Holly’s Space

On Friday last week I went to the Waikato show with freckles, yes it was yet again another agricultural day. This time it was a much longer drive to Hamilton and it was now up against all of the Waikato. Once we started I counted about 25 people in my ring and there were only 8 ribbons so it was going to be a hard job to get any ribbons at all.

I have always known that my calves strong point is rearing and so I couldn’t wait until it started. Finally rearing was here, all 25 of us tried to spread out around the ring but that was hard just trying to fit us all round the outside. The judge looked at all the calves and then pulled the best into the middle and looked over them again, luckily I was in that group of 11 so I definitely had a good chance of something. The judge made his decision and called for me to go out as first. I couldn’t believe that I had actually got 1st over 24 other calves.

 Since I got first I had to take my calf over to the champion ring, so now another judge looked over all the calves and then he kept on going back and forth between a jersey an Ayrshire and FRECKLES! I couldn’t wait to hear the results, but when the calf that got 2nd to me came into the ring I knew that I had won champion. Once again I couldn’t believe that I was champion. When the judge finished making his decision on the reserve champion, he called out for us to go into the middle to get our ribbons and for me a trophy that I will get my name engraved on and keep for the year, also a medal that I will be able to keep forever. The champion ribbon was different this year because they were celebrating their 75th year of the Waikato Show. So the champion ribbon was black with gold lettering and gold tassels. I was so glad that I had won it. My huge smile said it all!!!

During the first few weeks of this term our class have had lessons with the Life Education Trust. Nikki was the experienced teacher who taught us along side Harold the giraffe. This time we were learning about the WOF (Warrant Of Fitness) of our body, that our body is like a car and it needs lots of caring for and how to care for and after ourselves to maintain a healthy body and lifestyle.

Life Ed was very fun and definately educational, I have learnt that there is no such thing as bad food, its just not good for our heath to have junk food all the time. I learnt about the seven nutrients our body needs, the three A’s (Apetite, Activity, Attitude) and how many servings of certain types of food I should have per day. Sadly, our class has finished Life Ed and I cant wait until they come next.

At the moment my class is involved in Life ‘Round Here. It is a competiton for intermediate age students all around the world. For this competition each class that enters, six pupils from it have to make photostories showing what their life is like where they live. We had to use photostory3 to make them, we had to make sure it shows the actual truth about our life and not our lives the way all the flashy brochures show us.

I think that this has been quite a hard task fo me to acheive. I found it hard to try and figure out how to use photostory3 as this being only about my 3rd or 4th time using it. I also thought it was a bit difficult deciding on the main topic I could focus on and still make my story worth watching. I had to take most of the pictures for myself as sites like Flickr Storm could not provide me pictures of my hometown or community. Overall life ’round here has been a great experience for me so far and I hope that my finished product will be worth all the hard work and effort I have put into it. I just can’t wait to get to the end and hear the results.

Later on this term I will put my finished product on my blog for everyone to see.

Here are some pictures I may include in it-

 Since it is term 4 I have decided on my 4 main goals, here they are -

1.  This term I am going to try and get better experience on photo story so that I am able to produce some interesting movies on it.
2. I am also going to try and push myself on putting more posts on my blog and more comments on different people around the world.
3. Over this term I am going to try and be a part of most Room Three TV Shows, I will also make sure that I am always positive about each show.
4. I will try to take most opportunities that come my way and make the most out of every opportunity I do take

Group day is another agricultural day except with even more competition, and also at the end of the day there is another part which is called leading group of three. In this you have three calves in a row and they all have to try and lead together at the same pace, but I’ll tell you at the end what I got in it.

In my ring this time I had about 11 people. Once again leading was first up which I got 4th in, as a dog scared my calf which made her stop. Afterwards the judge said the if I got her going again a bit faster then I may have gotten a better placing, even though it was only 4th I still think Freckles and I did a good job because we did still beat about 7 other calves.

 Up next was rearing, after getting a champion at the first day I was hoping for good results which luckily they were. The judge went around all the calves and checked over them for loose hair and specks of dirt. In this I came 2nd and so I had to wait outside the champion ring to see if the person from my ring who got first also gets the champion which they did. This means that I go into the ring to compete for reserve champion, so I went into the ring and I did end up getting reserve champion which was quite cool.

