Hoop Dreams!!

After the win, Bill hugs Mario Chalmers as the rest of the Jayhawks celebrate on the floor!

Bill cutting down the nets. I think he looks pretty happy!!

Mario Chalmers, Cole Aldrich, and Sherron Collins celebrate!

Sasha Kaun getting a piece of the net!

Sherron Collins looking extremely pleased!!

The Midwest region trophy will look great in the Booth family exhibit at KU!

I can see tears in Bill's eyes as he cuts down the nets. Good luck KU!!

Congrats to Coach Bill Self, the staff and players!

This is the day

Last day of March. Is March going out like a lion or a lamb? Right now it's bright and sunny! This is how I am feeling today.

Today as I turned *8 * (if you add the two numbers together) I haven't been doing anything. I have no party planned. No cake baked. (I'll do this for L for his b-day on Friday, he'll be turning *9*). I can remember when I was living at my parents home and getting birthday cake. Hmm, that rich sugary frosting with some little ceramic figure on top of the cake. I miss those days, you know. I saw the little ceramic figure that once adorned my cake back when I was 10 years old. I had a little white bunny on top of the cake and my mom has kept this all those years. My birthday was near Easter that year.

Then I can remember blowing out all of my candles and always wishing that I got a horse for my birthday. Later on I did get a Mustang (I know that wasn't the same "kind" of horse that I wanted when I was 10), but it was a "horse."

It's funny how things change when we get older. Our type of food for birthday's, no parties. No pin-the-tail or ear on the bunny games (this is the type of games I had when I was 5) anymore. No candles taped to a card for your friends to blow out (something we did when we were in college. We called it a 21- birthday candle salute!). Instead I chose not to go to work on my birthday, it's a holiday. You know like "President's Day." LOL!

Maybe next week L and the family will be going to our favorite restaurant in Wichita on the west side before the KU/UNC game. It's nice to have birthday's close together. S and J's are on the same day, that's loads of fun! (not for them, but for me).

But I did get my birthday wish yesterday. KU going into the final 4! That was some early birthday present!! What a way to celebrate 53!!

At Last!!! KU in the Final 4!!

Players dumped water on Bill Self in the Locker Room celebration!

KU hoist the Midwest Tournament Trophy

Team listening to Coach Bill Self talk strategy in the final minutes

WOW!!! We just erupted with shouts of joy and tears!! KU and Coach Bill Self did it!! They are in the Final 4!!!! KU beat a tough Davidson team 59--57. We were all watching, listening to the radio and closing our eyes. The buzzer sounded and KU won!!! It was not by no means an easy game. It was a see-saw battle. Stephen Curry did his thing and missed a lot of shots too. I was sweating it (maybe my fever was breaking!) and we were quiet during timeouts. Sasha Kaun played awesome offense and defense scoring 13 points and Mario Chalmers also had 13 points. Brandon Rush had 12 points, Darnell Jackson, 9 points, Darrell Arthur with 7, and Sherron Collins had 5. Sherron had a game changing play. It was his 3 pointer that pushed KU ahead and spurred them on for the win.

Now KU gets UNC!!! A dream matchup!! KU (and their fans) have wanted to play against UNC since Roy left in 2003. This was the last time KU has been in a final 4. This will truly be a fantastic game. UNC coaches are all former KU coaches and some are alumni of KU. Roy at one time said it would "make him sick to play KU."

KU will be going to the Final 4 in San Antonio, Texas next week. Most likely, the fan base will have a strong midwestern/southern flavor there. How I wish I had a ticket to San Antonio! I can imagine the price.

Congrats to Bill Self and the Jayhawks for a great season. After reading all the articles on Bill Self this was a major milestone for himself to reach a final 4. I am truly happy for him and the team.
Rock Chalk Jayhawks....GO KU!!

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I got my birthday wish!! :)

Some KU pics.

The press conference with Brandon Rush, Russell Robinson, Darnell Jackson, Mario Chalmers, and Darrell Arthur (the starting five) with Coach Bill.

Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson with Rodrick Stewart in the background, relaxing.

Under the weather

Maybe I am excited about the big game tonight. Maybe it was something that I ate a couple of days ago. Maybe it's the day before my birthday (remember it's just a number?). Maybe I am sick of hearing the name Stephen Curry and Davidson. Maybe I fear the weather for the next two days, with possibilities of tornados. (But have to be reminded I live in Kansas after all). Maybe I fear of getting sick in the middle of the night. I'm still wearing my sea bands that push on pressure points in my arms that is supposed to cure nausea. Maybe I feel bone chilling cold and warm at any given time.

Whatever it is, I am under the weather. I'm skipping Sunday School and possibly even church. I hate doing that. But then I see what L forgot to bring to church which I needed to get in today (pay cards, etc.) and pictures. I could sneak into church bringing the cards and slipping them into a box, then slither back home. Or I could just stay here and L could bring the cards right after church. I text S at church. Is that okay? Will she get in trouble for me texting to her during Sunday School? I just might go in and out of church just to get paid for the hours I worked this month (a lot). But If I go and stay I will smell the aroma of food and suffer more nausea.
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J's electrical project is due this week. J just tells us 4 days ago. He has no idea what he wants to do. He thinks doing a simple quiz light up thing is the way to go. We wanted to build an Allen Field house replica and make a scoreboard. We have no time for that. I suggest that they build an electric car. No. What's the difference? It would be a radio controlled one! Scrap that idea. I suggest that they bend lights to look like a Jayhawk. Whatever they (L and J) decide things will have to be finished before Wednesday. My final suggestion is to use S's project (a house) and be okay with that. I am so glad that after J we won't have any more projects. Next year, we get to do a castle...oh joy!
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My birthday wish is that everyone would be happy, no sickness (although I have been sick on my birthday a couple of times, that is NOT fun. Of course this happened when I wanted cake), and for a KU win. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

Let's Just Settle Down!

Our opponent has been picked. Now, KU needs to settle down and concentrate on Davidson. We need focus, complete focus. Nobody freeze up or get sick. Everyone do their part and listen to Head coach Bill Self. Everyone needs to play their "A" game tomorrow afternoon. I just hope and pray that KU makes it into the Final 4.

I know how much the players want to go; I know how much the fans (me included) wants KU to go to San Antonio; and I KNOW that Coach Self wants it VERY much!! I think this team can do it. I have real confidence that they can do it. But they just can't play sluggish. Be careful of being unselfish with the ball. Make the 3 point plays, watch the fouling situations and the turnovers. Make the free-throws. Play great defense and offense. But Please let's not choke, or get ahead of ourselves. Just settle down for great things yet to come.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!!

The Elite 8 and Davidson

Darnell Jackson, Rodrick Stewart, Tyrel Reed, Brady Morningstar, and Matt Kleinmann cheer on their team. Note the height of the floor. This thing could be dangerous if you went after a ball very quickly!

Sasha Kaun wanting a high five from Mario Chalmers as Darnell Jackson congratulates Mario

I thought this was interesting. Bill didn't want to below the court level to talk to his team. He found a stool to sit on the court. I'll bet those 2 guys behind him are shouting to him, "Down in front!"

KU is going onto the Elite 8 on Sunday. They beat Villanova by a score of 72--57. The Jayhawks looked stellar in the first half. Russell Robinson scored 13 quick points in the first three minutes of the game. The slam dunks made by Sasha Kaun and Darrell Arthur were awesome!! Then the second half came along and the 'Hawks looked sort of sluggish out there. Nova outscored them in the second half 35 to 31, but still lost the game by quite a margin. Nova really pressed them in the second half on defense. Leading scorer was Brandon Rush with 16, Russell Robinson had 15, Mario Chalmers had an impressive 14 points, being perfect from the stripe and hitting 6 out of 6 free throws. Then Sasha Kaun was great on defense and came up with 9 boards, Darrell Arthur had 7 points, Darnell Jackson and Sherron Collins both had 4, and coming off the bench scoring 3 points was Jeremy Case.

KU will be facing Davidson, a tenth seed who knocked off Georgetown and Wisconsin. Stephon Curry is all I've been hearing about. It seems like he score 33 points against Wisconsin. I am sure that the KU coaches have scouted Davidson. The 'Hawks still need to think about this game. This is a two day tournament for them and they must concentrate on Davidson strengths and weaknesses. They can't think of this team as being an easy team just because they are a 10th seed. Things aren't "in the bag" until the final buzzer. Rock Chalk Jayhawks!!

F-O-C-U-S/Go Jayhawks!

