Final Post

This will be the final post of my blog. I want to reflect a little bit about how I thought the blogging went. Overall I think it had good and bad aspects to it. One good thing about it is that you can chose your topic. That makes it very easy to write if you know a lot about your topic. It also makes it more enjoyable. Another good thing is that it helps your writing ability. Going to college next year I am expecting to write a number of papers so this helps get me used to all the typing. There were a few things that I did not like and want to talk about. One thing is the amount of blogs every week. Most high school kids are told to join a lot of activities because it gets you more involved and such. I am a great believer in this theory. If kids are in a lot of activities they are most likely not concerned or just don't have the time to write three blog entries a week. This is most likely one of the reasons so many kids didn't do all of the assigned writing. On the other side of that it helps you to learn how to manage your time. As you can see I am torn between the two sides. This whole blogging assignment would have been on my better side if we didn't have to write three entries every week. One entry would be sufficient in my opinion. I feel this way because I am one of those kids that is in a lot of activities, and it was difficult to get the assigned writing done every week. In conclusion the actual writing part isn't too bad, but the amount of writing should be lessened in my opinion.

Graduation

I would like to write about fishing and the outdoors, but I haven't been able to do much lately. I have been extremely busy with graduation parties and other things that it has been almost impossible to do any fishing. Grad parties are very important to go to because they wrap up your high school career. My parents and I have been getting ready for mine now for about three weeks. There is a great deal of planning that had to be done. Luckily it isn't until next weekend so we don't have to stress about it much quite yet. The parties I have been to have been very nicely set up. A typical set up goes like this. It is usually hosted in a garage. There are a lot of tables and chairs set up with maybe a tent outside for extra seating. There is a lot of food at every one. Usually a main course and a number of sides are presented. Guest books, pictures, and achievements are a must. It will be the same at my grad party, but a few changes. We are having it in the back garage. There will be a tent outside for extra seating. We have about 10 tables for people to sit at. The food is going to be from Zio Johno's and other places. There will also be ladder ball, volleyball, basketball, and a big bonfire. Grad parties are a lot of work to get ready for. We worked for about 3 or 4 hours today cleaning out the garage and setting things up. It can get very tyring especailly when you are trying to get to other peoples' parties in between. Next weekend is when the majority of parties are it. It will be very stressful, but fun at the same time. I'm very excited for not only the parties but the actual graduation itself is right around the corner. Hopefully everything will go smoothly, and everyone has a good time.

Prom

Prom is a day that most people remember for the rest of their lives. It was no different for me. I had one of the best nights of my live that I can remember. Here's how it went down. First, I picked up my date and we headed over to a friends house for pictures. There were about 20 people there. After we got done taking pictures, it was time to head to school for grand march. If you don't know what grand march is, it's where all the seniors and their dates walk and get their pictures taken. It is also where the crowning of the king and queen of prom takes place. To be considered for one of these you must be voted into the top seven by the entire senior class. Then the seniors get to vote on a king and queen out of these seven people. I was lucky enough to be in the top seven. We walked out onto the stage awaiting the crowning. We were all very anxious to see who it would be. I personally thought that I had no chance. All of a sudden I felt something on my head. It was the crown! I was absolutely speechless. I could not believe the crown was actually on my head. It was like a childhood dream come true. I am very grateful to all of my classmates for picking me. Anyway, enough about that. After grand march we went to Elmcrest Country Club to get more pictures, eat, and dance. The food was very good as well as the dance. The DJ played a lot of good songs and there was always enough to drink when you got tired of dancing. After the dance we went to post prom at the bowling alley. This was also a very good time because there was food, bowling, and even a hypnotist. The night ended very early in the morning the next day. Prom is supposed to be something you will remember forever. The memories from that night will be with me and bring a pleasant smile to my face.

