This & That

The district track meet was this past Saturday. This was by invitation only and fewer athletes were asked to compete. Danielle was asked to compete in 2 events - the 100m dash and the 4x100 relay. In order to compete in the 100m dash, Danielle had to run in a qualifier first. Only the top 8 finishers qualified for the finals. Danielle was #8. In the finals, she finished 6th. (The girls who beat her were all a grade older.) It was extremely cold and windy, and no one's time was as good as it had been in previous meets. Even so, Danielle was happy with how she did and glad she qualified and placed. The 4x100 relay team didn't do as well as they had during the regular season. The coach changed one of the runners, and that made a huge difference (not for the best).

The state meet is next and is even more selective. Only a small handful of athletes are invited to compete at that level. Danielle was asked to compete on the 4x200 relay team. That has been a really strong team and has come in 1st in every meet Danielle ran in it. Unfortunately, Danielle isn't able to go. Her travel softball team has a tournament that day. It's been scheduled since last fall, and we feel like it's important for her to honor the commitment she made. We were up front with the track coach all season about her availability and he knew she probably couldn't make it to states. It really was an honor to be asked, though. Hopefully there will be less conflicts next year.

We saw this on the way home from the track meet. We also stopped by the outlet mall and entertained ourselves a bit.

A couple days ago I met up with a retired school teacher and handed over 35 caterpillars. The school she taught in raises milkweed in a greenhouse all year. They use the caterpillars in some of their AP environmental science classes. I think she was going to keep several of them, too. We are going to meet up again once they are in chrysalis stage so I can bring several of them back here to release. We kept one caterpillar.

Tyler noticed this when I took him to get his haircut the other day. He notices things that other people overlook. Both kids do, but it's different "things". This frustrated him because the opposite end doesn't line up with the opening. Lol!

 

Yesterday I had my first hummingbirds of the season. I know I saw a male. I thought the other one was a female, but sometimes they take a little while longer to get here. Maybe I just didn't see his ruby throat. Either way, they're back!