A sweet apology.

This morning, a went into Elena's room where the remains of the office are. Most of it has been dismantled to be reassembled upstairs when I get it finished. The remaining piece there is the printer and a desk. I was faxing out some papers when I noticed a not folded up on the desk.

I thought it was from, Anna Lisa,a girl in school that Elena knows. It was from her teacher, Ms Sullivan. The not talked about how Elena came into the class room with her head phones on and to Ms. Sullivan the meaning was don't talk to me. So She wrote Elena a note about how she felt. I showed it to Teri by saying, "I know You don't like me snooping, but..." To my surprise after reading the note she wanted to talk to Elena about it. I thought it was no big deal, Teri thought it was a matter of disrespect.
   We go down stairs and Teri talks to Elena about the note and her actions and how she was to apologize to Ms. Sullivan. I put my two cents worth in and say she didn't have to apologize, but she should. An insincere apology was as bad as not apologizing. Teri gave me the death stare. So when Elena came back I elaborated on what I said and tried to leave it at that.I figured She would do what I would of done at her age, nothing.
  Later I'm mowing the lawn and Teri goes over to me and says"I heard from Ms. Sullivan,She said Elena came up to her, clenching and unclenching her fists. Elena says to Ms. Sullivan, "I've got something to say to You, but its hard."

Ms. Sullivan says"Would it be easier if I looked away?"
  Elena goes on with what I am told was a sweet sincere apology. Ms Sullivan says she looks away, as she is starting to well up with tears a little.
   I didn't think it was a good idea to take it as far as Teri wanted to but it worked out fine.

The Eighth Grade Dance, Elena dresses like a beautiful Young Lady and opening the Pool

 It was a year ago,the end of May when Nastia went to her eighth grade dance. Teri, Nancy and I went to dinner and picked her up around 9;30. She was flying high on the wonderful night she had.
  With Elena, I felt it was not unreasonable to hope she had the same experience. Her Mother went out and got her a very nice outfit. A dress you say? Not this young Lady. A stylish pair of short black pants and a white top, you know girl clothes. I don't know why She doesn't like dresses, maybe it's because everything is all open down there.
  Elena was dropped off by her mother, then she came home to make crab cakes for her and Nastia, I had a steak.
  A little after nine Teri says I should get going to get a good place to park. After a few turns looking for my wallet I'm on the road. I turn onto McCarthy road and go up the hill. At the top just before BOCES, traffic stops. They had moved the dance from the Gym to the Black and White Kitchen. The only problem, someone didn't plan out the traffic nightmare, when parents would pull up and stop and wait for their kids backing up traffic. It was backed up to the corner of Rt 304 and in the oppisite direction past BOCES. I parked in the bus parking lot and walked over to pick up Elena and Jessica. They were both standing with Mrs. Sullivan and I almost walked past them. Elena and Jessica were light as a kite, legally high. They were both talking loud and laughing. They had the great time I wanted them to. They listened to music, danced one dance, had ice cream and hung out with Ms. Sullivan. That was all it took.
   
We opened the pool at the end of May. Opening the pool is never an easy thing. We bought a new cover last fall. It split a seam, so I worked around it and kept the pool covered. Then during the Winter the dogs enjoyed playing Jesus Christ and were walking on the pool. Mesha decided that the pillow under the cover was a toy of hers and she made a hole in the cover to play with the pillow, which she ripped in half.

 To top it off the dogs started using it as their bathroom. They would leave it and we would remove it. It went fine until a sudden warm spell that lead to Spring. No one wanted to swim in that water. I drained the pool at the end of May
and let the water run down the side of the pool that we buried figuring that the water would push the dirt away from the pool like it did a few years ago and it would make it easier to fix the pushed in side. WRONG! What can go wrong will go wrong and it did. The Water ran under the liner and up the sides. The liner was floating. I emptied the rest of the water to confirm this, then dug a hole at the low point around the pool and put a pump in the hole until the water quit filling it up. We then tried to reset the liner, but you push the left and the right gets all out of place. We did the best we could and now the pool is clean and full of water. There was only one hole in the liner and it was again over near the ladder, which makes me think the ladder is putting the holes in the liner.