Bill watching his team working out. I imagine he is the most focused guy out there!

The Press talking to the Jayhawks. How do the guys keep focused on their game?

I guess this is how they keep focused!! That looks relaxing lying on the locker room floor! :)

KU is playing the Wildcats tonight....no not K-State but Villanova, commonly known as 'Nova. I call them Vanilla-nova. They are a 12 th seed. KU must not take this lightly. 'Nova back two or three years ago beat our Jayhawks. I know this is in the back of some of the guys' and Coach Bill's mind. They know what caused their loss and I am sure that they are working on those points. Again KU must watch the fouls, the turnovers, the free-throw shooting, the three pointers. They must be confident, but not cocky. Not overwhelmed with all the media attention. Just stay focused on the task at hand. They need to play their type of ball. They need to get strong during this stretch of the season. They need to be like UNC, in a way. It seems that the more they play in post season the better they get and the team seems charged. They don't play sluggish like you see many other teams play. They are charged and ready to win and are focused. This is what I hope for the 2007-08 Jayhawks. Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

New TV show

While I was flipping the channels last night I ran onto to the TLC network (this is on satellite only) and watched the show "Jon and Kate plus 8." It was really interesting to see this couple and their 8 children! 8 children! At first I thought that the couple had adopted, but no, these were all natural children of the couple. Jon (Kate's husband) had just turned 30. Kate had to take fertility drugs. They had twin daughters and sextuplets! During the opening of the show they say, "Twin daughters who are 6, and 6 who are 2." I had stumbled onto a marathon of these shows! A production crew follows the family around and takes video of them for the show.

Each time the family would go out either to a photo shoot, or a speaking engagement the couple had to load up all 8 children's food equipment, clothes, baby equipment. It was quite an undertaking! They would have outside support (of friends and family helping take care of the sextuplets) and most of the time they took their two older daughters to speaking engagements around the county.

I had to laugh when they went California (they are from Pennslyvania) and got their pictures taken along this grove of orange trees. There were signs saying "No tresspassing. Don't pick oranges off trees." Well Kate and her daughter just picked up fruit from the ground, then Jon pointed out a police car across the way watching them. They decided to drop the fruit and leave the area. Kate said she could see it now, "Mother of sextuplets arrested for picking up fruit." LOL!!

Another part of the show was when they went Christmas shopping at Toys R Us. That was some deal too. Jon had half of the kids with him and she had the other half. Then they got mixed up with their list. Kate was getting mad at Jon and he said people were looking at them like "here is that whipping boy." It was funny.

If you don't have satellite or extremely great cable that has TLC network here is their story:http://www.sixgosselins.com/

Enjoy! :)

The Vacuum cleaner el morte!

Please forgive my lack of Spanish language knowledge (as I never took that language). But the vacuum cleaner that I bought a year ago has since died.

It was an Eureka Maxima 12 amp vacuum cleaner. It even still has the stickers on it. I even bought vacuum bags for it that I'll probably end up selling in a garage sale. Granted the vacuum was very light weight, but the roller quit rolling. Then when I would "roll" it on the floor it smelled like burned rubber because the rubber belt wasn't moving. The point of vacuuming the floor to me was to suck up hair/dirt and to make my room smell of that wonder carpet cleaning powder, burned rubber doesn't cut it for me!

I will never recommend this vacuum for ANYONE. Anyone who would want to keep a vacuum cleaner less than a year, this model would be perfect for you. It was hard to find the vacuum bags as well at my Wichita Wal-mart. I had to order the bags from Maine!

Now I will be looking for a new vacuum cleaner for my birthday. That's ALL I wanted for my birthday (NOT!).

Maybe I should just roll up all of my carpets and not buy a vacuum cleaner. Perhaps that is the way to go. Bare hardwood floors, after all that is the latest rage. Until then I'll have to just look at my "hairy" floor!

Ramblings...

I have been busy with the church website today. I asked L how to scan pictures into the website. I have scanning pictures of kids from our old pre-school from days past on a page. It looks pretty interesting. So if you are a loyal follower of the webpage please check it out and tell me what you think!
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Family History in the form of genealogy really is interesting. I can remember some people in my college history class who could go way back on their family tree. When I got older I wanted to know more. Thankfully the technology has allowed me to find several distant relatives and cousins. I can remember my grandmother (on my mom's side) having an old letter around from her grandmother. It was written in 1842. I remembered it was a very brittle letter and I had to be careful on how I opened it. I saw the names in there and realized that the letter was written by my great great great grandmother Sarah (Sally) Harris Jennings. Since then I found out that some of her family were Mormon. She was the only non-Mormon. I have read histories regarding that family. Pretty interesting stuff. One relative was killed by a stampede in Nebraska while on her way to Utah.

On my dad's side I have researched about my great grandmother. Most of the relatives believed that she had no siblings. But she was from a large family from Illinois. Her father died when she was 10 and she and her younger brother were shipped back west (Nebraska and Kansas) to relatives because their mother couldn't take care of them. Since then I have emailed her brother's family (the one who was shipped to Nebraska). We have compared notes and she is one of my favorite people to email/talk to. I got to meet her a few years back as she came through Kansas.

It is so interesting (in my opinion) to follow family history and to know the stories of our past.
Guess that's why I like History so much. :)

The Family Tree

Today on my email, my cousin in Wales told me that he sent something about the family tree. What perfect timing!! It was in the box today!

He had a picture of all the relatives! They were very tiny!! I am going to have to get a magnifying glass just to read all of the dates and name (either that or remove my glasses and bring it up to my eyes and get a headache!).

I could find my great great grandfather's name who was born in Wales in 1822. Then I saw all of the cousins. It was great!! All of them live in Wales.

We are the only "Welsh Americans" among them. When my grandfather was a very young boy he worked in the coal mines (or gold mines) of Wales to help support his mother and sisters, as his dad died at a very young age. My grandfather was a visionary, I believe. He had a dream of leaving Wales and coming to America. He left his home country at the age of 19. His original plan was to work in America and then move to Australia. But his life story didn't happen the way he planned it. He came to Kansas to see his aunt (who was also from Wales) and he worked in and around the area of Emporia. He eventually came to a small town called Florence as there was a rock quarry he worked in. The owner was also a Welshman by the name of Lewis. He started going to the Methodist church there and met his future wife, my grandmother.

Eventually they were married and were planning to have one child. It is a good thing that plans change. I know that God had a hand in changing those plans. Eleven years after my uncle was born, my mother came along. If she wouldn't have been born my grandparents would have never been grandparents. My uncle and his wife didn't have any children. My brother and I are the only grandchildren through that line.

I never met my grandfather as he died 10 years before I was born. He had cancer of the stomach and was only 58 years old. I never met my Welsh cousins either, but have written to this older cousin for quite a while now. Thankfully, we both have email and can keep in contact a lot better. When he dies unfortunately we will lose that communication between the lines. I'm not sure if any of his family care about family history as much he does.

Through my Welsh grandfather there has been a total of 2 grandchildren (my brother and me), 4 great grandchildren (our children) , and 4 great-great grandchildren (my brother's grandchildren), all of living in the U.S. The rest of the family tree relatives all live in Wales.

I am thankful for Grandfather for immigrating to America but most thankful for God who allowed my mother to be born.

How Sweet it is!! KU over UNLV

It was a game full of fouls on both teams. UNLV had gotten 6 quick fouls in the first few minutes of the game. Then KU started catching up on the foul tally. UNLV had two players foul out of the game. Brandon Rush fouled out for KU. During the second half UNLV went to the line more times than they put up any field goals. KU ended the game with a total of 25 fouls on the whole team but they won the game 75--56. Leading the charge was Mario Chalmers with 17, followed by Russell Robinson with 13, Brandon Rush with 12, Sherron Collins had 10, Darrell Arthur had 9, Darnell Jackson with 8, Sasha Kaun, 4, and Cole Aldrich 2. Rodrick Stewart wasn't on the bench due to illness. UGH!! That's all we need!! Hopefully this bug does not spread. Get well Rod!!

KU will be playing next week either against Siena or Villanova. KU knows 'Nova only too well!! The kids will get some time off to recharge their batteries, keep well, and practice for the next game. They are doing a great job of keeping focused!! They just need to keep that up. Maybe the next game would be better if they wouldn't foul so much!!

