Wild Turkey

Here's how close I am to being done with everything:

• Last Saturday I met with my school-administrator cohort group (a more-excellent team you will not find, by the way) and together we presented our School Improvement Plan to the rest of the folks in our The Principalship class at NAU, thus completing my last class in this too-long, 18-month process working toward a real administrative certificate.
• This Monday scores are supposed to be released for the 8-hour-long Arizona school-administrator professional knowledge test that I took back in November. Assuming I passed it, this test will allow me to apply to the state for a real administrative certificate.
• Also on Monday, I meet with my university supervisor to review the components and outcomes of my administrative internship, which I've also been doing this semester, mostly all by myself, with my superintendent technically serving as my cooperating-administrator-of-record.  Assuming my supervisor elects to promote me, NAU will give me an Institutional Recommendation, which is the second piece I require in order to apply for a real administrative certificate with the state.

Today, to celebrate the almost-doneness of all this, I went for a ride.  My first real ride in a fortnight.  I had some surgery about two weeks ago, on my forehead, so I've not been allowed to wear my helmet while it healed.  

It's healing well.  

So today, to revel in both my almost-healedness and -doneness, I rode.  Only 13 miles.  And, man, was I slow.  But it was great to be out, freed from the things that have so recently fully-ensnared my disposable time.

Turkey (plural)

I saw a rafter of wild turkeys on Elden Look-out Road today.  Had to be at least 15 of them, maybe more.  Easily the largest gathering of such birds I've ever seen during my 20+ years of traveling about in these woods.  I stopped to take a picture of them, but they really were much too far away...

Chief among my goals for today's ride, second perhaps to just getting-out to ride, period, was snow.  It's been a dry month or so in these parts, which is a significant amount of time between snowfalls this time of the year, enough to have to worriers worrying and the scoffers scoffing.  But I figured there might still be a little snow left in the shady spots on Red Onion and Upper Brookbank, and certainly some half-way down Weenie's Walk, where there's always a little left-over snow, even after all the other snow in the area has gone away.

And there was!  Not a lot.  And scary-icy at speed.  But I'll take it, even if that's all there is to take.  Because it's the 8th of December. And a body ought to be able to enjoy some snow on the 8th of December, one way or another.

Better than a trip to the ice rink to play in the Zamboni-pile. And waaaay better than homework.