Talked to a few Virginia Commonwealth University graduates who are wound up for this Saturday’s basketball game against Butler in Houston for the NCAA Final Four.

“It’s really exciting,” said Tim Bradshaw, president and chief executive officer of Insercorp, a Franklin website design and development company. “It’s putting VCU on the map.”

Tim, who plans to go to Richmond to watch the game with some buddies, noted what’s incredible about the team is not only are they underdogs, but many can’t believe the Rams made it to the Final Four.

“I think that really strengthens them,” he said. “With most basketball teams in the NBA and college, you have one or two star players, and everyone else is support. With the Rams, the way Shaka Smart coaches the team is he really emphasizes teamwork and creates a shared vision for them to reach their goal.”

Kim Pope, a 1996 VCU graduate, will go to the home of friends to watch Saturday’s 6 p.m. game.

“We’re very excited,” said Pope, a pharmacist at Farm Fresh in Franklin. “It’s putting us all on the map.”

She was working during last Saturday’s game and was getting text messages from co-worker Tricia Davis, also a pharmacist at Farm Fresh and a VCU graduate.

• Elaine Herring of Gates, N.C., sent in a photo she took last week of a tiger swallowtail butterfly in her sister’s yard on Gatlington Road in Gates County.

Elaine lives very close to the Virginia line, not far from the big Camp Pond.

“I was fortunate enough to catch this tiger swallowtail, a zebra swallowtail and a mourning cloak butterfly on the cherry tree,” she wrote in an e-mail that accompanied the photo.

The tiger swallowtail is usually one of the first butterflies of spring, she said.

“Normally when the cherry trees and azaleas are in bloom, you will see the yellow tiger swallowtail,” Elaine said.

She and her sister over the years have studied butterflies and raised a few, so Elaine has a lot of pictures of butterflies and caterpillars.

Lawrence was chosen for the calendar before he passed away on Dec. 26 at age 88.

The calendar’s theme, Spirit of Success, tells of his dedication to his country when he left his hometown to join the U.S. Marine Corps. Lawrence was awarded a Purple Heart for being wounded in Iwo Jima during World War II.

As an employee of the U.S. Secret Service, he protected Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Gerald R. Ford.

Lawrence was later employed as a special agent in charge of the Norfolk office. Until his death, he was considered a world renowned document examiner.