Monday, February 24, 2025
I’ve been away from the farm for a couple weeks now, and some good things have been happening. First, our high school girls basketball team has advanced through the IHSAA tournament, and they are now set to play in the State Championship game on Saturday, March 1 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis!!! They won the 1-game regional on February 15 at Charlestown High School. They defeated Lanesville, the 2-time defending State Champion. This qualified them for the 4-team Semi-State at Jasper just last Saturday. At Jasper, our South Knox Lady Spartans defeated Parke Heritage in the morning game, and then in the evening game, defeated Heritage Christian. Both games were won handily, but both games were physical and hard-fought. Now, our Lady Spartans will travel to Indy on Saturday to play for the State Championship! The opponent will be Rensselaer Central, and we expect another tough battle. But our Lady Spartans have held the #1 ranking in Class 2A for whole season, and our team should enter the contest as favored to win. But, we cannot assume anything… even so, oh, what a thrill for our team, school, and community. The support these girls have earned is amazing. Our fans far outnumbered at the Jasper gym the other 3 schools combined! The school band went too! We will travel to Indy on Saturday with hopes of a state title coming home to South Knox. This is the first time any basketball team from South Knox has gone to the state final in the 58-year history of the school.
The girls hoist the trophy!
Next, the team gathered with the team from Heritage Christian to pray. This was the most touching scene for me from the whole night!
After some pictures were taken, the students stormed the floor to celebrate
Our church Youth Minister is the Assistant Coach of the team, and we got a picture with Collin after the game.
In other news, Pat and I have returned from a two-week trip to Florida. We spent several days at Disney, to celebrate my 72nd birthday, then we went to Jacksonville to spend some time with family there. Our WDW days were terrific, with 80ºF+ temps most days, and some nights got down in the 50s. The days at Jacksonville cooled a bit with nights in the 40s. Still, it was a wonderful time away.
Here are some pictures of our time in Florida.
We stayed at Disney’s Riviera Resort, a beautiful home base.
The flowers were especially nice, these at the Grand Floridian.
My birthday supper was at the Boathouse in Disney Springs, a wonderful meal, followed by this surprise.
Epcot flowering trees made the sights very special.
Remy’s Ratatouille is one of our favorites.
You have to wear 3D glasses at Remy’s
At Hollywood Studios, they give you props for the pictures!
Pat loves the TRON ride at Magic Kingdom.
In Jacksonville, the weather was cooler, but time with family was warm and happy.
L to R. Charlie, Renee, Pat, Leighton, me, Robin, Chris, and Sean.
After the supper pictured above, we attended together a Broadway touring performance of “Peter Pan”. It was great!
Back home today, I’m catching up on the mail and bookkeeping. John kept the books up while I was away, but there was a pile of mail to sort through, and some items that needed some attention.
It’s good to be home and back on the farm today. We missed some sub-zero days while we were in Florida, and today it is 49ºF (9C)!
Have a great week!
