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Farm & Tractor Days – Friday

Lots of school kids come on this day. They walked from Orchardimage
and Rio Linda Prepatory Academy.
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Free crafts were provided by Westside Charter School
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and Heritage Peak Charter School.
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Green Acres 4-H brought animals. This boy was lifted from his wheelchair so he could touch the animals.
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Doug came to help today (Big thanks!) and got to see his kindergarten teacher, Jeanne Regello.
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Big treat provided by RLEHS: free sno-cones for everyone. Thankfully members of Rio Linda High School FFA came to help out, not just here but all over. There were about 40 of them and they were all put to good use.
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The FFA advisor with Ed Valencia, another long-time community volunteer.
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Touring inside the Dry Creek Ranch House.
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Getting ready

Tomorrow begins the 20th Annual Farm & Tractor Days and many hands are at work. In the Memorial Rose Garden, Stephanie
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and Emmie.
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Exhibits of early-day gas engines are unloaded.
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President Tom Ray fixed one pesky irrigation problem.
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SRTS in SJUSD

Dan Allison runs the Safe Routes to School program in San Juan Unified School District.
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In this program, pedestrian safety is taught at grades 1-3, bicycle safety at grades 4-6.
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I worked with Doug, an LCI friend, on this day. On other days, I taught pedestrian safety with Dan or Elle.
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I worked 5 days either at Greer School or Whitney School. One day, a teacher came up to me to see if I remembered her. Yes! Sheena Guy Smith from Westside and Westside Charter School. Now a second grade teacher at Whitney.
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My apologies

Dear Faithful Readers,

I am going to try to do better. Work has slowed for the summer season. It’s time to reweave a few loose threads. Thanks for hanging in there and coming back to check on me every once in a while.

It’s actually June 12, this post is back-dated to signal a change is ahead … hopefully.

Arlete

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WorkAbility Presentation

Today I went to Megan’s presentation for her WorkAbility project which included the Bike Club. I had no idea our after-school club played such an important role in her project.
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There were 3 presentations by teachers in different programs.
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LGA Bike Club Ride #4

This was our biggest ride of the year. We met at Leroy F Greene Academy at 8 am and rode 4.5 miles to the Amtrak station in downtown Sacramento.

L-R: Adam, Jack, Julian

L-R: Adam, Jack, Julian

We got on the Capitol Corridor train heading west. We had to board the car with bicycle storage.
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The bikes are stored upright and it’s not that easy to lift the bike up and secure it. We were lucky to have Adam’s dad, Brian, join us on this ride.

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We got off at the first stop, Davis. Today was Loopalooza – a 12 mile bike loop with 12 stations of information and activities. We started at Station 7 – keeping your bike secure. There was a raffle here and Julian won! – a U-lock and cable locking system.
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We watched a game of cricket for a few minutes.
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Jack gets advice from a bicycle mechanic.
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Coach was proud when everyone completed the drill course using all appropriate signals.
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No problems on the figure 8 course either.
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We rode the entire loop and ended back where we started. We received a group certificate!
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We had a quick lunch and rode back to the train station. Back in Old Sacramento:
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Total miles = 23. Another very successful ride.

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In Penn Valley

It’s always fun to get away for a few days and go see Maria. This weekend, the Lake Wildwood community held its annual Tools Trash and Treasures. At Maria’s, all the proceeds went to help granddaughter Sarah go on a summer trip to Washington DC and New York City.

L-R: Sarah, Maria, Leslie

L-R: Sarah, Maria, Leslie


Neighbors and friends donated to the huge piles of stuff for sale. Tim tried to roll the bowling ball into the pond across the street … unsuccessfully.
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And in between, Maria cooked. For dinner one night, Asian Pear Salad with Glazed Scallops. For breakfast, her famous Egg-in-a-Hole.
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Tractors and milkshakes

When it looks like the rains have stopped for the season and before the weeds turn to fire-loving dryness, it’s time to mow.image

This is also the time of year to appreciate a son who has a tractor and comes over to mow (and disk the perimeter).
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Earlier today, Chef Justin of Atria El Camino Gardens came to Mom’s unit to demonstrate how to make milkshakes in different flavors.
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He entertained everyone a bit and passed out many samples.
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Deadheading roses

Dry Creek Ranch House Pioneer Memorial Rose Garden.image
This week’s favorite bloom.
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I’m not the only one who volunteered today. Ralph Hants was on the tractor. Al Taxara supervised from the golf cart.
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Our caretakers were also busy: Josh Klein worked on the new irrigation system while
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Stephanie Nebuloni assembled the units.
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CBET at Hagginwood

For the past 8 weeks, on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, I taught English at Hagginwood School. Parents from Castori were also invited to attend. Today, 32 hours of instruction ended. Three students in this class had perfect attendance: Yuridana, Gabriela, and Rosana.
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Another special memory was being invited to the home of Rizwana and her husband for a traditional Pakistani lunch a couple of weeks ago.
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