We had to get up early this morning for Kelly’s last cross country meet. The freshman boys would race at 8 am and the girls would race at 8:30 am. Kelly and I left first because she had to be there at 7:30 a.m. , and the drive was more than 30 minutes away. Our destination was the same course that had wiped Kelly out for her first meet.

Kelly was bundled up in a ski cap and parka. As we approached the field (which is in the Chattahoochee river basin) Kelly observed that the frost on a golf course and the fog made everything look like snow. I told her to hold up her fist at the course, shake it, and say “I defy you!” (Inside joke… she laughed.)

The sun rose and warmed things up a bit. Kelly and her friends huddled together during the boys’ race, getting themselves psyched up for their race. Kathy, Claire, Clyde, and Stout arrived just in time for the beginning of Kelly’s race.

Kelly intentionally started off slower than the pack so that she could choose a target in front of her to pass. This was an approach her coach had recommended. Sure enough, she started passing one girl after another. While three orange-suited girls from Parkview broke way ahead, Kelly was one of the leaders of the Brookwood team by the 1 mile mark. By the two mile mark she had passed all but 6 girls, holding 7th. She was the lead Brookwood runner. Her coach spotted her and yelled… “Look at Kelly! Cashel is having the run of her life!” He was very surprised and excited about how well she was doing. He started shouting encouragement to her at the various bends that would snake in towards the crowd.

“Don’t look back Cashel! Keep pushing Cashel!” As she approached the end of the 3 mile race, he shouted, “She’s going to break 24!” She not only broke 24, but she stepped on it with a 23 min 30 29 sec strong finish. She placed 7th and earned a medal. Her teammates all congratulated her on such a strong finish, and her coach was amazed. (We decided he was surprised because he had not noted her time last race and did not fully realize the progress she had been making. He must not read this blog.)

After some socializing, the four of us celebrated at a nearby Waffle House. (Clyde and Stout had to celebrate in the car.)

And her coach was right. This really was the run of her life. Way to go Kelly! What a great way to finish the season!

Claire has worked very hard in her first semester of middle school. Many many long and late nights to keep up with all of the homework. More than one night involved a few tears as she tried to figure out how to get it all done. Her planner has a lot more planning in it that my own work calendar. She scratches off each task as she completes it, and as I flip through it now, her calendar looks like every day is filled with scratch marks.

Her probe math class was a real challenge, but she slowly built a B into an A, finishing with a 90, so she landed straight A’s and made honor roll. Hurrah!

As a reward for all the hard work and starting middle school off so well, she is getting to trade in (with me) her iPod shuffle with an iPod nano. She was very excited and decided to get a blue one. Seems like blue has always been her favorite color (including the blue iMac Grandaddy now uses… we ordered an orange one, but it arrived blue. At the time 4-year-old Claire was so excited Apple had decided to send a blue one.)

When I ordered Claire’s new iPod I realized the lowest priced Nano only comes in aluminum. The colors are a step up in price. Clever Apple. No matter, offer stands. I get a shuffle out of the deal and Claire is getting a pretty good lesson in how hard work can pay off.

She’s been watching it on the FedEx website shipping from China to Alaska.

Excerpt from this week’s electronic progress report:

Total possible points for Mathlympics 1st 9 weeks was 55. Congratulations to Claire Cashel who had a class high with 52 points. — Ms. W

Each week, Claire’s math teacher hands out a sheet of 5 problems that are part of “Mathlympics”. With the final 9 week progress report, it looks like Claire is going to win.

Most of these word problems are pretty tough. Kathy quickly resigned from the coaching position, and recruited me to be the math coach. Reminds me of when Danny’s throws got too hard for Kathy to help him warm up. Claire and I will work on 2 or 3 problems two or three nights after she has done all of her homework. The sheet is due each Friday.

I help Claire think about the problem and think of ways she could solve the problem without doing the problem myself. Ms. W. provides clues mid-week, but Claire tries not to use those. Instead she works the problem until she gets and answer. She then looks to see if the clue is similar to the way she solved it. We’ve spent as much as 20 minutes on some of these problems.

As the weeks have gone by, she has gotten quicker and better at solving the problem and understanding any suggestions I give. In fact, on this last round, she solved one problem before I even had an idea of what the answer would be. (She bragged about this to her mom.)

From 50 whole numbers, 1 to 50 inclusive, choose the X and Y that will make the largest fraction:

X + Y

Kelly competed in her second cross-country meet determined to finish and she did! This event was at the Olympic horse park in Conyers and included some hills and woods. It was very crowded and the meet got behind, so the JV girls passed the time giving each other massages in a giant circle.

