Regional Softball Tournament starts tomorrow ... barred owls

This weekend has been very hot with temperatures up in the 90's ... not good for May and for the rest of the summer.

On Saturday, we had a player going back home after the "UP ALL NIGHT" graduation party at school fall asleep while driving and ran off the road flipping her SUV.  She had her seat belt on so survived with some bruising and cuts ... and we are thankful for that!

I, along with the other softball coaches attended the Region 4 softball draw at Warren East. Metcalfe County, the winner in District 16 drew us ... with Bowling Green on our side of the bracket.  Glasgow drew Greenwood which will be a tough first round draw for both teams.  While at the regional, if you lose one, you are out and on to summer vacation, jobs, summer ball, and more.  We have a chance to win our fourth regional title in a row ... we have beaten all the teams in the regional, losing only to Glasgow once out of three times we played them ... the District final.

Sue Neal and I mowed the lawns yesterday and John came over to spend the night.

Yesterday evening, I notice three barred owls (Strix varia) in a tree back of our house.  It may have been an adult and two juveniles on a hunting trip.  They were making some juvenile sounds for over an hour and were gone when I got up this morning.  At one point, they all three flew from one tree to another ... they were beautiful!  Link below if you want to hear the juvenile sounds, picture not mine but credited below.

http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=varia




massaudubon.org

Graduation ... done!

Today, we had hitting practice starting at 8:00 AM with the middle schoolers ... afterwards I continued my effort to stay ahead of the bees by building more frames and installing them in supers.  Still a ways to go to get caught up.

Graduation tonight at AC-S.  220 seniors graduated.  We had some good students in this class and I think they will do well in college.  The graduation program ended badly ... usually the students hug the sit back down and are dismissed but tonight, parents rushed the floor before the graduates were dismissed and it just kind of ended ... weird, but not surprising.

Good luck to all ... we had several good science students in this group.  The best thing you can do to tell you teachers thanks, is go on do something with your education.

Most students are going to schools locally ... WKU and Bowling Green Tech ... one student is going to Depauw University in Indiana ... only one I know that is not attending the usual places ... UK, UL, WKU, LW and CU.

http://www.depauw.edu/

Now that school is out, I started reading "Kentucky's Last Great Places" by Thomas G. Barnes that my daughter got be for my birthday ... great photos and interesting plants.   Lots of interesting and remote areas ... one in Allen County, Goodrum's Cave, up by Settle, KY.



E. Lucy Braun is mentioned in this book ... a naturalist from Cincinnati that taught at the University of Cincinnati ... did field work in Highland County (Ohio)  near where I grew up.  I will have to do more research on her trips to Highland County.  Several of the locations are familiar ... Fort Hill and God's Garden / New Market, OH

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Lucy_Braun

Schools out!

Official last week of school.  Lots of paperwork to wrap up the year, finals, yearbooks to sign and goodbyes to lots of students.  Graduation is tomorrow, Friday night.  Another year and summer vacation to get ready to go again.

District Tournament is over.  We lost the District 15 final to a good Glasgow team, 1-0.  We had beaten them twice this year but Wednesday did not hit well and lost.  It was the first time Glasgow has beaten us in 26 games and the first time we did not win the District tournament since 1998.  Many of those 14 titles were close games with ACS on top.  This one went the other way.

On to the regional tournament on Monday.  I like our chances to win the regional better since we lost the district final,  puts us a little under the radar and gives us a reason to live!

Still trying to catch up on the beekeeping.  I am still making frames and hive boxes in an effort to stay ahead in a good honey year.

Last day of regular season 32-3.

Yesterday was the last day of regular season games in Kentucky High School Softball.  We played Pike County Central and won 18-0 then played a very good Boyle County team (I think they will win the 12th region) and won in extra innings 5-4 with a big comeback to tie in the eighth inning, before winning in the 9th.  All games this weekend were part of the Boyle County Tournament which ended up being a round robin our sorts.

Several good teams are in our region so we will have to play well to return to the state tournament.  It will be interesting and a challenge.

Picture below is loading up the bus after the games ...  District 15 first round will be Monday, weather permitting, playing Monroe County at Glasgow.

Last Day for Seniors

Friday was the last day for seniors in AP Biology and Selected Topics.  We had some paper work to do to get them wrapped up ... books to hand in, last minute grading items and more.  Took a couple of pictures of the AP classes below with most of the people in class (this time of year you lucky to have most in class!)  Also, a picture of Sandy giving Vivien a tattoo ... not!

I mostly have juniors in class but good luck to the few seniors I have.  Most will have to work ALOT on their work habits and priorities to make it in college.  Eventually, they will ...

