Track meet traveling went okay

The traveling to the meet and back went okay today. Only had one small episode of panic attack if that's what it might be. Will be looking into it more.  I'm so thankful Commander went with me. We had a lot of fun being at the meet together. He tried to just sit in the shade all day while I went back and forth from field events, but his face says it all - he's red.

J.J. threw the javelin once, then had to rush back down the road to the track to do the High Hurdles and warm up for the Pole Vault (which he hasn't done at all this year).   I made it to the Pole Vault in time to see him clear 12'6" which is good for his first time. He is a Decathlete so he doesn't specialize in one event, he has to learn them all. His javelin throw was 1 meter short of making finals. That was a bummer, if he could have thrown his three throws, there was a definite chance that he would have placed.

S.M. our long jumper went a foot farther today jumping off his non-dominant foot then he jumped indoor. Being trained as a triple jumper allowed him to make the jump when he saw that his steps were off.

K.B. our female high jumper and 800 runner gained points in each event. I think she lowered her time in the 800 with her teammate "NINJA".

We had a good showing on the track in the distant events, points in the 10,000 and 5000 meter runs. One of  our sprinters ran his first ever open 200 meters (open means it wasn't part of a relay).

Can't wait to train this week and get to another meet next weekend.

Have a great weekend.
Remember: the pain of training is less than the pain of being out of shape.

Nice weather about killed me.

Yesterday was beautiful here in Northeastern Kansas. I started snapping branches from the mega kindling pile in the back garden. After a 3 foot high by four foot wall was snapped and stacked, I started on cutting the thicker branches with the circular saw.  This all began because Hubby mentioned a job opening in Kuwait. I needed the time to get my mind wrapped around the idea and become mentally prepared for anything in the near future.  Just like a Boy Scout - you must be prepared. Manual labor helps the process.
 Also, the fact that CASEY the schnauzer/terrier mix has decided that the dwindling woodpile was a great springboard over the fence to freedom. He must have cleared it 5 times yesterday before we finally caught him in the act and figured out where he was getting out. Next job was to move the firewood. THe stack has to be either so high that he can't get on top, or so low that it doesn't help him. Making sure the sides of the piles were steep without toe holds was another chore.

I was ready for bed at 7 last night.

The morton's neuroma seems to be getting better - I was able to work out in the yard, so I'd say it was better. I go in later this week for another shot in each foot of 4% alcohol.  The I'm tough, I can handle any shot you give me, disappeared the following day after the first round of shots into the balls of the feet. My right foot protested all weekend (during a trip to Oklahoma to recruit and athlete and attend a funeral) I was a hobbling mess. The left foot was fine except for the rash on top of the foot over the injection site - I'm wondering if the alcohol has a wheat gluten base.  I get another round of shots THursday and also next week. I'm hoping to be done with foot pain for at least 50 years. Yeah right. We'll see.

Track practice is going well. We will be done with 6:30 a.m. workouts this week. The kids are excited, I'm excited. Hawk has been going with me almost every morning and working out with the javelin throwers. We built him a javelin out of copper tubing with aluminum piping inside. It flys nicely.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week.

Conference Meet KCAC

Last Saturday we left campus at 5:45 A.M. on the dot. Yes, that means one of the athletes going as a helper was running across the parking lot to catch up with us. I like it when a tight schedule is kept concerning leaving time.  You wait for one straggler once, then you will be waiting for ten the next time.
The meet was in Wichita, a three hour drive. I was hoping to drive in the morning so I wouldn't have to drive after the long day. Coach pushed me out of the seat. Aw, man. 

The meet started with field events at 10. I had a women's high jumper and a men's decathalon jumper competing. Kay B.- has jumped 4'9", today she sailed over 5'1 1/2".  HOOT! HOOT!  5 foot is a real mental block for jumpers. It was the men's turn. The starting height was going to be 1/4 of an inch higher than Jer. J. has ever jumped. He seemed tight, no confidence showing in his stature. We had a little talk after his first 2 attempts. THe last talk consisted of "Relax and have fun". He soared. Just the happiness, surprise, and wonderment on his face was a rush.