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KSU went down thanks to Wisconsin. I don't care if the Wildcats are a Big 12 team. Earlier in the day one of the sports people on ESPN said that they thought KState could win the NCAA tournament. Puh-leeze!! If they didn't have Beasley or Walker on the team this team would be playing in the NIT. Don't even go there with talk of winning the NCAA tourney. But those dreams were crushed by the Badgers of Wisconsin.

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A disappointing loss for Mark Turgeon's Texas A&M team tonight as they had lead No. 1 rated UCLA all through the game. Then in the last seconds the Bruins stole the ball and was 2 points ahead. Turg called timeout and when play began one guy through to a Bruins player who took it all the way for another goal at the end of the game. UCLA won over Texas by 4 points. Now, I wanted Mark Turgeon's team to win. I like Turgeon. Besides being a KU grad he seems like a nice person. But someone said at one time "nice guys always finish last." I really hoped that Mark's team would have knocked off over-rated UCLA.

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Beside KU from the Big 12, all that is left is Texas and Oklahoma. They both play tomorrow. Good luck to them both!

The Kansas Jayhawks

Here is KU's head coach Bill Self talking about the upcoming matchup between UNLV and KU today. I know that Bill Self is one of the best coaches in basketball today. He has recruited some really great players to be on the team. I am hoping that his best will be able to beat the Runnin' Rebs of UNLV.

KU has had troubles in the past about making it further in the tournament. We can't forget (or others won't let us forget) about Bucknell and Bradley. We had a different team back in those days and some of those players weren't all Bill Self recruits. He had to come in and take over a Roy Williams coached team. (Many of the sports commentators of today STILL refer to Roy Williams when talking about KU). This is a new Era...it has been for the past 5 years. It is the Bill Self era. He has been known for bringing teams from a losing season to a winning season, such as ORU and Tulsa. He was at Illinois for 3 years after taking over the program from a coach who ironically is the head coach now at UNLV (Lon Kruger). Self took his dream job at KU five seasons ago.

He has a current or recurrent dream. The loyal faithful of KU has a dream too. But the players MUST focus on one game at a time. They must picture themselves in the game today. Not the game in two or three weeks, but the game today. They can't play sluggish, they can't play sick or hurt, they have to be at their top game. This is the NCAA tournament and they must come out charged and ready to play their game.

There have been a lot of naysayers saying that Bill Self can't coach. He CAN coach and he coaches well. He has a dream and most of us have visions on what he wants for his team. But right now, he is focused on winning another game today. No distractions just complete focus on a win for his team. He will coach his hardest and his best like he always does.

The KU loyal faithful will be out there at the Quest Center in Omaha wearing their crimson and blue tonight and cheering their loudest. Many of us who can't be there will be at home watching on television. I think that Bill and the team will be able to win tonight. Go KU!! ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

Spring Break shopping

Since I didn't get around to getting a hotel in Lawrence for over spring break, we decided to take an afternoon of shopping in Wichita.

S's best friend and mom followed behind us as we left H town and went shopping. L and J went off and did their dad/son thing. While I got to hang out with DS and S hung out with MS. It was great as we mom's got to talk about what was going on at school/teachers and stuff in general. DS went to school with L and I got to know her through S's friendship with MS, since kindergarten. So she is great to get advice from etc. S was looking for a nice dress as she has a big dance she is attending soon. It didn't take her long to find the right dress for an affordable price!! (Under 60 bucks). Then we searched for jewelry, pretty easy too.

Then we hunted for shoes. There were all types of shoes that I would have chosen (the flat variety) but S wanted some heels and silver in color. We saw some interesting shoes in Payless Shoe Store...where you could get a white shoe and have it dyed. It just looked like it was a white shoe and someone used spray paint on them. I wasn't too impressed and it would take 10 working days and cost $40 dollars for them. We finally found the shoes (sandles, heels) at JCPenny's (they like me there! I buy a lot of stuff from there!). The shoes looked like glass slippers!! S looks super tall wearing those shoes...now she looks like she is 5'9" and towers over me! LOL!
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We shopped for us too. To top it off we went to TGI Friday's to watch the NCAA basketball tournament games. I am still amazed how we can sit in the "bar" area and eat food watch TV since we have under aged kids. I guess it's okay that they sit there as long as they are not seated at the bar!! THAT would be a no-no!

We searched for books and magazines and then went to Wally World. We ran into J's pre-school teacher there at the store. I hadn't seen her in quite a while to talk. We did see C and K at 8th grade graduation last year as he handed out diplomas. It was nice to see them both. C and K used to live about a block away from us and I got to sub teach pre-school when she was gone. Ah, those were the days. How things have changed and how happy I am now in what I do! :)
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KU is playing UNLV (Lon Kruger's team) tomorrow. The game is going to be after the K-State game is played. KU needs to keep their eyes on the prize and remain focused to win the game!!
ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

KU takes care of Business!

KU Jayhawks put the Portland State Vikings away in their first game of the NCAA tournament. Portland State's 5 ft. 6 inch Domiquez did pretty good against KU despite his height, he could really make those three pointers. At the half KU was leading strongly 49--26. Cole Aldrich, Rodrick Stewart, Jeremy Case, Connor Teahan, and Matt Kliemann got to see a lot more action than normal. Top scorer was Brandon Rush with 18, followed by Darrell Arthur with 17, Mario Chalmers scored 16, Darnell Jackson, who was perfect from the stripe scored 10, Sherron Collins came in with 9, Russell Robinson, 5, Jeremy Case scored 3, andCole Aldrich and Rodrick Stewart had 2 points a piece. KU didn't turn the ball over too much and fouled very little, which was a surprise. Sasha Kaun needs to fine tune his free throw shooting for the next game, as he was one for 6 at the line. KU won the game 85--61. Next game for KU will be on Saturday afternoon against either a Lon Kruger (former KSU player/coach, Illionis coach, Atlanta Falcons coach) coached UNLV or Kent State (which I have no idea about as a basketball team). Rock Chalk Jayhawks!!
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Windy day today...I had to lift the back gate up in order for it to lock into place. UGH!!! My right hand feels like it as arthritis in it now.

I went out to work to see that some slobs at been through one of the bathrooms. Seems they went to D and J drive-in didn't care for their shakes and dumped it into the bathroom leaving a trail of the goo on the floor. It fossilized and I had a "dandy" time getting that crud up. (NOT!) Some people just don't get it. YOU make a mess YOU clean it up immediately. But then there are some people who don't care and are slobs. That is just common decency. I will be plenty busy between Friday and Saturday getting ready for Easter.

Also out at church there are people working on our front entry. What a perfect time to be working on this!! (NOT!) Couldn't they have waited until after Easter? No, they had to be working on it Easter week...how nice! Hopefully, they will move the equipment and be half-way done Saturday night.

Mario barks. He's been pretty silent around here until one of S's friend showed up. Is he trying to tell us something? Maybe Mario will get used to her friend each time they come over. I encourage patting the dog, the friend was scared (a little). I guess the friend is not part of the dog's pack. He whines for one of us when we leave him alone. Hopefully he will be okay when that happens!

Gearing up for the Game

I got my KU shirt on and ready to listen to the "Crimson and Blue Line," starting a little bit after 9:30 AM!! What an early start to the first game of the NCAA tournament! KU will playing Portland State (of Portland, Oregon). Can you imagine how early the players had to turn in the night before?? How they have already eaten their pre-game meal, which consists of what? Surely, they wouldn't have breakfast foods to start off their pre-game meal, would they? That would weigh them down. I imagine that they would eat some kind of energy food. Breakfast pasta??

The fans for Portland State will be watching their team play at 9:25 AM on the West Coast. Sure that's early but often times if you want to watch any sport contest it does broadcast that early! No tape delays, just live. It's hard to fathom if you have never lived out there. But I think that the Portland team will do okay with the early start.

I think that KU will play good. I don't know what this Portland team is all about. All I know is that a few years back that they couldn't support a basketball team and had to cut the program. Much like the people over there at Wichita State cutting their football team, due to budget problems, or maybe lack of interest. But the Portland State Basketball team has only been in existence for 11 years. They are the champions in their conference too. This will be interesting to see how they handle KU.

KU just needs to take each game and not look too far down the road. Complete the task at hand and then look at the next game. They need to keep focused and play like a number 1 team. Hopefully we won't see too many turnovers or fouls, and we will have great 3 point shooting and free-throw shooting as well. All this makes for a recipe for success. Hopefully they will and can pull it off today. Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

Spring Break/Ironic basketball notes

Usually when there is spring break our family goes up to either Topeka or Lawrence for a day. This year, I forgot to order the hotel and Easter is earlier than normal. So we probably won't be going anywhere this spring break. :( I enjoy these trips. Getting away and sampling some of the cuisine in Lawrence and shopping in Topeka at stores that Wichita no longer have (Macy's). But so far this year we have taken two road trips to both of these cities when we saw KU play.

