rest in peace, little buddy

It has been a rough week. For a four day week it's creeping by. The blasted F5, the Doll's uneventful doctor's appointment (her blood pressure is looking pretty good these days) and then the sudden and unexpected death of poor Buddy the cat due to what seems most likely to be cardiomyopathy, as his symptoms fit the bill to a 't'. Last night was a hard night, sleeping without him on my legs, and then coming down to breakfast, looking at the other three cats all sitting ON the counter because they have had to eat their breakfast there for years, so Buddy won't gobble his up and then steal theirs next. Now I'm thinking, how do I get these three cats used to eating on the floor again? And then wilbur scrabbles by and I think, what is the point?

We had Back to School Night at Megan's school tonight so we got to hear all of her teachers talk about the AP tests and how much work they are and how hard and then they have THIRTY kids in the AP English and History classes. ??? I'm not that impressed with that. But whatever. It's where she wants to be. She loves child development. It's a class for six weeks and then they get real actual children from town who come in and be in school with them for the rest of the year. They have to plan lessons, teach, and then they do a big graduation for them at the end of the year. It's a great class, especially for Megan, who is interested in going into something involving education or children.

The sad news in town is that a boy from Brian's second choice high school died suddenly over the weekend. Nobody seems to know exactly why, he had a skin infection and it must have become infected, but it isn't clear if he died from an invasive bacterial infection or something else, but he was not a sick or weak child at all. The community is shocked. We didn't know him at all, had never heard of him, but he traveled in many of the same circles so we know many people who did. The wakes are today and tomorrow, with the funeral on Saturday morning. Terrible news to start the year.

In other news, our pool was closed today. That's always a bittersweet day because while it's so sad to say goodbye to summer, it's cold, the pool is always full of leaves, and nobody has been in it in weeks, so we're tired of having to filter it and keep throwing the vacuum into the icy waters frequently enough to deter any algae bloom. I have no work for tomorrow, just a hob for Wednesday, I was actually requested!!! Finally! And I ran into another teacher at BTS night who said that their subs have been mostly unknown people, so they don't really know why that's happening. I talked to some people at my half day job today and most are just as confused and not working as I am, even the good subs who are usually in demand. We're all getting dejected and obsessed with searching for the elusive available spot.