Kay B. later broke her time in the 800m. and Jer. J. broke his personal best in the 400m. They had a great day.
Overall, we took 9 athletes to compete. 7 Personal Records were broke, and I can count 6 medals that were collected by our teammates (maybe one more in there). Great day for a program that just started.

We now have snow. THank you, Lord, for holding the snow until we were back from the meet.
Oh, I also saw John at church yesterday morning. It was amazing how good he looked, and was walking with no assistance. He still has a couple of surgeries ahead of him. But to look at him you wouldn't know he had kissed an I-beam with his face. Miracles and answered prayers. We truely have an awesome God.

Recruit trip to Home

Yeah, I had contact with an athlete from my home town of YUKON, OK.  I get to make a trip home for recruiting purposes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It will nice to see Mom, Dad and as much family and friends as possible in the short trip. Yukon also has a new track and stadium, it will be exciting to see how much the school has grown since 'my day' when we picked the large rocks out of the cinder track before track meets.

Busy as a bee around here

This feels weird to actually be sitting at home and not driving kids around town. The last few weeks have been hecktick with house remodeling, morning practices, and afternoon practices with the weather being nice enough to be outside, schooling, working at the store, recruiting trip etc.... I'm praying that the weather will hold until this next weekend is completed and then it can blow and snow.
This coming Saturday is our KCAC Indoor Conference meet in Witchita. We will be driving 3 hours in the morning, competing in a track meet, which usually last all day, then driving back home. The last time I drove those specific roads in winter, we were caught in a blizzard. I'm not feeling to comfortable about the trip, knowing just how quickly the weather can change here on the plains.

The rooms down stairs are done. Kevin Wendts Construction did a super job. He was out here early (before 8) and sometimes after 7 at night to get the job done. He also took on the job of making a steeple chase hurdle for our track team runner to use this spring and dropped it off at the house when he brought the new doors. He was also a big help in brainstorming how to make high jump standards out of PVC pipe.
We used them this morning at practice instead of pulling the indoor soccer goals up along side the high jump pit. Can you imagine - miss the pit and land in the goal net. Scary! Baseball pitching mounds became takeoff boards for practicing form over the bar, and carpet for ceremonies in the gym make a great takeoff surface. The kids are learning to do with what we have, instead of looking at what we don't have. Don't tell the baseball team we used their mound.

Another plus this week was finding a javelin for under 250$.  This morning the fog was heavy, but one of the throwers was itching to get outside to be the first to throw it. Behind the gym is the football field. It was a picture out of the movies watching him throw the javelin into the thick cloud and have it disappear. We didn't know how far he was throwing it until he ran down the field to retrieve it. He told me I was a totally "Cool Coach" for letting him throw it. Stroked my ego.

THe recruiting and fund raising parts of the job are getting stressful- ler. Coach is getting pressure already from the school about bringing in a certain number of athletes for CC/TRACK next year (26 i think). He asked me to find at least 2 girls and 2 guys for field events. That doesn't sound like much, but it time consuming and mentally wearing to try and find athletes that might want to come to a small Catholic university. Then there is showing up at track meets and walking up to people to give them your card and talk to them. UGH! I'd rather stay behind this screen.
TOnight, I had to laugh, because a request Coach made was so unreasonable it made me hang my head. We haven't had any hits on our track clinic we are offering Feb. 25th. That's another thing I have to work on. So I get this email in the middle of sending out recruiting emails telling me to start emailing Kansas City coaches about the clinic. And just where am I supposed to get those email addresses? Our head coach is ADHDHDHD and he admits it.  I'm just turning it over to God. He knows which athletes need a motherly mentor. I'll keep sending out emails.

 Please keep our family friend, John, in your prayers, he fell last week, hitting his head against an I-beam. He crushed his nose and broke the eye socket. He is finally out of ICU but has more surgeries coming his way. He and his family are wonderful servants for the Lord.

Have a great week. Thanks for stopping by.

back up again...

