Feeding Flagstaff Friends

Doug and Nancy Peake
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

One of Esther's cousins, Nancy, and her husband are visiting from Arizona. Their parents live in Portand and Lynden and we fit in on a stop in between. Doug works with the Arizona Corrections Department helping men earn their GED. Nancy is completing her masters degree in Teaching English as a Second Language. We enjoyed an evening with them, catching up on eachother's lives. Markus and Calvin went up to Lynden for a couple of days. I poured the last section of the retaining wall at the neighbors. I also wrestled a dryer replacing the heating element. Success! It works.

Fidgeting with Footings

footings for retaining wall
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Last summer I built this deck for a neighbor, but it needs a retaining wall next to it. So this summer I am pouring a cement wall next to the steps so that the lawn can run right up to the steps. Today I set the footing and Markus helped me pour the cement. It is convenient to have several summer jobs in the neighborhood. Tonight I cleaned the scum line on Blue Wing and motored around a little. I saw a small seal laying on a floating log. He let me come within fifteen feet. I should have had my camera!

Burned out from Vegas

burned out from Vegas
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Esther and I played hooky from church today and picked up our prodigal son from the airport. (Ha!) Bjorn spent the last four days with Jenny's family and friends as Jenny's brother was married atop the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas. He was exhausted after not sleeping for the last 30 hours. When he gets tired, he is a worthless conversationalist; but we did our best to drag out as much info as we could over lunch. He had a lot of fun experiences that he has probably never had with the Bulthuis' or Eides! We stopped at the Apple Store and he bought me an iTrip for my iPod. It is much needed as my tape deck in my truck has gone on the fritz. Bjorn dropped us off at the ferry and continued on to Lynden, somehow staying awake! -- Today I came across a journal from a former missionary who brought his son back to Mkar, Nigeria to visit. He was a doctor at the hospital twenty years ago. He spent a week there this spring, as well as going to a couple of other African countries. He also had a few pictures. I was spellbound by his journal as he was acting out a lifetime dream of mine to take the family back to Mkar. I vicariously devoured every morsel of experience. Dr. Visser's journal is found at www.wholenessfc.com/html/africa_journal.html

First day of summer break

Ellen Maria comes out of hibernation
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

I had a hard time deciding what to do with my first day of break. There are tons of little projects around the house and I can get started on summer construction jobs. I decided to haul a pile of building scraps that were created when I built the fireplace last fall. I loaded up the pickup and went off to the transfer station. When I got back, I washed the truck and uncovered Ellen Maria so I can start to prepare her for summer sailing. Tonight, Calvin and I played tennis.

A real tragedy occurred in our community yesterday afternoon. A local businessman who owns a mom and pop grocery store between Port Orchard and Southworth was murdered with a rifle at close range in front of his store in broad daylight. There were many witnesses and the suspect was arrested within several minutes of the shooting. They have not found a motive as of yet. The victim was a well repected community leader with two teenagers, one who is an acquaintance of Markus. There has been an amazing amount of community supporrt for the family.

Last day of school - FINALLY!

last day of school for the year
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

It seems like summer is half over and we are finally getting out of school. Most of the morning was an all school assembly. Pete Darragh, a sixth grade teacher, put together a really cool iMovie presentation. One of the things he did was sequence the pictures of every single student in the school (670), setting the time frame at about .2 of a second. The result was a strange morphing effect. It is always hard to say goodbye to the students after two years, especially the ones who are leaving the school.

Classroom blogs

For one of our final literacy assignments for the year, we had the students write a blog entry. We told them that the winners were to be posted on my weblog. So here they are. The previous four posts were made by students in the Sidney Glen intermediate multiage class which Don Moore and myself co-teach. Enjoy

Classroom blog - IMA Mascot

Furblett Mascot
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

We as the IMA have a mascot called 'the furblett'. Furbletts are creatures mostly mentioned in drawing. Furbletts can be described as slight ovals with eyes, arms, legs, optional fur, feet, and a mouth. I personally picture them as green. Most furbletts smile very happily.

