A Touch of Summer....and the baseball break, not so fast....

When I finished off writing Friday's Blog, I headed to the Nitro and began to unload the gear and clothes so I could clean out the back of the vehicle and get the gear in order for the coming Summer baseball season...."Not So Fast"...

Within an hour of clearing things out, I got a call from Crestview and a e-mail from Leipsic, both schools wanting me to work another game.   So this afternoon I will join Garry for the 15th time and work a game between Crestview and Ottawa-Glandorf, two teams who will participate in various districts later this week.  O-G takes on LCC in D3 and Crestview, in a return to the D4 District at Coldwater will take on two time defending State Champion Minster, where they lost 3-2 in the District Finals last year..that was the game I was umpire 3rd base, and with the bases loaded, the Knight batter his a slow ground ball, and I called the final out of the District on a "Bang~Bang" play at 2nd base.,,,this year they will take on each other in the Semi-Finals...

On Saturday after receiving a request to umpire the BVC Championship Game at Leipsic, I headed north about 70 miles and worked the plate in a 6-2 win by the host Vikings over McComb, which secured the outright crown for the home squad....McComb however is still alive at Findlay in the D4 District up that way.

The remainder of the weekend saw me drink too much beer, mow mom's lawn with the majority of work done by Patricia, and BBQ in my self made pit twice, putting out some great steaks and pork

chops, if I don't say so myself....I just tossed some cement blocks together, build around a back yard stone, then I added the old grill plates from the retired Gas Grill, and made a serviceable, if ugly, outdoor grill, without a lot of work.

The Rest of the Week....

After the game tonight, taking Patricia's Nissan up for an Oil Change tomorrow, on Wednesday, I will head to the Capital City of Columbus, and the VA Outpatient Clinic.  Here I will begin my transition from the regular insurance plan to VA Care....way?

Pretty simple really, with the likelihood that my wife will retire after this school year, although that has not been decided for sure yet, and the implementation of the disaster and cost killing beast called Obama Care{how sweet that the Kenyan Bastard will have forever this monstrosity named after him} ... So even though I have avoided many of the benefits from my service, exceptions being my college being paid for and my first house through the VA Loan, it is time to see how VA Care works.

I could have chosen Lima or Dayton, both closer, but settled on the 100 mile drive to Columbus and the Chalmers P. Wylie Center...a place where brother Mike has had reasonably good service, including his cure from throat cancer.

After then, I can begin my two weeks of "rest" between baseball's spring and summer seasons....will be interrupted by a couple of days over at Kokomo, for the Vietnam "Mini Reunion"...the prequel of the much larger main reunion on September....this will be my first time for the Indiana Mini, less crowds, but still the same faces at the Boar's Next...just less of us.

Today, for the last Spring game it promises to be a Hot one....Garry gets the plate, it's his rotation,

which is good news for me....I won't have to don the heavy plate equipment in the heat and humidity, until at least June 3rd.....and some of the early games are up in the air, depending on how far Crestview and LCC go in the tournament.

Photos-I got up early this morning, after heading to bed early last night, and just after the 6:25am Sunrise got these hazy shots of the morning sun and waterfowl over Grand Lake on Celina's West Bank....