my stop sign won't go out wahhhh!!

Another brrrr cold day and with the cold comes all the problems that mechanical things have when it's so cold.  When the temperature is 10 or below the mechanics start our buses for us so I was ahead when I came in.  My bus is old so it takes forever to heat up...so I wore long johns, sweats and a pair of jogging pants on top, along with 2 shirts and a sweatshirt and heavy coat, later I got a scarf, because the wind was wicked and besides it hurt. And of course there were the Junior high kids standing out at their stops with bare legs and wet hair frozen to their heads, and high school boys with no coats... One kid did say, "hey bus driver I got my coat!" My new high school friend, that now sits up front away from the pot talk showed me her new tongue stud, ICK!  I have tattoos and I am all for being different but your tongue???  Way to dangerous, I mean you could die if that gets infected!  There's still all sorts of talk at work like last summer about us losing our jobs and the District contracting us out...you know it's weird being on this side of the fence.  Four years ago I voted no for a tax raise for the schools...now??  My job is on the line and I am not so sure what I should do. The last tax hike wasn't going to cut so deep though.  Kids will lose so much now.   We shall see, if we are contracted out I could work for the company that takes us over, but that would mean less pay, less hours, etc...as I said we shall see how this comes to pass. Until then...I am going to go cuddle up in a warm blanket...Monday's a paid holiday and I have a 3 day weekend.  

first day of school...

 

Hey! put your lights on you moran!!

FOG!  Way big fog today!!  We have strobe lights on our bus roofs so we can be seen, but that didn't help the 50 % out there this afternoon who were running around without headlights.  They remembered this morning, but old Mr I am out to lunch and Mrs housewife running errands didn't ... they're out there yacking on their cellies while I am trying to not rear end them...as all I could see was brake lights and then it is too late.  But I showed them I just drove that much slower.

I decided to write up my smokers...those little snots spit on my floor and the more I thought about them lighting up and putting the rest of the kids in harms way...the madder I got.  Only one of them was on today and there was no problem.  If they do it again, I am going straight back to the school and letting them deal with it.  I don't want to have to get a monitor ( I call them babysitters) or a recorder in my camera box...it's such a pain.

Also at our main high school we line up in diagonal lines with the special services buses up front near the exit to a busy highway...we have a traffic cop, but between parents, kids driving and walkers you have to dodge a lot.  A lot of the time kids like to stand around with their friends gabbing until the last possible second and then dart for the buses just as we close the doors and start off.  It's a scene just ready made for disaster.  Somebody could easily be hit.  So of course "mrs outspoken Rose" said something to the dean on watch at the beginning of the year and she said they would stop them from going to the buses.  And I told the drivers to NOT open the door.  Well since Christmas break those kids are right back at it...so today I said something to my dispatcher, she talked to the dean and announced to us all to not pick these kids up...of course some did, but at least it's a start and I don't have to worry about running some kid over...wow no wonder my neck hurts today!

All for now...

today is the day

Today was the day that puts the fear in ALL bus driver's hearts!  Today I had to actually YELL!  Fear not I didn't crash the bus or hit anything.  I was driving merrily away from the high school when I smelled it..."it" was cigarette smoke, not pot, but cigarettes.  I was in a crabby mood as I did not sleep well last night and to tell the truth I am always taken aback when one of my charges does something so stupid as to think they can smoke in a closed up bus...I yelled so loud that the smokers even heard me and they were all the way in the back...I know who was doing it because these two spit on the floor and I've tried to ignore that...I yelled this..."Whoever is smoking needs to put it out now or I call the cops...I really don't feel like dying today if you start this bus on fire."  My new friend, the girl who moved up front to get away from the "pot smoking" talk said, "wow those guys are dumb a$$es".agreed...that's a 10-4.

They stopped but tomorrow I have decided to give them 3 choices, stop the behavior, move up front where I can babysit them or get written up...that should do the trick...the alternative?  Get a monitor, or a camera...neither one I don't want to do as I don't think it's necessary, these two or more dumb, then malicious.  My alternative kids don't even have the nerve to smoke on my bus.  Ish!

My stress level has been high anyway as there has been so much construction to deal with...but I solved my problem by giving away part of my kindergarten route to a newly formed route.  And getting 2 of my grade schooler picked up by the guy that should be picking them up, he's closer.  Then I can just drive and not worry about being late.

I am all about anti stress!

As for that $7000 bus?  It was up for bid on ebay, but there was only 14 hours left...and the price very cheap considering a top of the line 2005 bus is in the ball park of $90,000 almost as much as we paid for our house 10 years ago.

And the biscuit and gravey?  The best ones are from mom and pop places, this place was called Larry's diner...they used to make really good ones in town, but they don't make the biscuits fluffy enough.  I know it's a southern or midwest thing, because I know you can't get them out west.

That's one thing that a good bus driver knows is where the good food is you can tell by their weight...most are on the big side.  Goes with the job...until later...bus 30 is clear...

Every since I started journaling I have had this infatuation with looking for cool pictures, graphics and clip art.  I found this bus on E-Bay ... they want $7000.00 for it and it's newer than the bus I drive (by 10 years) and has less miles (by 30 thousand)!  The inside looks better than mine too!! 

Hmmmm......:D  15 hours left to bid....

Which brings me to the 2nd half of my week.  We did not have a snow day.  = ( , but that's ok because I had fun driving in the snow.  And for once the junior high girl with the attitude didn't whine about how cold it was in my bus.  My bus is always cold because she is the first stop and it hasn't warmed up yet..plus she never wears shoes (flip flops) or a proper coat.  Geez some of my high school kids didn't even wear coats!!!

