Thursday, November 21, 2024

 Thursday, November 21, 2024 

     I started doing the before-bed arm exercises.  They look like boxing moves without the punching bag.   While the range of motion is good for you, the percussive, jerky moves make the difference.  I slept deeply from 9:30 to 1:30 in the morning. Unfortunately, I had insomnia for the rest of the night. I must have gotten some unsatisfactory sleep because I saw the first glimmer of daylight when I looked again. It was 6 in the morning. That's late for me. I got up and did my morning exercise routine, and Elsa and I headed out for our walk.

   I checked the status of the car's battery charge. I had trouble with it for the last two days.  Once, it didn't charge at all.  Two other times, it only charged up to 13 miles and stopped, even though the car was plugged in all night.  I started recording its progress every hour.  There was a problem. I planned to stop at Kia after I dropped Elsa off at Petco for her grooming. Then, when I checked this morning, it was fully charged, 26 miles.  It usually charges only for 24 miles.  Was the system upgrading?  (Note: I have a combined electric/hybrid.)

    I had to leave the house at 9 am to get Elsa to her grooming appointment at 9:30.  We arrived in plenty of time.  I saw two young girls staffing the front desk of the grooming salon, checking people in. I didn't see Sharlane, the groomer who gave me the correct advice for solving Elsa's skin problems. The vet told me to bathe her every other day and use a prescription anti-bacterial and anti-fungal soap. It did nothing for her skin. Sharlane told me to wash her only once a week and leave the conditioner residue on her skin for protection.  It cleared up her skin almost immediately.  Amazing!

   I was concerned she would be groomed by one of those two young and inexperienced women. Then I saw her. She must have just arrived. When Sharlane came out to speak to me, I said, "Take a look at her!" assuming she would remember something as significant as curing Elsa's painful lesions when the vet couldn't. "What am I looking at?" She didn't have a clue who Elsa was and what she was looking at.   I explained how I followed her recommendations and cured Elsa's skin lesions.  While this woman is lovely and knows what she's doing, Elsa was not happy to be left with her. She wrapped her front legs around my arm tightly and shook. Poor baby.

   While I was driving to Petco, I called Provision Solar. Today, a tech was scheduled to come and figure out what was wrong with my solar installation. Something was clearly wrong. I was getting less solar energy from my new, larger system than I had gotten from my old, broken-down one. I told Spencer my schedule for the day and gave permission for Jovian to do whatever he had to do to fix the problem, even if I wasn't home.

  Jovian, the Provision tech, called. He would be at my house at 10:30, which was perfect. I was on my way to drop Elsa off for her grooming, and I would also be home around 10:30. 

      I stopped at Safeway to pick up frozen meals on sale. Lutz told me that Safeway's sale prices were better than Target's.  I stopped at Target afterward because Safeway didn't carry Kevin's frozen foods.  I brought the sales receipt from Safeway with me to compare prices. Boy, was Lutz ever wrong. The regular price for the same items was a dollar less at Target than the same item at Safeway on sale.  I'll stick to Target in the future. Unfortunately, Haagen das was on sale again. I bought two pints, vanilla chocolate almond, and cookies and cream. Neither was very satisfying.  With any luck, this is the last time I'll fall for its lure.

   Jovian arrived a few minutes after I got home.  He worked for hours. The tech who had turned the system on after the permit came through had thought there was a problem with the panels being correctly hooked up. He had checked. He didn't tell me he hadn't found a problem.  I noticed the continuing low production value.  I called to complain. Provision was monitoring my production and saw the same problem. That's why Jovian was here. He confirmed there was no problem with the panels themselves.  He went into the attic to check the electrical hook-up. He found a bend in one of the wires. Once that was fixed, the system started producing as expected. I expressed concern about a fire hazard. Jovian told me there were several fail-safe cut-offs if anything goes wrong.

   I had a tutoring appointment scheduled for 1 pm with a new client who lives in Pacifica, California.  Her mother found the ad when my niece, Shivani, posted it.  The woman was impressed with my credentials.  One pm was an unfortunate time.  If Petco called to say Elsa was ready, I might not have time to get to Petco and back by one pm. By noon, I hadn't heard from Petco.  Too many events were happening simultaneously, such as picking up Elsa, the tutoring session, and leaving for Ulu Wini by two. Elsa's grooming made everything particularly difficult. 

  Since I hadn't heard from Petco by noon, I knew I couldn't make it back for my 1 pm session. I decided to go to town to pick her up after the session. I sent the Zoom link. Nothing. I called the girls' mom. Our appointment was for 'four o'clock' Pacific time. Yes, and it's 1 pm my time. I forgot about the time change. It was a two-hour difference now.  I suffer from moments like this but I can't begin to tell you how much I love living somewhere that doesn't do seasonal time changes. In my last years on Eastern Standard Time, I had an accident every spring. It was a nightmare.

    Realizing our appointment was for two p.m. my time, I told the mom I might be a few minutes late. I went out to pick up poor Elsa from Petco. Sharlane, the groomer, had made her look spectacular. She had also pulled as much hair out of her ears as possible and examined her for an ear infection. Sure enough, she had one. I would have to call the vet.

    I made it home in plenty of time to hook up with LV, a twelve-year-old in seventh grade. As always, I started the session by asking the students to tell me something they're good at. I do this to even the playing field. The relationship is predicated on the teacher's strengths and the student's weaknesses. 

   LV's strength was her acting skills. She had been in a production of  The Lion King, Jr. and was currently rehearsing Guys and Dolls. I didn't ask her what character she was playing. I learned she was attending a performing arts school. I didn't know they had one in Pacifica. 

   LV was playing with something while I taught.  I could see there was some antagonism, not to me specifically but to the situation. She clearly didn't want to be there. I didn't call her on it. Adolescent pride has to be protected. 

   I started working on decoding multi-syllable words. I told LV the plan was to start there, move to comprehension, and switch to working on increased fluency when both are under control. Since that work involves decoding every single word in running text, I suspect she would not be too keen on that now.   

   I started her decoding multisyllabic words with my seven-step procedure. She could read:  Portland, Oregon, and elephant.  I told her that it was impossible to decode a word in English, so it guaranteed an accurate representation of its pronunciation in speech. Using phonics rules, you can usually get close enough to figure out the word in the text of a sentence -if the word is part of your listening vocabulary.  You had to be familiar with it.  LV had a dismissive attitude, verging on rudeness, until we hit the last word. Then it clicked.  I repeatedly told her  I was teaching the procedure, not how to read those specific words that she could already read and didn't need help with. I  hoped I converted her into a word hunter in our first half hour.

   It was too late to go to Ulu Wini, though  I planned to go tomorrow. I needed to ask Shantel if I could change the days I come to tutor. LV's mother can't make it any other day than at 2 pm my time on Thursdays. She volunteered to change her schedule. I thought it would be easier for me to make the adjustment. I could go there any other day.