Broken Arrow OK Photos

Broken Arrow, OK Photo Gallery

Elen Tel'Ithil on Flickr: Posted a Photo

One thing I've been up to this past week is finding a home for a couple of dogs that got dumped on our road. I sent this picture (and a picture of the lab) along with the email below on Monday (1-25). I'm also including the second email that I sent out yesterday (1-28) so that you guys can read about the happy ending! =)

-----Original Message-----
From: Bavido, Bonnie J
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 1:58 PM
To: #BAHS
Subject: FW: Beagle and White Lab

I know the last thing most of us need right now is another dog! =) However, if any of you do happen to be looking for a good dog, someone dumped two very nice dogs in my neighborhood last week. Theyâ€™re both house trained, great with kids, get along well with other dogs, and the Beagle has already been fixed. People dump dogs in our neighborhood all the time, so our neighbors are already all full up, and we already have three dogs (the dog we originally moved here with and two that weâ€™ve taken in since then). These two dogs want a family so badly, though; I really wish we could keep them!

The white lab stole my heart the first night when I was taking the trash down to the end of the driveway and he accompanied me there and back in â€œguardâ€ mode. => The Beagle keeps getting more and more depressed, though. At first he would always try to jump in the car, and he would also watch for someone to come. But now I think heâ€™s figured out that we canâ€™t take him back home and his â€œfamilyâ€ isnâ€™t going to come back for him, either.

If any of you can take in one of these dogs, or know of someone looking for a dog, I would love to hear from you!

Thanks so much!
~BonnieJean Bavido

Ms. Bavido
Math Teacher â€“ Broken Arrow High School
Room K101 â€“ ext. 4849

-----Second Message-----
From: Bavido, Bonnie J
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 1:52 PM
To: #BAHS
Subject: RE: Beagle and White Lab (THANKS!)

Wow, guys! I have been overwhelmed by the response to this email and all the kindness and generosity that everyone has demonstrated! Both the dogs have found homes now! =) Basically, within 48 hours of my sending this email, each of the dogs had found a home â€“ I hit the dog adoption â€œjack-potâ€ with BA High School and friends! =P Thanks so much everyone!

The lab went to a family whose lab had passed away last summer and that looked a lot like their old dog. Iâ€™ve heard back from them that heâ€™s doing great and fitting in quite well â€“ seems like a perfect match! =) So, thanks to Kasey L. of State Farm for taking him in (and for driving all the way out to Claremore to get him, too)!

The beagle went home last night with Clint and Sons â€“ thanks so much to the four of you for also driving all the way out to Claremore to get him and for taking him in! As I mentioned, the beagle has been rather depressed, but you all should have seen him â€œlight upâ€ when those three little boys walked in the house! =) So, once again, he and the family seem like a perfect match. =)

Special thanks also to Rachel B., Ryan B., Cindy G., Phyllis S., Laura A., Sandy G., Melissa H., Gordon M., Nancy O., Kathy F., Rhonda M., and Angie for their concern and their help in spreading the word and their willingness and generosity! Iâ€™m sure a lot of other people must have also helped, but those are the people Iâ€™ve had individual contact with. I didnâ€™t expect the email to go beyond Broken Arrow High School; so like I said, Iâ€™m just amazed. Thanks to all of you!

Stay safe in the ice and snow this weekend!
~BonnieJean

Elen Tel'Ithil on Flickr: Posted a Photo

Driving home from work on Wednesday evening, I saw this weird sight. Even though the cold weather had recently broken, the ice on the lake by my house was taking a while to melt. And there was this tire sitting there upright and all by itself on the ice! It just seemed to perfectly sum up how my week had been going.