Since it is spring break I can get J or S, mostly J to watch Mario when I need to go to work. We still keep him in the house a lot more than we did Daisy. But he does have shorter hair than she ever did, so it's really no problem. We just have to make sure Mario gets to go out for his daily constitution. It would be nice if we could just let him off his leash and run in the yard. Maybe we will once we get more fence material and start to replace the old north section.

That will take quite a bit of work. It won't take just a day or so. We need to get pine boards at various lumber yards (not including the "What's it for store?"). We have 8-9 sections to put up, another post or so to replace. I still think that we should put concrete along the bottom of the fence (yet another expense) this would require a lot more work involved, so I kind of doubt it. I do like the suggestion from Scrapbook Granny as to add barbed wire around the fence.
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Getting ready to watch KU play Portland State on Thursday, early at 11:25. Pre-game on the radio on at 9:40 AM. Portland State is where my niece and her husband graduated from that college. We have driven by the campus several times while out in Oregon. It's okay looking, but KU is just so "college like," it's spread out; it has a lot of old buildings, and I just love those red roofs.

You would think that the way I talk that I am a grad. No. My brother graduated from there. I am a graduted of a small Christian college. I guess I couldn't see myself out there as I had gone one semester at Emporia State and just hated it. Kids were partying at all hours of the night; guys were in the girl's dorm past the hours when they should not have been; the classes were huge; and I was just homesick. I would come home every weekend just to see this guy who I met in my Economics class. I was so gone over him. I went to Sterling and later on this guy went to McPherson (ironic, wasn't it?)....in the same basketball league. I got to see him play at SC and would go out to Mac College and Bethel (N. Newton) to see him play. (This is how far gone I was about him). I can remember scorekeeping these games. I kept the scorekeeping book and a few years ago I was looking at the different players on the team. Yep, there was the guy whom I was hung up on from Mac and then I looked on the Bethel team roster. There playing for them was guy with the last name of Martens.

Little did I know back when I was watching the guy from Mac College that I was also watching my future pastor play basketball for the Bethel team. Martens. His first name was Weldon, who later pastored at PV Church in Harper.

So now you know the rest of the story....(thank you Paul Harvey!).

2008 Big 12 Champs!

What a game!! KU Jayhawks went back and forth on the lead about 6 times. KU set a record for 26 field goals and 24 assists. They also had 15 3 pointers!! Player of this game was Mario Chalmers leading all scorers with a career high of 30 points!! Brandon Rush was named tournament MVP and he scored 19. All three games that the Hawks played in Rush had a total of 56 points. They were sizzling in 3 point shooting! At the half, I was so sure if the 'Hawks would win as they trailed Texas by one point by a score of 46--45.

The second half was very exciting with each 3 point we cheered loudly and our dog, Mario became frightened by our cheers. Our cat Sasha, slept right through it, guess he is used to us by now. Mario Chalmers found his mark as did Brandon Rush. Darrell Arthur finally racked in some points scoring 16. Darnell Jackson got all of his points on the free throw line, Russell Robinson didn't score but was very good on defense. Sasha Kaun score 7 points, Sherron Collins had 9 and Cole Aldrich didn't score but had some excellent defensive moves! KU beat Texas 84--74!!

The next game for the Jayhawks will be on Thursday, at 11:25 AM, early start in Omaha! They will be playing the 16th seed in the Midwest Regional, Portland State University (Portland, OR). My niece and nephew in-law graduated from this college and we've driven by it several times while in Oregon.
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In the NCAA tourney, the number 1 seeds were UNC (Roy's team), Memphis, UCLA, and Kansas. Good luck to the 'Hawks in their next game. Rock Chalk Jayhawks!
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During the game I would text S about the game when they went on commercial break. She is coming back from snow camp today, so she missed seeing the game. But we DVR'd it and she can see the replay when she gets home.

The Complete Book of Games

I found this interesting book in my church's library last night entitled "The Complete Book of Games," by Clement Wood and Gloria Goddard, copyright 1938.

They have an interesting article about basketball. It reads: Basketball is the youngest of major team contests. It was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, as a synthetic cross between Soccer and Lacrosse. It took hold at once, Yale organizing a team as early as 1893. The idea was to design an indoor variation of Football. Kicking was prohibited, and also running with the ball; the latter rule eliminating tackling and interference. The ball is advanced by passing or by dribbling--that is, a player's bounding the ball against the floor, or tossing it in the air once and retaining possession of it. It has given birth to more minor and practice variation than any other major sport.

Equipment: An official basketball is used, round and slightly larger than a soccer ball.
The Players: A team consists of five players; two forwards, a center, and two guards. (check to see the way that KU's line up is today). The forwards lead the attack and specialize in goal-throwing. The center puts the ball in play and assists forwards and guards. The guards safeguard the goal.
After the ball is put in play, it may be batted, rolled, bounced or thrown in any direction, with one or both hands. A player is not allowed to kick the ball, strike it with closed fist or run with it (note no traveling is allowed!). Dribbling against the floor is permitted and the ball may be tossed in the air once during a dribble. When a player who is running receives the ball, he may take not more than one step with it before getting rid of it, on penalty of being charged with a violation of the rule forbidding running with the ball.
Minor infractions of the rules are called violations (a foul is a foul!) More serious violations are called fouls, whether technical or dealing with bodily contact.

Now here's where it gets interesting describing basketball for women.
When basketball is played by women, team consists of six players each; or they may consist of nine (NINE!! Wow!) . The ball is advanced as in the boys' game, except that it may not be rolled, and may not be handed from player to player. It must be caught with two hands, but may be retained or thrown with one. A player may bounce the ball in air once or dribble it against the floor once; but may not do both without an intervening play with the ball by another player. It is not permissible for a player to place a hand on the ball when an opponent holds it. (Watch for those steals!).

So now you know!!

What a RUSH!!

Brandon Rush was on fire in his win over the Texas A and M aggies. He scored a career high of 28 points. He had at least 5 3 pointers. Mark Turgeon's Aggies hung in there with the Jayhawks. They did not look like the same team as KU had played last week at College Station. KU struggled in the first half as both teams were deadlocked 34-34. The Hawks were out rebounded by Texas A&M in the game. The Hawks had 25 to A&M's 35. This time KU didn't get into foul trouble and didn't have as many turnovers as they did the previous game.

Darrell Arthur did not have a great game but scored 7 points. Mario Chalmers had several key steals and score 4 points. Russell Robinson shot only 4 points but sparked the 'Hawks on to victory. Sherron Collins was playing tough and shot in 9 points. Cole Aldrich, the freshman from Minnesota, scored 6 points. Sasha Kaun had 5. Darnell Jackson did well and scored 14 points.
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Mark Turgeon, former KU BB player, and assistant coach to Larry Brown, really can coach. He coached the Wichita State Shockers a couple of years ago into the sweet 16. I enjoy watching him as he coached against his former school. Usually if it's another coach, for example, Frank Martin of KSU, I don't think too highly of him. But Turgeon, he's a good guy and a good coach. Seemingly he has a good personality and raport with his players. I felt this way about Lon Kruger and Dana Altman when they coached K-State basketball way back when.
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Next game for the Jayhawks will be the championship game against Texas (the third year they are battling for the Big 12 crown). This is the 7th year that KU will be going to the Championship of the Big 12. Pretty good record for KU. Keep it up guys!! Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

KU wins/plays Texas A & M...buh bye K-State.

KU was looking pretty sluggish in the first half of the game against Nebraska tonight. Whatever Coach Bill Self told them at the second half worked. They weren't playing aggressive at all in the first half. Nebraska was leading KU 27-22. Most of the Huskers shots were going in, KU had way too many turnovers. They came back in the second half, fired up and ready to play. Throughout the course of the game there was two technical fouls. Sherron Collins apparently said something unsavory on the floor and then Coach Doc Sadler (from Nebraska) uttered something too and got a technical. Then no foul at all was called on that player from Nebraska who punched Darnell Jackson in the stomach. He just fell over in pain. It was clear to see on the replay just what happened. We turned off the sound of the TV in the first half. I just love listening to Chris Piper and Bob Davis. Davis and his infamous saying, "SWISH!" Just gets me all fired up and excited!!

