Cross Country Season

Cross Country season is over and Jeffery had a great season. Most of this season he set a new Personal Record at each meet then he hit a wall at the last two meets but he was still having a great season. At the District meet Jeffery was named as a member of the District VJ Academic Team.

Many of the team also had a great season too. The team this year had a mascot---- Yoda! Yoda even wore a team uniform and was at every meet and is planning on attending the team banquet.

Below is Jeffery and Yoda at the District meet.

Good news!

A week ago, early afternoon, we had a bad hail storm. It was golf ball sized hail, and it did a lot of damage to cars, houses and anything else that was outside.

We had 2 of our 3 vehicles, Randy's car and my van, damaged. The van even had the windshield cracked and the hood looks like someone had beaten on it with a hammer. The van goes into the shop next week for repairs. The boys car escaped damage, it missed the hail storm because it was at Kirkwood.

Today the insurance adjuster for the house came by.

The roof on the main part of our house is fine! I was worried about this because I was home at the time and heard how hard it was coming down. Too bad several of our neighbors were not so lucky.

The sunroom does have some damaged. That roof will have to be replaced and a couple of exterior wall panels. This is what we expected because we could see the damaged to the exterior wall panels.

The adjuster was surprised that we didn't have any screens destroyed or more siding damaged. This has been very common and I know several people who had their siding destroyed as well as their screens.

Randy did notice today that we probably lost one of our ferns because of the hail. It was looking good but now there is little left of it. Oh well, it probably would not have made it through the winter because I was the one who planted it. I do admit to having a black thumb.

Sometimes you have to laugh

There are times you have to laugh or you will cry. This saying is very true when you are dealing with a loved one with dementia.

My mother has dementia and is physically handicapped. Which means that there are many times that I have to tell myself to just laugh or to accept that she is not going to get better.

One thing I often have to remind myself of is that "life happens". Which to me means that you do what you can and don't worry about the rest. This is very true when dealing with Mom.

This doesn't mean that I do not get frustrated with her because I do. She could be doing better physically if she wanted to but she has convinced herself that many activities and almost all forms of exercise will make her sick so she will not do it. I keep telling myself that I can't make her do it, it is up to her.

At times Mom is very with it mentally and at others she seems like a bratty 5 year old. Since I never know which will be on the phone I have learned not to expect much.

I do feel guilty at times because Dad is the one who is having to carry the burden of dealing with her because my siblings and I do not live near them but they chose to live there just as the rest of us have chosen to live where we do.

I do remind myself when Mom is having a bad day that even if I lived closer it would not make a difference and my family comes first and there are times when I have to laugh because it is better than crying.

Continues to improve

This Cross Country season is being a great one for Jeffery. He is making marked improvements at each meet. The Thursday meet at Noelridge was a fast meet for everyone one. Many of our team set new personal records including Jeffery. His new PR is 20:32.

Jeffery set a new record

This season in Cross Country has so far been a really good one for Jeffery. This past Saturday he set a new personal record. He ran the JV 5K race in 20:59. Way to go Jeffery!!!

Cross country season has started

Yes it is that time of the year. What time is that you ask? The time of the year where I walk around golf courses and other large grassy areas cheering on people running across them, especially Jeffery and the rest of the team.

Jeffery is one of those people who loves to run but takes about a 1/4 mile to get into his groove. Yes that means he is a distance runner. This summer around everything else he was doing he ran almost 500 miles. He says that running gives him a chance to burn off energy, sort out thing that are bothering him and/or give him a chance to just enjoy the moment.

Yesterday was the first met of the season. This meet was moved from Thursday evening where it had a reputation of being extremely hot. It was much better being on Saturday morning instead. It was still warm but nothing like it has been the past several years, I don't think that anyone had to go to the hospital this year for a pleasant change.

The team is off to a great start. They came in third in all groups! That holds well for the rest of the season. I am not sure about Jeffery's time I think he was 34th but I am not sure.

More Disney

More about the music department trip to Orlando.

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom.

This was also the day that the Choir had their workshop. Jeff said that they had fun at the workshop. They sang several songs for a soundtrack for part of the Lion King. The choir joined us later that morning.

While the choir was busy the rest of us went to the Magic Kingdom. To get to the Magic kingdom we had to take the ferry across the lake.

