March Madness

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Philadelphia, Detroit, Ogden, and finally at home.

At constitution hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed

Enjoying a cheesesteak. Half from Pat's and Half from Geno's

Mike showing William how to do manly things

Dad enjoying a nap at Christina's

A "low-carb" peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Last Day in Jersey

We have three finals this morning, then we are coming back to our apartment loading up the car and getting on the road. A few days in Detroit, then on to Nebraska, A night with Mike and Judi, and then finally back home!

This has been a great experience. I have made some great friends and learned a lot. Finals have been good and I am excited to see my grades and my name on a Certifiicate

Turf School Day Forty-Three and Forty-Four

Wednesday was probably one of the worst days we have had all year. The classes were boring and with all of us being excited to get out, we were not in the mood for boring classes. We had an irrigation class about the whole irrigation installation and how to get the membership or ownership to buy into the idea of an irrigation system replacement.
We then had a class about soils and fertilizers. We talked about phosphorus.
We ended the day talking about different spaces in the landscape.

Today we started our day off with a discussion about agronomy. I still do not know what agronomy is, but we talked about the use of perennial ryegrass and kentucky bluegrass and its use on the golf course.
We then had our final landscape plants class. We talked about desert plants and tropical plants.
We ended our day with another soils class in which we talked about potassium and the micro nutrients.

I am very excited to be done. We have two finals tomorrow, and then start the big week of exams on Tuesday

Pine Valley

Here are some pictures of Pine Valley. The 18th back towards the first hole. I do not think the pictures do the course justice. It was designed in the 1910's and built without tractors and other big machinery. The course uses the lay of the land very well. Enjoy!

Turf School Day Forty-Two and Forty-Three

Monday we spent the day at Pine Valley. It is rated as the 2nd Best course in the United States. It was a neat experience to see such a magnificent course.



This morning we had a landscape management class. We have not had the class since week 2 so it was basically a review of material in preperation for our two final projects.

After our landscape management class we had more class presentations. Today was finally my day to present, and I went a little over the time limit, but it all went very well.

We ended our classes talking about sports field management as a potential future employment opportunity.

3 Days of Classes Left!

Turf School Day Forty-One

Friday we had our last class with Chris Carson. We had a review for the final exam and talked about what we can do to keep our jobs.
We then had a history of design class in which we discussed more hole designs and safety in design and construction.
Our last class was on putting green construction. I do not really remember what we talked about in the class, but we are not getting tested on the material, so I guess I can forget it.

Turf School Day Forty

This morning we had 2 lab classes. OUr first lab was an insect identification lab, followed by a calibration lab. During our insect lab we identified turfgrass pests and prepared for our upcoming final exam.
In our calibration lab we talked about how to calibrate a sprayer and how to make big and small changes in the amount of product applied. (these changes can be made by changing speed, pressure, and nozzles)
We ended our day talking about irrigation needs and the possibility of using reclaimed water on our courses. We discussed the amount of water that is needed to flush salts out of the soil profile and how to calculate that amount.
It was our last class meeting with Bingru. Thank you Bingru for all you have taught me.

Turf School Day Thirty-Nine

Today was our last bunch of classes with Rich Buckley, the Master of the Plant Disease Laboratory. Over the past 20 weeks we have learned about integrated pest management and scouting techniques. He has taught us about several turf diseases and how to prevent and cure them. He taught us about turfgrass insects and how to prevent their damage and kill them if they are creating problems. He taught us about the diseases and insects that harm ornamental plants. The most important stuff he taught us were his priceless life lessons.

Thanks for everything Buckley!

Turf School Day Thirty-Eight

Our first class of the day was professional development. We talked about what we need to know to become a superintendent. We talked about being able to manage communication lines between both the rich owners and the "less prominent" crew members.

We then had our turf establishment class and our class presentations. The presentations were nice and for our establishment class we worked on a short group project.

Turf school is winding down and I think the teachers are as excited as we are to be done with school.