Pay up, Mom!

All right, my shooting was pathetic tonight. Herogian beat me arrow tips down. 371-362. I bought him a candybar this time. The competitor in me hates not improving. I dropped thirty-five points from last week, thirty-nine from the previous week. UGH! Something though was throwing a few arrows. Herogian got a few laughs when we found more than one arrow completely off my target page.  I'll have to check a few things before we shoot again. Having a soft carry bag isn't the best for arrows, it might be bending the fletching too much. Herogian  wants to try and make a better carrying case for my arrows.  What a sweetheart.

Track practice was awesome today. A big stroke to the ego from the kids. When I told them we were doing 2 x 6 x 100. One of the guys, J.C., asked, "IS that all, Coach?"
"I can change them to 200's if you want?"
"No, that's okay. But is that ALL, Coach?"
"Well, we'll do some work over the hurdles."
"WOW." He turned to the others. "This is going to be easy!"

During the workout, I looked up to see the six athletes walking back after run #9. They all had their hands on their hips. You could tell they were breathing deep. They were lined up in front of the green hill with orange and yellow trees behind them and each of them was wearing something black - picture perfect. I'd love to have a picture of that scene with DEDICATION underneath it. It reminded me of the poster for COURAGEOUS.

J.C. also commented during practice, "I really want us to make it to nationals. They'd have to make a movie about us, out here in the park training cause we don't have a track, with a coach that builds us hurdles."

When we moved on to the hurdles, we did a few hop overs, then I wanted them to work on what is called "A MARCHING" this is working on the down drive of the leg to get it back to the ground as quickly as possible. S.M. was the first one to go and he kind of got hung up on the second hurdle. OUCH! He pulled his shorts up as far as he could possible pull them - into his arm pits, then went again. This time with no problem. The other guys decided to follow him by pulling up their shorts. If I only had a camera. Here were five guys with their waist bands pulled up to their chest. Geeky! Funny! "Hawk", L.R., our  female athlete, and I couldn't stop laughing."

They also made me feel really good when J.B. said he heard the newest coach added this week would be working with hurdlers and sprinters and I would be with the throwers and jumpers. Two of the sprinters asked if they could be long jumpers. Stroke, stroke, to the ego.

Can you tell I'm loving it?

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

sugar drop, caffeine high, 397 and 9 x 200

What does that all mean you ask? Oh, you didn't ask. Well, I'll tell you anyway because the caffeine must still be in my system.

Track practice included 2x4x200's in the park, half uphill, half downhill. It would have been half downhill if the kids hadn't got me talking on training technique changes in the last 10 years (see yesterday's post) and we walked all the way back down the hill when we should have been running. Therefore, we did an extra uphill run. I warned them for future reference not to get me yakking between repetitions. One of the guys pointed out that on a previous day it caused them to run 6 instead of 5 x 75's.  So how did it end up being 9? One of the athletes was a little late getting there, so, I ran her last 200 with her, that made 9 for me. I actually thought the other kids would jump in and run the last one with her also. THat's what I get for thinking.
"Hawk" did go to practice with me today and he ran the 2 x 4 x 200's with the college students. I was proud of him.

THe sugar drop came afterwards. Hawk and I stopped at _Mart to buy purple paint for his pumkin and he picked up a 'Mountain Dew'. For some reason the kid has become a Kansas State Wildcat fan. Purple, uggggh. Anyway, we pull out of the parking lot and my blood sugar must have dived. I could feel the blood leaving my hands, my head starting to swim as we passed through the corner light. I told Hawk to grab my purse and find some candy, then I remembered that I'm only carrying sugarfree stuff. I pulled into the first neighborhood and grabbed his DEW. after a few sips, I realized  Hawk was just starring at me in horror. I had drank his soda!  "You can just keep it, Mom. Can we stop at the dollar store so I can get another one?"
We sat in the neighborhood for a while, then at the dollar store, and finally I felt well enough to make it home. (I'll be researching exercise induced hypoglycemia in a few minutes).

An hour later after dinner, Herogian and I headed off for archery. Yes, I was praying the whole way for a clear head.
Tonight was a blast. Herogian had his draw length lengthened twice. During these changes he had to keep changing his sights. His score tonight was 117, 117 and 117. With all the changes,  it was a surprise to see him shoot so consistantly.
My shooting went like this    center of target  =   X    99  8 my three shots, next round   8  99  X. They were right in line with the X The last round was even more of a kicker 999 X with the three shots all being in the 9 ring. If an arrow breaks the line at all between rings, you can take the higher score. Nooo. They were touching each other, not the 10 ring.  I shot a 397, 4 down from last week. Herogian and I are having a blast and I've been drinking DEW all evening long.

