Recognizing good

The local newspaper publishes a Student Of The Week column for the local schools in each edition.

Recently 2 Johansen kids made the grade. 

Congrats to siblings Stella & Gage

It's easy duty to be proud of these kids.  And always nice to see young people recognized for doing good.

☆☆☆

Laila got some nice recognition at work yesterday. 

It's just a year since Laila had her AVM, she's making the best of her recovery.

Hammering away

There have not been as many birds at my feeders this winter as in past years.  I am seeing more Bluejays lately but the steady-eddy of the birds has been the Downy Woodpecker.  They are here working on the suet blocks or stealing a sunflower seed, taking to a broken tree close by to pound it open.  They look nice in the black and white of winter, with just their little red cap which draws one's attention.  Well, that and the pounding on the siding of the house from time to time.

A little color is welcome,

Numbers

I shoot my sports photos with a Nikon D7000  with a Nikon 70-300mm lens.

My Nikon is used, I bought it from a friend in 2017.

I've been thinking about how many images have been taken with this set up and recently learned how to find that count using my editing program Picasa by Google.

So, when I purchased the camera, my first image as number 42,868.

Last night at the girl's basketball game, my last image was number 200,351.

So, in less than 3 years, I have taken 157,483 photos with my Nikon.  The bulk of those have been sports related as most of my nature photos are still taken with my Pentax K-50.  So, roughtly 50K photos per year taken and edited. I can't even guess how many hours of editing that is.  

Well, these are big numbers and with many more Johansen family athletes to come, 

I'm glad that Nikon builds their cameras to last.

Always learning

I don't know how many basketball photos I have taken, but it is in the many thousands, and I still get challenged and learn something at every game.  The Frederic gymnasium has lighting that is very yellow in nature.  I tried to adjust my camera's white balance, but once I got into the editing, I could see that my reds were all on the orange side, and I didn't like it.  It was tedious to try to adjust the color on every image, so instead, I switched most to black and white.

There is something to be said for black and white and in this case, I think it was a good solution and much better than photos with distorted colors.

Always learning, whether I like it or not.

Title IX

On June 23, 1972, the President signed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §1681 et seq., into law. Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.

So, finally in 1972, girls sports were allowed in school.

I like supporting girls / womens sports, even when I don't have a bloodline in the game.

This week, I got to watch Stella play again, this time against the neighboring town of Frederic.  My friend Kathy had a granddaughter on the Frederic team, so we sat together, looking like the paparazzi with our Nikon lenses focused on the girls.

Frederic won the game.

We will see what happens the next time these girls take the court together.

Football Recap

I put together a poster for the football team, thought I might as well post it here as well.

I ordered it from Walgreens with a coupon, so can't wait to see how it turns out.

Hygge

This Danish idea of Hygge has gone mainstream in recent years.  

Dad always said that it didn't translate into English very well because it was a feeling made up of many components.  He also said, it was the kind of thing you knew you had when you were feeling it.

Recently on a Facebook page made up of Danish/Americans, 

many of whom speak Danish, however, I do not, I saw this quote.

So, using Google translate, I get this to be... 

Hygge/Coziness is a condition one experiences if you have peace with yourself, your spouse, your taxman and your internal organs.

I think I get it.

Life is good.

The Red Dude Abides

My Cardinal friend was back this morning and I got a couple of good shots of him before he flew down to the ground to have some seeds.

 It was foggy this morning and that left hoar frost on all the  little twigs and branches.

Some was already melting off by the time I took these two photos.

Cardinals always look a little mad, but they sure make me happy.

Stella

My great niece Stella is the 3rd in a family of 6 kids and the oldest girl.  

As soon as she could read, she was an avid consumer of books, often found up early on a weekend morning, snuggled on the couch with a good book while the rest of the family slept in a bit.  

I remember her loving the movie The Wizard of Oz and enjoying it time after time after time...after time, when she was at Grandma's house.  

She's no longer a little girl and is a responsible babysitter who is always in demand.  She learned a lot about child care by being the older sister of 3 younger siblings; she also has a quiet and calm demeanor that no doubt works well in her sitting jobs.  

I wouldn't say that she is an extrovert, but she always is nice to me when I visit.  So, maybe a little shy, I'm not sure, as she doesn't really know me that well.  For sure she is polite and kind whenever I am around.  

For the first 2 or 3 years I lived in Wisconsin, Stella would not make eye contact with me.  It was a little game (for me).  I would try to talk to her, she would look away or down.  Then I would talk to someone else in the room and out of the corner of my eye, I would see her looking at me.  

Stella is a hard worker and a good money saver.  I hope she will continue to love books and reading.  I'm looking forward to knowing her as she grows into a young woman.  