Randy and I had fun exploring the park. One of the first things we went to was the Pirates ride because was a good place to start and mid morning we did the jungle cruise as a great way to relax. Randy said that he thinks the jokes on the jungle ride are the same ones he heard when he was there as a kid.

We then headed over to tomorrowland so Randy could ride Space Mountain. This was something he insisted on riding. He had been looking forward to it for years because when he was there as a kid it was closed.

While we were running around the park Jeffery and the rest of the choir returned and they also were running around the park. We only saw them at the end of the evening.

One of the girls in the group convinced Jeffery to try on some princess ears. Of course a picture was taken.
At the end of the day we all met up at near the flagpole at the entrance to watch the spectra magic parade and the fireworks afterwards.

This was the end of the day and our long day in the parks.

We did have one little adventure after we returned to the hotel for the night. One of the students was so tired that they fell asleep on the bus and unfortunately no one notices till curfew. After a looking for them for a good while it was suggested that they might have fallen asleep on the bus so the head bus driver was woken up so we could check the bus. Sure enough the student was still asleep in the bus.

Disney for Spring Break

This past March Randy and I were part of the Chaperones for our high school's music department trip to Disney World. We visited all four of the major parks: Aminal Kingdom, Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Disney Hollywood Studios (this one used to be called Disney MGM Studios) and we spent a day in Cocoa Beach too.

This trip was a large group we had over 300 people on this trip and took 7 charter buses to get there. While the buses were much nicer than school buses it still took over 24 hours to get there with all the stops and it everyone was glad when we arrived at the hotel. We did have one adventure on the way to Orlando, we had a stow away. After talking with the parents the student was picked up by the police at our first stop to wait for his parents.


Our first day in Orlando spent at Disney but we spent it in two parks. We were at Animal Kingdom until late afternoon and then Epcot until it closed.

When we first arrived at Animal Kingdom Randy and I headed to the Asia area, Jeff was with his friends most of the day so we did no see him much. Randy wanted to ride the Mount Everest Ride. Randy likes roller coasters but since I do not like roller coasters at all Randy went on it without me and was able to get on almost immediately because he was a single and could fill a open seat. We did the walking treks and the trails which are fun. We did not do things in any real order but crisscrossed the park several times before it was time to leave.



When we arrived at Epcot we went in with Jeff and his friends so I was able to take some pictures of them entering the park. Epcot was also where Jeff remembered to get his picture taken with some of the characters: Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy. When we were walking over to Mexico to get some food we ran across Rafiki and Jeff got his picture with him too. After Jeff ate he met back up with his friends and we met up with them to watch Illuminations light show. Both times I have been to Epcot has been during their topiary show which is just beautiful. The topiaries make me wish that I could grow plants instead of killing them.

Slight problem

I was planning on adding more posts about what has been going on here but we ran into a slight problem.

We had a computer problem. The motherboard on our main computer died and of course that is where all the pictures were. We have replaced the motherboard and everything is up an running. So I will be able to get the pictures and update soon.

Sorry I have been Missing

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a long while.

Life got very busy and then there were some things that I was dealing (and still am) that will not be posted about here that have taken a lot of my time.

Over the next few weeks I hope to get caught up on what has been going on here. I will post a bit about the trip to Disney, Robotics, Graduations, Gnomes and other things.

I keep hoping that life will slow down a bit but it only seems to go faster.

Some days are better than others

Yesterday was my birthday or as I told my mother is was the anniversary of her becoming a mother.

I was a in a bit grumpy mood, not from anything that was done or not done but it was just one of those days. We didn't do much to celebrate because of our schedules during the week, though Randy did give me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We are planning on doing something on Sunday because we will be busy all day Saturday.

For some reason this year I just felt grumpy (this is the best way I can describe it) about my birthday. Not that I mind getting older, oh no just that is seems to a dreary time of year. The world seems like it has been bleached of all color so that is seems like a white and gray place. I know that this is only a passing phase and soon spring will be here with new life and color. Fortunately this grumpiness doesn't last long.

What have I been doing to counter this lack of color? I have been wearing bright colors and keeping busy with things. I also plan a big colorful garden. These gardens never get planted mainly because I have a black thumb but they are fun to plan.

How is my mood today? It is better. I am not in a grumpy mood at all.

