More Umpiring, Sunflowers make their appearence, and The Fresh Air Fund

Yesterday was a rare July day in this part of the world...the high struggled to reach 80, the humidity was low, and the breeze, from the north and northwest, made for a pleasant mid summers day....heading for Lima and the District Finals at LCC, I actually looked forward to doing the plate.  Two quality pitchers would be on the mound for both Shawnee and Leipsic, and the weather would be near perfect for baseball.   We started on time at 6pm, both starters were throwing strikes, I believe there was only one walk to go with the dozen and a half strike outs between the two squads.  Deron and I were done in 90 minutes, the 3-1 Lima Shawnee win, made a Championship Game #2 necessary to decide who would move on the the State ACME Tournament, starting here in Celina on July 23rd.

So, tonight, I head back to LCC for the 3rd straight night, to work the final...final.  Ed from St. Marys will join me, and he will have the plate...3 nights in a row behind the dish, with the same team and teams, is not good, so the change to the bases will be welcome.  Given the hurlers the two squads have left, it should be another good game tonight....but anything can and usually does happen.

The Sunflowers make an appearance____

I usually wait to plant the sunflower seeds until mid May...and this spring it was a necessity due to the cold and wet conditions...so my crop, while usually big and bountiful, are always a little late blooming....this year is no exception.  Yesterday the first two of my mixture of "Moon Walkers", Monmouth, Mexican Orange, and Mixed Color flowers, appeared....I also noticed next to my transplanted "Wild" plant, another next to it with multiple flowers as well....it appears the crop will be good again this fall.

Domestic Sunflower Seeds produce just a single flower, while the wild wind blown variety can produce over 100 on rare occasions.  Last year I believe I had 40 or so on a stray wild plant.  This year the plant that I found growing under our bushes in early April and I transplanted to the kennel line, looks like it will approach the 35-40 flower mark...and the one "wild" sitting next to it will produce multiple flowers as well.  The weather appears dry for the next week or more...but the Sunflowers will continue to thrive in the heat, sun, and humidity.
 
The Fresh Air Fund____

I don't often promote other web sites or causes on this blog...I dropped the sponsorship links a couple of years ago.  I got a request awhile back for Sara at "The Fresh Air Fund"...a site and program that seeks to help inner city youth take summer vacations away from the heat and grime of their concrete city locations, and place them in more open spaces of rural America.  After doing some research, and checking out the site, I figured "Why Not".....it seems a good cause and on the up and up.   After all, even a hard core right winger like me, things there are good causes out there worth supporting.....so here is the site...check it out and see what you think:

http://www.freshair.org/ 

After all a few minutes of your time away from the world's and this country's problems is good for all of us.

Baseball again tonight, a Legion tournament on Saturday, and who knows after that....but the heat will be back, and I'm looking forward to the end of the hardball wars....a break before Football comes calling in mid August.

back later>>>

Photos-A still out of video from Channel 35 WLIO in Lima from last nights game...me in the lite blue umpire shirt as Leipsic scores it's only run in the 3-1 loss to Lima Shawnee, the two teams will hook up again tonight at Lima Central Catholic, with the prize a trip to the State Summer High School ACME Tournament in Celina next week.  The first of Sunflowers begin to bloom...and the already 10 foot tall "Wild" Sunflower plant that I transplanted, it appears to be heading towards 35 or more blooms...but time will tell.