We went over the AP questions ... those the worked at it and reviewed should do okay ... one free response question had a part on epigenetics which I thought was a pretty thin slice for the AP Bio Exam ... separating the fives from the fours I guess.

500 wins ... Go Patriots!

Yesterday we squeaked out a win against Apollo HS, 2-0.  It was our last home game of the season, our record is now 28-3 ... still ranked 1 with Greenwood ranked 2.  No pressure!

Yesterday's win in softball was our program's 500th win.  Fastpitch softball started in 1995 and that first year we won 9 games.  Things have gotten better and we have had dozens of players contribute to those 500 wins ... thanks to all!  Our seniors had a few tears as they realized they had played their last game on Patriot Field.

Today we had the AP English Language test so I only had a couple of students in class. except for 4th block.  In Selected Topics, students were finishing up preparation on their Final Projects that begin on Friday.  We also are continuing on our "5 of everything" ... today was spiders and butterflies.

Off to Metcalfe County for a softball game after school.

Tomorrow, senior finals begin.

Awards ceremony for academic awards will be on Friday.

This weekend our softball team will finish up regular season at Boyle County in a round robin.

Post PROM and AP Exam

Post-PROM softball started yesterday with a game at Russell County.  Coach Marr squared off with against his daughter, a coach for Russell County.  We won in a lackluster performance, 4-0.  Russell County has won 17 games this year which is a big improvement over the last few years but, our hitting was uninspirational for the work we put in ...  on to Apollo at home today.  Long ride home after the JV game getting back to the high school at about 10:30.

Yesterday was the AP Biology Exam ... hard to know how they did (barred owl just flew down in the field just behind our house this morning to grab a mouse and fly off).  Students who know a lot, know enough to know they missed some questions and students that don't know very much, don't know enough to know how much they missed.

Truth is, few students study hard enough to do well on an AP exam taught in a single Spring semester.  Many of the students miss multiple days of school and several more have jobs and have trouble staying awake.  A lot of work from my end without a lot of results ... we will get to see the free response questions tomorrow.

Today is a state required testing for writing and tomorrow is the AP Language test so most of my juniors will not be in class.

A quail is making a lot of noise this morning behind the house ... more quail on the farm since I cut back on bush-hogging  three years ago.

AP Bio Exam tomorrow! Busy weekend!

It was a busy weekend.  We played Daviess County (ranked #19) in softball on Thursday and won 10-0 in five innings.  We hit well and I was relieved since it was so close to PROM.  We are down to the our final varsity roster so practices will be a little different from here on and all players will ride to and from the games together.  My sister came down from Ohio for the game ... she and Coach Marr broke it down during the JV game.  She is a softball coach in Ohio.

Friday, most of my students were at the AP History test but, we did have students for Selected Topics.  We worked on their projects after the BIG BIRD test ... bird identification.  Friday evening, we attended the WKU graduate graduation ... our son walked the line for his Masters program.  Claire and her parents were there as were Rachel and Kyle.  It as a good ceremony and afters we all ate out at Anna's on Three Springs Road ... Greek.  It was a good evening!

John and Claire's wedding shower was Saturday afternoon.  Our friend Gaye (with some help from her husband Franking and our daughter Rachel) had everything organized and it went well.

Sunday morning everyone headed home and by lunch, it was back to Sue and I.  I had a study session for AP at 4:00.  Only three brave souls out of 40 showed up.  Most were probably recuperating from the PROM Saturday night ... also, Mother's Day today.  AP students ... get a good night sleep and see you in the morning!  Good luck!

It has rained since yesterday evening ... about 3 inches.  It is suppose to start clearing off tomorrow ... softball to Russell County tomorrow it is goes.

AP Review for some ...

The AP review continued today ... sample questions and our cheat sheet outline with lab reviews.  PROM fever has set in so I don't really know how we are doing.  The serious students seem to be working, all others, well, let me say I am working much harder than they are!  Tomorrow, free response survey and vocabulary, more sample questions and a "Got to Know" short list.

Selected Topics, we are into our bird identification project ... tomorrow more birds and some time to work on the projects for their final.

We had a review session after school, I am embarrassed to tell you how many stayed.

Softball practice after school ... the older players went last since I was in review ... we are playing Daviess County tomorrow at home at 6:00 PM.  We went over signals and hit.

Got home to do a drive by of a couple of hives ... cool tonight so not much activity ... stopped by Granny's and then headed home.

rr

A signing and AP review continues

AP review continued today ... almost everyday we go over the labs and today, sample questions and our review sheet ... We will start study sessions tomorrow after school 3-4.