Kelly paced herself better this time, and at the 1 mile mark I was able to snap a picture of her smiling:

She was feeling pretty good at the 2 mile mark as the course went from open field into the woods. She liked running in the woods because it was in the shade and it felt more isolated. It helped to be isolated when at the 2.5 mile mark her stomache became so sloshy she had to throw up. She didn’t have any food in her because she had not eaten anything for breakfast and reported being very hungry before the race.

She quickly recovered and finished the race very determined to finish (and not throw up again.) This is a photo of her approaching the finish line, and as you can see, she is ahead of everyone behind her.

The next photo shows her on the left crossing the finish line including a “zoom” of the time clock showing 26 min 36 sec, which is her best time for a 3 mile run. After finishing she had to bend over and throw up again, so this is a pretty rough sport. (Other girls throw up before the race because they are nervous!) However, unlike her last meet Kelly was back up and quite chatty and very happy about her race. The two of us went to a waffle house (her choice), and she ordered a table full of food.

I’ve saved this in my voicemail for over a year-and-a-half.

Listen

Spring Hill has several construction projects on campus. We were all walking with Danny behind the administration building when I pointed to a green sky crane (aka cherry picker… four wheeler with an extendable platform to lift you.) I said, “I could use that.” My extension ladder won’t reach the full three stories of one corner of our house.

“My post office box key will start that up,” reported Danny.

“What? How do you know that?” I asked.

“One night a group of us were walking by it and for some reason I tried my post office box key, and it started right up. The guys were amazed.”

“You’re kidding? What did you do?”

“I turned it off and said… whoa… this could be too much fun. This is dangerous. I’m taking this key back to my room.”

I was impressed by the lad for giving the key a try and then knowing that starting it up was fun enough. (Unlike his grandfather who I believe raced a steamroller against a tractor of some kind.)That’s a sign of wisdom… having the power and knowing when not to exercise it.

So just remember these four spheres

-kel.e.bee

With her newest song, Science Rap, kel.e.bee continues with her quest to take the next generation of School House Rappers to infinity and beyond. This young Garage Band master exploded on the scene with Modernize Me and Monsta Beats and caught the ear of industry insiders with her short experimental 80’s Jungle. With her latest release, she has solidified her mission to leave no child behind, proving that music can have greater impact on education than any amount of compassionate-conservative taxes.

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Kathy and I dropped Danny off at Spring Hill last weekend. We moved in Friday night to avoid the 95+ heat of the next day. That worked out well, and Danny was able to stay over with his new roommate Matt a night early. Kathy and I headed to the hotel about 11pm local time, watching Danny and Matt heading across campus to go hand out with some of the men and women soccer players.

Since Danny was not officially checked in and had no i.d., I picked him up in the morning to eat breakfast with us. We then drove him back for official check in. He already had a lot of things squared away in his room. His closet was very neat. His new golf bag was tucked away in the back corner, just waiting for Grandaddy to come down. Maybe the BHC could spend a weekend playing in Spring Hill.

The day got hotter, and Danny ran around doing check in things. We took him out for lunch, and then we got back in time for a campus tour. After the tour, it started to rain, so the official welcoming ceremonies moved into the recreation center. Danny ended up in the front row. President Lucey gave a speech about the importance of shipwrecks. You’ll have to ask Danny about that. It was a bit like a graduation ceremony with all 320 members of the class of 2009 crossing the stage to receive a handshake from President Lucey and a T-shirt rolled up in in a ribbon like a diploma.

All of the students put on their new T-Shirts in a symbol of unification and as official members of Spring Hill College. They all gathered for a group photo with President Lucey down in center. The end of the ceremony was the official goodbye as the students went off with their groups and the parents went to the 6 pm mass in the newly renovated St. Joseph’s chapel (which looks like a church in Europe.)

The entire thing was a nice way to send off DC. Kathy and I headed out for a nice dinner at Nan Sea’s on Mobile Bay where we were able to talk about how nice everything seemed and how happy we are about Danny going to Spring Hill.

Fast forward… one week:

Katrina has become a category 5 hurricane, and Mobile is in the projected path. So Danny is coming home after only one week in college. It is just as well. Although I do not think he would be in any danger in a cement dorm on the high point of Spring Hill, Kathy would fall to pieces if he stayed.

The high point of Danny’s checking account, just before he started writing checks to Spring Hill. Almost made 5 Gs:

A colorful piece of construction paper was in our kitchen. Kelly had glued bones to it. She had dissected an owl pellet. Pellets are spit up and out by owls.

I’m not sure what the scientific notations in this photo mean. Kelly will have to explain:

10G keal kcal vole herbivore

1,000 keal kcal grass producer