Computer that is.    Anyone else hit by a trojan horse and who knows what other kind of computer virus lately?  Our awesome computer tech is getting a lot of business from us.
Commander asked me last night why I hadn't posted anything lately. O-kay.
I actually hooked my laptop up to wifi and was off and and running with doing recruiting letters to athletes when a page jumped up saying it was from "Dell" and needed to do a backup. We have a Dell computer, so I let it. Wrong. That computer is now out of commission. People who create computer virus should be taken out in t-shirts and shorts, and shot by boys with 450mph airsoft rifles AND AT CLOSE RANGE.

Today is our first track meet. I get the job of driving the 15 passenger van to and from the meet. Stay off the Kansas City loop this afternoon and late evening. I don't want to run you over. A prayer for our safety would be nice.

Our pastor is leading our Wednesday night Bible study. He touched on the 3 sins: of the flesh(anything that makes you feel good - chocolate, drugs, sex, alcohol), of the eyes, of the boisterous of life(the see what I can do syndrome). He hit home. I've been a "see what I can do person all my life". Athletics was a big part of it, and then being creative trying to be creative and show it off - as others say. Hmmm. Not feeling to good about me right now. "Wash me clean, Lord, take away this sin. Help me do only for you and not for the rewards of earth."

Have a blessed weekend.

Coaching / Athlete training clinic

If you know any Jr. High through Community College athletes or coaches in the Kansas City area that might be interested in learning dynamics, plyometrics and track events, please send them this link.

http://universitysaintmarytrack.eventbrite.com/

THanks for helping to get the word out there.

Biology at home

Herogian brought in this duck egg the other day.

When we broke it open we found another egg inside of the first, but it was still soft shell. Inside that (I don't know who took my camera away so I don't have the picture) we found a blog of shell material along side the yolk.

The picture is blurry - it's not your eyes. THis is Casey receiving a haircut around his face. Just like his human counterpart, I like it when someone is combing through my hair. As a preteen running cross-country for AAU, I kept my hair in a short pixie, I loved having the hairstylist use the straight edge razor on the under neath locks. Nuts? Okay.

THis is the throwing board for the USM track shot putters. All we need to do is move it out of the garage and to the school. Practice starts Monday and it started snowing last night.  It has 3 layers of 2x12 as the stopboard, carpet squares glued underneath to protect the floor from the bolts heads, and handles at the four corners for carrying.

Today three of us woke with congestion and sinus headaches. I'm so glad we homeschool. At 10:00 I sent the zombies back to bed.

Have a great weekend.

Flat on his back - & T shirts for sale

My po'r whittle Commander is flat on his back.  There, that should do it. Once he sees that comment he'll be up in arms.

The guy pulled, yanked, or slipped his back Tuesday night right before he was scheduled to take over kid duty with boy scouts and soccer.  He was hurting so bad his eyes were bugged out. He scared me. He did this 12 years ago right after T12 was born. I remember us placing the baby in the crook of Commander's arm while he lie on the floor. He couldn't hold the baby for a few days.

He had been down since Tuesday. This morning we did the early morning call to get a same day appointment with his therapist on post. Monday? They want to give him an appointment on Monday?. Now if that doesn't sound like our government stepping in and taking over the health system of our soldiers, I don't know what does.
I think it is chiropractor time. We have a good one in town that we've seen for 10 + years. It's time for him to work a little adjustment.
So if you don't mind, keep praying for the Commander. We could sure use him back on his feet. I don't want him getting to comfortable with me waiting hand and foot on him.

****
The track team is selling this t-shirt to raise money. If you feel like having a navy long sleeve shirt and want to support the team. Let me know. We have s-xl for  $20.00 I'll throw in shipping. The proceeds will help us purchase uniforms, travel bags, and pay for travel expenses this first year.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happenings

Red Tail Hawk - chicken thief - killed one of our banties today. The predator couldn't get enough lift to clear the back fence and dropped "Camo". The boys just happened to be at the back door (not at the table doing schoolwork) and saw it all transpire. One ran out screaming at the hawk, another grabbed the airsoft gun, and the third stood with his mouth open in the back yard. I happen to be on the phone in the bedroom and heard enough commotion to look out the window just as the hawk cleared the neighbor's trees.

