"Ditch Witch" Day

Mike Kayser arrived at 6:30 a.m. with the "Ditch Witch". The Kaysers had rented it to make some trenches on their property and we borrowed it today to dig the ditches for the water line to our home.

This is where the water and electrical lines will enter the house--near the garage door.
The ditch along the west side of the house.

Ditch along the north side of the house.

The ditch heading up toward the "Crow's Nest". Sometime in the future, we want to install a water feature, a bridge, and a "pondless waterfall". This ditch will also accommodate the electrical lines for power to the area.

Hertiage School's First Art Fair

The Heritage School held its first Art Fair on Friday, May 8th in the Multi-purpose room. Each child in the school created an art project in class and those students whose parents signed an "R.S.V.P." form were able to have their artwork framed. The displays were beautiful! Parents were then able to purchase the framed artwork and the proceeds went to the school. (Artwork that wasn't purchased during the Art Fair was removed from the frame and returned to the student .)

The sixth grade students were able to choose a desert, mountain, or beach sunset scene to watercolor. Then they used black marker to add details such as trees or animals.
My second grade students used watercolor to show an ocean scene at sunset. When the painting dried, the children used an origami technique to make sailboats to glue onto the picture. Then they used colored markers to decorate the sailboats. Students learned about perspective and made small sailboats for the background and larger sailboats for the foreground. I have no brain for art, so talented Ms. Jordan and I traded classes for an hour. She taught my students how to watercolor while I took her students to the Computer Lab. (I was actually able to teach the origami portion of the lesson the next day, believe it or not!)

Parent volunteers filed the unframed artwork and helped with set-up and clean-up.


Ms. Sheila Jordan, sixth grade teacher, was the Art Fair coordinator. She's still smiling, even after all that work!

Classroom Visit from Bryan Clay, Olympic Gold Medalist

Here are the winners from my second grade class who earned money for Bryan Clay's charity. Wyatt earned an autographed Bryan Clay trading card and a box of "Wheaties". The big question that everyone always asks is, "Did the box of Wheaties have cereal in it?" The answer is..."No". It is just a flat box, suitable for framing. Bryan Clay autographed the Wheaties, too.

Michael and his box of Wheaties and signed Bryan Clay Olympic trading card.

Kaitlin holds her box of Wheaties and her Bryan Clay trading card.

Close-up of the Bryan Clay Olympic Trading Card.

Aaron holds his autographed Bryan Clay Olympic Trading Card.

Bryan Clay, the Olympic Gold Medalist in the Decathlon, visited my second grade classroom on Tuesday, May 5th. Our class had raised the most money for his charity, so we were honored with a visit. One of my students, Wyatt, earned the most money in the entire school and he was presented with an autographed pair of Nike shoes. This picture shows Bryan Clay with the box of shoes. He took time to answer questions from the class. We had prepared a list of ten questions ahead of time. One of the things we asked him was if he had ever been made fun of as a child. He told us that when he was a young boy, he was smaller than most of his friends and often girls would beat him in races. He told the students to not give up on their dreams, even when it seems that things are impossible. We asked him his favorite and least favorite event in the Decathlon and he said he likes the javelin the best and dislikes the 1500-meter (approximately one mile) run. He told us his favorite subject (besides P.E.) was English literature and he likes reading Shakespeare--that was quite a surprise to me!

Bryan Clay poses with our class and the "Welcome" poster we made. Most of the students remembered to wear their "Walk-a-thon" T-shirts that we received back on March 20th when we walked to earn money for Bryan Clay's charity. Our school earned over $12,000. My student, Wyatt, earned $1,000!

This pictures shows Bryan Clay reading a book about U.S. Olympians to my class. (He really didn't read the entire book aloud to us, but our school librarian wanted a picture of him--that showed him reading--to place on her "Everyone Reads" library bulletin board.) Bryan Clay told us he likes to read, and one of the books he remembers reading as a child was a biography of Harry Houdini.

