Season Finale

In the middle of this picture, the red-headed section leader of the front line plays his part on the vibes. Because I was at ground level when I took the picture, you can't see the drum line carrying on behind the keyboards. It was a good show, but not their best -- wait till next year!

Saturday's show was the season finale and regional championship competition. Drum corps' from all over Missouri and parts of Kansas descended on our little town and left behind several thousand dollars to sweeten the coffers of the Ozark High School Band and to fund much of next year's activities. This one day effort sure beats selling Christmas wrap and frozen cookie dough! And it was very well executed thanks to some great parent and student volunteers.

With Winter Drum Line and Speech and Debate season at a close, my taxi service goes into semi-retirement. The trio of activities demanding after-hours practice remaining on the calendar -- off-season football training, the spring Chorale Concert, and Woodwind Symphony (Ben plays tympani) -- have yet to wrap-up, but for the most part we have begun the long gradual slide into summer. Then we'll launch into band and football camps and summer school. Hopefully, by then we'll have a second car.

Today's gorgeous weather means I have to make a trip to Lowes' for weed killer. Everything green thing in the Ozarks has erupted during the past couple of weeks of warm and wet weather. Mowing season is back with us, bird nests are all over the place, and the bugs have returned. Ben hates the mowing and weed-killing -- he sees it as the destruction of insect habitat. I like it for the same reason!