I've been AWOL and I RETIRED!

I've been AWOL for quite a while, and part of the reason is that I've retired!  I actually retired 6 weeks before the end of the school year, right before testing.  I realize that sounds like a cheap shot, but I was so completely burned out that there was NO WAY I could stay and handle testing for my students.  I prepped them as best I could, but it is difficult when, out of a class of 22, you have 7 TOTAL NON-READERS in 3rd grade!  How are they supposed to handle common core?  They can't even read the math problems!  Plus, I had very little administrative support, and a principal who was openly hostile.

Finally, our daughter had a new baby, her first boy, on April 29, so I took that day off and retired the next day.  I've been busy babysitting the little bundle of joy.

We haven't traveled far.  Our dog, Ripley, is now nearly 9 years old, and she doesn't handle staying home alone well.  Last summer she got OUT of our front yard (she clawed her way through our fence), and a neighbor down on the corner, down the street, found her and called me in Arizona.  Thank GOD I picked up the call!  He stuffed her back inside our fence and plugged it up as best he could, and we cut short our vacation and got home from eastern Arizona (we were up on the Mogollon Rim) the next day.  There she was, panting at us...

Actually, this Memorial Day, we were able to take her with us up to Idyllwild to the Silver Pines Lodge.  We had our own little cabin there and our daughter and her family had a large one with a full kitchen. Their neighbors also went up a day later.  They have a son who is 18 months younger than our granddaughter, who is 3, and the two get along very well.  We all had a good time and Ripley behaved very well.  She was good with ALL the people and the 2 dogs on premises.  I took her out for some long walks and she was very interested in the squirrels and blue jays!

We're thinking about staying around here for the summer, but taking a trip to the Sierra this fall, when the leaves change colors.  We can do that now that we are BOTH retired!  Hubby actually retired 6 weeks after I did.  He still works from home a couple of days a week, but it is less pressure for him.  We are both finding that our bodies are exhausted and we are both taking LONG afternoon naps.  Most desert dwellers do that anyway here in the desert, as do the animals!  I'm finding that it has really taken me 6 weeks to de-stress!  Hubby is finding that out, too.

Here are some photos I took recently...

Thank you for stopping by!
~Cheryl Ann~

We visited Joshua Tree in May.  We went mid-week, something which we could NEVER do while we were both working.  We almost had the part to ourselves!