Driving Way Too Much, New Fractures & Stolen Tailgates

I've had a busy driving day. First I drove to work over in Pyote, twenty three miles. Before leaving the house though, I dressed in lots of layers. First an under shirt, a sweater shirt and finally an over shirt. I wore tights covered by a pair of slacks. I then had gloves, a scarf and a wool coat. I dressed warmly for the occasion of below freezing weather made to feel even more below freezing due to the wind that kept whipping through the West Texas landscape.

You may wonder why I clothed myself so warmly if all I was doing was driving. Upon arriving at work, it's a good half a mile walk past the education building to the vocational buildings where us teachers now have taken residence in order to facilitate learning. Did you happen to notice that I said "past the education building"? On December the 14th, the education building at West Texas State School in Pyote experienced a power failure. A few lights, some outlets and phones were working, but there was absolutely no heat or computers.

The boys stayed on the dorms where there was electricity and of course heat. Us teachers stayed, sitting in the dark and the cold for several hours waiting for information regarding our dire situation. Being the brazen outspoken one that I am...I decided I was taking an early lunch across the railroad tracks at the Pyote Cafe and Grocery. Others decided to join me. At lunch we met up with TYC employees who informed us that the transformer had blown and another would need to be ordered, it could take a week before getting the problem fixed.

Long story shortened, the powers that be in Austin, you know, all those lovely representatives chosen by us voters, decided not to fix the problem, but instead have us the teachers move into the warehouses behind the education building. Do I need to tell you that I was not pleased? None of the moving occurred until after we returned from the holiday, so the rest of the week was spent in the partially lighted, extremely frigid building.

That explains why now I walked past the education building this morning after arriving to work. After working a few hours, I then drove to Iraan, one hundred seventeen miles, to meet with the superintendent to discuss worst case scenario in regards to my soon to be unemployment. Worst case scenario is that the school will close in March and to work out my contract and still receive a paycheck, then I and the other teachers would need to drive to Iraan everyday to work.

I then drove home to Wink, one hundred forty two miles thinking about the possibility of driving two hundred eighty four miles every day to collect a pay check. I'm really hoping the school stays open until the end of May, that would be super sweet.

A few updates and a public service announcement before I go. Seems that a former student of mine has been nabbed by the Odessa Police for stealing tailgates from pick up trucks. Apparently, there's a high demand for tailgates and now the police have suggested that those of us with these valuable tailgates should park our rears up against something so that the perps can't make off with our tails.


The comish told me at the gym tonight that County Road 201, the one leading to the predicted third sink hole has developed a few more fractures. He's picking me up tomorrow at 4:30PM and taking me out to get some pictures of the ever spreading problem.