Day 5

So last night before I went to bed, I texted my good friend Leo Shaw from back home, because he goes to Boudin college in Maine.  I wanted to see what he was doing this weekend, purely out of curiosity.  He told me that he was taking a bus to Boston today to visit a good mutual friend, Alex, of ours.  He told me I should look into it.  I really had no intention of going because of the way Harold laid down the guidelines of days off.  Only if you really want one and you ask before hand.  Didn't seem like he was too fond of giving them.  But this was a special occasion, I mean Leo doesn't visit Alex very often, and I have been working for 5 days already.  Seemed like a reasonal rationalization.  So I am quite a frequent favor asker of people higher up in authority.  If you have had me as a teacher than you know exact what I mean ( especially when report cards come out ;) ).  I have a very detailed strategy about approaching them.  It consists of timing, mainly.  You always want to ask someone for a favor when they are in a good mood.  But with teachers I also like asking them one on one.  It corners them more, but is also easier to get personal.  I usually like to go directly after the class empties out, or just as lunch starts.  I walk in, and sometimes they know why I am there, but sometimes not.  You hope for the sometimes not.  When you are talking to the teachers, or other persons, you take the nicest persona ever.  You have to, because if you come off aggressive they will latch on and get defensive.  You have to be sincerely nice, and honest, and direct when you are speaking.  You tell them how much you need the grade, and how much it will affect you, and most of all how much you enjoyed the subject.  Sometimes you even throw in a: You know it really stinks what grade shows up on redline, because honestly your class was the most interesting class I had this year, but with my rigorous load it was hard for me to balance my schedule.  That usually does the trick.  And if they say no, it is absolutely crucial for you to say thank you for your time, and walk out without a sound.  Now I tried to take the same approach with asking Harold about taking a day off.  Unfortunately I had to work around him seeing a patient basically all day.  That was a bummer, but you can't always be a fair-weather skier.  So the morning started off pretty routine.  I did, however, have eggs on my toast!  It was an amazing change of pace.  And then two more pieces of toast with jelly.  I went back up to my room to brush my teeth and change into my working clothes.  The weather was the same as the day before about 30 degrees when I went out with two jackets on.  Zoelli and I did the morning chores and I came back in and washed the eggs.  The chainsaw was broken so there was no chance of me cutting wood, or else I probably would have been.  So I found Zoelli back outside and we were ordered to pick spinach in one of the greenhouses.  Today was a huge step in Zoelli and my relationship, because we talked a good majority of whatever task we were doing.  We did them super slow, because in reality they didn't have much for us to do.  We talked about everything.  We gossiped about the work, about the family, and then talked about life and relationships, literally everything.  Sometimes I will tell Zoelli to talk in spanish only, and most of the time I can understand her if she speaks slow enough.  Hopefully by the time I come home I will be fluent in spanish ;).  That would be kick ass.  So we slowly picked spinach, sluggishly weeded one greenhouse, and slothfully weeded another greenhouse before lunch.  Lunch was make your own sandwich, which I am good at.  I filled myself up nicely with two stacked sandwiches on rye bread.  After lunch Zoelli and I went back out to weed some more, and took things nice and slow.  Since Harold was still with his patient none really had jobs for us, so we would weed for awhile, then I would pull  out my phone check it, and then lay my head back on a sand bag and stare up at the endless sky.  Taking it all in.  We did this until 415 and then I went to get the egg baskets.  We collected the eggs, after some came pecking at my ankles, and filled the water, and I fed the turkeys.  After I put the eggs down in the kitchen Harold was just saying goodbye to his patient!  My time to pounce.  He had some chores to do in the back so i followed him, and this is how the conversation went.  Hey Harold I was wondering since my friend from Boudin has this weekend and monday off from school was visiting a mutual friend in Boston if I could maybe leave tomorrow to meet them?  A few blank seconds.  Yea totally.  Ahhhh, yes sweet victory.    the rest of the conversation consisted of the specifics of going and coming back, but that wasn't important.  I had accomplished a rough task, climbed a steep mountain, conquered a Ricci math test.  I felt real good after that and the rest of the day.  After that I helped him move the turkey pen, and we actually grabbed a turkey to see how much it weighed from the pen.  I backed it to harold and he grabbed the turkey by its legs and it weighed in at 16 pounds.  Pretty classic if you ask me.  He told me they usually sell when they are 16 pounds, anything over that people don't buy.  WE put the chicken back, and after that simple task the day was over.  I went to my room did some SAT practice ( even though it was pretty tough for me to get the book out, I have a better mindset about practicing ), and showered and by that time is was dinner.  We ate lasagna with meat sauce and it was delicious.  I ate the most by far with a whopping three pieces, and I was the only one left at the table but he time I finished.  The rest of the night has been pretty routine.  Troy and Ross sit around the computer and take turns playing some outdated computer game.  Zoelli is on the phone speaking spanish as loud as ever.  Lauara is practicing her singing for her choir in another room. And Haorld is on the computer researching something.  I usually go outside to call Maj and Pops, and then head back up to read do SAT and explore the internet.  So now is the time this post ends, and I am sanguine for tomorrows adventure.  Nighty.