Zach M

Classroom blog - Party Till You Drop

Party Animal
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

On Wednesday at school, we are going to have our very last party of the year. One of my classmates' mom might bring a barbecue. Our party's going to be the day before we get out of school. My whole class has to provide a lot of food for the parties because we have 55 kids in my class including me. My class' name is the IMA. Our class is the biggest class in Sidney Glen Elementary School. At the end of every month, we have a class party for all the people's birthdays that were in that month.

Kalli

Classroom blog - Resolving Conflict

Conflict Resolution
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

We had our first conflict resolution demonstration. It is when we use a method for two people who are arguing. During the demonstration I thought we were on the Dr. Phil show. Here is what resolving conflict is:
1. Say what you want.
2. Say what you feel.
3. State your reason.
4. Reverse perspectives.
5. Develop three ideas to try. (to help the problem)
6. Select one idea and formalize.
7. Agree and shake hands

Chance

Classroom blog - Alex Rider rises again

Ark Angel Review
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

From Point Blanc to Skeleton Key to Eagle Strike to Scorpia to Stormbreaker, the Alex Rider adventures have finally come to it's end. With Ark Angel, Alex becomes friends with Russian multi-millionaire Nikoli Dreven. Nikoli is the first man to make a hotel on the moon. If you have read Alex Rider, you know lts name, Ark Angel!!!

Tyler L.


My teacher, Mr. Moore got Ark Angel all the way from England. It took a long time to get here, but it was worth it. By the way, Ark Angel is one of the Alex Rider books. It's a really good book; well, so far it's been good. So if you get that book, you will like it


Aaron T.

I couldn't resist

roller reefed mainsail
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

A hot day on land with a strong breeze on the sound. It was more than I could stand. Esther agreed to a late supper, so off I went to the boat. The wind was pretty stiff, so I thought that I would reef the main (not let out all the sail). Blue Wing has a roller reef system, where you just roll the bottom of the sail around the boom. Conditions were great when I started out. I had just the right amount of sail for comfortable sailing. After about an hour, the wind softened, so I let out the full sail. Then it died almost completely and I motored home.


There are only three days of school left. The students are getting a little restless, but not as much as the teachers! I have already started to get the room prepared for summer. I will probably bring the eMac home for summer, as it will probably be safer and no other hands will mess with it.

Flapjacks with Fathers

Flapjacks with Fathers
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Friday morning the dads of Sidney Glen students were invited to have pancakes with their children at Sidney Glen. The PTA used electric grills in the gym to cook the pancakes. There was a great turnout, so unfortunately the grills got a little behind. But with a little patience, everyone was filled. On another note, we are thrilled that Lucas was hired at Orchard Heights as a fourth grade teacher. He competed with over 200 applicants. What a week for him - the lows of bad allergies and an accident on the way to the interview to the news of his hire! We are anxious to have he and Amy around in a couple of months.

Sixth Grade vs. Teacher Softball

Teachers vs. 6th grade softball
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Once again the teachers defeat the Sidney Glen students. This time it was in softball. Each one of the four sixth grade classes got to battle it out with the teachers for an inning. All the sixth graders got to bat, and the teachers got four outs an inning. The whole school comes out to watch. One more week of school. Finally!

Converting a Landlubber

converting a landlubber
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Luke and I went sailing together this evening. The sail started out with a nice wind, but died down after an hour. Luke is staying a little longer in Washington on account of a vehicle mishap. On his way to his job interview, a speeding teenage girl clipped him in the rear as he crossed in front of her. It happened about a quarter mile from where the interview was, so they came over and arranged for a later interview. The interview went well, and we are all anxiously awaiting the decision, which should come Friday.

