The Day After Ellen's Birthday Post


 Yesterday, February 27, 2024, she turned 17.  Amazing.  But of course I didn't get any recent photos.  Here she is from about 6-7 years ago when her hair went down to her butt.  This was when I was the one still brushing it for her.  She was in middle school, I believe; maybe 5th grade.  Her hair caused more stress in the mornings than anything I can ever think of.  I am not sure of the exact time, but not long after this picture was taken I advised her that she was quite old enough to be brushing her hair for herself.  It was not long after THAT when she decided she wanted it cut.  


I think the above photo was from just last year maybe.  She has kept her hair about as above; short enough to handle easily, but long enough to do different styles with.  She has mastered French braids, and does other random pony tails or braids, along with curls and the like.  

She keeps herself busy.  At the moment she is working on a presentation for the FBLA state competitions in Springfield. It will be a summary of what all their chapter has been involved in over the course of this past school year.  

Just this week she started doing "manager" work for the track team.  This is sort of out of her usual realm of activities, but I am glad she is getting involved in some sort of sport, even as a manager.  I was never active in any sport, though in middle school I also worked with the track team both years, I believe.  I was never athletic so I never competed, but it was good to be involved.  I hope she has fun with it.

Yesterday in her government class they took the test on the US Constitution; which they have to pass to graduate.  Ellen missed one question.  Today they are taking the test on the Missouri Constitution.  She is nervous about that one.  But I am sure she will pass it.  

She is currently struggling with the trigonometry section in her math/calculus class, but she will prevail I am sure.  The last quiz they took...no one passed it.  I think this is more a failure of the teacher than the students.  The teacher is a very nice lady, but the first of this month she took like 10-12 days off to go to Morocco.  I am not sure of the reason for vacationing in the middle of the school year, but I think it set all of the class back a bit as the substitute wasn't up on what was required.  

She just finished and submitted her rough draft of a 5 page essay for one of her classes; I can't remember which class.  

She is planning on pursuing a career as a school counselor.  Once she is certified for that; whatever that process may entail, if she discovers that school counseling isn't for her, then she can branch out into any of several different career opportunities.  

The world is her oyster at age 17. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Oyster

It isn't even halfway through the month yet and I have run out of lists or anything amusing to tell you about the dairy. So here is a poem I picked up on a homesteading forum. It does deal with ag issues, just of a different sort... Enjoy! The Oyster Baxter Black The sign upon the café wall said OYSTERS: fifty cents. "How quaint," the blue-eyed sweetheart said with some bewildermence, "I didn't know they served such fare out here upon the plain." "Oh, sure," her cowboy date replied, "We're really quite urbane." "I would guess they're Chesapeake or Blue Point, don't you think?" "No ma'am, they're mostly Hereford cross . . . and usually they're pink But I've been cold, so cold myself, what you say could be true And if a man looked close enough, their points could sure be blue!" She said, "I gather them myself out on the bay alone. I pluck them from the murky depths and smash them with a
Read more

Like Cats A'Fightin'

Image
That's a local saying when it's snowing hard. Snowing like cats a'fightin'. You can look out and see the fur flying. Ellen had never been outside while it was actually snowing. She was enchanted. She had to have a bucket of it to carry around. It was in the mid-20s but we took a bit of a walk before coming back in for a nap. The snow is still too dry to be able to make a snowman, it is really powdery. So far we have somewhere between 3 and 4 inches, I would suspect.
Read more

The Blind Calf Story

Image
This happened last month. I thought it was an interesting case. Wed Aug 15th 2007 8:30 AM: Went out and brought new heifer calf and cow in from field. Not too sure how old calf was; umbilical cord sort of dried up, but calf still seemed damp. Left her with cow all morning ‘til maybe early afternoon, then separated them. Beautiful, normal calf. 6 PM Fed calf bottle. She slugged back the whole thing. Thurs Aug 16th5:15 AM (approx) Calf comatose. Or as near as I could tell. She was on her side, non-responsive, drooling, head on ground, eyes closed or just barely opened. I tried to feed her bottle but she only swallowed convulsively once or twice, then milk just drained from her mouth. 5:30 AM. Husband went out and looked at her. Drug her out of pen and out of the way to be taken to boneyard later after chores were all done. She was barely breathing and as I said, totally non-responsive.This was a real grief as the cow she came from is a great milker and to get a heifer from her was a joy.
Read more