Sherron Collins lead in points with 13, followed by Darnell Jackson and Mario Chalmers with 12 points each, Sasha Kaun and Brandon Rush both had 9 points, Darrell Arthur had 6 points and Russell Robinson had 3 points.

I just saw the last minutes of the K-State/Texas A and M game. I was so glad to see Turgeon's team beat K-State and the great Michael "Spongebob" Beasley. He is such a good coach. It's fine since they beat them. But I won't be cheering for A&M tomorrow when they take on the 'Hawks. I hope KU keeps up their aggressive playing, stop making too many turnovers, and make next to nothing in fouls. I hope Hightower isn't going to officiate tomorrow!! ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

Fence mending 101

It took us 3 hours to fix two sections of our fence last night. We replace 4 2x4's and knocked down two old section of fence. Then we quickly, two hammers and several bent nails re-installed two sections. They are by no means perfect. We had 16 boards that looks good, as they are new, but the rest are old boards (that didn't split yet), and any type of lumber we had lying around our house. It didn't matter. We were on a mission to get those two sections done. Now, granted I need to add more nails to the slats (the good ones) to make it strong.

You would think that a fence would last forever (or as long as you own your house). Nope. It doesn't last forever unless you own a chain-linked fence. Slats that have been through high winds, rains, snow and dog attacks do not last forever. The approximate life of this fence was 16 years. I can remember when we had no fence between the yards. It was maddening. When we first looked at the house I thought the boundary lines were just beyond a couple of bushes to our north. But the former homeowner showed us exactly where the line was. It was way over than where I thought it was. In fact, other owners of the house next door didn't know where their line was either. We added the wood fence and also added some evergreens to create an approximate line. But we knew we were still under boundary. We've had a lot of disputes over that line.

Hopefully this will solve the problem of the wild prison dogs coming in our yard and stop them from acosting our young dog any further. If it doesn't then the law will be on our side now as we repaired the fence.

Break out the Mace and Pepper spray

You would think that you would be safe in your own backyard in this little town. Well, maybe in some areas of town but not where I live. Over the noon hour L had quick fixed our broken fence slat as the prison dogs were running around in our yard. I was lucky that Mario wasn't outside then. So I just assumed that everything was hunky dorry by 2 pm.
Don't assume anything!
I was planning on going out to school for a class party and thought Mario needed to do a job outside. So I placed him on his leash and started for outdoors. We went around the back between the house and the garage. And then I saw them! Renegade, prison dogs lunging for my dog. I was scared!! I shouted at the top of my lungs, "HELP MEEEE PLEASE. SOMEBODY HELP ME!!"
I saw the fence and these dog had broken yet another slat to make it to our side.

The dogs started to pick on my dog in their prison dog ways and he started to yelp. I still don't believe these dogs are fixed, either that or highly aggressive! I felt one of the dogs on my legs and I was scared for the life of my new dog and myself. No one was coming around!! I finally got my dog in the back porch, taking my foot and pushing off the other two dogs. I called L hoping he was right there. He was NOT! I told them that I needed him now because I had these creepy dogs in the back. Then I called the police department. No one picked up, except the answering machine to dial 911.

Citing that this indeed was an emergency, in my opinion, I called 911. Flute wondered if I was okay. My nerves are still shaking, after 4 hours. I had a nice officer come and talk to me telling me that since this was my fence we were technically in fault for the dogs coming through. I told him that it would be helpful if these dogs would go into the pen in back instead of pacing my fence like caged prison dogs (okay, I didn't say that), but I did suggest that the neighbor put those dogs back there. So the officer went over to the neighbors house and explained the situation. I'll just bet they just love us. BTW, they are the ones who have that nasty smoke stack.
L finally gets home and puts a new slat into the fence. Meanwhile, I suffer a meltdown. I was crying and told him that I have had enough of this! I can't even go to work because my fence is in poor repair. He did fix the pen and the dog did not dig out. Whew!! One thing went right today. Hopefully when L gets home late today we can fix it.

I think I need some mace and pepper spray when I walk my dog out in my own yard next time.
It made me think what if J was walking Mario late at night and these dogs started attacking Mario and J. I shudder to think about that thought.
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Speaking of these prison dogs, what if my kids were outside playing and they would jump in my yard. I still think the owner of the dogs should be at fault as well, in my opinion.

Next door neighbor dog problems

The prison dogs next door are causing avoc in my life. We have a wood fence which was put up about 15 or 16 years ago. Needless to say, the fence has not lasted forever. We have split slats, broken poles all to our north where the prison dogs reside.

This past February we had brutal winds hit our area and a section of that fence came down. The neighbors aggressive "prison dogs" came running through our backyard. We had to round this fellows up and temporarily put the fence back up. Since that time we have had next to no time to fix our fence. We did get some material up in Wichita to help us to complete this task. Each time L has been outside fixing the fence the "prison dogs" have barked and broke even more slats.

This week our new dog Mario was supposed to be in his pen, twice. Once he jumped over the pen and the other time he dug out. He broke through the fence to what he thought were new friends which turned out to be prison dogs.

Yesterday L fixed the dog pen again, making it impossible for Mario to dig under the pen. However, I am not sure if this young dog could leap over the fence. I will find out later this afternoon.

Today the prison dogs broke through our fence AGAIN!!! This time Mario was in the house, thankfully. The prison dogs ran through our yard marking their "territory." L had to take them back to their own yard on one of our leashes and did a temporary fix. L has to make up his time at work. I have to make up time at my work too as I have been babysitting Mario. Hopefully J can help us take care of Mario after school. Once L is through with work he will be working on that fence.

I am pretty disgusted with the neighbors dogs, or the neighbors in general. They are the ones with the smoke stack. I am getting disgusted with our new little charge. I like him, but because of this fence situation it is not helping any.

Pray for us.

Pickleball accident part 2

S was cleared for PE today. JG had them doing Pickleball! What again?! Then she told me what happened today.....

It seems that S was serving the ball (the pickleball) and accidentally hit someone in back of the head. It was her teacher, JG. He turned around and kidded her saying, "I think I need some stitches."

LOL!!! Now that would be funny to see! :) Hope he's okay! I don't think JG will ever forget about the pickleball problems of this year!! ha ha!!

Needing a fence mender or a kennel

I am at home today with Mario and Sasha. I would have worked this morning but I would have had to put Mario in the yard, risking his previous adventures or leave him in the house only to be supervised by Sasha. Uh huh. That wouldn't work. So we've had a pretty nice quiet day together.

He did go into J's room and did a spot on the floor. I blame myself as I should have at the door closed. So I cleaned the spot and took Mario out. I put together treat bags and put together a game for my last grade school party tomorrow. Sasha and Mario both slept on the floor while I kept busy. Then I took Mario for a walk. Ha! He pulled and I just hanged on. It's a great day. Nice warm temps! How I wish that I could just open the door and say, "Have a great day Mario!" Then take off and get a little more work done. But, no I am just waiting for one of the kids to get home so I can do some work, any work!

I am hoping that my fence mender will be able to get off work early this afternoon. It would be really nice though if we could buy a kennel (like the ones to our west have). I saw one at this farm storm and it even had a covered top. That would be near perfect. We would then have to reinforce the area around the permimeter of the kennel with cement blocks. Then and only then would I even feel comfortable leaving him alone for a long period of time (overnight). We may have to get the kennel this weekend provided the weather holds up. But hey, this is Kansas! It probably won't hold up.
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Teacher conferences were eye-opening about J and his love for his dog Daisy. Over at the high school we could pick and choose which teacher to see. So we wanted to see the PE teacher but didn't get around to it. Sorry JG, maybe at church? Then we didn't see the Algebra teacher. We did not want to. She and S do not get along at all. So we know we didn't want to hear any negative comments from her because we have negative thoughts about this math teacher. She simply cannot teach and I do not care for her lacking teaching skills. Most of the class is failing her class, S is barely passing. However, the rest of S's teachers gave glowing reports. They all like her and she is doing well. We talked to some to find out where her strengths and weaknesses may be. For the most part I do like the High school teachers, except this Algebra teacher. She needs to be released from her job as she is of no help to the students. Only 9 more weeks!! S will be so glad to get out of that class!!

The impact of losing a beloved pet

When Daisy was put down 3 weeks ago, I thought that I was the only one who grieved losing her loss. I would cry openly and often when watching "Josiah." When we were told that she was dying I just held onto pleading her not to die. Our family would go out to the dog house to check on Daisy.