AP Economics Test

Here at Kennedy we have a great number of AP courses. I am in AP economics. There is one reason people take these courses, and that is to get college credits. In order to get these credits you have to get a certain score on the AP test, which is at the end of the year. This test for my class is in two days. I am really nervous becuase I'm not sure what to expect. This my first AP test and so I am new to the process. I have been studying fairly hard for this. The scoring ranges from 1-5, 1 being the worst and 5 the best. I have to get at least a 3 in order to get college credits. I feel like my teacher has been doing a very good job in preparing us for this important test. Hopefully I get at least a 3. My goal is to get a 4, but a 3 would be fine. I need to do good on it because I'm going to study business in college, and this would help my schooling out a great deal. Wish me luck!

Pond Fishing

The fishing in my pond has been getting progressively better as the days go on and the water gets warmer. The temperature has been consistently in the 60's to 70's. This helps the water warm up very quick, especially in smaller bodies of water like my pond. I'm not exactly sure of the water temp, but an estimate would be in the upper 50's. The crappie have been biting now for a couple weeks. They are becoming more aggressive as the weeks go by. A couple of years ago they had a very good spawn. I know this becuase there are many of them in the medium size range. One day I was fishing with some friends at the pond. We were using minnows, and I knew that kind of bait should produce some good crappie fishing. My hypothesis was correct. The crappie just inhaled the minnows. The bass were also attacking them. They were also hungry that day. This is a good sign becuase it usually takes longer for the bass to start biting. Now I know that they are biting and I can start fishing for them. Crappie is what I go for when I want to eat some fish. They are the best tasting fish I have in the pond. In my opinion they taste just like a walleye, the only difference is the size of fillets. Anyway, the day we used minnows for bait we ended up cleaning about 15 fish that had good meat on them. That is a good day in my opinion.

Fishing Outings

One day I was very bored after school. I was at home and looking for something to do. I noticed the weather was very mild that night. It was about 65 degrees and sunny. Fishing would be a great pass time. I hadn't fished in my pond at all this year so I thought I would give it a try. It usually takes a lot of warming up before the fish start biting in there so I wasn't expecting anythying too great. I tied on a samll jig with a twister tail and made my first cast. I was realing in my line and all of a sudden I saw and felt something swipe at my lure. I didn't catch the fish, but it was a good sign. I knew that it was most likely a curious little bluegil that didn't have a big enough mouth for the hook. This gave me hope for the rest of my time out there. I made a few more casts and the same thing kept happening. I wasn't getting any solid bites. Then, after about 10 minutes, something awesome happened. I was realing in my lure and it was fairly close to the top of the water so I was able to see it. It got about 4 feet from me and then all of a sudden I saw this big flash. It was a big crapie! It latched onto my lure, and took me by complete surprise. This was the only fish I caught that day because I only made I few more casts feeling quite satisfied with just that fish. Another fishing outing I want to share with you all is one that I didn't participate in. My uncle went down to Lake Mcbride two nights ago. I couldn't go because I was working. I was disappointed, but I knew there would be other times. Anyway he discovered that the crapie were spawning. He caught 15 that night. This is good news for me because that is my favorite time to go to the lake. You can easily catch about 20 fish when this is happening. This provides for an extra special and exciting time. Those are a couple of the latest fishing outings this spring.

Tordado Alley

Most of you already know that Iowa is in the Tornado Alley of the United States. Today is the first time this year that we have had evidence of this. A storm system came through the area yesterday, but brought mostly just heavy rain showers. Today was a different story. It was the most humid day this year by far. You could feel yourself moving through the dense air. This is one of the ingredients for a harsh storm. I knew we were supposed to get some heavy storms, but I didn't know how bad they would be. You can never be too sure about the weather forecast, especially in the state of Iowa. The weather is very unpredictable here. Anyway, I was at a graduation party when I heard the bad news. The small, but well-known to me, town of Central City was hit by a tornado. Where I was it wasn't even rainining. I couldn't believe a tornado had hit Central City already. I thought it was too early in the year for the tornadoes to kick in. I know this town very well because the Wapsipinicon River runs directly through it. It has a dam that is great for fishing, and a state park that provides awesome camping. I was very surprised at this news. I am not sure at this time the damages of the park, but I think they are minimal. Hopefully everything will be back to normal before the camping season gets into full swing. This just goes to show you how unpredictable Iowa weather is.