Another Fantastic Trip to Neah Bay

exploring tide pools
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Every year we take our fifth grade students and their parents to Neah Bay for a weekend. Once again the weather was great, even though it was raining back home. We left school at six oclock in the morning for the four hour ride out to Neah Bay. The first activity was a three mile hike through the mud to Shi Shi Beach (arguably the nicest beach on the WA coast) It was a minus tide and the reefs and rocks created thousands of unique tide pools. We spent two hours exploring the sea creatures. Next, we drove back to Neah Bay for a visit to the Makah Museum, a collection of artifacts uncovered from an ancient village at Cape Alava. Then it was back to Makah Bay to set up camp. We are very fortunate to have an agreement with the tribe to use a field right on the wonderful beach. We even had a complimentary guard dog, a friendly Newfoundland that spent the whole time with us including chasing racoons all night. The kids spent hours and hours on the beach. Sunday morning we enjoyed the beauty of the beach and then went for a short hike to Cape Flattery and a view of Tatoosh Island. The 23 students and 19 adults had a wonderful time. For more pictures of Neah Bay go to my photostream and to http://homepage.mac.com/bulthuisp/PhotoAlbum12.html

Montana Boy Trades Horse for Canoe

Lucas on the water
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Our friend Lucas Larsen is here from Montana trying to land a teaching job in the Puget Sound. He was a student teacher in our class a couple of years ago. He has been teaching in Rapelje, Montana for the last couple of years. He and his wife, Amy would like to relocate to western Washington. We are trying to get Lucas employed in South Kitsap. Esther has been working on her boss at Orchard Heights Elementary to hire him. He has an interview on Tuesday, so please pray. We enjoyed a short canoe ride this evening.


We have had a couple of busy days with Brad and Sandy Widstrom here for two nights. They are here to pick up their daughter from SPU and bring her back home to Denver. Last night we had several friends over to see them. Check out the Flickr photos. I am busy preparing for the Neah Bay trip this weekend.

Bulthuis Birthday Boy

Celebrating my birthday at Montezuma's
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Today was my birthday, so after school we went to Tacoma and ate at Montezuma's Mexican restaurant. We met Bjorn there as he was on his way up from visiting Jenny and her family near Corvallis, OR. Birthdays after forty are bittersweet, reminding me how old I am getting and how fast life is passing by; but also reminding me of how blessed my life is. This was also a big day for the Mac world as Apple announced it's plan to use Intel processors in the future. Are they moving to the dark side? Will this be the end of Macintosh as we know it? I doubt it.

Barbecue, Bikers and Bluegrass

Harper bikers
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Today, Harper Church had its annual barbecue after church. There was a bike show and a bluegrass band. Instead of behind the church, as in past years, the event was held in front of church in the parking lot. Fortunately, we have plenty of parking because of the commuter lot. It seemed to have helped as over 500 people enjoyed a plate of barbecue, beans and potatoes. There were a few dozen motorcycles on display, mostly Harleys with some Goldwings and even a few dirt bikes. Brother's Keeper, a bluegrass band, led the worship and then gave a concert during the barbecue. The weather held for most of the time, but a rain shower rushed a slightly premature ending to a great event. I left a little early to meet with a couple for premarriage counseling.

Tanking Teachers

Sidney Glen Dunk Tank
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

This evening our school PTA had a carnival for the families and staff. There were dozens of booths for kids to earn prizes. A favorite was the dunk tank. Many of the teachers took turns in the tank. I cheated by using a wetsuit, but was glad I did; not for the water since it was heated, but for the time sitting in the cold air waiting for the next splash. The turnout was very good, and it was a great school event.

Our classroom makes the Newspaper!

Our classroom makes the Newspaper
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.

Unfortunately, our notoriety is at the expense of our stolen equipment. As I reported in an earlier blog, six older mac laptops and a video camera were stolen from our classroom. One of the students saw this article in the paper and brought it in for share. I'm still a little bummed about the incident, as those laptops were being used quite a bit by the students. They miss them. At least the news article will buy us a little sympathy; and you never know when sympathy may come in handy! --- We watched the ending of the national spelling bee in class. I don't think that I could spell any of the words that were given. Many of the contestants are returning from previous years. The winner was Anurag Kashyap from California. We were amazed how many of the finalist were of East Indian decent.