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- Georgie - 06-02-2003
This is a very old thread, but in light of my recent retirement form teaching I just had to revisit the story of the VOLE. One of the funniest mornings I ever had. This is the kind of thing I'll miss!7/7/10
Here's how my morning began. A vole (a field critter about the size of a hamster) came in from outside somehow and ran all around the room, under the kids' feet. Talk about pandemonium. As I was trying to find a box or something to trap it in to get it outside, one of the kids who had picked up both his feet to let the vole go by, accidentally dropped his feet back down, BAM! SQUASH! right on the vole. Now I had a twitching vole, lying in a pool of blood, dying from head trauma. Thankfully it didn't take long to die. I got it picked up with paper towels, cleaned up the puddle of blood and got the custodian to come down to take it away. Now I don't have to tell you how the kids were reacting to all this. Daniel, the murderer, was all upset, crying his eyes out over killing the thing. So I had to do a counseling session with him in the hall. (Little did he know how grateful I was that he had solved the problem) Poor Daniel is probably scarred for life. He has a speech problem and the dear little guy, through his tears said, "I didn't weawy mean to kiwwl a cute wittle cweachuh.." Ok, hugs and reassurance from me and back in we go. Now, finally things were settling down...NOT...About 10 minutes after the demise of the vole, little Samantha says "I don't feel so good." She was as white as a sheet and I figured she was ready to toss breakfast after having witnessed the bleeding vole. Oh no, that would be too easy..Her little HEART was beating out of her chest. She was saying things like, "This never happened to me before, and I feel awful. My teeth are rumbling." (whatever that meant..chattering maybe?) Now since I was afraid to have her walk with another kid down to the nurse's office, lest she collapse or something, I had to call and get the nurse to come up to the room. Nurse has gotten wind of the fact that there was a mouse or something loose in the room and wouldn't come inside. "It's DEAD!" I said forcefully, and practically had to drag her in by the hair to look at Samantha. Nurse said this often happens with Samantha. Seems she has anxiety attacks of some sort. It's June; they might have told me.. This all happened before I got the attendance taken. I broke the Port out early tonight!
[This message has been edited by Georgie (edited 07-07-2010).]
- winoweenie - 06-02-2003
Let's grade some papers teach!. WW
- Thomas - 06-02-2003
It's a good thing my dog, Henry, wasn't in the room. He would have caught the vole (which he has done a few times) and bitten its head off (which he has also done a few times). Maybe, it would have been a good thing if he was in the room.
Anxiety attacks! A child! I am depressed.
Georgie, you have a package on the way...
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 06-02-2003).]
- dananne - 06-02-2003
Days like today, one wonders why we teachers aren't appreciated more.
Make friends with good Mr. Port.
It seems there's always something. One of my worst teaching days actually happened when I wasn't in the classroom. I was out at a restaurant with other teachers. I was "carded" by my waiter just as one of my 8th grade students, who saw me in the restaurant, came up to say "Hi." Needless to say, it was a veeeeeery long year with that one, and of course he took the liberty of informing his classmates [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
"Hey, Mr. J: Can we see some ID?"
- hotwine - 06-02-2003
Good grief. It wouldn't take many such days to turn me into a used car salesman. Hope the port supply is adequate.
- Georgie - 06-02-2003
It's dwindling.
- Bucko - 06-02-2003
Never heard of a vole, mole yes, vole no. So off to the trusty search engine:
Voles are small, weighing one to two ounces as adults. Their overall adult body length varies from three to five and one-half inches in the pine vole, to about four and one-half to seven inches in the meadow and prairie voles.
Voles are an important food source for many predators, including snakes, hawks, owls, coyotes, weasels, foxes, mink and badgers. Mortality rates for voles are very high. Life expectancy in the wild often does not exceed two months, and few ever live longer than 16 months. Not surprisingly, voles are very prolific animals, although the pine vole is less so than meadow or prairie voles.
The breeding season for all voles encompasses most of the year although peaks occur in spring and fall. Prairie and meadow voles normally have five to 10 litters per year and average three to five young per litter. Pine voles have one to six litters per year and average two to four young per litter. The gestation period is about 21 days. One meadow vole held in captivity had 17 litters during one year, totaling 83 young. One of the females from her first litter had 13 litters, totaling 78 young before she was one-year-old.