In Selected Topics, we are starting our "5 of Everything" study.  Today was five tree you should know.  Also, we are beginning our bird ID unit.  Every future parent should know something about nature to take their child on a walk someday.


At the end of the school day, Sandy signed to play softball in college at Asbury College.  Their coach attended and a large crowd was on hand.  Congrats Sandy!


http://www.asbury.edu/athletics/women/softball

After school we had a split practice ... bunt and slap offense, bunt and slap defense, relay and cut-off practice.  Tomorrow is mostly hitting after school.  I went home after varsity practice ... I have had a bad cold for two days but I think I am coming out of it.  Going to have to have a talk with my immune system!

AP Exam for Biology is Monday morning!

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_bio.html

Monday and Rain ...

Today in AP, we continued to review ... properties of water through Crick's Central Dogma ... tomorrow the rest ... also, the 12 required labs.  It is hard for the casual students to load in the mass of information you need to remember and the connections between concepts.  We will work on it!

In Selected Topics, we started our preparation for final projects ... some research in the Mac Lab.

After school we were suppose to play Daviess County but I called it off even though the sun was shining ... we were suppose to start at 6:00 and by just after 7 it was raining.  Going to play on Thursday of PROM week so who knows what will happen.  Booster club meeting after practice.

Nothing really going on now but softball and AP Biology ... the AP test is next Monday.

Rained about an inch so far but suppose to rain more later tonight ... good for the clover I have planted.

Softball, Rain and picts

After school on Friday we loaded up Bus 56 and headed to Owensboro for the Sports Warehouse Tournament at Fisher Park, hosted by perennial softball power Owensboro Catholic HS.  We played two games on Friday.  The first was against Central Hardin (ranked #14) and one of the teams we beat in the state tournament last year.  We lost 2-0 even though we had more hits and struck out less than they did ... just could not put the hits together and score ... some failure playing short again!  We then squeaked by Butler County 2-0 as our hitting continued to snore!

It rained a lot Friday night and that pushed games back 5 hours and pool games went to an hour time limite, drop dead.  Which means at an hour its over and that also means about 4 innings of play.  We played Owensboro HS and won 6-0 in four innings but offensively again did not do well. We decided not to continue into the single elimination tournament and pick up some games after PROM.  We currently have 28 games in and can only play 36.  Got home about dark on Saturday.

Sunday went to church and then mowed the yard and worked on some bee problems ... needed to add supers and had to put foundation in the frames first.

Tomorrow review for the AP Exam continues.  We have a week to go.  We are also working on free responses. Hopefully AP Students will do some work on their own ...

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/biology/samp.html?biology

 In Selected Topics we have finished our dissections and will move on to our exit projects tomorrow by doing some research.  We have about 12 days of school left in the year.

We play a good Daviess County team tomorrow at 6:00 / Patriot Field.

Below is one of the hives that had bees outside the hive.  When it is hot it is not unusual to have bees outside the hive but this seemed to be too many ... a month ago this hive (one at Aunt Nell's farm) was a hive I thought I might lose but now seems to be overflowing with bees.  This swarmed last year and it is the one I made two splits from ... I added a medium super with foundation only and will check it later in the week to see if it calmed down. Otherwise, I need to get in there and look for queen cells.  I have a swarm box up by the house in a tree ... maybe they will go to it if they swarm ...  I open up all holes in supers which should help cool the hive.

A regular day ...

Today, was a day between testing segments.  In AP Biology, we continued to review and finished up some plant study ... Tomorrow I will miss my first block class and planning ... we continue on paperwork for our seniors.  I have a senior home room.

In Selected Topics, we have some groups finished with their amphibian lab.  Tomorrow we will finish the write-up.  They had done a great job ... taking their time ... one comment was, frogs have everything we have ... well, nearly.

Softball practice after school, bunt and slap practice.  Sue Neal and I ate out in town before getting home before dark ... a rarity.

We play our last district regular season game tomorrow against Glasgow.  They have some good athletes and we will have to play well to beat them as we did last week.  Tomorrow is senior night ... seven seniors, two big senior classes in consecutive years.

rr

Testing today ...

Our high school had year end testing in biology and algebra II today ... as a senior sponsor, I got to babysit students not taking the tests.  Actually got some grading done.  We did have third and fourth blocks.  In third block, we worked on review and plant science topics.  In Selected Topics, we continued on our amphibian dissection ... brain, heart, and muscles.

Tomorrow is a normal day and AP sections will continue to review for the test.  Selected Topics will continue to work on their dissection.

We played Barren County tonight in district play and won the varsity contest 9-0.  We lost the JV game 2-1.  Next game will be against Glasgow on Thursday.