Sad Times in Snowville

Last Saturday my neighbor's house burned to the ground but everyone got out OK, which is the important thing. We live far from any hydrants so the fire department is limited in what they can do. The house went up fast and was fully involved when the call went out. We stood at the end of the driveway and watched the pumper trucks drive back and forth. Other neighbor's behaved as if the fire was a party which angered me greatly.

The overload situation on my route was taken care of by moving about 20 kids to two other buses. Of course the kids that were moved were the ones I'd had for the last four years and I really miss them. The reasoning for picking those 20 was sound but it didn't make it any easier to tell them. I've finally learned the names of all the new kids and things are starting to get easier. I've started my class to become a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician. Hopefully the hands-on portion of the class will be better than the classroom portion. I really dread having to go for 8 hours tomorrow.

The start of the school year is always tough. This year an 11 year old girl died the week before school started. Loosing a student is heart-wrenching even though she was not my student and I had never met her. She was, however a "country" neighbor, living less than two miles from me. Her death is being investigated as a homicide. The police are still investigating and not revealing much other than that the family lived in deplorable conditions which has hindered the investigation. The local paper just came out with more details. I think I need a good cry.