BIG week for seniors.  A lot going on and a lot to wrap up before Graduation this Sunday. Mr. Marinelli just reminded me that I have to go and pick up my Graduation robe.  Robe?  Gown?  I don't know.  Either way, there is a lot going on for the seniors this week.  All of the excitement started last Thursday with the Senior Awards Night and went right into the weekend with Senior Prom on Friday.  There are a bunch of festivities this week for the seniors but the big ones are the Baccalaureate (hardest word I have had to spell in the history of this blog) Liturgy on Saturday and of course Graduation on Friday.  I have posted some pictures below with the help of Chris Lynch and Susan Bavaro.  Thanks!  Seniors, enjoy this week.  It goes by way too fast.

Class Pres Joe Flynn doing a little practicing on stage before welcoming the parents and students to the Senior Awards Ceremony.

Matt Brady won the award for Best Student-Athlete and I was able to snag him from the thronging masses for a quick photo before he left.

Friday was the senior's last day of classes.  This is a bit sad for me because these seniors were freshman during my first year of teaching at the Prep.  It's mostly sad because I am four years older.  Yikes.  I will miss these guys.  I remember my last day as a senior at St. John's and though a lot has changed since then, there are some traditions that remain.  The most notable being the ringing of the Spire bell.  In the picture above you can see the green steeple atop Xavier Hall and that steeple, which we call the Spire, has a bell in it that is rung on special occasions.  Below you can see Mr. DiFabio taking all the fun for himself and not letting any of the seniors actually get a chance to ring it.  He did eventually.  See how happy he looks?  Give a man a bell.  You can also see the opening in the ceiling which was redone when Xavier was renovated.  I wanted to show you that picture because prior to renovation there were two ways the seniors could ring the bell.  The first was in the basement!  Yes, that rope Mr. DiFabio is holding ran through the walls of the building from the bell in the Spire all the way to an opening in the basement with a locked door that the Administration would open on the last day of classes.  The second way was much more interesting though because you got to actually go up into the top two floors of Xavier (in probably the exact same spot where Mr. DiFabio is) which had been condemned for use since the time when it was a boarding school.  Both were cool.  Either way, the seniors are gone!  Have fun guys and see you at graduation.

Playing some frisbee on the lawn.

Come on Mr. DiFabio, give the kids a chance.

Up to the Spire!

So this blog post is going to be record breaking because it has the most pictures I have ever crammed into one post. I didn't know how else to go about showing you Grundy.

The building on the left is the Harman Memorial Baptist Church Center and is where we stay while we are down in Grundy.  The building actually used to be a shower house for coal miners who were working in the nearby mines. However, when they renovated the building they did not leave one shower in the place. The land the building is on actually used to be a mine until the coal ran out.  

This is one of the first worksites our group was on.  It is the house of Allen and Barbara Fields.  We were fixing a leaky roof, some siding and some other odds and ends like a mailbox and a storm door.

 Same worksite as above just looking the other direction.  Allen, the man who owned the house and his grandson Dylan, love to fix and renovate old cars.  That red one right there is a 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle SuperSport.  You should Google a picture of what one of those looks like when it is all fixed up. They don't make them like that anymore.

Lunch break!

For some reason there is this misconception that when I go down to Grundy I don't get my hands dirty.  But there I am helping Matt Homa (right) lay shingles!  Proof for all the doubters.

Driving into downtown Grundy.  The town actually has a real flood threat.  Every 30 years almost like clockwork the Levisa River which is down an embankment to the right of this picture floods and takes most of the downtown with it.  Because of this much of the original downtown has been moved to higher ground.

This is the only Wal-Mart in the country that sits atop a two story garage.  Wal-Mart would only agree to build in Grundy if the town found buildable land above the flood plane.  Just in case, Wal-Mart concluded they would give their store some added protection by putting two floors of concrete garage below the actual store just in case the Levisa River rose again.  The mountain you see to the right had to be carved back in order to make space for the huge new building.

This is Kudzu vine.  It is a vine native to Japan and was brought here to help with erosion and runoff.  However, in the south, some folks call it "Mile a Minute" because of the rapid speed which it grows.  Two years ago this hill was green and covered in full grown trees.  Kudzu wrapped all of them up and killed them.

There is some great signage displayed outside many of the churches in the south.  This is one I particularly liked.

Each year the Grundy Volunteer Fire Department hosts us for dinner.  They make THE BEST beans in the world.  Honestly, I look forward to this meal each visit because of their Cowboy Beans.  Secret recipe.  Don't even know what's in them but holy smokes they are good.

The firefighters usually take the boys through the town of Grundy on the firetrucks.  This year I heard there was a need for speed.

Saying goodbye on the morning we left Grundy.  Always sad to leave the friends we have made there.

The drive home!  This picture does no justice to how bad the weather was.  Several emergency alerts on the radio for tornado warnings!  We toughed it out.  You know.  Prep guys.