Predicting the Future

Weekend Comments____

Everybody wants to know what the future holds...whether it be "weather" or financial, political, etc, etc....you just want to know.

It's tricky business...take a look at the extended weather forecasts you get from the National Weather Service or the Weather Channel babes....things change every couple of hours, and seldom are they spot on until maybe a day or 2 before things actually happen, and even then they are hardly close to 100%.

Of late my main concerns about future weather have to do with lawn mowing opportunities and more importantly, whether I will get a baseball game in on that day, or what the conditions will be like come Memorial Day weekend for our annual Morel Mushroom Hunt outside of Mesick, Michigan. The shot on the top left is the forecast a week out for the Mesick weather beginning next Saturday....if this holds, I say "Not Bad". I can live with upper 60s, a chance of a shower, and decent lows to sleep in the tents and lean-to. But I'm not taking this early forecast to the bank, or Vegas.

Same goes for the District Division 3 Tournament at Elida(just outside Lima, Ohio)...we are schedule for a semi-final double header next Thursday...then the finals on Saturday, after which I will head north for Michigan. The forecast for the days preceding the Michigan trip seem to change with the hour. Right now Thursday looks sunny with low 70s for the high...perfect baseball weather, meanwhile Saturday looks "iffy" with 74 and a 30% chance of showers...but that will change multiple times before the middle of next week. You have a better chance of guaranteeing that Obama will mess up the economy and this country in general, than you do in predicting the weather a week or 10 days out.

Speaking of Baseball_____

I mentioned yesterday as a add on, that one game was cancelled(probably considering the situation, a good thing) and I picked up another...as things went it was the final game for LCC(Lima Central Catholic) and Elida...both had been eliminated from Sectional play and were done with league make-ups. They hired 4 umpires(probably by mistake) rather than the usual 2 to work regular season games. All of us veterans and either State or Regional eligible...so we had a good veteran crew and worked the 2 hour contest, with minimal problems. I came home in time to catch the finals of the D3 Sectional at Coldwater on radio, which would decide who would slot into the Elida District(which I will umpire) next week. Top Seed Coldwater at 25-2 defeated Parkway 8-0 to grab one of the 4 slots...but in the nightcap, a big upset, St. Henry(wife's school) went in as co-champs of the MAC(along with Coldwater) and sat at 19-5, they were playing their arch rival Marion Local Flyers(where youngest son Hal coached summer ball for years)...The Redskins had defeated Marion Local twice during the season...but third time was the charm for the Flyers, upsetting the favored #2 seed by a 7-6 count to move on to Elida.

There you have it..the 2 teams from the Coldwater Sectional, Coldwater and Marion Local, will take on the teams coming out of Patrick Henry(where I will do a Regional game later in the month)...and the schedule at Ed Sandy Field in Elida sets up like this:

Thursday May 21st...

2PM Marion Local vs Ottawa Glandorf in Semi Final #1

4:30 Coldwater vs Evergreen in game #2

Then on Saturday the 23rd the 2 winners will meet at 2PM for the District Title and the right to move on to the Regional. Should be a good district, and I look forward to working it.

Today, or rather overnight, more rains hit(what else is new or different?)..but as of this hour(9:45am), the game at Spencerville is still on, as they take on Columbus Grove in a league make-up.

So it's off to the shower, and then Reagan and I will feed the birds and Squirrels.....

back later...enjoy the weekend.