Will post some pumpkin carving pictures later. They have a pumpkin carving contest with the church family next weekend and the boys are hoping to win something this year.

Have a great weekend. We plan too. Herogian is taking Penny hunting. T12 Northley has one last fall soccer game. Hawk has a thousand plus lego set to put together, Commander has TKD, and wait a minute, my schedule says do grade cards, lesson plans, chop wood, and work on Sunday. Oh bother.

401, track, making up questions on a quiz

Archery was relaxing tonight. There were a lot of people missing from the line ups. I shot against a family friend. He and I were neck and neck until the third to last shot. Something happened and his shot went wild. It hit the center of the paper, but outside of the three targets on the page. He still finished with a 406 and I with a 401. My first 400. Cool.

Someone made the comment that I needed to get the cord on my nose as an anchor point when I line up the arrow. Well, I tried. I just couldn't seem to do it. So I asked our resident pro. He had me line up after class and show him how I was doing it. I get a knuckle into my right ear as an anchor point. He had to laugh. My bow has the longest draw it can possibly have, yet, the knocking point doesn't even reach my face. I couldn't even lean forward and get my nose to the cord. I need a bigger bow. I need a light weight bow, with light poundage, therefore I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think I'll plan to get one when I shoot a 450 - a perfect round. That will at least give me something to work toward.

Track practice is fun. Today I had five young men running repeat build ups through the park for 100 yards +.  Next week two or three girls should be joining us.  The learning curve is steep right now. There is a lot about sprinting the "Modern" way as it is  called, for me to re-learn. Also the throws and horizontal jumps again, and hurdles, blocks, you name it, I need a refresher course in it. But I love it. I'll be reading and watching videos for the next month or two. Cramming to get it all down before indoor season starts in January.

Herogian pulled a funny today. He had a science quiz. Question number 4 needed to answers. The test had two line for those two answers - 4. _______________ and 5.__________________ with the five line being underneath the 4 line and question.On the number 4 line he had squeezed in the two answers seperated by a (/). 
Herogian took the empty 5 space a wrote his own question in there - "Should Herogian be given a new gun?" On the space at number 5 he wrote "YES". If I could find the camera, I'd take a picture.
I don't think a teacher in public school would enjoy the humor in his paper as much as I do. His question would have him sent to the prinicipal's office.

Archery League, underwear, and when I'm old and can't remember anything

I love this sport. Archery. It can make me feel so good. Then with the very next shot it can humble me down to my knees.
450 league started tonight. Herogian and I were competing against each other for a candy bar. My two practice rounds were promising, my sights were lined up, I was ready to take him on. 

First round, I shot three arrows at three targets on the page. I didn't want to look at the results until I had put the bow away. Herogian was standing there with his binoculars.
 "How did I do?"
"Well, the first and the third shots are tens, but where is your second shot?"
"What?"
"Oh, there it is? Nice one, Mom. You shot Dennis's target and hit a ten. But, you know, that's a zero for the score card."
Then we heard Dennis exclaim about his target. "Why are there two arrows on my number 2 target?"
This was going to be an exciting evening.
Herogian 375, Mom 386.  Dennis 403, and Dave 424. That was our score card.

T12-Northly Davis is pestering me while I blog. He wants me to smell his underwear that he found left in a string backpack in the back of his friend's dad's truck. That is such a boy thing! Really, he wants me to smell his underwear because "he says it smells like a "Minty Hotel Room". YUK!
He has been shoving it in my nose, not realizing I'm so plugged up there is no way I 'll ever smell it. I'll die first or snaught on his underwear.

"Okay Mom, I'll do it if you do it."
""NO. The last time I ever did anything when someone said,"I'll do it after you." I ended up going off a retaining wall on a bike with no brakes, hippy bar on back and wide handle bars that spun around and knocked my jaw out of line after the hippybar hit me in the back of the head. The neighborhood kids had to pull me out of the chainlink fence and rosebushes. The teenager who loaned me the bike, popped my jaw from the other side to get it back in place. The gang all ran off laughing at me, while the teenager told me not to cry or my mom would ban them from jumping their bikes off  the retaining wall in our backyard. SO.... NO I won't do it before you!"
THat is such a boy thing. Groce.
"Okay Mom, we are not in Back to the Future! We are not in your childhood. You don't have a bike! The retaining wall is gone, conquer your fears," he whispers in my ear while trying to shove the AWSOME UNDERWEAR (his doing) in my face. Guess I'll just blow my nose on it and send him to bed with it. WHat a hoot that child is. Favorit underwear. Never heard of that catagorie for boys.

