Saturday Morning Sunflower Check

Woke up just before 7 this morning, needless to say the A/C has been turned off. "Thank you Fake Global Warming"...the clouds are blocking out any blue sky and the temperature is but 59. Fall like it is, and the high is slated for just 69 today, July 18th....the warmest day on average in this part of the world is July 21st, and here we sit, probably not seeing 70 degrees for a high...not bad at all. And it appears that the Air Conditioner can stay off for a few more days.

I got up fixed the coffee, let Reagan, the aging Airedale out, and let Patricia stay in bed for another hour or so....Anissa was already up, being the early riser she is. Sam is in Michigan for softball, and will return tomorrow. Speaking of which, we picked up a couple more American Legion games at Lima this coming week. The Lima Legion won the district defeating Van Wert, and need to play a couple of warm up games before heading to the Regional at Athens...my old college stomping grounds. So Monday and Wednesday I'll be umpiring, Sam will join me Monday, but on Wednesday he will be putting on the uniform of the OSU Lima summer team for the final time...they are short on players and will be playing the Legion team...Should be interesting, me behind the plate, maybe I can ring the oldest son out for one final time...no conflict, the game is basically "practice" and we are talking practice...and I have no problem with that, or calling Sam "out" if I'm behind the plate.

I actually put the blue jeans back on this morning...usually in July and August you won't see me out of my Khaki shorts, but it's cool enough for jeans. I walked out and snapped the above photo of me next to a few of my Mammoth Sunflower plants...these are about 7 foot, what you can't see are the ones on the other side of the fence...in total about 30 that will/should produce large sunflowers to bag up with enough seeds for next year and plenty for storing in the food supply area of the basement. Some on the other side are 8 and 9 feet tall, the other side of the yard has the smaller, more colorful, Summer Shade and Citrus varieties.

Friday, looking back____

Decided not to paint yesterday{or today with the chance of rain} but will probably get back at it tomorrow...seems I have a muscle acting up in my shoulders, not a surprise since the painting, mostly from the leaning ladder, is taking it's toll on my 60 year old body. So I jumped in the topless Jeep and headed south to Montezuma, and met up with Nick. Nick's pontoon is acting up, and he has been testing and getting the engine worked on before our annual "Bar Stool Open" on Grand Lake...this year's event is August 8th. We will have 2 teams on the boat, and Hal will join me and Nick, and one of Hal's roommates, Woost on one team, and the Mister Shop crew will join us....will probably have a couple of alternates as well, making 10 of us on the 22 foot flat boat.

Anyway, Nick and I headed to St Marys so he could co-sign for a car for his 23 year old daughter Megan, then back to the back acres of his place. We downed a couple and fired up a couple of cigars...headed for the Shingle Shack, where we met up with some old friends, and discussed our time in Vietnam and traded war stories for a couple hours...downed way too many, finally working our way back to Nick's place where we fixed Chicken Fingers, a couple of 7 bean salads, and fired up a couple more smokes. Knowing I was in no condition to drive the Jeep, I called Patricia, and her and Anissa drove the 5 miles and taxied my butt home...I will pick up the Jeep sometime today, after we "test" mattresses at the American Shoppe in Celina.

Anyhow, that is the plan...tomorrow, probably back to painting, if it stays dry.

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