The Never Ending Saga of the New Heater Continues... Wherein the students get rained-on and inhale pieces of dead insects

So the very nice heater-fixing men have been hard at work trying to get the new heater running. Besides trying to make sure that I don't lose any fingers or toes to frostbite this winter, the very nice heater-fixing men have also been helpful in other ways.

For example, my English kidlets are currently working on prepositional phrases and the heater guys have provided some wonderful examples. The heater guys walk through the classroom. They climb up the ladder. They crawl inside the ceiling. They walk on the roof. And they occasionally shout interjections at the heater... which is fine because some impromptu reviews of interjections never hurt anybody.

There were a couple of interesting events added to the new-heater-time-line this week.

On Tuesday, my third hour creative writing kidlets were working on their poetry quest when one rather chatty little girl raised her hand. The following is a transcript of our brief, yet damp, exchange. The kidlet's name has been changed in that it has been rendered slightly less weird.

Chatty Kidlet: Umm, Miss Haws? Is it raining?

Me: Yes, Taniquianna. Now please focus on your quest.

Chatty Kidlet: But, Miss, it's raining.

Me: I know that Taniquianna. You will probably have inside lunch today, but that isn't your problem right now. Right now your problem is your poetry quest.

Chatty Kidlet: But Miss Haws... It's raining INSIDE!

And sure enough, it was! Poor Taniquianna, her poetry quest, and the three empty desks around her were, in fact, being rained on. Apparently, when the crane removed the old heater, it also removed part of weather-proofing.

The part of the weather-proofing directly above Taniquianna's desk.

 But don't worry about her. Taniquiana got a free hall pass to collect paper towels from the bathroom, and then she got to move to a dry seat that was next to the people she most enjoys chatting with. No harm done.

The second heater-related event happened at the beginning of fifth hour on Thursday. Just as the kids were sitting down, a cloud of dirt, dust, and insect remains fell from the ceiling vent and filled the room.

It might have been because they had a fire drill the day before. Or it could have been the earth quake drill we also had that week. Or it might have been the story on Channel One News that morning about the foiled NYC terror plot. But no matter what the reason, the kidlet's reaction to the cloud that filled the classroom was complete and total panic. It was hilarious.

I figured that the very nice heater-fixing men must have given the blowers a test run, so I wasn't worried. I let the kids take a walk to the drinking fountains to clear their pipes while the dust settled. They had started to settled down, when another teacher came walking through the hallway and noticed that my room and the lunch room were both engulfed in a smoke-like haze. That teacher, knowing that the previous junior high had actually burnt down during a school day, ran to alert the principal. Seeing the teacher panic reignited the kidlet's panic which made for a rather unproductive class period.

The very nice heater-fixing men were very apologetic, but I told them not to worry about it. The look on the kidlet's faces as the mushroom cloud descended upon them was hilarious. The memory of it brings a smile to my face and warms the corners of my heart.

And that should be enough to keep me going until the heater is up and running and able to warm the rest of me.