Many vole populations are cyclic. In North America, population peaks occur about every four years. These are not necessarily regular cycles, nor do they usually involve spectacular population explosions. Occasionally, population explosions occur that last about a year before the population crashes. These peaks have resulted in severe crop damage problems.
Prairie and meadow voles inhabit pastures, roadsides, alfalfa fields and other grassy or weedy sites. Preferred habitats include areas with fairly dense ground vegetation. Meadow voles are more common in low, moist areas or upland sites near water.
Pine voles live in timbered areas, underground or under the forest litter. They also inhabit fields surrounding timber, if enough ground cover is present.
Prairie and meadow voles construct surface runways that are easy to recognize by the closely clipped vegetation within them. Small holes lead to underground runways and nesting areas. Pine voles have extensive underground runway systems, and spend little time above the leaf litter and ground cover layer.
Now you know more about voles than you want to know. I couldn't find a receipe..... [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]
- Georgie - 06-02-2003
Thank you, Marlin Perkins. I notice that nine year old boys are not listed as predators. Perhaps the information should be updated.
- dananne - 06-02-2003
Ha ha! Very good! Just about spilled my glass of Rhone (which is excellent, by the way -- I'll post notes tomorrow).
- quijote - 06-03-2003
I lived in Joisey for five years and never heard of a vole. Thanks, Bucko, for the vole-luminous info.
It sounds like you handled the situation well, Georgie. Your story reminded me of something that scarred me a little. When I was in 4th grade, one morning I found two little robin's eggs lying on the ground; I guess they had fallen out of a nest. I didn't want to leave them there, open to all sorts of predators, so I took them with me to school, hoping the teacher would know what to do. The teacher decided to pass the eggs around the room (in a little container), from student to student, before finding someone to "take care of them" (whatever that meant). The eggs went across the room, and a student discovered that both eggs had been crushed! The student sitting next to her had crushed the two little eggs with his thumbs....I was crushed, too. The teacher reprimanded the predator, but I was in trauma for quite a long time.
[This message has been edited by quijote (edited 06-02-2003).]
- quijote - 06-03-2003
Dananne, are you sure you're old enough to be on this board? [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]
- Bucko - 06-03-2003
See Jim as he wrestles the mighty anaconda. Wow, look at the anaconda swallow Jim. Good thing he is covered by Mutual of Omaha boys and girls. We'll see how Jim is doing right after these messages.....
And now a word from our sponsor, The Vole Vixen of Mahem and Murder, that Dahmer in a dress, eat your liver with fava beans, NJ school teacher, GEORGIE!!....... [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/eek.gif[/img] [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]
- Innkeeper - 06-03-2003
We have plenty of vols around here. Could recant colorful stories of how my now thirteen year old unweened cats reacted to encounters with them, but this thread is awfully long already.
- Thomas - 06-03-2003
Bucko, standard poodles also view voles as prey.
At my Keuka Lake place, every winter we see vole tracks in the snow, and yes, every four years the tracks multiply vole-uminously. Like rats and ground hogs, haven't figured out the benefit of voles on earth, 'cept to feed the owls...and the poodles.
- winoweenie - 06-03-2003
Vole I'll be derned. Don't have them critters (to me very limited knowledge) out here in the desert. Maybe someone could send a passel of 'em out our way.Know the rattlers and hawks'd love them. With Vole Frittatas would you suggest a Volpecello?WW [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
- dananne - 06-03-2003
quijote -- Please don't tell me you need to see some ID [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
By the way, I'll be in Williams Bay on Geneva in July. May make the drive into Milwaukee to catch a Wave United game and do some wine shopping. Any shop suggestions?
- wondersofwine - 06-03-2003
Some good humor from Georgie and others. At least you have a school nurse. Last year a budget crunch in my county threatened the number of school nurses but I think they ended up funding them.
- Georgie - 06-03-2003
Vole-pechello...I just got that....very funny!
- ShortWiner - 06-03-2003
The man on the other end of this link may shortly be feeling your pain, Dananne. He was my high school calculus teacher. Them emails have already made their way among my old classmates.
http://www.wynkoop.com/BEER_DRINKER/BDOTY_2001-2002.htm
edit: Look at me--"them emails"...I'm starting to type like you-know-who [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/redface.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by ShortWiner (edited 06-03-2003).]
- dananne - 06-03-2003
Thanks for the link, ShortWiner [img]http://205.243.144.43/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]