The Longest Day!?

I was all set to post the logo of the Texas Rangers on here, congradulating them and their fans on winning the World Series....no such luck!  The hated Cardinals twice came off the mat with 2 outs and one strike away from Texas claiming the crown, to tie the game, before winning it with a walk off home run in the 11th inning.  So tonight will decide it....it has all the feel of the 1975 WS when the Reds blew game 6, losing in extra innings, but still pulled out a hard fought victory in game 7...hopefully Texas can do the same, but regardless, it's been an interesting series.....I will miss game 7 however....

I will be on my way back from Ironton...some 220+ miles south of here.  A final Friday night of regular season football.  If I choose to drive the entire way back(rather than stay at Sam's in Columbus) it will be around 3am when I make Celina...it will indeed be the "Longest Day".   Then after a few hours sleep, I head for Celina Stadium to work the 2 championship games of the Cross County Youth Football League, with the JVs(3rd and 4th grade) beginning at 5:30 followed by the Varsity(5th/6th grades) to follow....

So that's my plan for the weekend....that and resting and maybe drinking a few beers on Sunday...

back Monday with the details....>>>>

Photos-I will be seeing footballs in my sleep after this weekend....and driving the Dodge Nitro rather than the van tonight....with the Deer running wild this time of year, the headlights on the Nitro are at least 10 times stronger than the old van....at least giving me a chance to see any that may jump out on the way home tonight.

The Holiday Season Ends....

Here it is January 3, 2011...and the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year Holiday Season has ended...it came to me with a nice 11 hour nap last night and early this morning.  Just enough to recover from the food and football bowl fest at Rick's acres over in Noble County in northern Indiana.  Clint, Rick, and I, got together for our annual beginning of the new year.  Rick and his wife, Toni, set out the spread, and we 3 with some help from Rick's sons, dug into the wide variety of food...Chili, wings, shredded beef, veggies, cakes, chips, dips, and more varieties than we really needed.  We washed that done with a half dozen different brands of beer.  I started and stuck with Coors...the first time I had downed that in years.  We retreated to the garage for a half hour or more to partake in some Indian Tabac cigars that I had brought along.

As far as the Bowls...football bowls that is.  Well suffice to say, being in Big Ten country, they were a disappointment...the Big Ten contingent got it handed to them...Michigan, Penn State, and Michigan State got clobbered by SEC teams, while Wisconsin was a loser in the Rose Bowl, and Texas Tech squeezed by Northwestern.  This leaves the Big Ten at two wins and five loses, with just Ohio State against Arkansas tomorrow night in the Sugar Bowl to repair some much wounded pride.  We finished off the day by watching some old westerns...and after crashing in the basement den, Clint and I headed out yesterday morning about 9:30.  Once home, I sat watching some NFL yesterday recovering from the day before, and I decided about 7pm it was time to catch up on some much needed sleep...and that is just what I did....11 1/2 hours and a shower later...here I sit.

With the long holiday(about 7 1/2 weeks for me if you consider it starts 2 weekends before Thanksgiving on our trip to Wisconsin)...it was time to tabulate the damage done to my weight loss progress over the past 116 months.  When I stepped on the scales this morning I discovered I was only up about 2 1/2 pounds over the entire 7 weeks...and only up 2/tenths of a pound since New Years morning...considering what I downed on Saturday, I am pleasantly surprised to say the least.  The slight gain over the period still leaves me down 23 pounds or so over the 16 months...I have yet to check the Blood Pressure this morning, and given all the salt laced goodies I had on Saturday, I may hold off on that a day or so....my next checkup is January 19th, with a blood draw on the 18th, so I have a couple of weeks to "purge" myself.   All in all, I am less than disappointed with the "Holiday Results".

Basketball resumes tomorrow night at Elida...tonight we begin the 2nd half of the Dartball season with a 3 game series at St. Johns against defending champions Hopewell.  I batted .339 for the first half, about a 100 points below what I finished at last year....as a team we had the 7th best record in the 8 team league, finishing at 6 up 15 down for the half...I cannot imagine doing worse on a personal or team basis this half...at least I hope not.  So here it is...time to lose a few pounds(still a handful away from my goal of 180), finish off the basketball season, get ready for Hal and Lisa's wedding...and prepare the body for baseball come late March.  I have at least 3 Vietnam Reunions to attend this year, and Patricia and I plan on taking a long vacation in the late summer(providing gas isn't $5 per gallon)...so here we go with the New Year, hopefully it will be good for all, well for all except our Marxist Prez and his progressive lemming followers and the lame stream media...the can all go straight to Hell.  That is one thing I will not waver on in 2012...my dislike for those that would destroy this Republic and turn us into a nation of servants...we are looking more and more like Europe and you gotta wonder if their plans are even more sinister than that.  Stay Tuned!

back later>>>>

Photos-Clint, Rick, and Me, enjoying a Indian Tabac Robusto in the garage between halves of football and handfuls of food and beer...Rick's youngest Guy, along with Clint...the view of the pond on the 17 acres from the basement/den picture windows in their new house...last year at this time it was just getting under roof....now it's complete except for the basement/den waiting for it's cosmetic work.  And finally Rick, doing what we did most of the New Year's Day...sitting, watching football with beer and snacks in hand.

