Tale of the elusive Mini Schnauzer

9:15 am, dogs barking like crazy. Curious as I am, go look through the window. SURPRISE! A fugitive Mini Schnauzer, giving his feet some crazy workout.

9:20 am, tried to catch him with my charming skills... (NOTE TO SELF: Charming useless)

9:25 am, tried to bribe dog with some food, squatting to attract him, imagining myself not being able to move tomorrow. Endeavour ineffective. Knees creaking, I suppress a scream of pain.

9:35 am, improvised a toy with a lemon, throwing it like a toy ball, making kissing sounds saying "good booOOooyyyy" while running back and forth, trying to get him involved in fun game...Neighbors perceive me as a crazy lady, efforts towards catching dog: futile.

9:50 am, I pray in silence. Oh! an idea! or is it a voice?: "if you bring him, he will come", so I come home, get Luigi. Fugitive mini comes IMMEDIATELY. Follows us into back yard.

9:55 am, it takes a couple of tries, but I got him! NAME: GODFREY. tags have phone number. YAAAAYYY!

10:00 am: Bring dog home so I can call owner. MAYHEM! Schnauzer legs up and down furniture, leashes tangled, eyes can't tell who's who, throw blankets flying around! remotes dropped! bark! yelp! more barks! growls! My leader of the pack voices says firmly: STOP! It works (HA!)

10:05 am, call owner. ASKS for me to drop the Godfrey! (Whaaaatt????)

10:15 am, I deliver Godfrey to his owners.

10:25 am, back home. 

Workout, CHECK!!!!

Anécdotas del MiniSchnauzer escurridizo

‎9:15 am, mis perros ladrando como locos. Yo, curiosa, investigo asomandome por la ventana. SORPRESA! Un mini schnauzer fugitivo caminando por doquier como loco.

9:20 am, trato de atraparlo con mis encantos… (NOTA MENTAL: mis encantos no sirven)

9:25 am, trato sobornar al fugitive con trozos de comida, en cuclillas para que se acerque sin asustarse, imagino que mañana no me voy a poder ni mover. Esfuerzos infructuosos. Las rodillas rechinan, sofoco un grito de dolor.

9:35 am, encuentro un limón bajo el árbol de un vecino; improviso un juguete, usándolo como una pelota. Hago sonidos de besitos mientras digo “good boooOOOOoooyyyy” y corro para allá y para acá, tratando de atraerlo en un juego divertido… los vecinos ahora me perciben como la mujer loca; en vano continuo mis afanes.

9:50 am, Elevo una oración en silencio… llega una idea (o es una voz?) “si lo traes, él vendrá!”. Vengo a casa por Luigi. El mini fugitivo nos ve y se acerca inmediatamente. Nos sigue hacia el jardín.

9:55 am, un par de intentos y finalmente lo capturé! Su placa tiene nombre: GODFREY. Tambien encuentro un número de teléfono! Yaaayyy!!!

10:00 am: Traigo a Godfrey a la casa para llamar a su dueño. VAYA CATASTROFE! Patas de Schnauzer para arriba y para abajo de los muebles, correas que se enredan, mis ojos no pueden saber quién es quién, las cobijas sobre los sillones vuelan por todos lados, los controles caen por allá! Ladridos, chillidos! Mas ladridos! Refunfuños! Con mi voz poderosa de lider, digo firmemente: ALTO! (Huh! Funciona!)

10:05 am, llamo al dueño. Me pide que le lleve a Godfrey! (ejem... [perdón????)

10:15 am, Llevo a Godfrey a sus dueños.

10:25 am, Regreso a casa.

Ejercicio del día… LISTO!

Have you seen an Angel?

Most of the people that live around me, have... but they might not know it. Well, here I am, to open your eyes.

This is my friend Lisa:

Wednesday: we have a gas leak. Gas is turned off in the whole property, for safety. Within a half an hour, she's here with a HUGE crockpot and a hot plate. Thanks to her, we have had warm meals in my house, and food is not going to waste. Plus her hubby, Wayne, is here to check on the situation and give us the best advice, even talks to the PG&E man!

Thursday: Our washing machine dies. She takes our dirty laundry, takes care of it, EVEN when her own machine is broken... she doesn't tell me she'll take it to the laundromat!

Saturday Evening: There's this dinner I have to go and I'm nervous, I've been stressed and I don't feel my best. My friend makes sure I sit with people that I know and that they know I'm uncomfortable, so she sets me up for an enjoyable time.

Saturday - at night: The transformer in our street goes boom! there's a blackout. Now we have no gas, no washing machine, no electricity... I feel deflated. Middle of the night? no problem! My friend is here to pick up the laundry, and sits down to talk to me, help me recover sanity, and make me laugh.

Sunday - All clothes washed --AND BEAUTIFULLY FOLDED!! clothes are back. Am I still a bit down? She's added a great load of cinnamon rolls to the delivery.

I want to say that this is one of those times that saying you appreciate someone is not enough. This is one of those cases when you know that your life would not be the same if you hadn't met that person.


Really. REALLY. Thank you my Friend! I have seen an Angel!!!!!!

PINK FRIDAY '09!!

Today there was a rally everywhere in California, to protest on what is getting to be known as "Pink Slip Friday". This is a protest against the budget cuts of more than $11 billion dollars that the State is proposing, which would mean less teachers, more students per classroom, and there's even been a rumor about a change of the school schedule.

Of course I got to be in the San Lorenzo Rally. Standing at the corner of Hesperian and Lewelling, we held posters and encouraged people going by to honk and make some noise. And I should add, that as a neighbor of the San Lorenzo Unified School District (it's just about across the street from my house) the noise WAS HEARD! The cheering, the honking, everything!!!


I have to say that I felt many emotions. There was the excitement of being part of something so important; I felt grateful every time someone honked; I felt moved because of the kids from Arroyo High School (probably some other schools, but for sure Arroyo), they were so actively participating, chanting "SAVE OUR TEACHERS", dancing and keeping the spirits up.
It was definitely a good experience.




For anyone interested, here's a link to take some action. http://capwiz.com/nea/ca/home/
You can email your legislator to support your schools, your teachers, your children. This is the easiest involvement you can have: just click away and TAKE SOME ACTION!!!!!

Testing days at Grant Elementary

“There ain’t no bugs in here… there might be bugs

on some other “spots”,

but there ain’t no bugs in here”.

Yes, I have had to borrow the song of the beautiful puppy medicine commercial, because it just fits perfectly.



Some other schools might have the problem of kids dreading their STAR testing days, but at GRANT ELEMENTARY (the best elementary in the state, I should say) it’s not like that. No one is bugged here!



Our principal, Mr. Kaminski always goes the extra mile with everything, and these two weeks he has been providing the kids with cheese, bananas and water every single morning, so that the kids have a small, healthy snack before they go inside and take their tests.

Even more, he goes out, and has the kids write their names in some big paper that says: “I’m a star. I take my STAR tests”, or a similar cool message.

Some other days he just puts up a show with Mr. Dowd and they sing science songs, play the guitar, and even get on some riverdancing!.







The kids are amused, their minds are taken away from the pressure of the tests, and they are ready to go on in a great mood, sharp minds and snack fortified tummies!





Kids get this wonderful message of power, that first years are sad they are not testing yet. They are looking forward to their next school year so they can take part in all this fun!





It is very important that I mention our fantastic PTA team, arriving at school just a bit after seven, and all ready to start slicing bananas, cheese and pouring water, and then cleanning up everything.

There is no better school to be. Kudos, volunteers! We salute you students!!

We congratulate you, staff!

GOOD JOB, EVERYONE!!