A life ruled by rodents...

Whatever has been scrambling around up in the ceiling of Sue's classroom has at last died.  We know this because of the familiar and awful smell that has moved one room over -- from mine to hers.  Her sliver of good fortune is that the rodent decomposing inside her wall is obviously much smaller than the one that died in mine -- the odor is less intense.  We first noticed the smell on Monday, and by today the smell is almost bearable.



The other rodent-centered bit of news is that the Van Allen School 4th graders will be going on our Yosemite field trip, despite the efforts of a rodent called the white-footed mouse.  They carry a fatal virus called Hantavirus that erupted there this past spring.  It's an extremely rare disease -- of the many thousands of visitors who came to the park last summer,  nine people who stayed in the tent cabins contracted it.  Three died.  Our principal thoroughly checked into the situation to make sure that the park was safe for 4th graders.  When someone from the Federal Government's Center for Disease Control officially told him that we'd be in no danger (from Hantavirus, at any rate) he gave us the all clear to go.

Half Dome

Bruce and I drove up there this past weekend to scope things out.  Everything at Yosemite is very dry at this time of year -- especially so after so little little rain last winter.  But it's still very beautiful there and I'm happy that we get to take the students there this year.

Mirror Lake (minus the water)

While there, we saw lots of people.  No mice, though.