Just My Opinion - by Mary Kilen
Congratulations Athletes!
I spent last Thursday through Saturday at the State Track Meet in Bismarck. It was a busy couple of days as I had my list of athletes competing from Stanley, NSP/Parshall and New Town. Between the three teams I was pretty busy. Fortunately, I was able to time most of the events so I didn’t miss very many.
Congratulations to all of the athletes first off for making it to the state tournament. The results might not always be what they wanted, but they were also fortunate to be among the best in the state taking their shot at a title.
Meanwhile, there were plenty of athletes that brought home the hardware this year from our little communities.
The Blue Jays’ Drake Schlosser finished third in both the 110m hurdles and the 300m hurdles. Ben Hynek placed 8th in the discus. The boys’ 4x400 relay team with members Logan Longmuir, Oscar Garcia, Zeke Wienbar and Drake Schlosser finished in seventh.
The Eagles’ Xavier Bell finished second in the 800m run, third in the 1600m run and third in the 3200m run. Lukas Spotted Bear placed seventh in the 1600m run. Their 4x800 relay placed second with members Lukas Spotted Bear, Kade Lambert, Treyvionne Williams and Xavier Bell.
This year’s meet saw plenty of records broken. One of them was the javelin record held by our own Riley Dolezal. Riley set that record back in 2004 at just over 208 feet. There have been plenty of athletes with their eye on that record.
I ran into Riley at the tournament on Thursday. He was watching athletes compete in the field events. We were talking about his record and the athletes that have been aiming for it. This year, Carrington’s Ryder Bickett threw for 211’11”. While it was fun to see that happen for an athlete that has been trying to beat it for years, it’s also a bit nostalgic to see the change.
Riley went on to great things with the sport, which is ironic considering when he started late in his high school career it was because a coach asked him if he “wanted to throw some sticks”.
Playing In The Dirt
While in Bismarck, I also got to go plant shopping with Amanda. She has talked about putting in a perennial bed in front of her house for several years. This year, they redid some of the cement in their driveway and expanded their patio. That got her to talking about it again.
Saturday afternoon we went to Plant Perfect and began the shopping. She had some ideas of how she wanted it to look and with my years of planting and experience with perennials we started looking at all of the options.
After about an hour, we walked out with several choices for her. I also picked up some of the flowers for my flowerbeds.
Zach got to experience the same thing Dale has had for years. Every time I decide I want to plant in a new area, he looks at me and patiently helps me get the dirt ready. Zach spent part of Sunday tilling up the existing dirt, digging out some perennials that had been there, and then mixing in some new soil with the existing dirt.
Amanda, Jozie and Abel planted the new perennials on Sunday and I have to admit they looked pretty great from the pictures I saw. Now she just has to hope the bunnies leave them alone or find something that will deter them from the bed.
I spent Sunday at the office, going through the hundreds of photos from State Track and the other pictures I had waiting for me. Then it was off to graduation. I spent the rest of the day working on writing while thinking about those flowers waiting for me in the garage.
I was back at the office on Monday morning. Then Dale and I went to Memorial Day services. I went back to the office, finished up my last writing and put pages together.
I finally finished up around 3:00 and then headed home to start working on planting my flowers. I went up to the Lowe’s location in Stanley and bought more flowers that would help me finish what I needed for planting.
After supper, it was time to get out and finish playing in the dirt. I can’t wait for them all to start blooming and filling out now that the weather appears to be ready to cooperate.
Here’s to all the gardeners out there like me that have been waiting for the weather to be right to plant. All of the rain we received will help with some of that subsoil moisture. I kept thinking it would be nice to get those flowers in before that rain, but there were way too many cool days and nights for them to settle in properly. Now that mine are in the ground, some more rain would be just what the doctor ordered!