Cleaning Out the Cluttered Closet

Cleaning Out the Cluttered Closet?  Codewords for...I really don't have a dang thing to write about this morning...at least not much, if anything, worthwhile.

I stopped over at Nick's yesterday afternoon and we discussed the upcoming trip to the Lake Huron/Au Sable River area north of the "thumb" in the western section of lower Michigan....hopefully we will get a good rate at the Blue Horizon in Oscoda...a perfect spot, not much crowd that time of the year..Summer is over, the fishing season is winding down, weather turning colder, and the hunters are still a few days away from Deer Gun Season, which begins for two runs, starting November 15th, ending on the 24th,  with the 'second' season on November 29th and 30th...so no crowds to deal with is the perfect time to try our luck.  Of course in case the fish aren't biting(like last year), we will take a supply of beer, Drambuie, and hand rolled Cigars...just in case, you know?

The rest of this week looks busy...at least football wise:  Tonight an 8th grade game, with undefeated Wayne Trace hosting Hicksville.  Then Thursday a night game in Celina with it's 7th grade team having their annual season ending Night Game at the Stadium against Elida.  Friday I'm with Garry's crew, filling in at Head Linesman for a game at Hicksville, against Green Meadow opponent Holgate.  Saturday JV at Spencerville in the morning, and so far it appears that Sunday, Sam and I will work a Tournament Game in the Rec League here in Celina.  Next week games get more sporadic, then things crawl to a halt for me, as I get ready for the Michigan trip....Dartball begins in early November, and then Basketball Scrimmages kick off after Patricia and my annual pre Thanksgiving trip to Wisconsin to see her folks.  Time does indeed fly.

Glancing at other things going on.....

The Atlanta Braves, much like the Reds, had their season end at home last night, with San Francisco coming away with a 3 games to 1 taking of the Division Series.  The Giants will now travel to Philadelphia to play the Phillies starting Saturday.   My guess is the Phils will take this one in 5 or 6 games....meanwhile Tampa Bay will try to complete their improbable comeback in Florida tonight.  Losing the first 2 games at home, the Rays took the next 2 in Texas and now will face the Rangers again tonight, with the winner taking on the Yankees in the AL Playoffs.

Looks like the Shine is off the great Bret Favre....it seems he should have retired with grace, not only did his Vikings fall to 1 win 3 loses on the season, it now appears Bret has some sexual text message "issues":

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-vikings-favre
As they say, no fool like an "Old Fool"...a damn old fool in Favre's case....he should have stayed in Green Bay, out of the limelight, and retired a hero...now is seems he's the next "victim" of the media building you up, so they can tear you down....that's what happens when you try to get close to a media whore Brett...sorry about your luck(not really).  She's looking for a payday Bret, and you are going to be her "Sugar Daddy".

In other news...The Obummer and his Democratic Cronies are diving for cover while the November 2nd Avalanche is nearing, and it appears there is no escape.  The House of Representatives is likely to go into the hands of the GOP, and the Senate may as well....even if they don't, the shine is off King Barry, and his ability to govern is going to be handicapped come January...who says there isn't a higher power?   Obama's rats are abandoning his sinking ship in record numbers, and even the stupid middle-of-the-road "moderates" who put this fool in office are heading to the right.....The Non-Bias "Real Clear Politics" site takes into account all polls, even those like Bloomberg and Newsweek lap dogs for Obama and Company...the numbers don't lie, the Dems are in deep dung:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/

The big question is...if and when the Republicans take charge, will they govern as Conservatives, or go back to their Big Spending RINO(Republicans in Name Only) ways?  Time will tell.....

Enough Clutter Cleaning for this round...

back later>>>>

Photos-All from Nick and my trip to Oscoda last fall...the Salmon, unlike our great year in 2008, were not to be ours...but the Blue Horizon was a great find and we plan on hitching our horses there again this time around.  (1) Nick left, me on the right, on our first night at the Blue Horizon, cigars and a bottle of Drambuie got the fishing trip off on the right foot.  Looking out over Lake Huron and the Beach on a Sunday Sunrise, The Foote Dam, our fishing stop...we always fish there for a few hours at least each trip...no luck last year.  And finally our cottage a 25 yard walk to the beach....and you should have retired in Green Bay Bret....