Camo is now buried at the site she was dropped. T12 took care of burying her between tears. He went out in muck boots, pajama pants, and no shirt. I didn't know this until he was coming back to the house and I was going out to find the rest of the birds. One of the black layers was squeezed between the black leaf bags we have piled up around the north side of the coop. She scared the daylights out of me when she ran out. The birds stayed in the coop the rest of the day. Even the ducks didn't want to come outside.

****
We had our first official track meeting with kids from the fall sports. Coach was giving them the spill about being late, just don't come if you can't be on time. Anything else? .... I jumped in with NO SWEATS, NO PRACTICE. We're not here to train like high schoolers, we will train to run in conference, nationals and Olympics if anyone has that desire. We don't need to mess around with pulled hamstrings, because someone doesn't want to wear sweats.

The kids told me today, that some one whispered, "Coach Deskis must be a H.A. (clue: donkey).
The ones working out with me started laughing as I handed them each a pair of $1 gloves. Yeah, coach - your a real H.A. giving us gloves, making us cookies. We told them you make us run 2 minute 800's for warm up.

A long time ago, Commander said we would compromise - I wanted three kids, he wanted six, so we would have nine. The last few weeks have filled those numbers with the college teenagers I'm coaching. A great group of kids to work with, and it was actually hard yesterday, when we split into groups, to see four of  "my" athletes follow Coach Williams down the hall to meet with her - sprint coach. But they were all back out at the track today ready to run, jump and throw.

Please pray that I make an impact on these kids with God's light shining through me. It's a private Catholic school, but that doesn't mean the kids have faith in God. I want them to see their potential  being put to use by God - how great it is when He is in charge of the body. I want to be the light that shines.

Messed up mentally due to holiday

Does having a holiday break in the middle of the week mess up your mental calendar?  I don't know what happened to Friday, it's been a repeat Saturday - Commander watching football on tv (yuk), boys playing with Cam., and I've been writing lesson plans for three boys and workouts for 4 groups of athletes for next week, and putting together puzzles.

I'm so messed up that I just looked over at the Commander watching TV and asked him why he was watching it muted. He isn't - I've got headphones on. I'm listening to Pachabelle.

We have one more week of workouts with the track team before we have to turn the kids loose to study for semester exams. The break from going to workouts (for me) will be filled with writing workouts for the winter break, putting together a Track clinic which will include Dynamics, Active Drills, Plyometrics for upper and lower body, weight training without a weight room, individual event training sessions of what to do before you get on the track,( winter training), how to make some training equipment. We will have groups for sprinters/ hurdlers, throwers, jumpers, and distance. So if you know any high school athletes or coaches,  have them contact me. The clinic will probably be late February.

These are our obnoxious practice javelins the boys helped me make. Then they broke the pink handled one and didn't tell me until Thanksgiving Day when I wanted to try it out. The nerds.

This year I've made hurdles to hops out of fencing from T.S.C. and lattice strips for our plyometric hops.  The hurdles have a five inch spike and stake into the ground. Cool.  I still need to make hurdles out of PVC piping for indoor practice. In the past, I've made plyoboxes, and plyoballs out of basketballs and water/sand. Just gets messy if they bust inside the gym. Oops.

Anybody else not ready for Christmas - cards, shopping, putting up a tree, baking, kids out of school. Right now it feels like a 400 meter hurdle race coming up next and I'm out of breath already. Oh well, one hurdle at a time.

I think I'll go put together another puzzle.
Anyone else like 1000+ puzzles?

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.

Feeling the Burn

Today was cool, windy, and perfect for track practice. Five guys showed up for circuit training, bleachers, and bounding. If it wasn't so much fun being active and doing this stuff with them, it would probably be smart of me to remember how old I am compared to them.
 BLEACHERS. 
At OU we would run up the east side of Owens Field. I think it was 23 steps then, and they grew in height as you went upward. We would actually run eight to ten repeats.  The sprinters would fly to the top. It was amazing to watch them. They would take one quick step to the left and be around the passage opening halfway up without slowing down.