I wasn't the only one who was grieving Daisy death. L told me that he cried too. Yesterday I was at teacher's conferences and the teacher asked how I was. I told her I was breaking in the new dog and he was pretty impossible and trying yesterday (see blog post). She then told me that they were doing a sled dog unit and for some reason J got up and told the class that his dog was dying. Another classmate said something to him (she didn't tell me who it was) but she talked to that person about the situation because J was terribly sad about losing Daisy. She said he was one not to show too much emotion but when it came to Daisy's death he was sad and was crying about it. I remember telling J that we had to put Daisy down after school. My voice shook as I told him about it. He then said, "Well, she wasn't going to get any better." I agreed. There was nothing else we could do for it except put her out of her pain.

We had Daisy since J was 4 years old. He will be turning 12 this summer. That's quite a chunk of time. He was a pre-schooler and will soon be a middle school student. A lot of life has happened since those days. 8 years didn't seem like a lifetime to us, but for the dog it was.

Mario Adjustments part 2

We've had Mario since Sunday and each day brings on a new set of circumstances. Today I had to go to work. There was just no way that I could skip today and keep everything up to schedule. So I put Mario in the yard while I drove J to school. That worked out fine. Then I thought I will put him in the little pen behind the garage. There was no way this dog could jump over the fence. As I placed him inside, I noticed a place where he started to dig frantically.

So I placed a lawn chair and part of a log over that part. Then I left for work. I caught up cleaning projects out there and decided I should get home. I parked the car thinking that Mario was probably in the yard. I called for him no dog. I walked over to the pen, thinking that maybe he was still in there. No. He had flown the coop, AGAIN!!

Panic settled in as I shouted, "MARIO!!! MARIO!!! HERE MARIO!"

I called L and told him to help me look for him. Then I went into the yard again thinking to myself about how he could propel himself over a 6 foot wooden fence. Then I looked at the fence sticking his head from the other side it was Mario. He had somehow gotten his body over to the other side of the fence to "play" with the neighbor's dogs. But the neighbors dogs weren't playing with him. They were "dominating" him.

I knocked on my neighbors door. Nothing. Then I opened their door and rang the doorbell several times. Nothing. I was VERY aggitated. I wondered how I was going to get Mario out of their yard and into out yard. Meanwhile the other dogs were roughing up Mario. I shouted at them angrily, "STOP IT!! Quit doing THAT to him."

Well that woke the neighbor up and she comes running out, robe and all. I feel bad that I woke her up. But feel anger toward her dogs and my new little charge. I tell her that my dog got into their yard and she asks about my collie. I tell her that she has died. So she called to my dog as she let him out and kept her probably un-neutered males at bay. I grabbed him telling him he was a BAD dog. L comes over and I tell him, "I Had to go to work today." Then I told him the rest of the story. I apologized to the neighbor and tell her that we are trying to work on the fence.

The neighbor's dogs are constantly getting against our fence. Once while L was working on the fence the dog split the slat in half and broke it. I hope we can get this fence fixed and fix a fence for Mario that he can't dig under or sail over.
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Today my cat sat on my lap while I watched TV. He is such a great cat. He loves to feel the heat from the space heater. I turned that off and started working around the house. I turned my back and then I looked in the living room. Sitting in my place on the couch next to the space heater was Mario with this goofy grin on his mouth. Needless to say, Mario is in my doghouse, so to speak today. He IS in need of a lot of training!! I am sure learning a lot about him everyday. Hopefully he will learn not to get into any more trouble!!

Mario Adjustments

This is Mario as we were driving home from Wichita in the van. This has been a learning experience. The dog and the cat still have to adjust to each other. Mario seems friendly toward him but the cat isn't sure of him. He still needs to adjust to him somewhat. Here Sasha was the only pet inside our house for quite a while because Daisy wouldn't come in. So now, he has to adjust himself to another dog all over again. I am thinking I will need a baby gate someday.

The dog likes the cat food...another problem. We gave him the stuff that the Humane Society gave him but he turned his nose up at it. I grabbed a handful of Purina and mixed it with their stuff and he nosily snarfed that down. So now I've figured out the food situation.

I am thinking about calling him Houdini. As we were going to school today, he closely followed J out of the gate and into the front yard. Thankfully J called to him and I caught up with him. Then I put him into a small pen area and he jumped the pen. I think he got on top of the igloo and leapt out. Either that or took a running jump as the water bucket was on the other side of the pen. I get back from work and there he is in the yard. Well, at least he didn't jump that fence!! Yet!

I took him for a walk. I tried making him walk beside me. He's tricky. He weaves all over the place and I have to keep my eyes on him or I could really hurt myself. I am trying to teach him to walk beside me. It's pretty hard to do.

I push his rear end down and firmly say, "SIT." He lazily sits on the floor and just doesn't get it. Daisy came already trained. She could sit and shake hands.

He likes to spend time with me or whoever is around. I think he gets lonely when we are gone. Sasha doesn't care either way about us. He likes to makes his own schedule.

One thing that I do like about him is that he doesn't put his paw on my knee and make scratches on my leg. He does seem to be a well-behaved dog to some extent. But all of us are going to have to make some adjustments until he gets used to us.

Introducing...

Mario! We have a new addition to the family. One year, and one day later, we have adopted Mario the dog. His old name was "Duke," and that had to go!! Mario is a lab retriever mix and is about a year and half. His owner gave him up to the Kansas Humane Society in Wichita.

When we first came there we saw him, a black lab, a husky (blue eye/brown eyed dog). J fell in love with Mario. I was in love with Bonnie (the black lab). So we looked into getting one or the other. They told us that Bonnie jumped fences. Hmmm...I couldn't go with that. Pretty rambuctions dog. So they brought in Mario. He came to me and my eyes started to well up. I remembered the first time that I met Daisy. This was a dog that need a home and I was in need of a dog. He was a young dog with a lot of energy, love, and hair!! Okay, not as much as Daisy's but he does shed a lot. His fur is the same colors as Sasha's. Once we adopted him, we got him in the car and he looked outside as we drove. We just barely got into "Petsmart" when they announced they were closing!! So we quickly got some tennis balls and a blue collar. Then we grabbed a bite to eat and made the long drive back to H town.

He did quite well in the car. When we got home we led him around on the leash as the next door neighbors dogs barked at him. Then we let him run around and he chased J and jumped up to me. WOW!! This dog is nearly puppy like. We were so used to Daisy who never did this. We introduced Mario to Sasha and they just looked at each other. I think Sasha is a little angry at us for getting a dog, but oh well. If they can't get along, the Mario will have stay out in the yard. The cat still is number one!

Well, I guess it will be another trip to the vet so he can check out our new dog! :)

KU Wins the Big 12!!

After the win against Texas A and M, KU won the Big 12 Championship!! If Texas wins tomorrow then they will share the title, but if Texas loses to OSU then KU will be the sole winner. I am only going to say this once...Go OKLAHOMA STATE!! I hope they can hold them off. However, the game will be played in Austin tomorrow...so they might have trouble winning out there.

Mark Turgeon team struggled to come out to play against the Hawks. That was very interesting that Turgeon and Self had at been on the same KU team back in the 1980's.

The three guys who did pretty well today were Sherron Collins with 13, Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur both scored 16. Russell Robinson came on strong in the second half and had a total of 11 points. Brandon Rush scored only 2 points in the first half added 9 more in the second half. Cole Aldrich can really play some tough defense! Darnell Jackson had an off game today as he only scored 2 points and fouled out.

The next action for the Hawks will be on Friday either in the afternoon or the evening depending where Texas ends up tomorrow. Then we have next Sunday to look forward to...The ever important Selection Show. Will KU be a number 1 seed?? These questions and more will be answered depending on how things go for them this week.

Rock Chalk Jayhawks!!

I, the Forensics Judge

I got there bright an early at 7:30 AM. Yawn. Fortunately I had breakfast and was full. When I arrived in the Hospitality Room they had two huge boxes of donuts!!! Now, I wished I hadn't ate breakfast. Oh well. Of course, coffee percolating in the room. I would love it with they would have had a space heater and hot chocolate or Coca Cola. I am not a coffee drinker.

