State Meet and Outdoor school!

Jon ran a good 1500 at the state meet. He finished 2nd behind an incredible runner from Rogue River. Below, Jon on the heels of Cole Watson in the 1500. Jon had a personal best time in the event running a 4:12. If you have a high speed connection you can watch the whole race here.



After the 1500 Jon needed to recover quickly because he had another race (the 400) about an hour later. It wasn't to be and Jon faded to a 5th place finish. Jon had a great season and he is deciding whether or not to run some events this summer.

Below, Jon prepares for the 400 meter run, but the look on his face tells he has not recovered from the 1500.


Amity sent 7 athletes in 10 events to the State Meet this year! What a great season for these kids. Here is the link to the entire gallery for the State Meet: Link

After all the excitement of track and the winding down of the season, it was time to turn our attentions to Cody and his trip with his class to Outdoor School! Every year for the past 20 or more years the Amity Elementary 5th grade class goes on an outdoor adventure to eastern Oregon. Lorelei and I tagged along for the first day and a half and we had a great time!

Below the 5th graders and their high school councilors preparing to board the buses. Can you find Cody and his straw cowboy hat?


On the trip over the pass of the Cascade Range we hit rain and snow! Lorelei helped out with the photography and a bunch of the pictures here and in the gallery are ones that she took.




We stopped at a fish hatchery on the way and as we topped the mountains and came down on the eastern side the sun broke out and we left the rain behind.


Lorelei and Cody at the fish hatchery.


Here is Cody and his rowdy group with their councilor.




It's amazing how much community effort, support and involvement go into this annual pilgrimage. The Amity fire chief went along and drove the big bus, the school superintendent was there helping out with everything from setting up shelters to cooking. The high school students volunteer their time to be councilors. What an awesome effort by everyone. The kids absolutely love this trip.
Below we arrive and everyone pitches in to set up camp.


Do you have ANY idea how much food it takes to feed 50 kids and all of their support group?


After dinner Reg (the school superintendent) helps out with the recreation.


As the sun went down the temperature dropped rapidly. Lorelei watches the festivities bundled up in everything she brought!


Later in the evening was a campfire with skits and fun stuff.


Lorelei and I stayed in one of the small cabins in the campground while all of the kids slept in tents. It got down into the mid 20's and some of the kids got really cold!
The next morning we warmed up the kids (and the adults) with hot chocolate, french toast and cream of wheat.


Then everyone boarded buses and headed for the High Desert Museum. Very interesting stuff here and we would like to go back and spend more time at this very well done museum.



Then it was off to the lava tube.
This tube is 1 mile in length and it's 42 degrees inside with NO lights it makes for a very interesting hike.




The total black-out conditions made photographing the event interesting because you could not see to focus and the autofocus on the camera was just going nuts trying to function.


Eventually the tube narrows and you can only continue on your belly. Some of the kids made it to the very end and touched the end wall. Below Cody crouches down to see how far he can make it.


After the lava tube Lorelei and I bid farewell to the outdoor school caravan. We headed towards Bend and spent the night there and the next day did some sight seeing and photography stuff on our own. The kids stayed for two more nights which included a night trip to an observatory. They had a great time. You can see tons more pictures of the trip here.

In Bend, Lorelei and I stayed here.





The next day we took our time driving home and stopped several places and took some pictures!


Lorelei was excited to see the baby geese and got this shot.


Beautiful rugged country here.


That's about it for now. If you want to see more pics from our trip and from the month of May,
Click here.

It's been a while!

It's been too long since my last post......life has a way of rushing by. It's been a few weeks of rain (heavy at times) and sun. The trees are all leafed out and things are growing like crazy. I spend upwards of 6 hrs a week on the riding mower trying to keep things cut to a manageable level.

Last Wed. night I woke up with a stabbing pain in my upper left side. The pain got worse and finally around 3:00 a.m. Lorelei loads me in the car for a trip to the emergency room. We get there and I am feeling better. We sit in the parking lot for a few minutes and I decide we don't need to go in and pay the e-room fee, so back home we go (big mistake). I lay down in bed and no sooner closed my eyes than POW, more stabbing pain, this time it has moved more to my central lower abdomen. For the next 3 hrs, life is not good and I begin thinking the end is near.

We make it in to the doctor around 11:00 am and they suspect a kidney stone. They want to do a CT scan at the hospital to confirm. I say to the doctor that it needs to be right away because the District Track Meet is at 4:00. He gives me a look and mumbles something to the effect that I wouldn't be going to any track meet this day. I iterate the fact that I would be and he comes back with a schedule for a 1:30 test at the hospital. Great! The nurse gives me a shot of some pain stuff that will last for 4-6 hours and off we go to the hospital. Now what time do you think the 1:30 test would take place at the hospital? Yep.....you guessed it.....2:30. The test goes fast once I finally get in. A quick sandwich in the parking lot and Lorelei and I are off to the District Meet. We arrive and are walking into the meet when the phone rings. The diagnosis is one kidney stone has moved to my bladder and one more is in my kidney. So at least we know where the pain was coming from. So I have been getting lots of pampering from Lorelei.

