3 Quarters Today

My Life, my photography, my passions

Small Town Living

Day 70/365: Elmwood-Murdock High School

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Day 70: Elmwood-Murdock High School

I’ve mentioned my kids high school a few times in this blog, yes I’m not only a proud parent, but a proud member of the Elmwood-Murdock community. This is the school sign outside the high school located in Murdock Ne. Murdock has a population of about 267 people, give or take a few, and is located in Eastern Nebraska between Omaha and Lincoln. The Village of Elmwood is just six miles south comprised of approximately 700 citizens.

As you can see sports isn’t the only area the students pf Elmwood-Murdock High School excel. Academic recognition is just as important and the FLBA (Future Business Leaders of America) has made it to Nationals every year since 1992. My daughter is in FBLA, FCCLA, Speech, Track, and Volleyball. With such a small school if there is going to be any activities just about everyone has to participate.

Participate they do, in a big way. It’s cool to be involved, fun, and from a parents perspective it really builds character, confidence, and skill sets that will take them far. Over 50 students participate in FBLA and more than 20 in speech.  The high school student body  is comprised of approximate 120 students from 9-12th grade. We have a 100% graduation rate, and an average ACT score of about 24, would have to check that again as two years in a row we had students that got a perfect score.

Anyhow, more to come on the school as the year progresses.

Day 67/365: Hastings Honor Choir

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Day 67: Hastings Honor Choir

Just a little bit about the Hastings College, High School Honor festival. It is the oldest honor music festival in the state of Nebraska, now in it’s 41st year.  The choir and band only accepts juniors and seniors, while the string orchestra is open to all high school students. This year the clinician was Dr. Daniel R. Afonso Jr. and the students spent 6-7 hours a day Friday and Saturday practicing their pieces for the concert on Sunday.

My son is in the middle of the above picture, a senior, and sings Bass II. Until a year ago he never tried out for honor choirs.  He was accepted for Hastings last year, ECNC last fall, the University of Nebraska Omaha BOCH Festival last month, and two years ago sang at Carnegie Hall in New York City with the Elmwood-Murdock choir in a mixed ensemble. Quite a set of accomplishments in the past few years. Yeah, and he hates for me to brag about it too. But what are the chances he’ll ever read this? Slim to none.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching and listening to him sing. In six months he will be leaving for Marine boot camp in San Diego, CA and starting a career as an MP. I am more and more proud of him every day. I hope, somehow, that he will find a way to continue singing.  Maybe on a base somewhere a group of them will start a group, enter a talent show, or just be goofing around one day with ditties and form a group like the 4 Troops.

Day 67: Extra, full Honor Choir

Disclaimer: I know, the top photo is not one of my best, very amateurish Photoshop eiditing. But hey, the purpose of this blog is to stretch not only my photography skills but to get better in Photoshop as well.  I was experimenting with layers, selecting colors, and skewing images. I accomplished that.  So my goal for the night was complete. Considering the lighting and the distance I thought the pictures turned out decent.  I tried to improve it in Photoshop but was only slightly success.

The second picture was photoshopped too…I removed a random trombone player intruding on the choir and pushed the bleachers together.

Day 66/365: Winter Neighborhood

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Day 66: Snowy Neighborhood

The view down my street in Elmwood, Nebraska. A small community (technically a village), population 687, give or take a few.  This was a few days after a snow and the sun had finally come out. I know compared to my Connecticut friends this snow is nothing. But, last year we can get 8-10 foot drifts with just a foot of snow, so this year we’ve been given a break.

Learn More About a Small Town in Nebraska

Day 65/365: Winter Snow Drift in Nebraska

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Day 65: Nebraska Snow Drift

In Nebraska snow plus wind equals amazing snowdrifts. I love how the wind creates works of art. The wind travels across miles of empty fields collecting snow and deposits the very dry fine snow into very high drifts. It only takes a few inches to create several feet worth of drifts. This last storm was only six inches but resulted in a few 4-6 foot drifts.

Day 65: Waves of Snow

 

Nothing you want to be out in while it’s blowing, white out conditions with zero visibility created black ice this time and resulted in hundreds of accidents in Omaha and Lincoln. The interstate was closed for a short time. The Elmwood-Murdock school district, and other surrounding towns were closed for two days, one day for the storm, the next to open the many miles of country roads so the buses could get through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 60/365: Window Shopping

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Day 60: Bit's & Pieces

I love my local thrift store, Bit’s N’ Pieces.  I really do, not only have I gotten great bargains, but I can count on friendly conversation on Saturday morning when I go in to browse. It’s not often, ok never, that I leave empty handed. This is just one of the beautifully decorated windows that change with the seasons.

Bit’s and Pieces Thrift Store is operated by the Elmwood Christian Church in Elmwood Nebraska. I don’t remember how long it’s been in business but it was originally opened as a way to raise money for the church that had burned down. Kinda of an indoor-garage-sale concept. Well, the success was overwhelming. At first it was only going to be open long enough to pay back the loan for the church. It became such a fixture that no one wanted to see it close. So volunteers still operate the store and profits go back to the church to benefit the community.

Elmwood has a population of less than 800 people and soon it was the place to find Christmas presents, birthday gifts, and just about anything you needed, or didn’t need, you could get there. My latest find was a LL. Bean Woolen woolen dress coat for $4.99, retail price $199.00.

I think this may be another topic I’ll highlight, Thrift Store finds…hmmm the treasures we will find. Remember my Uggs?