I collected my assignment and only got to judge two rounds. I was disappointed. I wanted to do more. Oh well, maybe next time. I noticed who the other judges were. There were some judges that I wouldn't want judging me!! This particular person is always pretty stone faced. I wondered who asked her. I saw some CHS teachers, a HES teacher, a wrestling coach, some moms of students, and a sister of a student (S's best friend from H town). So I talked a lot with her (LS). She's always been nice to converse with. It's funny, her parents and me are around the same age. I enjoy talking to the younger people. I guess that's just me though. Everyone went off to their assignment before 8 AM.

I found my room. The big cold band room. I switched on a light and waited. No one came in. I called L and waited. Finally I had two boys come in asking me if I had a timer. I was hoping that I did. So we waited. Pretty soon Jerrod came in tell me that such and such cancelled. Meanwhile I did get a timer person. Ethan of Anthony was pretty nice. So I saw the first Improv Duet Acting. They had a lot of energy. A little too much energy. I wasn't sure how to rate this one. So I did what I could. Then I saw another one about Big Foot. I liked this one because I could actually see where their play was going to. Then I had a guy and girl team (before I had two guy teams). These two kids looked to be either juniors or seniors. They had a great intro, a title and a lot of physical action, I felt the movement. After they ended, I wanted to clap for their performance. I smiled and told them "Thank you very much." Now, I know I was supposed to wait to rank them, but it was easy to see that no matter what, this was my first choice. They were polished. The next routine received the worst rating from me, as they were pretty bad. The plot was all over the place. Then they fought on the floor, oh please. It was stupid! But I didn't say this on the comment sheet. I said something like it didn't work for me, sorry. Then I had two boys do a gnome and a race car driver, it was pretty funny.

Prose was pretty interesting. This is what S does in tournaments so basically I was trying to rate them based on what she does. One girl did a "Fractured Fairy" tale about Hansel and Gretel. She was scaring me with all these unneccesary gestures and it was hard to tell the characters a part. I think what creeped me out was the gestures. She was last. The next girl was really nice, then off to the races she went!! It was like !! WOW, this WAY too fast. Faster than the previous one whom I graded down on. Her characters were slow but the narration was too quick. There was one whom I wanted to rate first except her piece was way too short (she was part of the team who had IDA that I liked), so she had to get 2nd. The one who got first, was pretty graphic and she read it slow with meaning. I could catch all of these, it was just a gruesome subject. I gave third place to a guy who read a piece by Paul Feig (he's the science teacher on "Sabrina the teenage witch.") The Army Elf, I think it was about. He had good voice characterizations and it was a funny piece.

It's funny I wrote a lot on this one girls' piece as I thought she was very nice. I guess I wanted to see her improve. The gestures girl just bothered me and I didn't like her piece.

I let HH know I would be available for next year. I had fun and learned a lot about prose. Some of the judges were late getting into their room and students were waiting. You should be to your assignment on time if you are a judge. No one likes to be kept waiting!

Judge in Training and other ramblings

S needed to get some points in Forensics in finding judges for their big tournament this Saturday. I had asked several other people and most were busy. So I took it upon myself to become a Forensics judge, afterall the teacher said that he was going to conduct at judges clinic on Wednesday and Thursday night.

Since I never had formal training in judging Forensics, I decided to go Wednesday night to the training. It sounded like fun. When I got to the school there was HH (the teacher) and JP (a Forensics student), L and and me. That was it. HH figured that there would be more coming in for training that night. I thought there would be too, but oh well, I got plenty of one-on-one training. For tomorrow I will be judging prose, poetry, and Improv duet acting. He told me things to watch for and gave me some handouts to help me in my judging. There would also be time to stop off for snacks at the hospitality room between rounds.

I took Speech in high school and college and enjoyed preparing speeches, etc., but now I get to be on the other side of it. This should be pretty fun. I will definitely blog about this experience in the days to come.
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I've been looking for a new dog today. I called someone in Wichita and they had given away their dog and wrote out to Hutchinson to their Humane Society. Yep, the same one who turned us down for the cat. But we lucked out last year and got Sasha. He was hard to get used to, but I just really love him now. He brought us through some rough times after Daisy was put down. Josiah also helped too. Seeing her wag her tail as I came up the road to walk her cheered me up. Her "parents" came back home from Egypt yesterday, so now I won't get to see her again unless they go somewhere else!
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I've been doing the powerschool grade watch. Face it, some teachers can teach and others that can't should get out. S has one really bad teacher and she isn't the only one who complains about her lousy teaching methods. Because of this teacher she won't make the honor roll. Hopefully this won't blow her chances of getting a scholarship on down the road. I just hope this "teacher" (and I use the term loosely regarding this person) will not be around when J is in High school. But S must endure her for 9 more weeks, then no more of her. Hooray!
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Update on S's eye...it's purple. I told her to get purple eyeshadow for the other eye so they would match. She just shook her head, nothing would match that! She'll get the stitches out on Tuesday. Yea! We are still waiting for that doctor's excuse to get out of Algebra! ;)

Pickleball Accident

When I looked up about Pickleball I saw the equipment used in this sport. We never had this type of sport when I took PE. We had kickball, softball, tennis, table tennis, badminton, but Pickleball???!!! I had heard J and S talk about playing that in PE in the grade school. It sounded kind of ridiculous. Sounded like something that I wouldn't enjoy it at all. Now S really hates it now!

I checked on the web to see what the equipment looks like. The balls are plastic whiffle balls (the little balls with the holes in them) and the racket is wooden like a ping pong paddle or a racketball racket.

About at 10:15 I see L coming up the driveway and wondered why he was coming home. Maybe he forgot something. He said that S had called him at work and said that she was injured in PE. She had a cut and that she needed to go to the emergency room. Thoughts immediately came to my brain. Where was she cut? How big was the gash? Would it leave a scar? Was she okay?
We drove out to CHS and I was worried! When we saw her sitting in the office she had a bandage just above her eye.

I asked her how big was the opening, like an inch or what? She couldn't tell us so she went in the gym to get JG (our friend from church). It's nice to see JG, but NOT in this capacity. He told us what he did to close the injury and that she should probably go see a doctor. He reassured us that the cut wasn't a gusher! That made me feel better. I kidded S and said, "anything to get out of your science test." And she added, "No, I would be in Algebra now." I couldn't help but laugh. She absolutely hates this class!!

So we go to the ER at HH and they tell us to go across to the clinic. The nurse and the doctor (very nice little Doctor Cass) came in to talk to her. Dr. Cass had a great bedside manner. I really liked her!! They prepped her for getting stitches in that area around her eye. Meanwhile S was holding her phone constantly texting her friends what was going on. When they were about ready to deaden the skin around her eye, S's leg vibrated. She just received another text message.

I had to laugh about her texting. I have texted her on occassion and I HAVE to do it with 2 hands. S does it in one hand and quickly. But here she was lying on this table and texting her friends without even looking! She took her phone and took picture of her cut, no doubt sending it to friends. LOL!!

S received 5 stitches and won't have to have PE (sorry JG) until the stitches are out. Too bad the doctor couldn't give her an excuse to get out of Algebra class, then she would say it was worth getting hurt!! LOL!

$chool Lunch Dealing$

J doesn't eat the school food he brings in his own lunches. So he packs a sandwich, along with a go-tart, and at least one or so of those 100 calorie hostess cupcakes.

Today J comes home with $7.00!! I asked him, "How did you get that money?" He laughs and says, "Well KJ payed me $5.00 for my cupcakes." Five dollars!! They don't even cost that much to buy! This isn't a first however.

A lot of his friends pays him to give them some chocolate go-tarts, hostess cupcakes, or 100 calorie Doritos. Some of the kids pay him at least a dollar for the cupcakes and a dollar fifty for the Doritos. I shake my head. I don't know why the parents just don't go out and buy them some of this stuff. Granted the parents think that this is "junk food." Not quite, though. The go-tarts are in the breakfast aisle and the cupcakes (okay, maybe this is junk food) is of the 100 calorie variety, same with the Doritos.

Then one of his friends, O. K. owed him some money and paid him with a 2 dollar bill. K1 (yes flute, your K1) sees J with the 2 dollar bill and offers him 2 ones for it, which J gladly accepts. K1 got the best of this deal I think. It's very rare to find a 2 dollar bill running around. If I were K1 I would sell this for higher than what I bought it for or just add this to your rare money collection. You never know it might be worth $$ some day. PS...don't trade it for cupcakes either! LOL!

