I was wary when I approached the schoolyard entrance this morning at 0-skunk-30 because there was a WHITE thing there. Even though I KNEW it was a rectangle and therefore not anywhere near skunk shaped. I couldn’t read it without turning on my phone light.

I have mixed feelings about its message. I understand ESPECIALLY during our ongoing plague that they are just trying to keep the kids safe. (And there are frickin’ dogs with irresponsible owners…) But. If you are a pedestrian who needs to get to the other side of the schoolyard, getting there without going THRU the schoolyard requires a mile walk in either direction. I won’t try to describe the geography involved, you’ll just have to trust me. Fortunately I walk THROUGH the schoolyard well before the hour of 8:00 AM. I do fondly remember the days of carefree walks through there any old time of day.

Great fun face timing with MMCB₂ this morning. One of her other names is Bubbe and she has been on bubbe duty for the last five years so has rarely been able to meet with us. Her time is freeing up a bit now and we welcome her back. It was just the two of us today because MMCB₁ is traveling. Although the three of us make a great cackle group, it’s nice once in a while when only two of us meet.

Oh, that cartoon four-legged aminal on the sign in the schoolyard. I dunno what it looks like to you but it is a DOG! A huskie. There’s a sordid history behind this (in my opinion). The original principal of the school liked birds and throughout the beach urchins’ tenure at that elementary school, the mascot was still a hawk. The original principal was still alive when the beach urchins were at the school. She lived in the neighborhood and I frequently walked by her house. I once heard her in a radio interview talking about the time the district wanted to move her to a different school. She dug in and they caved and let her stay there. (I believe Haisley Elementary was built the same year MYYYY elementary school – Stinkin’ Lincoln – was built in Sault Ste. Siberia.)

By the time my kids were at Haisley, principal jobs were becoming revolving doors and the woman who “ran” the school when we were there HATED hawks so at some point there was a vote to change the mascot and Haisley is now the Huskies.

P.S. I have to clarify that it’s possible that one of the reasons our principal hated hawks is because the original principal had kept a stash of taxidermy(?) hawks (and other birds?) at the school. Those were still there in our era and probably it was time for them to gooooo. The GG probably remembers more about this than I do. He is more “social” than I am and may have rattled on with the principal. My relationship with her was almost always business oriented. I did PTO jobs (including digging us out of a huge treasury “mess”) and my kids stayed out of trouble. (I am not bragging about any of that.)

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