Random Musings

Got up early this morning and headed to Greenville for my little gig down south....on the way out of town, I stopped for the Red Light at the US 127 Bridge going out of town...here it is Festival and heavy traffic time on Grand Lake, and of course, the Ohio Department of Transportation is all the bureaucratic wisdom, decide to replace the damn bridge going out of Celina. Of course I could have opted to take West Bank Road along the lake shore, but didn't. Going south as our side got the green light, I notice a small pick-up truck with front end crushed to the windshield....seems as the light went red, a Hoosier didn't see the large tanker truck stopping for the bridge light(the bridge is down to 1 lane and thus the need for the traffic signal)...he crashed into the tanker's rear end....the trucker and another women driver had called 9-1-1 so I, and the rest of the south bounders, proceeded on....the middle aged gentleman in the truck did not appear in good shape, I said a prayer for him and headed to work....enough gawkers and folks trying to help, they didn't need more.

This all gets to the point of my "musings", what seems important one hour, is just a minor passing the next. Another double header last night, giving me 7 games in 4 days, something that would wear out a younger man, and indeed by the time we hit the middle of game 2 last evening at Parkway, I was pretty well "shot". The fans were loud and irritating, something that usually doesn't bother me, and clueless as to the rules of the game, and an umpire's strike zone. GM was my partner, and next to Sam, I do as many games with Garry as anybody else....we finished off the game, collected our fees, and "got the Hell out of Dodge"....got home just before Midnight with an alarm time of 5:40AM...I didn't even bother popping a top, something usually a given after a game and especially after 2. Took a shower and hit the sack instead.

This got me to thinking, something dangerous in itself.....last night made 65 games since late March, not sure a 59 year old, no matter how good of shape he thinks he's in, should be doing that many.....but another 10 or so to go, American Legion games and tournaments, then off for a few weeks before Football season with the scrimmages begins....."Hello Back! are you ready for this?"

Having played, coached, and umpired baseball and fast pitch and slow pitch softball for over 50 years, one thing is a given, the lower the age and skill levels, the more clueless coaches and fans are.....I usually take it in stride, but last night, pretty well pushed my limits, not with the coaches, they did very little bitching, even on the calls that we made that were questionable, "fans" are another story.....and Hell, I rarely catch much flack, and I'm sure last night was just an average game for most umps.....but after 7 games in 4 days, I know I need a couple of days off.

But I survived and now can rest until my American Legion game at Van Wert on Friday night.

I see at the bottom of my posting I am still needing the little word verification thing....now that is really pissing me off....this site has no Spam and where "Google" and/or blogger come up with this crap is beyond me.....a more than minor issues it is becoming!

Weather wise things are back to summer-like with rain predicted for tonight, yesterday it missed us, and to be perfectly honest, a drought looks good to me....I could do without a drop of rain until October.....Ohio(and the rest of the Midwest) is water, grass, and bug heaven this summer.....we are still mowing more than one time per week, and that is rare come July.

Have an excellent day...................back later>>>>>>>>>>>>