Due to bad weather days during the week before, this past Wednesday was just the 6th day of school for the spring semester. Two of my students had already been suspended, one that morning and one the day before. Another student had come to my classroom that morning to return his textbook and to get his grade and my signature on his forms for dropping out of school (although, technically, the form is for withdrawing to get a GED...but statistically speaking, it's not likely that any of the students using that form will really get their GED's). And I had spent that afternoon, and the afternoon before, carefully drafting answers to questions that had been emailed to me last-minute for another student's annual IEP (Individualized Education Plan) review meeting (along with a last-minute request that I attend the meeting). The meeting was to be held before school the next morning, and I'd had to rearrange a detention that I'd already arranged for another student to serve with me that morning (and which had already been rearranged once before, due to the bad weather).

So, anyway, on Wednesday evening I had been finishing up the IEP questions and printing off progress reports, etc., when I tried to look up something about the IEP student's schedule and was told by the system that he was no longer one of my students! Nothing had been mentioned to me, and the student had been in my class that morning. Of course, the special ed teacher and all the counselors, etc., were already gone for the day, so I wasn't able to get ahold of them for any explanation. I was rather miffed by the whole situation, and almost decided to skip the whole thing when I realized that none of the emails from the special ed teacher had bothered to mention the location of the meeting. I'd only been averaging 4 to 5 hours of sleep per night, and I didn't really feel like having to arrive at the school even earlier than usual in order to traipse around from building to building across the huge campus in order to find a meeting that I hadn't been told about until the last minute and that I technically didn't even have a part in anymore.

So, yeah, that was my situation when I spotted this scene on the lake. Everything felt out-of-wack and a little freaky, just like this looked to me at that time.

*****
But the epilogue, so to speak, of this story, is that I *did* find and attend the meeting the next morning. I decided it wasn't the student's fault if the school was disorganized, and whoever his new math teacher was wouldn't know anything about him or his learning yet and probably wouldn't know anything about the meeting either.

I was glad I went. Sure enough, I was the only regular education teacher there from the high school, and those answers that I spent so much time on really did turn out to be pertinent and useful. I was also able to find out that the student was just moved from my class because it was more pressing for him to take a different subject during that hour in order to graduate on time.

*****
Looking at this picture again, now I see that this tire is defying the physics and the probability and statistics of its situation. I mean, what are the chances of a tire getting out on such thin ice without falling through, without leaving any trace of how it got there, and without falling over on its side? (And ending up in such a great spot for me to get a shot of it?)

What I hope and pray is that all five of the students I have just mentioned will defy all statistics and rise above their situations, just like this tire. I want them to finish their crazy journeys upright, standing tall and proud, having conquered their surroundings no matter what the odds.

Elen Tel'Ithil on Flickr: Posted a Photo

And here's the picture of the lab that was dumped and has now been rescued!

I like this picture best of the two, just because he's so happy and photogenic! =) Everyone who responded to the email, though, mentioned one or the other of the pictures. I think that was one of the biggest factors in finding homes for them so quickly. (I think the other was that the attendance secretaries at BA High School know *everyone*!) =D

vampyriccadence on Flickr: Posted a Photo

A red ornament.

vampyriccadence on Flickr: Posted a Photo

A red swirled ornament.

vampyriccadence on Flickr: Posted a Photo

A few of the ornaments that decorate our tree this year.

Southwest Medical Corporation - Broken Arrow, OK on Flickr: Posted a Photo

21900 E. 96th St
Broken Arrow, OK
918-254-4777

jesus_led_me on Flickr: Posted a Photo

Forest Ridge, Broken Arrow, OK Real Estate

Dan's sordid & sundry pictures on Flickr: Posted a Photo

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

2.1.08.

What does this picture (or all the snow pictures I took today) say about me as a photographer?

Taking pictures of rare snowfall: good

Photography expedition consisting of walking twenty feet from the house: bad

Taking forty pictures while standing in snow, wearing sandals: good

Wearing sandals only because I'm too lazy to put on shoes: bad

Getting cool shot of shadow on snow: good

Ruining best shot by leaving footprints right through it: bad

Dan's sordid & sundry pictures on Flickr: Posted a Photo

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

1.7.08.

pvpollard@sbcglobal.net on Flickr: Posted a Photo