This has been wildlife week in my neighborhood. Yesterday there was a fat, fuzzy bear standing in the middle of the street.  A repairman was leaving my house when he spotted it.  I ran in to grab my camera while he tried to get his new phone to take a picture and it wasn’t cooperating.  As if that wasn’t breathtaking enough, along came two cubs following behind her.  She looked at us (we were out of harms way  just outside my front door) then decided to go back across the street to my neighbor’s yard where mama bear proceeded to climb a pine tree and her cubs did the same.  You know when you recite (0ver and 0ver) “We’re going On a Bear Hunt” well, they really do climb trees, and fast!  It was awesome.  I called to alert my gardener neighbor.  I could  imagine her peacefully working in her Dalias, hearing a slight stirring and then looking up to see three pairs of eyes staring at her.  It would be alarming no matter how fuzzy wuzzy and adorable they appeared.  I”ve told you in an earlier blog that i would share with you my really scary bear story at another time — and I will.  This was not scary but pretty inconvenient since I have to keep our Golden Retriever inside for a few days.  She would try to save me from a bear.  She saves me from fox and deer on a regular basis.

The day after the bear siting, I was walking in an amazing farm/park/historical site a few miles from my house.  My dog and I were about to return home on a path we’ve been on hundreds of times.  A few feet ahead I saw a slither, then I heard a rattle.  I was walking fast so when I put my brakes on my sports sandle just slid right off the front of my foot.  Bailey and i  turned around (I wanted to get my shoe but that was impossible since it was sitting a few feet from the rattler) and headed back the way we had come.  I was walking on sharp gravel with my left foot shoeless, and it sure seemed like a long way to the car as I limped along.  I called the park when I returned home to report the siting.  And to tell them about my shoe.

You know how they say to get back up on a horse if you fall off?  Well, with that sentiment, I’m going to keep hiking that trail because I’ve done it for decades — however, tonight I’ll wait at the end of the trail while my husband dashes in to get my shoe.  Yes, he says he’s going to!  By the way, if you haven’t already, come to Colorado — it’s definitely worth sharing with the wildlife!

This post is from a book I’m writing with the working title: Teachers Need Nurturing Too!

Mission Impossible:  Putting an End to the Naked Doll Syndrome

Teachers of young children understand “The naked doll syndrome.”  Dolls are thrown into cribs, naked.  They’re found in the block corner naked.  They even end up in the refrigerator or oven, naked.  Simply stated, these dolls make it look as if an orderly classroom is not a priority, or that children have not been taught to properly care for their toys.

Hundreds of regulators, inspectors, parents, and teachers have in the past failed miserably at the seemingly simple task of keeping dolls fully clothed.  The following mission statement has been written to simplify and clarify.

Your mission, should you wish to accept it:  Put an end to the “naked doll syndrome.”

At the end of the day each and every doll in the classroom must be suitably dressed.  There will be no exceptions.  The term “fully dressed” is used loosely.  Gender issues are not relevant––girl and boy dolls may share clothing.  Baby dolls are considered fully dressed if they wear a diaper or even a blanket.  It’s difficult for small fingers to dress miniature dolls, so they are considered fully dressed if they wear a string of beads or a pair of shoes or boots.

And finally, the clothes do not have to be mended nor do they have to fit.  They do not even have to be clean.  They do, however, have to be on the dolls.  Good luck!