell of drying leaves that is fall to me.

I used to be able to work all of corn harvest, until I started teaching full-time. Now, I only get the chance occasionally. This weekend was one of those chances. And it is kind of like learning to ride a bike in that the routine comes right back to you. There have been some changes in the technology of the tractors though, so that took a little getting used to. IMG_0267

I found the rhythm still in my bones and I still like to climb out on the tractor tire and watch the corn as it streams out of the grain cart auger and into the truck, and then flows like a waterfall into the auger that corkscrews it up into the bin. Climb in and out of tractors and then propel back out to the IMG_0268combine for another load.

 

Move everything to the next field and climb the grain bin to open the top for the unloading auger to be set. The whole world is before you up there, and I never could resist leaning down with my head in the empty bin to sing and laugh at the echo that comes up out of that big empty space. It’s magic.

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Needs 5 November 2015

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Sally Gerard

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We spend a good amount of time needing things which really translates to wanting things. Lately, I’ve been thinking about wedding vows probably because I’m going to be married soon. Duh. What is it we really need in love? I think I know what she needs:

She needs him to grow old with her, to tell her his dreams and let her help him realize them. She needs him to trust her with his heart and to know that she will never break it, but will nurture and respect, shelter and revere his heart. She needs IMG_3825him to know that she will love him without holding back, like the Earth loves the sky through bright blue, fierce storms, the complete dark of night and the first pink wash of dawn.

Why does she value these needs so much? Maybe because she was so fearlessly and lovingly made by One who shared these needs and molded them into her very bones. Maybe she forgot that she is not a stone. No. She was made to love and to be loved. And she has found that in and with him. February 13, 2016.

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Give Thanks 4 November 2015

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Sally Gerard

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I give thanks for: blue sky and big puffy clouds, rain when we get some, corn-on-the-cob picked from the field an hour before we cook and eat it, and yellow watermelon from Texas.

For homemade ice-cream, waking up in the morning and a warm place to rest at night, for the ability to speak, hear, taste, touch, and feel. For those whom I IMG_3671love and who love me. For tiny little things like purple flowers, pine cones in bright green moss, blue dragonflies, a big furry dog wagging his tail, and a horse wuffling deep in his throat.

For the quarter I find on the sidewalk, the garden coming to life in spring and going to rest in winter, our home, friends, and family. For education and learning, our freedom and those who serve to protect it. For those who need service and hope, and the God who provides.

IMG_3662For the stars in the sky and the way they are the biggest picture book ever with so many stories to tell, for the amber glow on the eastern horizon promising the new beginning after the failure of yesterday. For the Psalms so rich and full, and the way that first view of the mountains heading west takes my breath away.

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Being Better 3 November 2015

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Sally Gerard

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The time change has given me a bit of light at the end of my run in the  morning. The horses were at the corner to greet me, so I stopped to say good morning. Indian seemed a bit groggy; I’m sure he needed another cup of coffee. I’m a better person when I stop to smell the horses, so-to-speak.IMG_0259

I’d be a better person if I was more honest with myself about what really matters. If I would trust more in God and worry less. If I would listen to that soft voice inner voice advising me that the choice I’m about to make may not be the best one for me. If I did not take everything so seriously.

I’d be a better person if I rode my horse more. If I spent more time with friends. If I prayed IMG_3946more and listened more and read more scripture. If I spent more time writing without the TV on. If I paid more attention to people and less to logistics. If I worried less about dirt on the floor and more about getting together with neighbors. IMG_0086

I’d be a better person if I judged less and complimented more. If I didn’t take life for granted and instead lived each moment to the best of my ability. If I ate more peanut butter M&Ms and less broccoli. If I broke out in song more, smiled more, and let my self experience the incredible joy and beauty all around me! Thank you, God, for putting Indian in my path this morning to remind me.

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The Barn Loft 2 November 2015

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Sally Gerard

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My favorite hideaway is the barn loft. It’s always cool on hot summer days with both the north and south loft doors open to let the breeze and the blue skies in. Smelling of oats and alfalfa, it has the echo of a hundred years of hard work and haven.

I like to walk around the tongue and groove board floor and to gaze up at the apex of the roof. It is my writing sanctuary, though it is full of hay right now. Words flow easily in its quiet. There is peace there and rest from daily storms-a place where imagination is as endless as the prairie grasses undulating in the wind alongside the ripening wheat.

Mornings will find me at the south doorDSCN0841 writing, sometimes in a little camp chair and sometimes with my legs dangling down the side of the barn. When I need a bit of a break, I set my notebook down and play my guitar for a while-singing at the top of my lungs. The livestock doesn’t seem to mind.

Afternoons, I move to the north door to get out of the heat of the sun. Sometimes I find myself thinking about the lives of the people buried in the Lee Cemetery which I can see from the north door. They aren’t lonely there, I think, surrounded by all the life the plains hold and the DSCN0844rich history of family here.

There’ve been days when I couldn’t pry myself out of the loft sunk so deep in my story. It’s too cold, though, in fall and winter for my fingers to be able to write. I’d sure get a lot more done if I could.

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Define it 29 October 2015

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Sally Gerard

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What is love? Love is knowing them for who they are, reminding them of who they are when they forget or lose their way; love is understanding that all of us fall short sometimes and need second chances; love is not bringing things up that put someone down, but gently leading by example.

Love is making pasta salad even though the mere thought of Miracle Whip/mayonnaise grosses you out beyond belief; love is making that second batch of popcorn just because she wanted more, or cooking breakfast because you know it is her favorite.

Love is getting past your own petty issues and accepting that everyone has shortfalls and IMG_1629annoying habits-so smile and move on with what really matters.

Be there for each other through thick and thin because love is showing “I love you” in ways that your partner can hear it. Love is slogging around in the mud so chores get done, lessening the load for your other; love is listening even when you’ve heard it a million times, and speaking empathy even though you are helpless to do anything that will be of use.

IMG_4050Love is a decision of the heart, where the mind and body follow through to be a partner, a friend, a lover, a companion, a prayer warrior, and to be compassionate,

 

to tell the truth, to laugh and to cry, to encourage and to appreciate, to nurture and to dance, to argue and to make-up, to ride alongside while the dust of life billows out behind you.

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