Ramblings

When I was coming up the driveway to walk Josiah, there she was wagging her tail at me!! That was a nice site to see! I was actually missed! I miss my dog still. I can remember getting out of the van and she would be happy to see me and race me to the porch. I can't wait until we find our new dog. Wherever he or she could be.
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Out at work from the TMI department (too much information). I needed to use the bathroom at church. So I had these rubber gloves on and started to well, unzip. Only something got caught. I panicked. Needless to say rubber gloves and zippers don't mix. I finally got unstuck and out came a portion of the blue rubber glove. Whew, relief (in more than one way!). Always remember to remove those gloves BEFORE using the bathroom for personal use!
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Also out at work every one of the adult classrooms (with the except of the library class) now have new chairs, like our "green room." I saw them in there against the wall and put them in their new places. We will just love these nice softer chairs. No more pillows will be needed!!
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The fence will be mended this week sometime, provided the weather continues to improve. Although, I did hear that tomorrow was going to be cold again. Why can't the weather stay within 50--60 degrees instead of dipping down in the 40's with wind? Sigh!

Great Game for KU's Seniors!

It was Senior Night at Lawrence tonight as they played against Texas Tech. We couldn't believe that Texas Tech beat that other tough Texas team as their coach Pat Knight said, "Nobody from my team came to play." That was so true as the final score was 109-51! 109!

KU still high from beating KSU, apparently did come out to play. Nearly every KU player scored with the exception of bench player Chase Buford. The "wow" players were Jeremy Case who shot 3 3 pointers; Cole Aldrich had his first double-double with a score of 11 points, the future is in good hands with him; Russell Robinson was great as always scoring 15 points; Sherron Collins with 13; Mario Chalmers with 11; Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun both had 10 points; Brandon Rush scored 7 points; Darrell Arthur and Rodrick Stewart had 6 points a piece; and coming off the bench in the second half scoring 3 points was Connor Teahan; Brad Witherspoon, had 2 free throws; Tyrel Reed, Matt Kleinmann and Brenan Bechard all had 2 points. Witherspoon is a senior but is not returning to the team as will be student teaching next year.

One play was like "huh?" But KU pulled it off. When it looked like Mario missed the basket there was Darrell Arthur picking up the rebound and scoring it. ESPN will HAVE to have that play on the replay reel (this happened just before the end of the first half).

KU won by 54 points! WOW!! The bench players did an excellent job finishing. No one from either team were in foul trouble. I liked it when Bill brought in the players for the final time. I can't wait to see video of the extra stuff.

This was also Senior Night for KU. It was great to see the players families sit together and cheer together. The kids gave their speeches. I enjoyed listening to Sasha Kaun's accent (he sounds like a relative of mine), Darnell Jackson's speech had me wiping my eyes, and Russell Robinson was pretty great too. It would be nice to see video of this and Coach Self's reaction to all this. After all, these were his recruited seniors (with the exception of Jeremy Case). Case was recruited by RoyW, but he never played under him.

The next challenge for the Hawks will be on Saturday afternoon when they play Texas A and M, Mark Turgeon's team. This could be an interesting game to watch. (Hopefully I will be back from CHS to savor it!) . ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

Strong Gusty Winds

This morning I thought was going to be pretty uneventful. Sure the weather had changed somewhat (thankfully no snow) but it was cold and blustery.

When I was fixing breakfast I thought I heard a dog in my backyard. I shook my head thinking, "No I'm just wishing that Daisy was back there." Then I heard it again. Those dogs next door were really loud, it's as if they are in my backyard. I was taking a pill and opened the blinds. Then I saw the problem. After nearly chocking on my pill I saw half of the fence down!! That was the first time that had happened after having that fence up for nearly 16 years. That was our first section of fence that we put up.

The pole had broke off along with some sections of the slats. I brought out my camera and noticed that the neighbors dogs were in their pen. I am thinking the next time we build this fence we will have to fix the 2 x 4's differently and get new slats as they look pretty pittiful. We have several sections of fence that need to be replaced/repaired. I guess we should have done this on Saturday instead of talking to that "window specialist." I am just hoping for a warm and sunny day this week!
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Senior Day is tonight at AFH. We will say goodbye to seniors Sasha Kaun, Russell Robinson, Jeremy Case, Rodrick Stewart, and Darnell Jackson. They are all nice kids and very good role models. Hope they do well in whatever they pursue in life. Of all that group I believe that Darnell Jackson has a very good chance of turning pro, and hopefully not in the D league. But I guess the D league is better than nothing at all. KU is playing Texas Tech tonight. Tech is the team who knocked off Texas and helped KU become tied for the Big 12 title. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

We own!! KU Beats KSU!!

What a game!! KU finally showed what they were made of tonight against K-State and "mr. one season," Beasley (aka Spongebob). KU was ready to play their style of ball and took over at the very beginning. Beasley got two quick fouls in the first few minutes of the first half. Then something really strange started going on. It was like the "revolving door" syndrome. Everytime there was a stoppage in play, Mr. Beasley left the game to sit on the bench or he would be coming off the bench. Because of his fouls he didn't play much defense and they only used him in offense. I just don't get how everyone thinks Beasley is so good. He's not an all-around player and he is a ball hog.

I call him a ball hog because he lead all scorers by unusual amount of points. You know how Biddy Basketball players are, about one or two players score the most and the rest of the team are just going through the motions. In this game, Beasley scored 39 points, while the rest of his team scored 9, 6, 5, 5, and 5 points. Now KU's points were spread evenly among the team. KU plays team ball and the kids like each other. To me this is what it's all about to be a team player not to be a ball hog. Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson had 10 points a piece, Brandon Rush led KU in scoring 21, Sherron Collins had 18, Russell Robinson had 14, Sasha Kaun had 9, and Mario Chalmers had 6 points. KU broke out of their 3 point scoring slump and hit 11 of them this game!

During the "game day" segment they interviewed Beasley and he talked endlessly about Spongebob Square Pants. "He's a funny guy," said Beasley about Spongebob. He has Spongebob sheets and everything Spongebob (I can imagine!). Hey Beasley, Spongebob is not real, he is a cartoon character.

Texas and KU are now tied in the Big 12 after Texas lost to Texas Tech this afternoon. Next opponent for KU? Who else, Texas Tech? This will be an emotionally charged night as all of KU's seniors will be starting and will be running down the tunnel for the last time in Lawrence. S wanted to go to the game but she has several activites at school to attend. We will be recording the senior speeches on the radio. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

The Window Salesman

We thought we would invest in some good windows. We called up a reputable window/siding specialist in Wichita. We had seen their television ads and they seemed like a friendly bunch. The main work specialist came on out to our house took pictures and explained what they were going to do. We just happened to be picking up a new mower in Wichita today and dropped in for the "sales pitch."

He explained how good the new windows would cost and how we would be saving energy costs. He explained that his company was good in clean up, nice, friendly, did drug testing on their employees, etc. We went through the check list turned the page and.....EGADS!! This was just on windows only, eleven of them, $11,000 plus!! Well they had a sale, which by the way was ending on Friday, so that lowered the price to a nice $9,500 (still that price didn't cut it). Well now he had some lower priced windows that would have no insulation the sales price on it was $6, 700. For that price I could put both my kids in second phase braces or build on a room addition!! I looked a L. After nearly 20 years, we read each others mind, "that's tooooo much!" I said, "Can we think about it?" Meaning, I really don't think we are getting these! So the salesman emphasized that the sale was going off on Friday and that we need to act now.

Yep, we needed to get out of there now. I was thinking the price of a replacement window would run between 200--500 a window. NOT, 600 to 800 dollars. The salesman kept saying how great the company is and how much equipment it cost to come out to H town, etc. Then we asked, "How much would it cost to do 3 windows?" He replied, "We have a 5 window minimum."
Why don't they advertise that fact?? He showed us the figure and what we needed to put down. OUCH! The numbers didn't look that great. There was no way we could do this.

L told them that we didn't know it would be THAT much. I added, "Well, this was an eye-opening experience." The friendly salesman who was nice in the beginning wasn't too forgiving in the end. He lost a sale. I felt bad for him, but we just cannot budget that much.

Why can't there be no-hassle window salesman out there? He could have said, "Well, if you can't do it then at least you know how much it will take. Thanks for turning to our company in the first place. If down the road you can see it fitting into your plans, I hope that you'll be able to turn to us. We want to win friends, not make them mad."

But instead they made me feel bad because I wasn't taking the deal. I'd feel worse if I had taken the deal and gone into bankruptcy. These sales people need to realize that not everyone who walks into their business actually can afford their deal. I guess until then I'll be watching the DIY network and doing our own window replacements. (with a little help from our friends!)..someday.