Summer care for the class pet

Ah, the end of school. The return of my children with books they will never open again and papers that lay scattered in various rooms until I gather them up and toss file them. Backpacks slung in the wrong places. Lunchboxes with moldy food under the bed or in corners. It's the sign of summer at our house.

Every summer I look forward to just relaxing. No early morning rising before the sun comes up. No rushing around making lunches. No schedules. No homework worries. No deadlines. No stress.

A week before finals started and school ended for the year, Darcy came home and nonchalantly came into the kitchen where I was slicing veggies for dinner and started off a conversation with the words I've come to dread.

Darcy: "SSSSSSOOOOO....."

I braced myself for what she was about to say. She always starts out conversations this way only when she thinks I'm going to disapprove. Or at least that's how I've come to assess it.

Darcy: "So my teacher Ms. P. needs someone to watch her Keurig this summer, and some kids suggested me."
Me: "I'm sorry, what?"
Darcy: "I know. It's weird. But Ms. P. is worried that if she leaves her Keurig in the pile of items to be carried into the new school her pot will get lost. And she needs someone to use it every once in awhile this summer to keep it going, I guess."

One year my kids begged me to take the class pet for the summer. It was a chincilla and white as snow. I took one look into that rodent's eyes and immediately declined. I talked about how much we traveled. How lonely it would be without us. They begged, and I pretended to consider it; just long enough for someone else to step up to the plate and adopt the animal for the summer.

In middle school it was a bearded dragon. They begged me to let them take the animal for the summer. I took one look at that wanna be alligator as he spit at us and declined. They kept begging, and I pretended to consider it, and sure enough, some do-gooder stepped in and took the decision out of my hands.

Now here we were again.

Me: "Wait. Let me get this straight. Your teacher wants us to watch the class coffee maker?"
Darcy: "That's it in a nutshell."
Me: "No bird? No hamster? The class coffee pot?"
Darcy: "It's a Keurig."
Me: "Yes."
Darcy: "What? Really? I thought for sure you would say no."
Me: "It's only fair that we take our turn."
Darcy: "Uh huh. You never let us take the class animal from elementary school."
Me: "I know, and so now it is our turn to take the class pet."
Darcy: "It's a Keurig."
Me: "I'm going to name him Karl."

Karl came to us the last day of school. He was very dirty and leaking water and coffee from having just been used. He rode on Madison's lap in the car ride home. We discussed all of the fun things we would do with him this summer. Darcy suggested we get him some eyes.

At home I gave him a bath. He needed it. I went to my SIL's blog and read her entry on doing just this very task. I scrubbed him from top to bottom and then from the inside out. Sparkling and clean, we set him up on the kitchen counter away from our other pot who was showing signs of dislike to the newcomer. We all agreed Karl was very happy and certainly looked it.

Stayed tuned for periodic updates on our adventures with Karl Keurig, the class pet we are caring for this summer. I'm thinking I can stretch this out into several blog entries at least...