Now it was dairy type, I have never thought of freckles as an excellent calf for dairy type, but I guess she must be since she got a 2nd out of about 13 calves in her ring. This time the person that got 1st didn’t get champion and so I didn’t have to go into the champion ring.

Now was the leading group of three, in my group was me, Kezia and Caitlin, I had organised for us all to bring along our school sweatshirts so that us three would match. There were a few people before us and all of them led very well together so I was a bit worried that we wouldn’t get anything. So now it was our turn, and I thought we all led really well and none of us could wait until we got the results.

 - Me, Kezia and Caitlin starting our lead. 

After all the calves had led the judges decided on the results and the number they called out for first was ours 111, ‘The Emergency Team’! We were all very excited, not one of us could believe we had actually won. We each got a red first ribbon and now over the next year we will share the huge shield we won. This shield is also quite special for me as it has my grans name on it from 1944.

 - The judge awarding the shield to us.

Then began a time of thin, wispy hair that begins to turn grey and white; New wrinkles start to turn up and with each day more and more appear as if by magic; Enough kind smiles to share around with everyone; Caring eyes that make me feel safe and that always look so pleasant; Muscles and bones that always seems to be sore; A hunched back that helps stop the pain from your aching back; Getting annoyed from all the food that gets stuck in your false teeth; Walking sticks and mobility scooters that you begin to need to help you move from place to place; A mind that had lots of trouble remembering things as you become more and more forgetful; Hair that won’t stay put on your head as you start to get a bit bald; Your eyelids that always want to close since you are always so tired; Suddenly you start to need glasses and hearing aids as your eyesight and hearing slowly deteriorate; All your grandchildren starting to be born, that one day you will be able to care for and look after; Rocking chairs becoming part of your daily life as you slowly rock back and forth on one just before going to bed each night;

And an entirely new sensation called old age.

Is it when you have fine white wispy hair and share a kind smile round to everyone? Or is it once your eyes make me feel safe and cheerful and when you start to become wrinkly and slow? Maybe it’s as soon as you need a walking stick or a mobility scooter to get you around. It could be when you reach your 60’s or when you have to live in a rest-home.

To me in fact none of these mean that you are old. Most of them may make you look old but it is never your looks that count, its only how old or young you believe you are. Some people may think that they are simply too old, but in my eyes no one at all will ever be too old. So make sure you never jump to conclusions and think that someone is old just because they look it, because they may still be young at heart.

Every year that I have been at school I have taken a calf to agricultural day which I call calf club . My calf that I decided to take this year was called Freckles because I noticed that she had a really freckly nose. For the last few weeks I have been brushing her and leading her all the time to get her ready for calf club. So last Tuesday it was the big day I was up early so that I had enough time to feed freckles, make sure that she was clean and get her to Kihikihi School which was where it was held. Once we arrived I once again checked that she was clean which thankfully she was and then at 10:00 it was ready to start. First up was leading, I had to lead freckles around a course, she did stop a couple of times though so I only came 4th. Next up was rearing, in rearing the judges will check over all of the calves for how clean they are and whether they have any loose hair. In this my calf did rather well as she managed to get a first as well as a champion. Then it was dairy type which is how well they will milk when they get older, in this my calf got second. So overall we had a good day together and I definitely cant wait until Group Day.

Today we sadly played the last rugby game for us in this years 2007 rugby world cup. We won our pool and made it into the quarterfinals. This year our quarterfinal was up against France. Everyone knew it was going to be a tough game but we started off well ahead with us getting two penalty kicks and a converted try over before half time while only right on half time France got their first three points which made the half time score 13-3 to New Zealand. Almost straight after half time Luke McAlister got a yellow card which means he has to go off the field and let the All Blacks play with one less player for ten minutes. While Luke McAlister was off France got over another three points with a penalty kick and a converted try worth seven points to make the score an even 13 each. A little while later we got an unconverted try giving us an extra five points. France also got a try except they got their conversion over so now France were ahead by two . The All Blacks kept on trying and trying but sadly the score didn’t change and so France came out on top and at full time the score was still 20-18 to France. Hopefully with the Rugby World Cup being held in New Zealand next time the All Blacks will have many more supporters and with any luck do better next time.