Squirrel, weed eating and shade slapping in 103B

For about 8 years I had the tiny room known then as 103B; it had 4 windows and I had 38 kids usually, so if I did regular rows which I learned early on  to hate with a passion they were touching all three walls and were about three inches from the desk, so by 1991 (the second year I had the room) the regular rows were gone and we were in a U which meant we had some space. The room had character; sometimes the groundskeepers would weed eat bushes while I was talking and I am not loud enough for that. And we were next to 103A and we were once one room and the wall separating us was not sound proof. Luckily Senor Urtasun and I got along, but every Friday they sang and I had to deal with how to talk over that or do something else, but I couldn't give a test on Friday unless I got him to play Spanish scrabble instead. Once I had to ask a riveter to stop because I was giving the last test before the exam of senior year and I had some kids worried about it and unable to concentrate.

I had Steven who was the most enjoyable noisiest quietest kid I had. He didn't talk when I was talking but he chewed on his pen:  crunch, crunch, crunch.  Then he rocked on his chair, thump, thump, thump and at the same time all of this was going on he was positioned with his back tot he window shades, so when he rocked his head hit the shades, slap, slap , slap. So, without saying a word, he gave me crunch, crunch, thump, thump and slap , slap. One day I asked him to talk while  I was talking because it would be quieter. He was  fun to have though.

I had a squirrel who would come and sit on the window sill (where I often sat too since I am known for sitting on anything I can get on in a room, see photo in 2010 yearbook) great regularity. He got peanuts from me on an irregular basis so he wouldn't be too dependent but enough to enjoy him. We had a name the squirrel contest because he would show up and sit even when there were 35 kids in the room.  They named him Mogambi Hamurabi; I still don't know why but it was the winning name.  One day a kid was sitting with his back to the window (I know who you are by name) and he said, " I feel like someone is watching me."  He turned slowly around and there was our squirrel. He really wasn't expecting it and he skyrocketed out of his seat.