On Thursday, I got to see Stella play basketball, a couple of photos that I snapped are below.  

I think she has a lot of potential, on and off the court.

A Northern Visitor

Northern Cardinals are kind of celebrities around here.  

If you have Cardinals coming to your feeders on a regular basis, you can make other birdwatchers very jealous.  I'm lucky to see them with some regularity in my yard.  They prefer to eat on the ground, so I have a pile of sunflower seeds under a deck table for them, a little protected from the snow, but also out of my line of sight.  

Today, a male Cardinal came to visit and while most of the time they are quite skittish, this guy sat a spell.  I took several photos that were okay, but then he found a perch even closer to the living room window and gave me a chance to take some nice beauty shots.

 It's hard to beat the sight of a Northern Cardinal on a winter day Up North.

Life is Good.

Boys Basketball

Friday night was a big game for great nephew Gage and his team.  A conference matchup with a talented team from Grantsburg.  The game had it's ups and downs with the Cardinals in the lead most of the way.  The Cardinals were missing one of their starters who had a medical issue and one of the starters was wearing a cast-like wrap on his right & shooting hand.  Gage got into foul trouble early and had to sit for a bit as well.

Nevertheless, the ending was a good one for the Luck Cardinals, leaving them in first place in their conference and facing 2 more conference games in the coming week.  This is prime time for high school basketball.

Lakeland - West - 2019-20 Regular Season

TEAM	W	L	FOR	AGAINST	+/-	STRK	L10	OVERALL
Luck	4	0	258	209	49	W4	4-0-0	6-2-0
Saint Croix Falls	3	1	249	185	64	W2	3-1-0	6-2-0
Unity	3	2	240	199	41	W1	3-2-0	7-3-0
Grantsburg	2	2	249	254	-5	L1	2-2-0	5-4-0
Webster	2	2	219	218	1	W1	2-2-0	5-4-0
Frederic	1	3	201	271	-70	L2	1-3-0	2-7-0
Siren	0	5	246	326	-80	L5	0-5-0	1-8-0

It was an exciting game and close score 57-54 with the Cardinals coming out on top.

Our school is a small school but the basketball program is always strong.

It was a fun night to be in the gym!

Level
High School

Class
Public

School District
Luck

WIAA District
1 - Northwest

Enrollment (2019-2020)
School: 137

School Size (2019-2020)
Small

School Song
On Wisconsin

School Colors
Red and White

Nickname
Cardinals

Conference (Default)
N/A

City
Luck

State
WI

Zip
54853-9099

Girls Basketball

Things have abruptly changed for this season.  Great niece Alyxis is out for the season with a torn ACL, meniscus & a bruised femur.  It's heartbreaking to see her miss her senior season after watching her work hard, from youth basketball to Varsity, to become a very good player.  I'm hopeful that the surgery to repair her tendon will go smoothly and that she will once again be on the court in her college years.

So, sadly, I probably will not see many more Spring Valley games this season.  

I try to see the Luck girls play whenever I can, I have come to know those girls and many are the great granddaughters of friends.  My 2nd cousin, Ronnie, is the varsity coach.  Friday night, the Luck girls took on Grantsburg, always a tough competitor.  It was fun to watch the Luck girls take control of the game early on and maintain a lead with a final score margin that tells the story of a solid victory.

My favorite photo of the night.

The more I watch girls basketball, the more I love it.

I never played full court basketball.

My high school years were pre Title 9.

We played half court basketball in GAA, Girls Athletic Association, but that was an after school event, and since I rode the school bus, it was not something I could participate in very often.

The world has changed in 50 years, now if the fans would just give the girls their attention.

I am always entertained and impressed by their teamwork.

Hops

Modern art, of the feline variety

Titled: Imported Hops

Alyxis

Last night was not fun.  In the first half of play, Alyxis went down hard, in a lot of pain, with an unknown ankle/knee/hip injury.  Maybe it was hyper-extension, maybe it was something else, no matter, she landed on the floor in agony.  

She was transported to River Falls Hospital by ambulance, but later was sent home with her knee stabilized and on crutches.  The tendons and ligaments seem to be intact and the ER doctor thinks it is a strain/sprain.  There is significant swelling. We are hoping for fast healing.  Lex has a lot more basketball to play.

UPDATE: An MRI has revealed torn ACL, torn meniscus and bruised femur.
Alyxis will be scheduled for surgical repair as soon as possible.  Her high school basketball is over.  With good healing and therapy, we are hoping for more basketball at the college level. 

Here are a few photos of Lex.

Heal fast Lex!  

I need more happy Alyxis photos.