Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
Poison!
There was another funny moment today at school when this afternoon one of the lovely Year 1 girls came up to me and said "Mr Allen, Z is writing on his tongue with a 'texter' ( felt- tip pen)."I looked over and sure enough there he was drawing on his tongue with a felt pen." Stop that!" I said but he shook his head and just grinned, awkwardly, with his tongue out and kept on doing it defiantly." Z it's poisonous!" I cried with fake concern and his annoying grin faded quickly."Wipe it off quick!" I cried adding a touch of hysteria.Z dropped the pen with fear in his eyes."Get a tissue quick!" I was on a roll now.Z rushed across to the tissue box, his tongue still sticking out and he grabbed a tissue and started wiping at his tongue."Wipe it off!" I cried with urgency.He wiped faster."Quick! Wipe it off!" My face filled with mock concern as I pretended I feared for his life.He actually whimpered and wiped frantically at his tongue with the tissue and I could see he was now actually utterly terrified. A crowd of open mouthed class mates had gathered around to witness his final moments on Earth." O.K " I said suddenly more calmly, "It's gone." I added a sigh of relief.He stopped wiping and looked at me, his eyes blinking on the verge of tears."Never, ever do that again" I said looking at him with all the seriousness I could muster whilst trying very hard not to laugh.He shook his head sheepishly and went back to his desk.He thought I meant never ever write on your tongue with a felt pen again but no, what I really meant was never, ever say 'no' to Mr Allen again.Those are the kind of lessons I like teaching. I felt very satisfied with the outcome and I believe it was a lesson that Z will remember for quite some time.
Fun.
So...today I was back in school standing in for the Prep/Year 1 teacher who was away. There is a teaching student in the class who was teaching the full day and so I was only there to supervise. It was a pretty easy day for me though I did do some group teaching and read a story at the end of the day.They had a spelling test earlier in the day."The next word is 'fun' " said the student teacher. She put the word into a sentence for context..."We are at school and we are having fun " she said."Yes! Because Mr Allen is here with us today!" Piped up one of the class pests.I put a finger to my lips to quieten him, embarrassed for the student teacher with the implication that it was not fun without me.
And then there were ten.
So...we recently returned home from a day on which we were both working to fine we were another chook down. This one was taken in broad daylight so it could only have been a fox this time. I saw a scruffy looking fox cross the road in front of Roxy the other day down by two the gate. The missing chook was one of the last two from our last batch of chicks and was unnamed. We suspect it was another rooster so it is no great loss. Will found a scattering of white feathers in the bush at the back of the house. On the day it went missing we returned to find the rest of the hens all huddled together for safety by the house. They don't wander too far from the house these days. We have not been getting any eggs as they have all been moulting but in the last few days we have had two eggs so hopefully they will start laying again soon.