He is now a published author in his field

Time for a Mom bragging moment!

My eldest son Anthony has been working on a paper for several years. He started the paper when he was a Student in Music at the University of Northern Iowa in the McNair Scholars program.

Since then he has been working on the paper and it was recently published in the International Horn Society's journal. It is in the online articles for the society.

Here is the link for those who want to read it.

A History of Horn Choirs in the United States

January is a busy time

I have heard January call the boring month because the Christmas holidays are over, there are no major holidays, and the only major events are the college bowl at the beginning of the month and the professional playoffs. There used to be the Super Bowl but that has been moved to February and then there is the weather. It will be cold and snowy, at least here in Iowa. Yes, we will get a warm period in January that is coupled with fog the cold and snow always return a few days later. Today it is snowing again. I am tired of dealing with snow.

However for us January is a very busy month. This is because several activities get into full swing. Classes are back in session with a new term starting so it is new classes and schedules. So this means that we have to figure out new study patterns and schedules for everyone taking classes.

Speech team goes into the last minute frenzy of finishing up things before contests that are toward the end of the month. Then is the contests themselves. District is always in January and is held across the state at various sites. Then there is state Speech competition sometimes it falls at the end of Jan. and sometimes it is at the beginning of February. This year it will be at the beginning of February, there is one set of competitions for the east side of the state and one for the west side of the state. Depending on how well teams do at state they maybe recommended to All-State Speech which is in February.

Then there is Robotics. This is the biggest a thing on the schedule because at the beginning of the month this year's game is announced and the build season begins. For the next six weeks the teams have to design and build their robot with everyone shipping on the same day. In order to get this done our teams meets everyday except Wednesday and Sunday, there is one Sunday they will meet, usually in the evening. This means that Jeffery has to be efficient with his time to get all his schoolwork done, his regular activities, Speech team and Robotics all in. It is not unusual for Jeffery to have to make decisions on what event he will go to. During January Jeffery seldom goes to Scouts not because he doesn't enjoy it but because he is involved in things that move it down on his priorities.

This year we added more to the schedule because Randy is started working on his Master's in System Engineering so he is also taking classes in addition to work, which he is working overtime, Scouts, Robotics and other activities.

Trying to keep every thing straight and people on time to where they need to be at times can be challenging.

For supposedly being a quiet time of the year we seem to be very busy.

Mount Rushmore, Mammoth site and caves

Finishing up on our trip to the Black Hills.

The most famous thing in the Black Hills is Mount Rushmore. It is worth actually going into the monument instead of just seeing it from the road. It is free to enter but you do have to buy an annual parking pass for $10. There is much more to Mount Rushmore that just he faces. One of our traditions on seeing Mount Rushmore started when Anthony was very little, I think it was on our first trip to the Black Hills, was to arrive early and eat breakfast overlooking the monument. Yes is it kitsch but still fun. The boys have always looked forward to doing this not because the food is good but because it is a tradition. By being there early we are ahead of the crowds so we can enjoy exploring the Monument by going through the museum about the men and carving of the mountain, take the trails and visit the artist studio. These are all much easier and enjoyable if you are not battling the crowd. There is a night program at Mount Rushmore, we have heard that it is very good, but we have never been to it because we always go early in the morning.

Randy and Jeffery along the trail.

The plaster mask of Lincoln from the Artist Studio




A site that is easy to give a pass but is well worth your time is the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. This is an old sinkhole in which Mammoths, all male and most young, fell into and couldn't get out. Over the years it filled and dried up. This is still an active dig site though they are keeping some of the bones in-situ so us, the general public, can see what it looks like and learn about why the bones were found where they were.



The Black Hills are full of caves of all sizes and difficulty. Most are private but there are two that are part of the national parks system- Jewel Cave and Wind Cave. We have been to both and tend to alternate between them instead of trying to do both on the same trip. While the two caves are near each other they are not connected and have different histories and formations. Last year we went to Jewel Cave. This cave is the second longest cave system in the US and it still being explored. When were there was a team of spelunkers exploring and were due back the next day so they knew that the cave would be officially longer than when we were there. One word of warning if you want to take one of the tours of the caves get your tickets in advance, at least a day or two, or you will be out of luck. Also take a jacket or sweater because all the caves are cool and wear study shoes, flip flops are not a sturdy shoe, because the ground is uneven.