Coming home from Archery, Herogian was talking about his future as a vet, then when he retires he wants to live in a small community close to Cabela's so he can work there. I told him that when he retired from being a vet - especially if he is one for the Armed Services, that he won't want to go from a high end paying job to a minimal paying job.
"Yes, I will when I'm so old that I can't remember what I'm doing.

I started laughing, "The store won't want you when you can't remember what you are doing."
"Oh I could work in the fly fishing department and make flies."
"Yeah, I could see you checking someone out. "How much change do I need to give you? One hundred. Didn't you pay with a credit card." Hand to ear. "What's that you say? Two hundred. Okay."
Good thing it is the weekend. I don't think I could do a day of schooling with these two boys this wound up with the giggles.

Herogian had a chance at a deer the other night and might get another chance next Tuesday. Pray for the hunter's safety,please.

Have a great one.

Randomness

Archery league is over. Mr. McGee and I placed second. I finally learned how they score the league. Each night we go against another team for the four rounds. Each round is scored a win or loss. Last night we were shooting against Mr. McGee's son's team. We lost one round in the second half and that dropped us from first place. We had a lot of fun. I'll miss shooting with Mr. McGee. I hope to see him and his lovely wife back next year.

Today, Herogian and I shot the 3D meet. We made it through 40 targets along with Cori, his dad, and his younger sister (6) she shot at every target. I was impressed that she made it through the entire hike. There was one point where she found an old shotgun shell and something else. She really wanted to play with it, but couldn't carry it with her bow and arrows, not enough hands. Her dad told her to decide, shoot targets, or they quit right now and sit in the truck with her 'toy'. She almost reached out for the 'toy'. They decided to put the toy in the truck so no one would pick it up and throw it away. She was afraid of it disappearing if she put it down. Too cute.

Here's a few pics for you.

THis is Tiny Might. We helped this chicken out of it's shell, knowing full well it might not survive. We could hear it pecking, but unable to break open the shell. She is a runt, about 1/4 the size of her sisters. She still has white rings around her eyes, where her sisters don't.

THese are the four adopted ducks. They are now white and four times the size. They stay this close to each other all day long running around the yard.

Dehydrated marshmallows. Gluten Free and fun to eat.

Have you seen these on the store shelf? Jumbomallows! I split them open, swiped crunchy peanut butter inside. Later I added chocolate morsels.  Made a sweet snack for a work break.

One last thing.  Check out http://www.whereismyballoon.blogspot.com/ your homeschooling group might want to join us on April 30th by releasing balloons from your area. Who knows maybe your balloon will end up here in our town and ours in yours. Weird how the wind blows.

Have a great week. I'd love to hear from you.

Veteran Archer

Friday night's archery league was flat out cool. I met my team member for the first time - Mr. McGee. He is a veteran of WWII, the same age as my father, 89, and about a foot shorter than I am. They were calling us the Mutt and Jeff team. Mr. McGee has cataracts in both his eyes and still hunts with his bow. Target shooting can be hard with the lighting, obstacles they set up around the targets to create shadows, and limited target zones. Mr. McGee and I would talk over what part of the target we needed to aim for, but by the time we returned to the shooting line Mr.McGee couldn't see the tell-tell marks anymore. He shot great! One of his shots went  left of his intended mark and actually hit a small spot worth 14 points.
He thought he'd be too tired to shoot the entire round of 40, since he had been out hunting during the day. He did great. He and his wife would take turns resting in two chairs we put near the shooting line for them.
He served our country as a platoon leader in Italy during the great war. He said he got the position from being the smallest, youngest, and the loudest mouth.
I can't wait to hear more of his storys this week.
Oh, my shocking hit for the night was pinning a wiffle ball to the target at 35-40 yards. At one of the other targets a ping-pong ball dangled from fishline. Mr. McGee and I trapped the ball between our arrows, but didn't pin it to the target. I am so thankful Herogian introduced me to this sport.

