Rotan High School Graduates

Rotan High School Class of 2006 graduated Friday night at 8 p.m. It is so exciting to see these young people on the doorstep of adult life. The program was emotional, with the presentation of the Haley Helms Scholarship and the Coach Eric Alvarez Scholarship, a memories slide show ending in the song "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and presentation of roses by the graduates to the special people in their lives. A special thank you goes out to Principal Bob Spikes, who persevered and made graduation possible for students that others had serious doubts about reaching the goal. Congratulations and Woohoo! to the Class of '06!

What the Hail?

We really took a pounding last night when tennis and golfball size hail moved through the area. This formed between our place and Snyder within a 45 minute time frame and within a 17 mile area. I could hear roaring as it approached and I thought it was a tornado. My daughter and I were in the cellar, but my husband stayed inside with the dog. He said it looked like cannonballs were being thrown into the tank (that's a pond) when the hail hit the water. It was scary and another hailstorm followed just a while after this one. The windshields were broken on all our vehicles and there is a lot of body damage. There was also a window broken on the house. I don't always love living in Texas, ya know.

Prickly Pear Blooming

A friend gave me a field guide this week, written by Zoe Merriman Kirkpatrick, entitled "Wildflowers of the Western Plains". It has been invaluable in helping to identify all the pictures of flowers I have taken. It's nice not to have to shuffle through a bunch of plants that don't grow in this region, and the photos make for fast identification. I just can't get enough of the flowers!