Going to State!!!

Today Jeffery went to district Speech contest as part of the Linn Mar Television team.

They did well they received all 1's and will be gong to the State Speech contest in two weeks that will be held in Linn Mar High School this year. 13 of the 17 groups that Linn Mar took to district will be going to state.

There were a couple of things that they were told they need to improve one was the commercial and the other was how they led into one of their main stories. I am not sure if they are allowed to make changes or not.

Linn Mar does do a daily television news program in which Jeffery is a member of. The entire crew with the exception of Kevin Fry, he the adult mentor, is students and he has them do almost everything. Any student who attends Linn Mar High School can be on the television team but they have to be willing to be there an hour and a half before school most mornings. The anchors are usually Seniors with an occasional Junior substituting. Jeffery is usually behind the camera he usually is making sure that everyone who is behind the camera knows their job and how to do and if they don't know how he will teach them. He has been on the television crew since he was a Freshman.

For those interested here is a link to their You Tube channel. Linn Mar TV

Custer State Park

As I mentioned on a previous post a couple of days earlier we like to camp at Custer State Park when we are in the Black Hills. This is not just because it is a beautiful place to camp but it has so much to see and do.

Here is the entrance to the park from the town of Custer. For us this is not how we usually enter the park unless we were in Custer because the past several times we have camped in the Sylvan Lake Area of the park so we take a different route to get to our campground.
Shortly past the entrance you come to Stockard Lake. This is the largest of the lakes in the park and has 2 large campgrounds on it. For those traveling in a large RV these campgrounds are the ones you would want to stay in. On sign that has always caught our eye and makes us smile is the sign for turtle crossing. We have never seen a turtle crossing the road anywhere in Custer but we like the sign because we have a pet tortoise named Yuri who has gone with us on many of our vacations.
Of course any place that is popular with people there will be traffic and with traffic there will be traffic jams. Here is rush hour at Custer complete with a traffic jam.

Custer has lot of wildlife. They are best known for their buffalo, burros and prairie dogs. The most popular way to see many of the animals is driving the Wildlife Loop though there is wildlife all over the park.

This buffalo was not with the herd. He was down the road drinking from a little pond. He walked up drink just as we were driving by so we stopped and took a series of pictures. When he was done he just walked up the road in front of a line of cars to the rest of the herd.

About half we saw a herd of deer but it was father on the loop when we saw the burros. The burros are not native they are animals that escaped or were left go by the miners. Over the years they have formed a herd and have made the park home. The main herd was off in the distance but the several of the animals we right by the road wanting attention from the children who were traveling with their parents. They went up the all the children wanting petted and fed grass (the children were picking the grass from along the parking area) while their parents took pictures, the burros would pose with the children when they realized that a parent was trying to take a picture. One lady drove up while we were there with a lot of bread and no children. The burros totally ignored her for the children. Here is a picture of Jeffery and some others along with a burro.

We saw lot of Prairie Dogs, there are a couple of Prairie Dog towns along the loop. When were at the last prairie dogs town Randy was taking pictures and he heard a noise from right in front of him at the edge of the road. It was this little chipmunk. He wanted his picture taken. Randy was almost ready to take his picture when the camera said the batteries were dead. This little guy just sat there until we had changed the batteries and then posed for Randy. After we had taken a few pictures he then ran off.

Not all wildlife was out away from the buildings. At the visitor center in the middle of the park. There is a kiosk that has signs, maps, and other information for people to look at. Right above them inside the kiosk was a nest with a Momma Cliff Swallow and her hatchlings ignoring all stream of people that entered the area.

Custer has more than just lots of animals it also has some wonderful scenic drives. We took Needles Highway several times because our campground was at the beginning of it. It is a beautiful drive along the edge of the mountains. The views are beautiful and the spirals which were carved in the granite over time are inspiring. Along this road at one of the pull offs we ran into another family from here, Cedar Rapids. They were staying ay Sylvan Lodge while were camping at the campground, unfortunately neither family thought to get a picture together. All this proves is that you can be anywhere and run into someone from your home.

Here is a picture of the Cathedral Spires from a distance and then up close with Randy and Jeffery on one of them.



