Manufacturing Time

A Teacher’s Lament

By Kalli Dakos

Don’t tell me the cat ate your math sheet,

And your spelling words went down the drain,

And you couldn’t decipher your homework,

Because it was soaked in the rain.

Don’t tell me you slaved for hours

On the project that’s due today,

And you would have had it finished

If your snake hadn’t run away.

Don’t tell me you lost your eraser,

And your worksheets and pencils, too,

And your papers are stuck together

With a great big glob of glue.

I’m tired of all your excuses;

They are really a terrible bore.

Besides, I forgot my own work,

At home in my study drawer.

Last night's inch or two of snow carved out a piece of extra time

manufactured time - for me to blog this morning instead of this

evening. It's raining now, and the wet, congealed snow is plopping,

with squelchy thuds from the trees onto the ground, the cars, and

the roof. My oatmeal steams in its bowl, topped by walnuts and dried

cherries. I'm dressed and ready to go but reveling in the fact that

I can stay home for another half-hour.

Spinning: Decided to go for a 3-ply, and split the fiber vertically into 3 lengths. It took awhile to get the weight of the three bats the same, but they're ready to go. Problem is, I'm going to Maine this weekend and don't really want to lug the wheel.

"Night Owl" Merino bumps

Knitting: Twenty rows into the foot. Twenty rows to go before toe shaping.

Almost there!

Exercise: As promised yesterday, I lifted weights, increasing some to 15 pounds, and cycled. Today I will be home late from school but I plan to do 30 minutes of cycling or "boxing". Quotation marks are a must.

Food/Water:  Tomorrow is a weigh-in day - I will keep that in mind.