Baseball 110 games and done{for the season} Football begins tonight{sort of}

A fast moving weekend...7 baseball games in 3 days, no painting{except Patricia doing some trim work}, and nice weather for the entire time. Sam did 6 games, and we joined Doug B from Chickasaw for the semi and finals yesterday, working a 3 man crew. As I had mentioned before, I had not done Little League{11 and 12 year old} in a decade. It was fun, although I would not want a steady diet of this level, the stooping behind the plate to get down to their size, at my age, is not something that I would be willing or able to do 110 times a year.

Speaking of that number, after double checking my calender, that is how many games I ended up umpiring since mid March. From small college, down through American Legion, High School, and ACME, then the final two weekends with Pony and LL. Would have been more but for a few rain outs in April. Still, by far the most I have umpired since returning to donning the blue shirt some 10 years ago. St Henry won the 12 year old group{which Sam and I did}, while Wapakoneta came out on top in the 10 year old age bracket. It remained dry and the diamonds were pretty dusty, but the weather was cool, and we had a breeze....only 75 for a high yesterday, pretty much the way the summer has gone, and I'm not complaining.

No rest for the weary...my first Football scrimmage is set for April 15th...tonight we have our OHSAA state mandated rules meeting, Garry, Sam, and I, will head for Lima to take in that once a year session...our local meetings begin in Van Wert August 12th./Regular High School football begins August 28th. Time indeed does fly.

The Giant Sunflowers appear_____

Giant or Mammoth Sunflowers can grow as high as 12 feet tall while the "heads" or flowers can become 12 inches in diameter, so the book says....I have at least 2 dozen potential big heads growing around the old kennel area...the tallest being 14 feet tall, despite the fact that I probably planted them to close together{about 8 inches apart instead of a foot}. Two of the plant heads have started to bloom, and the others are within a week or 10 days of coming out. Those on the east side of the main row have bloomed first, and the tallest plant{the one in the middle of the three in the above photo} is near 14 feet in height...they will sag as the heads get heavier.

This is my first attempt at growing the large Sunflowers, that are used for the Sunflower Seeds, you see ballplayers eating and spitting out....so far it seems to be going well. Meanwhile my "regular" and smaller Sunflowers are going at a slow and steady pace, although not as impressive as last year. More photos as these bad boys grow in size.

Politics, are Americans finally getting it?____

Senators, Congressman, and Obama Henchman from the Kenyan's illegal administration are hearing it from constituents. Over the weekend Pennsylvania traitor Senator Arlan Spector and pro abortion radical Health and Human Service Director Kathleen Sebelius, got an earful from folks that attended their Health "Scare" Town hall Meeting....meanwhile CNN is all in a turmoil about Lou Dobbs who continues to give those so called "Birthers"{those that think Obama was born in Kenya} that think Obama is a fake American, time on his CNN evening show. That can't be good for the Obama Slaves at CNN, can it? Having one of their hosts actually giving Obama a hard time, the left wing loons still hate Dobbs for his anti illegal immigration rants a couple of years ago. Now with him giving time to those that dislike Obama, CNN has a problem....If they can't get him back into the fold, do the fire him?

Bad enough CNN, like CNBC, and MSNBC, are getting their asses kicked by Fox News, but to have a Conservative host take on their beloved President can't be good. Of course there is a solution...SHOW YOUR GAWD-DAMN BIRTH CERTIFICATE BARRY, YOU FREAKING FAKE!

Meanwhile the "Cash for Clunkers" program has already spent all of it's money buying up cars that the stinking Government will destroy, and Barry is asking for another $2 Billion to keep this boondoggle going....Man, you gotta love the change this phony SOB is bringing....right?

I was going to get back to painting and scrapping the remaining 30% of the house that I have to do...but I may spend the afternoon cleaning out the trunk of the Intrepid, and getting ready for football season...decisions, decisions...

back later>>>>

Photos-top left/the first of the Mammoth Sunflowers to bloom, the next couple of weeks should see a full crop starting to come out. This weekend's Dale Harter Memorial Baseball Tournament T-Shirt...Dale was a WW2 Veteran and POW, as well as a long time coach and umpire in area baseball circles. His family{The Harters and Steinbrunners} put together this tournament and it was a great success. Congratulations to them...son Steve Harter, an outstanding football player at Celina, graduated with me in 1967, had a chance to talk to him for the first time in almost 10 years...grandsons Scott and Todd Steinbrunner ran an outstanding tournament, with the family chipping in to keep it running. The bottom "flower photo" showing the tallest of the sunflower stalks at about 14 feet high, in the middle of the 2 "first bloomers".