Echolocation-not in service!

If it was....do you think you would end up here! Stuck between the screen and the window of my closet? So, let me back up. I went into my closet (which has a lovely window!) and saw something on the screen. At first I was thinking "What on earth??" "Is it a frog?" (Ok, I know that doesn't make any sense. I mean this thing was on the screen about 7 feet from the window sill which means probably 14 feet from the ground below. This wasn't a rational moment-it was strictly, critter ID!) Jeremy was coming in behind me and said "Oh, dog it's a bat!" ("Oh, dog"???Where did that come from? Rest assured, such horrible slang has been removed! :-) ) Of course all the boys hustled outside to see what was going on-and of course, I sent them with a camera and watched from inside!



So, turns out the screen on my window has a slight bend in it(Wonder who caused that?? Hmmm, just guessing it had something to do with the crew that just flew out of doors to get a closer look at the bat!) Just enough I guess for his guy to fly through and get stuck.



Jeremy took off the screen and lowered it down to the ground. Yep it was a bat! But it looks an awful lot like a mouse..with some wings on the side.

Of course, it's not enough to just look at the bat at this point. The bat must now be shaken off of the screen to see if it can fly!

So now the bat opens its wings and falls to the grass...

Look at that thing! Yuck! And just so you know, I was reminding them....don't touch it! It might have rabies! (See dad, I remembered what you said before! :-) ) So they're all hunched over looking at it and taking some pictures. They were thinking that it was probably hurt or maybe even dead....or maybe close to dead....

NOPE! Not dead...not even close. Mr. Bat turned around and gave Jeremy a little greeting. Doesn't look like a friendly, does it??

Well, the boys proceeded to pick it up with a stick and transfer it to a "safer" location i.e. one where the chickens or goats (or Jackson) wouldn't find it and possibly try to eat it.

They put it in the front flower bed. And shocker! It was gone just a few minutes later.

Jeffrey has since seen another couple of bats flying around at night. I don't mind, b/c they eat mosquitoes, they just need to STAY OUT of my closet...and away from my screens!

And now, the boys' turn....

When we found out for sure that Julie wasn't going to be able to run in the race, and I was moaning about not wanting to have to be hanging out alone at the starting line, Jonathan and Jeremy-being the sweet boys they are-volunteered to run the half marathon with me. Mind you,this was just about 3-4 weeks before the race! No way, they need to train, right? Truth be told, I didn't want to KNOW that they could run a little for a couple of weeks and then come out and beat dear ole mom who's been pounding pavement for months! However, I DID think they could run the 5K and do it brilliantly. And brilliantly they did! Their race "training" included going out a couple of times a week for a quick 20-25 min run (well, that and basketball practice for 2 hours a day 3-4 days a week!) And their race times were amazing. Jeremy ended up 15th and Jonathan 23rd out of over 600 runners! I think Jeremy ran the 5K in 19 minutes and Jonathan in 22! Amazing!! Jeremy even got his name in the paper as one of the top finishers!! Imagine how well they could do with a little race training!! So, now I think they are hooked as well. That kind of success really makes the effort seem worth it! Way to go guys! You did an AWESOME job!!!
Jonathan and me before the races

Jeremy and me

Here's Jeremy burnin' up the street! Look, he's flying!!!

Jonathan's gettin' it done! And even has a smile on his face! I think he's thinking "I KNOW I can take that old guy in front of me!"

Jonathan nearing the finish line!

Way to go guys!!!

13.1...Done

Well, after 3 months of training, my day finally arrived! It was the Armadillo Dash (only in TX would they name a race after an armadillo!) in College Station. I got up at 5:15 to get ready for the race....eat some veggies, get dressed (of course I got a new outfit for the gig!), drink some water and be nervous! Yep, I didn't think I would be, but I was really nervous. And it was chilly outside (like 50) and I couldn't keep my teeth from chattering while I was waiting for the race. Jonathan and Jeremy ran in the 5K that ran right after the start of the 1/2 marathon, so they were getting ready as well. No veggies, no water and no teeth chattering. Must be nice to be young! I'll do another post about their great race....this one's all about me! :-)

Here we are before the start of the race.

I'm soooo nervous! Just fire the gun and let's get running!

Ok, finally we started! It was funny, once I started running, I wasn't nervous any more. Just ready to go.

