What's After Work?

 "Mr. Bliss, am I going to die?" Not a question that I ever thought a student would ask me. But I answered confidently "No, you'll be safe." But in my mind I was also thinking "or I'll die trying to protect you." 10 years ago. That was when Sandy Hook happened. 10 years before that was Columbine. Now the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde Texas.  Before I retired from teaching, school shootings were one of the things on my curriculum. While not officially it was something that was there in my classroom every day. Because of these shootings teachers had to prepare for just such a situation. We had active shooter drills. These were difficult for both me and the students. This was especially true for the younger students, they had trouble differentiating between the reality and the fantasy of the drill.  In my classroom I had a red tape line diagonally across my room. All my students knew what it was for. On one side of the line you were hidden fro

 This is another twofer joy day.  Yesterday while out riding I built another of many carin on the causeway. When we moved to Safety Harbor I began building these when I rode out on the causeway to mark the halfway point of my ride. I kinda got away from it for a while but decided to bring it back. I enjoy building them and the process of getting the rocks to balance as high as possible. Sometimes it takes a few tries, this one took two tries. I also like the primitive feel of the rocks and looking at them with the bay behind. I imagine how the  Rapa Nui felt  looking at their Moai. Today I found out on my ride the final resting place of shopping carts. a few weeks ago there was only one. Now there are several including some electric riding carts. I'n wondering how long they will stay there.

 Happy  Cinco de Mayo!  Today while out on my bike ride I came across one of the Electric Harley Davidson motorcycles. I've  seen pictures online and in  magazines but this is the first time I've seen one out on the street. The first thing I noticed is that there is no clutch or gear shift lever. I guess it's just twist and go!

 One of my continuing joys is, like most of you, food.    Today we met with our good friends Kent and Leslie at the restaurant Steelbach at the Armature Works in Tampa. Steelbach is a really nice steak house. We started our dinner with drinks. Kent had his on the rocks you know "with an ice cube", Jan and Leslie shared a nice bottle and I went crazy and had a lime in my unsweetened ice tea. For dinner we shared a few sides; broccoli, mushrooms and sweet potatoes. They were quite good. and for my meat I chose lamb chops.  My grandmother Meme always liked lamb and that is where I think I got my affinity for lamb. They were very good and when they came I was surprised at how much they gave me.  I have to thank Leslie for the photos. I am always so excited when dinner arrives I never take pictures. I think Leslie had to swat away my fork so she could capture the picture of my chops before I dug in!

 Several months ago during a really bad storm a boat that had been anchored off of the Safety Harbor Waterfront Pank sank. I had been watching it as it slowly sank and started to list to the side till only the mast was above the water. I wondered if anyone would do anything about it. It did not appear to be a hazard to navigation being far outside any channels nearby.  Today as I was out for my bike ride I noticed a power boat pulled up to the sunk sailboat. There seemed to be a big pump going and later a big yellow float attached to the sailboat. I'll see tomorrow it the sailboat is floating or gone. I hope someone fixes up the boat and takes it sailing again.

 Had a nice lunch today with Jan and Patty at a local restaurant " Southern Fresh ". They were open for lunch today as part of a Pop-Up Fundraiser for the Safety Harbor Public Library. We did our part to help the library and have a great lunch.  

 Sunday after church Jan and I spent time bingeing on Ozark. Quite a few ups and downs in this dark comedy. While we really enjoyed the series we were a little disappointed with the ending. One thing I really had fun with is the title cards each episode, trying to figure out what they represented.