Bryan Clay posing with Mrs. Whiting. If you really want to feel old and out of shape, stand next to the Olympic Gold Medalist in the Decathlon--known as "The World's Greatest Athlete"!

Our class made a"Welcome Poster" for Bryan Clay. Each child's picture is around the edges of the poster. Bryan Clay autographed it for us.

Stop Sign

I thought I had better post something for the month of April since today is the last day of the month. It has been a weird month. Gary hurt his back earlier this month and has not been able to do anything on the house until yesterday. He has been to the chiropractor three times, and to Kaiser once, with not much relief to his pain. He finally felt well enough to cut the "fire blocks" that go between the studs and he installed some of them yesterday.


So, why am I calling this blog post "Stop Sign"? Well, last Saturday, as I drove out our driveway, there was a new stop sign--at the end of our driveway--not even at the "street" to the left which is "Rodeo Road"--the road that leads to the Kaysers' home. Gary joked that the county must have installed it after they saw me drive out of our driveway with my fast car. Gary called the county and they said they put it there because they thought it would be in the way if the put it on the road where it should be. So, be sure to stop at the end of our driveway before entering Oak Hill Road! This is an official stop sign!

Dumont Dunes

We went camping with the Doyle Family on Friday, March 27th and Saturday, March 28th at the "Little Dunes" at Dumont. We were celebrating Kurt's 17th birthday. Denny Doyle works on one of their quads. Ryan Doyle is in the foreground.
Debi's sister, Lisa, and Lisa's daughter (Kyleigh) also stayed with us in our trailer. Here's a picture of Lisa and Kyleigh posing on Gary's quad.


Kyleigh asked Uncle Gary to bury her in the sand. She remembered when Gary buried her at Pismo Beach last summer.

Kurt Doyle shows us all how to "catch some air".

David Archuleta Concert in Pomona, California

On Tuesday, March 17th, Debi and her little sister, Lisa, attended the David Archuleta Concert in Pomona, California at the Glass House. Here is a picture of us standing outside in line.

Inside the concert venue. The "Glass House" is a "standing room only" venue, but because it is so small, there isn't a bad "seat" ("stand") in the house. We were about 20 paces from the stage.

Here is the only decent picture I took of David singing. (I'm not a photographer!) We are only 20 paces from the stage, but my camera makes it seem as if we were miles away from David.

Olympic Gold Medalist Visits The Heritage School

Bryan Clay, the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal champion in the Decathlon, visited The Heritage School on Friday, March 20, 2009 to speak with students about listening to their "coaches" (teachers) and getting a good education. The students earned money for our school and for Bryan Clay's foundation, which gives scholarships to deserving students. Our school raised over $12, 000 in all. The class with the highest total...Mrs. Whiting's Second Grade! The top earner in the school came from Mrs. Whiting's class, too! He earned $1,ooo on his own by getting pledges from his friends, family, and neighbors.


This is a picture of Bryan Clay at a track and field competition. A little biography about Bryan Clay...he was raised in Hawaii and is Afro-Asian. His father was African-American and his mother was a Japanese immigrant to America. He is married and has two children. He is a devout Christian and attended Azusa Pacific University (near Los Angeles).


This is a picture of the school assembly where Bryan Clay spoke to the students. Each student was given a flag to wave and a white T-shirt to wear. The T-shirt said: "The Heritage School Supports The Bryan Clay Foundation" and "March 20, 2009" and "Go For Your Gold".

Mrs. Whiting's second graders get ready for the walk-a-thon. It was a beautiful day for walking.

Mr. Garner, our principal, is being interviewed as he proudly wears Bryan Clay's gold medal.

Bryan Clay posed for pictures, signed autographs, and gave each student a "high five" as they walked around the track during the walk-a-thon. My student, Wyatt, is shown to Mr. Clay's right side. Wyatt was the top earner in getting pledges for the walk-a-thon. Wyatt will receive a pair of Nike shoes, signed by Bryan Clay, when Mr. Clay returns to our school to visit just room #8--Mrs. Whiting's second grade! Our class collected the most pledges for the walk-a-thon.