The one shocker of the race was that as soon as I took off running, I realized that my ipod wasn't working! THAT was a little frightening! I didn't know if it was my headphones or my ipod, I just knew that after about 1/2 mile of fidgeting with it, it wasn't working. That meant hours of me listening not to the awesome "marathon mix" that my sweet sister had put together for me or any of the other music that I had planned to listen to on the run but to me breathing...in and out, in and out... I was pretty nervous about that!

Here I am talking to my "cheering section" that was waiting at mile 8 1/2. I'm saying "THESE HEADPHONES DON'T WORK!! Anybody have some others??" No one did, so I kept running. Then about 1/2 mile down the road I hear a wierd noise on the road. Turns out it was Jeffrey scootering down the road as fast as he can to bring me some other headphones! That was so sweet! Then, guess what? The problem WASN'T the headphones, it was my ipod! So, I ran the whole way w/out any music. Next time (and I'm sure there WILL be a next time!) I will certainly double and triple check the music situation!

But other than the ipod glitch and the major bummer that Julie had tendonitis in her foot and couldn't run with me, the race was great. I kept waiting to "hit the wall" and for things to get
hard, but they never did. My feet started hurting a little about mile 11, but it was never bad. I wasn't fast by any means (12 minute mile), but I beat my goal. I wanted to finish in 3 hours and I finished in 2:37. I even passed a couple of ladies up at the end when I turned on the speed! :-) And they announced my name as I was running in! (Of course they announced everyone's name, but it was so cool to hear "And here comes Jennie Dagerath, way to go!")

Finished!!

Here I am crossing the finish line. The time on the clock is the time from when the gun sounded. My official time (from the thing on my shoe) was 2:37:57.

And I got a medal! My niece said "Way to go Aunt Jennie, you got the silver medal!" It was a little hard explaining to her that I didn't really get second place, everyone who finished got a silver medal.

My fan club! It was so great to see them at mile 8ish with bright neon signs that said "Go mom" and stuff like that! It was such a perk to just see their smiling faces and hear them cheering for me!!

My training partner! Next time Julie...it's me and you!!!!

So that evening after the race, Michael and I went on a double date w/Mike and Julie to a great, nice restaurant. Julie and I made the reservations months before, probably about the same time that we registered for the race. I mean, we deserved an amazing dinner!! And it was amazing!!

Then after the dinner, since the night was still young, and Pop and Granna were there to babysit, we went home and changed clothes and then all went bowling. Talk about something that we never do! It was lots of fun! I had a horrible night of bowing! Wii bowling is MUCH easier! Note to self...always take along a young child so you can use bumper lanees!

It was a great day...a great weekend really! I'm so glad I did the race. Now at least I have one New Year's goal that I can mark off. DONE!

At long last..the state basketball tournament

I was looking back at pictures on my computer and realized I hadn't even posted anything about the state basketball tournament. Oh, man! I knew I was behind on blogging, but I didn't know I was THAT far behind! The tournament was in February in Dallas. This year Jeffrey was old enough to play and he was THRILLED! I didn't remember until late in the tournament to actually get pictures, but it's better than nothing! (Seems like I say that alot about my pictures don't I! "better than nothing")

Jonathan is #15, Jeremy #32

J&J's team ended up 4th in the tourament. They were 2-2 and lost their two games by 1 and 2 points each, so it was very close. They did great and one of their coaches said that he hadn't seen two players improve so much in one season in a very long time! We sure have seen it. They've done great this year!

Jeffrey's team also went 2-2 at the tournament. They did great as well. The teams that won the tournament were all so much bigger and older than our team. So for a smaller, younger team, FEAST made a great showing at the tournament. And Jeffrey had a wonderful time getting to be a "playa" instead of just a spectator!

Josiah had some buddies at the tournament (younger brothers of players on Jeffrey's team) so don't let him convince you that it was all boring for him! It was a very fun tournament for all of us...LOUD (the gyms had four or eight games going on at the same time...lots of whistles, screaming, ball bouncing, etc)...but fun!

J&J opted to not go the national tournament this year, which is why I can post this blog from a hotel room in beautiul sunny southern California at the Natural Products Expo West where I'm here with Michael instead of being in Springfield Missouri. I think they are going to be playing summer basketball to keep up those skills.

Way to go Jonathan, Jeremy and Jeffrey! Great season!!