Its been awhile

We are on our spring break. I'm doing things I didn't plan to do - burying a chicken the dog caught, having a homeschool garage sale, clearing snow off the steps, and working double hours at the store. Blogging, therefore, was pushed to the back burner. Hope you are having a great week enjoying the mix of spring and winter weather.

One of the birds flew the coop this week and landed in dog territory. Penny sure wanted something to play with, what better than a squeaky toy that flutters when you are a bird dog. She happily brought it to the back door. T11 saw her and screamed. Our friend Cam had picked this banty out of the bunch last year and she was named Camo for him. Herogian received the honors of burying the bird.

Yesterday I posted to our local homeschool group that I had books for sale. Today, before and after the St. Patrick's Day Parade was a great time for families already out and about to stop by. Yes. I still have a lot of books to offer if you're looking for any supplimental books, and also a bag of boy clothes I had stuffed in the attic. Just give me a holler. I'd love to pass it all on - clothes are free, books are almost free.

I've lined up our curriculum for school to finish us through high school. The only thing that might change is whether the course is taken at a local college for dual credits. I love to plan ahead, but I have learned to write it it pencil now.

Monday will start our spring session of P.E. with the local homeschoolers. My friend Arby and I will be coaching kickball, softball, and assorted similiar games. We've had a great response from the area. It will be interesting to see the age range that shows up and how many days a week most people show. We are planning for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for 1 hour. Not so much time out of the day to mess up the schooling schedule, but enough time to give the kids an incentive to quit lolly gagging around with work.

After reading this post, it seems like it has been a bit boring around here. Let's liven it up a bit.
Snake kill number 1 for the year happened today. T13 and I were tossing pieces of waste lumber on a burn pile. T13 sorta froze in his steps and whispered snake, his finger pointed to the pile of branches and leaves already in the pile. My reaction was automatic, I struck the thing over the head with the board in my hands then asked what kind was it. The neighbor boy (12) wasn't too happy that I'd killed one of God's creatures. So when we saw it's partner, we picked it up with a stick and moved it away from his younger siblings playground and took it to the woods. I'm sure his mother wouldn't have minded if I had clobbered the second one. I always think of the curse from Genesis when I see a snake. It is ordained that a snake will die by my heel.

Tomorrow at archery is 2d and 3d targets, camping out, 3d shooting again on Saturday (40 targets) and hopefully dinner out with the family. Chat with you soon. Thanks for stopping by.

You Sandbagger!

That's what they were calling me at archery Friday night. It was all in fun!  If you remember, I started the league with my recurve which had the nock locator on in the wrong spot, the nocks were for compound not recurve, the sight fell off and then the limbs twisted with the new bowstring. UGH!
Friday night was our last night of league with award presentation at the end. I'm not positive on how they score, but it has something to do with improving your score each night counts as a win. When my team partner quit coming (an eight year old) I didn't expect to get anything but last place. Herogian and I were surprised to hear that my team won third. We received a nice mug (for rootbeer floats) with Tri-county logo printed in light green. The presenter then had to take some time with her computer to try and figure out which kid had the most improvement over the weeks. She started laughing because it was a BIG kid with 121% improvement. Herogian spoke out before she did, "It was my mom."  That's when the guys who have been coaching me, adjusting my sights and correcting my form decided to call me a "SANDBAGGER".
Last night I scored  273.  I was shooting for 280. Dropped 9 points in the first half. The gentleman next to me told me to quit counting them up. He dropped a total of about 4 for the night. Most of these guys shoot 290 and above. It's awesome watching them shoot.
I know what I'm putting on my birthday list - stabilizer.
Next Friday we start indoor 2D and 3D shooting. The following morning is the monthly 3D shoot of 40 targets placed throughout the woods and fields. Herogian, Commander and maybe the other two will be camping out with Herogian's new archery  friend and father. I of course claim the need to sleep at the house to take care of the dog, chicks, chickens, and incubator eggs.
Have a great Spring Break.

Robin Hood arrow picture

Right below his hand is where the arrows stuck together.  His grin cracks me up, you shouldn't try to talk and smile at the same time.

Archery - "you pulled a MOM!"

