To celebrate graduation from middle school Eric hosted a small party with 8 or nine of his buddies.  After much waffling about the possibility of rain and alternative rain dates we went ahead and had the party on Friday night with  a bonfire and pizza.  We had a lot of fire wood from cleaning out wood along the fence line.  We staged the bonfire in the pasture in front of the equipment lean-to.  The boys played basketball and ‘man hunt’ which was a team approach to hide and seek.  Kids left by 11:30 and there was a down pour fifteen minutes afterwards.

Eric’s graded fluctuated through out 8th grade.  He would perform poorly and then focus attention on that issue; get it corrected, only to have some other subject matter suffer.  A lot of the issues were a result of staying organized, turning in work and studying for tests and quizzes. We really tried to stress his need to take personal responsibility for his grades.  In the final marking period he seemed to pull it all together and managed to get on the High Honor Roll!  Hopefully, this all carries forward into high school.

Eric signed up onto the HP JV basketball team competing in the summer Accelerate League.  There are only a couple of 9th grade players and two HP players decided to play elsewhere when the decision of team composition and coaches was being made.  So far, three games in, the team has not yet had a practice or set plays.

Eric resumed his summer job unloading hay for the neighboring farm.  He enjoys the work and partnership with the Hughes and Nathan. But so far haying has been delayed by the weather as we have had rain, rain, rain.

In mid-April I took a mis-step walking down the driveway to the barn resulting in a twinge in my left calf.  After a weekend of sitting on bleachers watching Eric’s basketball games I was concerned about a possible blood clot as the pain moved up and down the back of my leg.  When that was ruled out I gave it more time until I finally visited the doctor who suspected tendonitis and prescribed PT.  After three weeks of regular stretching the Soleus ligament it has responded and feels normal.

The fish in the pond are huge.  Scout went nose to nose with one of the 34″ grass carp.

For the 4th of July weekend we went canoe camping near Stillwater Reservoir.  It was a short paddle to a unused campsite.  Kathryn out-fished everyone else catching 5 bass and 1 sunfish.

Finally, with three consecutive dry days Eric got to unload hay and Troy Cole started on our outdoor projects; grading the top soil from the south pond, installing drainage tile, grading around the minnow pond, making a gateway access between the two pastures, digging a ditch to prevent flooding near cookout corner.