Choir Members Excel

For the first time in “years”, Seadrift Middle School Choir members participated in the Region 14 invitational Vocal Solo Performance contest at Howell Middle School in Victoria. The students received three Superior ratings and Superior medals and one Excellent rating
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Pictured left to right: Layla Banda, Gilliana Gonzales, Jasenia Adame and Jeffrey Allred. Congratulations to these talented young singers!

Math Counts
MathCounts – Seadrift School Junior High

Great job at the Chapter Competition in Victoria!

The team took home 2nd place. Team members include 6th graders Anamika Brown, Jacob Boots, and Charlie Ayres, and 8th grader, Boston Dunn, who was the team captain and also placed 8th individually.

Celebrating Leap Day
Pictured below:
Both of Mrs. Callaway’s Seadrift Second Grade Classes and her J. H. STEM Students celebrated Leap Day by making origami leaping frogs.

Butch and I have been involved with Combat Marine Outdoors (CMO) for about thirteen years and we love to sing its praises. This organization provides meaningful outdoor experiences to veterans from all the branches of military service. These adventures give wounded veterans the chance to heal and build deep-rooted connections with numerous service members. It is our duty to remember the many sacrifices our veterans have made for us. Let’s continue to support our heroes!

For more information about this most worthy cause which is a 501© (3) non-profit organization go to: combatmarineoutdoors.org!

Pictured above from left to right are Katrina Pokluda, Butch Hodges, Arturo Garcia (a CMO founder), and Mary Hodges. After battling cancer for over a year Butch Hodges says, “Don’t give up!”

Pictured above is Precinct 4 County Commissioner Gary Reese. His precinct includes the Seadrift and Port O’Connor areas. A helipad was dedicated to Seadrift in the summer of 2023. It is located right next to Seadrift’s First National Bank. In May 2024 Commissioner Gary Reese hopes that a helipad in Port O’Connor will be ready for service. It will be located behind the county barn off Trevor Street in Port O’Connor. Right now, the county is in the process of going out for bids for its construction. -Tanya DeForest

Has anyone had a million things to do lately but ignore them and tend to your plants instead? Many folks identify with you and agree they are “procrasti planting.”

Please feel free to visit our community garden and see the improvements. It is located at 16th and Harrison. Enter at the back. Our butterfly garden is finished and ready for planting. A decorative border of painted, repurposed wood should attract many butterflies.

Twenty people attended the February 20th meeting at the Multipurpose Room to enjoy an educational lecture with Brigid Berger about Purple Martins. Did you know Port O’Connor is considered the Gateway for Purple Martin migration? The attendees learned so much about these beautiful songbirds that travel from Brazil and stage all the way to Canada.

Many topics were discussed: migration, how to begin and maintain a colony, threats and how to conserve the species.
Brigid introduced local resident Adrian Han who also shared her knowledge and experiences as a Purple Martin Conservation Association Scout-Arrival Study participant. What a fantastic opportunity to learn from people with firsthand experience!

Both ladies provided valuable insights into the migration patterns, behavior, and habitat preferences of Purple Martins, which are essential for their conservation. Their extensive knowledge and experiences as participants in the Scout-Arrival Study certainly enriched the group discussion. Much was learned from people actively involved in conservation efforts
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Hopefully, attendees are inspired to become more engaged in protecting these birds and their habitats. S

Dieting

When I was a kid, I loved Garfield.

Not only was he a cat, as I already had a great affection for that animal species, but back then he used to make me laugh out loud with his dry feline wit and antics.

One joke that always stuck with me as I got older was when his owner, Jon Arbuckle suggested Garfield go on one of the many diets he would try to put the overweight cat on over the years.

Garfield’s response to this affront became a classic phrase they have plastered on everything from greeting cards to t-shirts: “Diet is just die with a T on the end.”

Having been actually trying to lose weight for the last three months plus, I can say it’s not that bad, but it can feel that way for some, and anyone at times.

I felt I was ready to stop being obese (no, I’m not saying how much I weighed), and take on the only thing that actually works to lose pounds in a healthy manner, eating less and trying to move more.

It seems simple but between all the processed food we eat today, a sedentary lifestyle getting more prevalent over the last fifty years, and the psychological reasons people can eat and over eat, it is anything but simple, in fact as you can see it can be very complex.

Even dieting itself can become an obsession, leading you to fear the changes required and make your mission ten times harder.

The world being the world it is, it’s like almost anything else in anyone’s life most of the time…it can be done if you’re mentally prepared and don’t give up.

Most diets fail according to the numbers and that is because a diet is not like a vacation where you’re going to take a few weeks away from eating tons of fast food and not drinking anything but water and then go back to business as usual after you get back thinner like you were getting a tan from the beach because that beach ball you threw into the ocean is coming back with a vengeance.

It’s a lifestyle change for life through and through if it’s actually going to make you lose weight and keep that weight off.

Soda was my comfort item, if I had soda then I thought I had one less thing to worry about on a daily basis, I drank almost nothing else BUT that dark soda for at least over twenty years, even when I was not very overweight.

Various snack chips were another thing among many that I’d happily munch on when bored watching television or reading, empty calories down the hatch.

Dieting is much more about habit changes than pure food choice changes although food is obviously a huge part of the issue of weight.

Hopefully I can use that knowledge to make sure I stay focused and continue forever improving myself to be able to be more in control of my body and my life than before.

Is there anyone else out there currently on this journey or who has logged many miles on the diet road?