The guys oohed and awwed over that fact that I got a new bow last night. Then the giggles broke the silence when I struggled to draw the string back. The first arrow sunk deep into the wooden frame.  I had gripped the riser so tightly that I sent the arrow to the right about a foot. How embarrassing. Since Herogian was standing behind me as a coach, some of the guys ribbed him about his coaching me right into the wood. I have had enough practice with chemo brain causing embarrasing moments to smile and keep dying my hair blond.
Anyway, with some expert help from the league shooters and moving my target to the far left slot on the bale, we finally got away from hitting wood. Later in the evening one of the guys that pulls 70 pounds, stuck an arrow deep into the wooden frame. It was quiet enough for those around him to hear Herogian pop us with, "Hey Jeremy, you just pulled a Mom."
Then at halftime they pinned up a poster of a deer. Right before it is tacked onto the bale, a dot is marked on the backside of the cardboard. Pay your dollar and shoot - with the closest arrow to the dot winning the money. I slipped my release and the arrow went early - oops, so it stuck in the cardboard below the deer. The guys walked down to see who won and said that the arrow in the rough can shoot again since whoever didn't hit the deer. Herogian to the rescue again. "That's my mom's arrow."
I hit the deer this time. Neither of us won, but their will be many more chances.
It was a fun night. I'm not as sore this morning as I thought I would be.

Murphy's Law and archery - makes good.

Friday night was our first return to archery league. This one is different. It is called 5 spot. You have five smaller circles. The white center is worth 5, exact middle gains you an "X", and the outer two colored circles are four points.  For those who can't handle the smaller circles (me) the other target offered is still just two colors but the circles range from "X" 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point. 
They put all the names in a hat and draw partners. I don't know if he truly was shaking his head, but I knew Herogian didn't want me as his partner. He was hoping to get someone like "Cabela guy".  Our names were chosen one right after the other, but "Cabela guy" said, they don't let husbands and wifes team up, they shouldn't let mothers and sons. Herogian was happy. He didn't get the adult he wanted but one of the younger boys, as did I.  I think it is as fair and equal between us as it can be.

Murphy's Law kicked in for me Friday night. It all started with the new bow string, new nock locator on the string, new arrows, and trying to move to 20 yards distance. With everything new, I had the feeling it wasn't going to be a great night. 1st - we had to change the nock location. Things started to improve. Last warm-up round before we started shooting - 2nd - my sight fell off the bow. Talk about your chin hitting the floor. There was a big gasp from those around me. We couldn't believe it. Our 'Cabela's fix-everything -guy' got it back on the bow in time for first round. 3rd,  My arrows went everywhere.
They have these nice wooden frames that hold four targets each. I hit high, low, other target papers. You name it. It was down right embarrassing to have two arrows in a row bounce off the wood and land five feet from the targets.
Then, I was asked to score the group, one of members is a youth, so he is at the ten yard area. After scoring his round, 4th, I forgot to go back and pull my arrows. We line up to shoot another around and someone points out the arrows down range. I got to take the 'walk of shame' to retrieve my arrows.
There are so many people shooting that every spot is filled and we have to rotate lines. I step up with the second group after lifting my bow off the rack. 5th, "Cabela guy" immediatel hollers at me, " it might be an improvement to your shooting, but you really shouldn't shoot with your bow upside down." I just gave him one of those Mommy (your in trouble) looks. He smiles.
6th thing we found out  - was that the new arrows were nocked for compound. I'm shooting recurve. This is the third time that evening I'm searching out "Cabela guy' for help. He has a special tool for twisting the nocks.
Okay, back to shooting, I'm now lined up with the center point but shooting low and 7th, still hitting boards. The guys next to me, suggest using the split finger hold. This brings everything up and I actually have one round of five arrows that score points. Up to this point I've had 1-4 goose eggs on every round.
8th - The next round I shoot is back to the beginning of the night. I can't figure out what has happened. When I pick up my bow, the guys behind me realize that my upper limb is twisted.  They try restringing my bow, twisting it the other way. Nothing works. I finish out the night gritting my teeth. The guys know that I'm irritated. They try to joke about sand bagging it this first night so that my averages will increase throughout the league season.  It was a rough night.

Well, now I'm ready for them. A Diamond 2011 model  29 inch pull compound.

The only problem I'm going to have is with the draw poundage. It is set at its lowest - 36 pounds. Can you say weakling? If I can pull it five times in a row, I'll be doing great. If I can pull it 80-90 times in one night - oh my gosh - my right arm will fall off.

When we sighted the bow in at Cabela's, Herogian thought it was funny that I was having trouble with the pullback. I used a trigger release for the first time and with the improvements the clerk made to the sight pin, three arrows were in a triangle pattern within one inch of each other. Herogian's chin hit the floor. Hee Hee Hee.