Target Practice

During the summer, we went up to a baseball coach's cabin and for the first time in my life I shot a .22 rifle.  Before I could fire, I had to listen to the directions given by Coach Chip.  I was listening carefully but was very excited at the same time.

Coach Chip told me, "Put the target in the middle of the X inside the targeting scope.  Close one eye and put the other three inches away from the scope."  The first time I tried to fire I could not find my target so we had to increase the range of the scope so I could see the target within it.  He then said to hold my breath and slowly squeeze the trigger so when I let my breath out it doesn't move my arm and make me miss my target. 
It is very close to firing a Nerf Gun except the trigger is much harder to squeeze.

The moment it fired I did not realize that it fired.  I squeezed the trigger slowly and it went off by itself just like it was supposed to.  I hit the green piece of target paper.  I hit the corner, but this was still a good shot for the first time.  I was surprised at how well I did.

When we reloaded, the empy shell popped out.  After I fired all three of my shots, I felt the shells and thought they would be warm, but they were not.

The directions were probably the most important thing about shooting, because if you didn't listen to them someone could get hurt.

Camping for two nights

We went on a two hour hike.  It was really long and I was very tired at the end.  It was very hard walking, but at the top I got to see for miles and miles off a cliff.  I was not close to falling because I was with an adult when I was at the edge.

We also went to the beach. We went fishing and we went swimming. We went to the beach two times. The first time the water was warm. The next day the water was cold but I moved in the water so I was warm.

Lovettsville Eagles Going Undefeated

The Lovettsville Eagles have gone undefeated so far this season; they are 32-0. They play on holidays, American holidays, and Saturdays.  They are going undefeated beacause they have made many good plays on defense and have hit many home runs.  The Eagles have made two triple plays this season, which have been the highlights of the year.  One of the triple plays started with a ball hit to the third baseman, Alex Rodriguez, who went to his knees and caught the ball.  The runners thought he didn't catch it so they one runner went to third and the others went to second and first.  Rodriguez threw to second, where the second baseman, Robinson Cano, caught and threw to first.  Triple Play!

Why I Would Be a Champion Nerf Dart Gun Player

I would be a great Nerf Gun Champion because I am flexible and fast and pick up teammates.  First, my coaches have put me in the leadoff hitter slot on my baseball team for two seasons because I am fast and wait for the best pitch.  Second, I am flexible and can dodge darts that come toward me.  It feels like I see the dart, but then time stops, I dodge the dart’s path, and then time starts again.  Finally and most importantly, I pick up other players.  One time, my teammate could not throw strikes.  I went over to him to make him feel better.  If I were he, I would think the inning would have gone better if I had thrown more strikes and I would feel like I let the team down.  I said to him, “They were just hitting your strikes.  You will strike them out in order next time.”  He looked at me and stopped crying.  The most important thing about being a teammate is picking up people on the team who feel sad.

The Laying Worker Bee

Usually, only the queen bee lays eggs, but if the queen bee gets killed and the hive has not made another queen cell to take the old queen's place, then a worker bee becomes the queen until another queen cell is made.  When the new queen is made, the laying worker dies of old age or is killed by the new queen. 

Two visits ago, we scraped out five queen cells, which look more like a half of a peanut shell about the size of a kid's half-thumb.  Beekeepers scrape out queen cells to avoid having too many queens, which makes the hive swarm.  We probably should have left 1 or 2.

This time, when we checked on the bees, we knew that there was a laying worker in the second hive that we opened.  We knew this because the brood was spotty; by that I mean that there was no actual place where all of the eggs would be.  One would be five inches away from the next.  The queen lays in one section until it is full and then moves to another frame.  The bees place the honey in the top three boxes and the eggs on the bottom.  Since there were only three boxes, the bees started to build another hive beneath the hive they are supposed to be in and were just laying eggs everywhere.  The laying worker lays eggs in many different spots. 

If you ever want to keep bees, be on the lookout for the Loudoun Star Dispatch and the Laying Worker!

Lovettsville's Minor League Teams Get Jerseys

It is Lovettsville Baseball's honor to announce the making of Lovettsville Minor League team shirts.  It is great that Lovettsville Minor League teams are getting jerseys because the Major League team, the Lovettsville Eagles, has jerseys.  Why shouldn't the Minor League teams have jerseys, too?  The University of McKennas company made the jerseys.  The way that they made them was they took white shirts and yellow shirts and drew on them with special markers that work on fabric.  The AAA Minor League team, the Lovettsville Suns, has yellow shirts that have a sun with a baseball inside of it and orange letters printing "Lovettsville Suns."  Then the A team, the Tigers, have white shirts with a picture of an orange and black tiger on it, but no printing.  Finally, the Rookie team, the Villagers, has a big V outlined in green and black and has "Lovettsville" printed underneath.  We hope the fans will love the shirts. 

Sincerely,
The General Manager of Lovettsville Baseball