I should have known better than to talk to the high school kids, now they think I am human and they can try and talk me into making new bus stops close to their houses...no way...I am not their friend...nor am I a push over...I always tell them to have their parents call the bus barns...that usually stops them...easy enough to push the dirty work onto the higher ups...I never try and be these kids friends nor their enemy ... they will turn on you in a heart beat...This one girl who always swears moved up front yesterday and was complaining about the boys talking about getting high after school, and I am like, "so? as long as they don't do it on the bus,"  Then she's trying to shock me by saying..."you'd be shocked to see how many of them come to school stoned"...hmmmm sorry little girl I grew up in the 70's most of the very High school she attends was stoned then!!  Kids they think that they are so unique...silly kids...

One of my alternative kids is going to jail...he has to go to drug rehab first...another one is trying finish up so she can get off probation, get a job before she has her baby in May...one of them just got probation for bring a pipe to school...very sad too, because the one going to jail will just sit, but this kid is 18 and has been this way since he was 5...very sad.

Today I had it rough on my field trip...J/K!!, first I dropped Liz off at the school for her speech meet...then I drove around back to the bus barns, got bus 74 D.O.T'd, which by the way is a BRAND NEW BUS!, it has electric doors and all kinds of new modern gizmos on it.  I was a bit freaked by it first, but after I got used to the breaks I was good.  The other 2 juniors all went this trip...it was a wrestling tournament.  The school was about 15 minutes away.  When we got there the other 2 drivers and I went to breakfast...I had biscuits and gravy *yum*.  Then we went back and watched the meet for a while...I caught up with an old neighbor...then I went in the bus turned the heat on and took a hour and 1/2 nap...went back in to meet and then gathered the boys up and left...I worked a total of 9 1/2 hours...if you call that work...that's why I love my job!  How many people do you know who get to get paid to sit and wait??  Plus the coach walked the bus and picked up the garbage (very little).

Ahhhh such a hard life of a bus driver!!!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!

Oswego, IL

!!! Weather Alert !!! WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM CST (7 AM EST) THURSDAY  

 

All day long the kids have been saying "snow day snow day!"

It's been snowing off and on since last night, with some freezing rain to add to the mix.

I had a rural route last year so I am used to driving in slippery conditions...you just drive slower!  And remember you are driving something at is very big!

Twice last year I watch people spin out into ditches right before my eyes (as I prayed, please God please God don't let them hit me!, they didn't)

This afternoon I helped search for a Junior high kid.  The kid didn't show up at home so all the bosses, and who ever was nearby goes on alert to search for the child.

The police were called, but..as soon as mom, the police and my boss all converged on this kid's apartment...poof the kid showed up...he was at a friend's house...which is usually how these things turn out. 

Another driver slid into another bus in our line ups at the High school...

And I am pooped, driving in this weather is very stressful, but all and all if I had to be driving in this weather I'd pick the 27,000 pound bus anytime.  And other driver's on the road tend to not flip you off when you are driving slow.  You have to be extra careful and safe, because others are not...and after all I am carrying special cargo...your children!!

The most percious thing we have!

So dear friends we shall see if tomorrow is a snow day....who knows the weather forecaster could be right!

 

Back after the break

This was a short break for us...normally it's 2 full weeks. We had to be in  school the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas so it was short by four days if you count the weekend, which I do!

 

This morning was rainy and cold, with a bit of fog.  The clock I use in my bus I left at home...and of course the clock I use at work on the wall was 4 minutes slow...so I had a slow start.  My first route are junior high kids...must of them have head phones stuck to their heads so they really are in their own world...alot of them have band instruments...some drivers make those kids sit up front, but I never care as long as everybody sits down I'm a-ok.  I have 45 kids on this route, which I am legal at 71, but being that most junior kids weigh on average 120 pounds...it's pretty tight on the bus...the big thing for junior kids is to socialize and I mean from the moment these kids step foot on the bus and even before at the bus stop they are talking, talking and more talking.  Even in the morning when you would think these kids would be half asleep, NOT my group...with that many kids they can get loud.  Which doesn't bother me, it's only when they start screeching that I get miffed.  Usually, they could not care less about me...I usually just nod or say good morning...they really only talk to me when they need me...which again is a-ok...I always call Junior the bowels of hell...it's such a crazy time for kids anyway.

This morning my left ear was plugged up, could be anything...so it made the first day back even better because it muffled the noise.  My junior high route is a quick one 10 minutes tops from first pick up to drop at the Junior High. 

Next I go to my High school kids...now these guys are quiet in the morning...some have their breakfast, and I let them eat on the bus, as long as they throw their trash away...one time some kid let a peach snapple with some juice let lose on my floor and it rolled all over the bus.  I didn't notice until it had made a huge mess.  That was worth a trip to maintenance for a hose down.  These guys think they have me trained to pick them up in front of their houses...it was raining this morning so I let it slide today...nice days they need to be at their stop...rules are rules.  But again they are really a good group of kids.

After I drop off this group I have a small break...we are required to go to base, which is where we park our buses and we have a double wide trailer for a building.  Years past a lot of drivers went to Micky D's or Panara ( who can afford that EVERYDAY!), but it didn't look good with 10 buses lined up in a parking lot...besides one guy ruined it by getting in a fender bender.

Next is the grade school kids...which I have a very small group, but I do have a pick up at a local day care.  Part of the route has a bridge that has been closed to us for weight reasons, so I have to go around in circles to make 3 stops, which means I go over the railroad tracks 6 times in 3 different places.  Legally at train crossings we must display our hazard lights and stop and open our service door.  It's a BIG pain.  But these kids are worth it...they are really good.

So that my morning...I start a 6:28 and am done about 9:00, then I am off until 11:30, which is nice I can get errands done or go home and take a nap...I only live a mile away so its super great!