Our little field has eight rows of seats that we did 2x8 == Squat hopped up the 8 rows of seats 16 times. We then finished off with a CORE EXERCISE Circuit and a PLYOBALL Circuit of 45 seconds on and 30 seconds off.

The joy has been the attitudes, they are willing and ready to do what is asked of them.

I had to giggle when one of them started talking about food. He couldn't wait to get to the cafeteria. Another one said he wasn't going to the cafeteria, he was going home to lie on the couch and moan. He would see if his mother and father would feed him while he convalesced, if not, he'd get breakfast tomorrow. I think I need to give his parents a heads up.

Homeschooling hit a fat wall yesterday.  One of those days where you wonder why you are doing this, and I had just ordered the next math book for T12. Today made up for it. The boys were done in time to help our Youth Pastor in a small community service job this afternoon while I was coaching. Thanks for taking them, C.C. We have to work on their self esteem though. One of them said he was a 'B' student and that was good enough for him. I can't see settling for that. That's not giving God 100%. T12 just walked by and I asked him about that last statement. HMMMM made an impact.

Have a great weekend.

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.

Teaching an old coach a new technique

Thursday, October 20, 2011   A good read about Dynamics


Tonight I read Dynamic Stretching by Mark Kovacs, Ph.D., CSCS. Since being hired to coach track and field, I've been refreshing my mind over the different stretching techniques trying to make sure I use the correct terms (most frequently heard), so our athletes will be familiar with what I'm asking them to do. So the "Doggie" exercise we did Monday is actually called "Fire Hydrant", like that really makes a big difference; both words put the same picture in your mind.



One thing the book clearified for me, is why static stretching before workouts and competition is being frowned upon in speed and power events such as track and field. The scientific research over the last 10-15 years has proved that static stretching actually "have shown decreases in immediate performances by as much as 30%.... and last approximately 60 minutes after the stretching routine." That's a big impact on jumping, sprinting, and throwing events. So the athletes "should limit or avoid slow static stretching within about an hour of training or competition."


Think back to the time we were in school and all the static stretching we did every day before every workout, or every event. It amazes me to think how far training techniques have changed. It's like computer technology - changing in leaps and bounds. Oh, I'm just too funny.  NOT.

If you have an athlete at home, ask them if they are still static stretching before a game. If so, you might want to drop this blogspot in the coaches email. Together we'll direct them to a whole new improved method of training, or as the book cover says, " The Revolutionary New Warm-up Method to Improve Power, Performance and Range of Motion".

Have a great weekend.



DRESS WARMLY IN LAYERS FOR PRACTICE FROM NOW ON. NO MORE BARE LEGS.

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.

Wow Wednesday

As you know from previous post, we had so much on the plate today to get done. It actually turned out to be a fun day.
The orthodontist appointment gave Herogian the words he has been waiting for  - braces off before Thanksgiving.

T12 - Northly, helped me take all the food to church. He stayed with our youth pastor to set up the tables, stir the meat, and just hang out in good company - well, that was after his long division problems were finally done. He had a hard time with the fact that the worksheet doesn't always have enough room to complete a long division problem.

Track practice was a riot( in a fun way). The park is right across the street from the campus. These kids are so engrossed in school, life, and who knows what else, that they never really noticed that there was a park at the end of campus drive. They had to call from their cars to ask directions. When they arrived, they stood there shaking their heads in disbelief that they had missed the park. I wanted to welcome them to the feelings of CHEMO BRAIN, menopause, old age.

The park was perfect for running loooooonnnnnnngggggg inclined hills. The hard work of running to the top of the hill was worth the smiles when they found out the last two runs would take them back down the hill. And they forgave me when I goofed and had them run two 300's instead of a 300, 200. What a good group. They make me excited about what they will be able to do next spring. One athlete hasn't ran since his sophmore year in high school. He was leading the pack.

Dinner at church went off without a hitch this time. What a miracle. Commander was able to get there before me and the ladies were already setting things out. I ended up driving back to the park to find a weighted jumprope we had left at the circuit training area. Ugh. Doesn't it always happen that way when you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry? At least I wasn't pulled over by a police officer this time.

Thanks for the fund raising idea. Please keep them coming.