Here I am again, saying Hi again to my near and dear. I wish I could write as well as the M&M's, pouring forth my thoughts with elegance and candor. However, I will just plog (blog?) along, doing whatever I can.

It is now 6 a.m. on Sunday and I rejoice that I have finally solved a problem that kept me sleepless last night and really cranky and disturbed yesterday. I mean really mean and bitchy. The pop-up drain in the bathroom sink came adrift some while ago. I tried and tried to fix it yesterday afternoon and I failed. In the great universe of fixing things, this is not permitted. So I went to bed, drainless and insomniac. At four this morning, I completely disassembled the dang thing and compared all its gubbins with the diagram I picked up from the net and behold(!) a washer was missing. Now, leakage was not the problem: a lack of pop-up-edness was the problem. I found a washer to fit, reassembled, and viola -- it works. Bear in mind that the sink is fitted into the cheapest, smallest cabinet that the builder could use, so that I had to work with my left hand only and mirrors to see the clevis screw attachment thing. Now I feel quite jubilant and accomplished.

Our position here continues precarious. So far, there has been no further information. Vern has not been informed what he is being 'investigated' for -- not a sound. A school board meeting is scheduled next Thursday, but there is no indication that Vern's matter will be on the agenda -- or even if there will be a meeting. The previous three scheduled meetings have been cancelled, and a special meeting was called and held in secret to authorize the travel expenditures of school board members. Nothing has been heard from the state auditor about putting the district into receivership. So ---- here we are, twisting, twisting, in the wind. It's possible that this uncertainty may continue indefinitely, since two other staff members who were put on administrative leave more than two months ago 'pending outcome of investigation' have not yet been cleared or dismissed and summoned back to work. Those 'investigations' involved the same school board member who is out to get Vern. Such is life on the rez. I've about had enough and I've been here long enough to understand that it's probably not going to get better in the long run. As long as federal money rains down with no accountability, graft and corruption will prevail. It is important to understand that the primary purpose for the existence of the school is to create jobs for the locals and create a phony sense of entitlement and power -- plenty of overpaid, do-nothing jobs and lots of perks for the school board. Students and teachers are incidental to that process and would be eradicated from the system if board and administrators could get away with it. If I sound bitter and cynical, it's because I am. In spades.

Vern is considering taking some time off and enrolling at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff to get a Special Ed endorsement which would put him in the most preferred hiring category anywhere in the country. I fully approve and would encourage him to enroll at Kearney if he could be eligible as a resident. Flagstaff will do very well, however. If he is summoned back to his class here of course he will finish the year. But I think it is time to move on. It's really up to him -- but I hate seeing him go through this dark period with so little hope of justice in the long run. One cannot give up hope but if you could be certain that the good guys would win in the long run, it wouldn't take as much courage to stand up for the right things. I am so proud of him.

I was feeling so angry yesterday -- at the sink drain failure of course. I used my iPhoto slideshow to cycle through my California trip photos with a background of music from Nebraska Public Radio and found that it eased my anxieties a great deal. Kind of like meditating in a beautiful dream. Which reminds me of the one ray of hope from yesterday: our computer guru came to the house and reinstated my internet connection, giving me back the great wide world. Nothing was said about why I had lost it or why he was restoring it: don't ask, don't tell.

Happy Daylight Saving Time Ends Day.

Gramma, Mom, whoever I am today.