Jon ran his heart out at the District Meet. He easily won the 1500.

Below....Jon easily leads the 1500 on his way to a State berth.


Jon's next race was the 400 and he was pitted against the fastest guy in 3A in the state of Oregon.
Jon pulled ahead on the final stretch but Austin came back and beat Jon by less than 2 tenths of a second. Here they are at the finish line.



These two young men are awesome competitors and just great kids. They enjoy competing against one another.



This race took everything Jon had. He still had the 800 meter run scheduled less than an hour away. Right after the 400, Jon was called to the awards podium to receive his medal for the 1500. Still feeling the effects from the last race he is helped onto the stand by the second place finisher.



This day Jon was not to recover to run the 800. He qualified for the State Meet in both the 1500 and the 400 meters. This Friday is prelims for the 400 and both the 400 and 1500 are run this Saturday. Jon was voted "Male Athlete of the District" by the coaches. That makes him runner of the year for our District in both Cross Country and Track!

All the pictures from this meet are here.

Chicken carnage, Track and more

On Saturday I went out to throw some weeds to the chickens and noticed all the chickens huddled down in one corner of the chicken run. I threw the weeds over the fence and a chicken inside the coop went berserk and started flying up and hitting the windows. I thought "what the heck" and as I looked closer, I realized it wasn't a chicken but a hawk! A hawk was INSIDE the chicken coop. It finally flew out but perched in a tree nearby and would NOT leave. Upon further investigation, inside the coop was the shredded remains of one of the chickens. After finally driving the hawk away he came back later that evening still looking for his hard earned dinner. He was not so nicely convinced that he should not come back around and if he does he will have had his last chicken dinner at our expense.

Here are a couple of shots I got before we "convinced" him it was time to move on.




In other news Lorelei met up with her long time friend Doreen (sp?) that she has not seen in 5 years. They had lunch in McMinnville.



Adam was home for the weekend and the boys and I went over to the pond and tried our luck for bass. We had a great evening together and we even caught a few fish.
Below: Adam and Queenie.



Adam is doing well and it was fun having him home for the weekend.

Jon is running well and his legs seem to be holding up. He needs some tougher competition to get him ready for state and we are hoping to get him into a big meet this Saturday where there will be PLENTY of competition. Amity ran at a meet in Sheridan last Thursday. Lorelei was there with her camera and helped me get pictures for the team. After the meet Lorelei and I had dinner at a local restaurant in Sheridan and then on the way home there was a really nice sunset. Lorelei grabs her camera and gets this shot.



More pictures from April are here.

That's about it for this week!

Glynn Jr.

Last week was busy.....

I helped out with planning and running the first Amity home track meet (last Thursday) in 3 years! It was Jon's first chance to run a high school meet at home. The community raised a bunch of money and along with a grant from Nike our track was replaced this past summer. We had a few glitches and sorting out the times for everyone took some time but we managed to get through it. I was up in the booth helping with scoring which meant that I couldn't take pictures.....so Lorelei stepped in and did an awesome job. It was VERY cold and windy, but she endured.
All of the pics of this event were taken by her. Jon ran the 800, 1500 and the anchor leg of the 4 x 400 relay.

Jon with a nice lead on the first lap of the 1500. Amity placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the event.



Jon normally does not run the shorter distances but the guys put together a 4 x 400 team and Jon was the anchor man. He gets the baton trailing the first place team by about 30 yards. Now the story would not be as dramatic if you didn't know who Jon was chasing. The guy in the lead coming into this meet had the 2nd fastest time in the 400 for 3A schools in the state of Oregon! Yep you guessed it.....with about 200 meters to go Jon catches the first place runner and stays on his heels around the last corner. It was neck and neck down to the finish and Jon lost by 3 tenths of a second. Everyone was screaming and cheering......what a great race.
Below, after the 400 relay coach Hayes helps to steady Jon.



It was a fun meet. Cody helped up in the booth running the clock. The superintendent for Amity schools did the announcing. At one point in the evening Reg (the super) asked Cody about school and wanted to know (with all sincerity) if he was being challenged enough and how he liked school.
It was another one of those moments that made me realize what a great choice we made in moving to this small town. The rest of Lorelei's pictures are here.

On Saturday morning it was a nice sunny day so the boys and I headed outside to work on the campsite up on the knoll. We hadn't been working long, Jon was using a buck saw to trim branches off of a log we were going to use for the tarp. He cut through one of the branches and right into his finger.

Below: Jon awaits sutures.




Here is the link to the picture of Jon's finger. WARNING: Do not click on the link if you are squeamish! Link

Well that was our excitement for last week. Tomorrow is another track meet and Adam will be home for the weekend!

Glynn Jr.