Here is the formation that gave Needles Highway its name. It looks like a needle's eye. Randy and Jeffery also spent time climbing round some of the formations near the needle. This area is a very popular area for climbing. We were careful and did not climb to any area that was difficult to get to without gear.

Stan and other Fossils in the Black Hills

If you get a chance to visit Hill City, SD and like dinosaurs and other fossils one place you will want to take time to see is the Black Hill Museum of Natural History. It is in a pink building that used to be the old Opera House. I believe that they used to be housed in an old white building nearby. They are a small museum that is growing and have some very nice fossils. To enter you have to go through their shop which at times can be a bit crowded.


Their star attraction is Stan the Tyrannosaurus Rex. He is the second most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex that has been found. The most complete is Sue who is now at the Field Museum, Chicago, IL. At this museum you are able to get up right next to Stan.


Randy, Jeffery and I were joking among ourselves that Stan and Sue must be siblings because they were found not that far from each other but now one lives in Chicago, IL and the other in Hill City, SD because they can’t stand to be closer than that.

They also have other fossils there as well.



If you feel hungry for something to eat there is a little café in Hill City. I think that it is called the Hill City Café. It is in an older building and is not fancy but don’t let fool you. We stopped there because Jeff was hungry and they were open. Randy and I each ordered a bowl of ice cream expecting a couple of scoops. I think that between the two of us we got almost a quart of ice cream and it was a good vanilla ice cream. Jeff had a piece of pie. They gave him a second slice at no charge because he looked hungry.

Camping in the Black HIlls

When we visit the Black Hills area we like to camp there. Our favorite place to camp is Custer State Park. This is a beautiful state park that has several wonderful campgrounds. Each of their campgrounds has a different personality some are better for children and some are better for people who like it quite. Most of their campgrounds do have modern bathrooms and they have been adding to electric to sites that allow campers and there is water near by.

We tend to like Sylvan Lake. Sylvan was in the movie National Treasure 2. It is not right behind Mount Rushmore as shown in the movie but several miles away (about 25 miles by the road I think) and a granite mountain in between.

This is a peaceful and quite campground that is at the west end of Needles Highway. While it is called Sylvan Lake Campground it is not on Sylvan Lake but very near it on the other side of the road. While it is next to the road you do not have to look at the road because there is a line of trees between the campground and the road. This line of trees also blocks a lot of the road noise.



One of things we like about this campground is that Sylvan is that we can walk over to the lake to fish or walk the trails. The Lake is small enough that you can fish it without a boat or enjoy a leisurely walk around it.


There is always lots of wildlife near by once we had a young stag on the trail next to us while Randy and Jeff were fishing. Randy even caught a trout this year! Too bad we didn't get a picture of him and his fish. Late one morning we had several deer eating at the entrance to the campground and next to our campsite.



Another thing the guys like to do is rock climb. This year we didn't go rock climbing but Sylvan Lake has a lot of wonder areas for all levels of rock climbers and even has a rock climbing school that can supply gear and guides.

Sylvan Lake Campground does not have many planned activities like some of the other campground in the park this does not bother us. One of our favorite things to do after dark is to look at the stars. Because there are few lights you can see many stars and other sky objects with just your eyes or binoculars. We even saw several of the satellites, the space station orbiting and a few meteors.

Back to our regularly scheduled blog...

The next stop on our way to the Black Hills is Rapid City which is the gateway to the Black Hills. We usually stop at Ellsworth Air Force base to see the static display of military aircraft, their museum and visit the Missile silo. This time we decided to skip the Ellsworth.

We decided to visit the Museum of Geology on the campus of South Dakota School of Mining and Technology. We have visited this museum several time but not on every visit. This is not a large museum but is has quite a bit in it.

The star attractions of course are the fossils. Even though we no longer have a young child we still love seeing them. This time they had some current research on display. It was a Plesiosaur from Antarctica. Until recently there was no research on dinosaurs in the Antarctica because they didn't think that there were any.




We also saw the fossilized remain of a Tylosaurus stomach with a sign up stating what has been identified so far.




We also enjoyed seeing and learning more about the minerals and meteors they have on display but I don't have pictures because they were in glass display cases which don't photograph well.

We enjoyed our visit to the museum. For those wondering if it worth seeing I would say yes.