Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Low hanging fruit

are an apple loving dog's dream:


Come on and throw it already!




Happy humpday :)

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Sunday AM coffee

The changing of seasons has begun to make itself evident here.
This is from the maple tree in the front yard. 


Our girl started college last week. 
She even sent us the requisite first day of school picture, which made my day.


Caden starts on Thursday and will be a big EIGHTH grader and Colton next Tuesday, he will be a college SENIOR

Fall ball continues. 
Yesterday two more games. They won the first and due to a few goofy errors tied the second one. It was a serious nail biter at the end. Caden stole home to get the tie run!
Their team is currently seeded number one though due to the point spread for all games combined. 

Nice hit to left field for a double. 


Ready to steal.


Scurrying back to second after a pop fly was caught. 


Sliding into home.


This is just before he stole home on the last game. 
They were really trying to pick him off so he couldn't get in, but he was just fast enough to get back and reset moments later to steal home! WHEW!



Chyann knows how much the snapchat pics give me a giggle so she has started sending me some good ones. 
This is my favorite lol


Anyhow, in other news the canning continues. 
Today will be tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and maybe a few whole tomato jars. 
I'm done with pickles. May still make a batch or two of salsa tho we'll see what I have left to work with after today. 

It's time to gather the tomatoes. 
Have a good one.


Sunday, August 21, 2016

A great start!

After a two hour rain delay, a fill in coach and no game plan the fall league began.

I never heard where their coach was, but the guy who stepped in to help out did a great job ~ considering he had never seen these boys before and had no idea what any of them were capable of. 

Caden taking the field for the first game. 


Caden and his buddy Drew getting ready to bat for the first time. 
This is Drew's first season with the fall program, but he and Caden have played together on the school and tournament team all year. 
As well as Caden did last year with this league, not knowing a single kid, I think he is glad to have a friend with him this season.  


Caden had some really nice hits and even flashed a bunt. The bunt wasn't successful, but it's always a challenge to try.  

Rounding third for home!


This isn't a great picture (damn fence), but you can see how thrilled they are to have both had good hits and scored runs. 


Getting ready to steal a base. 


Which he did pretty easily.


The boys handily won both games!
Which is a great start since the ten teams in this league will be seeded based on their prior game performances for the championship game day. 


aaah baseball. 
Not a bad way to spend a gloomy Saturday at all.

Today is beautiful and cooler. I'm not a fan of the cooler temps, but I suppose it is going to happen whether I like it or not. 

In other news, poor Dodger's allergies have started again. He is scratching, nibbling and sneezing. I'll be giving him benadryl which does help quite a bit until I get some meds from the vet tomorrow. 

Have a great Sunday :)







Saturday, August 20, 2016

Saturday AM coffee

August has flown by it seems.

Today is the first double header for the fall baseball league. The boys have had three practices and a different coach each time so it will be interesting IF we don't get rained out. Supposed to rain or storm most of the day I guess.

Every afternoon and evening this week I've been making salsa or pickles. Last night I made some bread and butter pickles for my Dad. I haven't made them since my first year canning and used a different recipe, hope they are good.

Chyann starts college on Monday. The school has had freshman orientation for the last few days. Two gals she went to high school with moved into the dorms and they attended the events together. Exciting times!

Colton just moved into a new duplex with the girlfriend and Dozer. He doesn't start college until after Labor day so is busy getting organized when he isn't working his two jobs.

I think contrary to what Caden says, he is ready for school to start on the 1st of Sept.

Enjoy your Saturday. It's time to get ready :)
later


Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Twins game

We unexpectedly had the opportunity to attend a MN Twins game last night!
Having never experienced a big league game I didn't really know what to expect.


We brought along Caden's two best buddies.
Watching batting practice before the game, hoping for a foul ball to come their direction. 
Glad we got there early so we could explore the place a little. 
I was surprised how easy it was to navigate the stadium. 


Found our seats!


Which had a great view of home plate and the whole field. 


These guys had so much fun! We loved hearing them laugh and do funny stuff to try and get on the big screen. 


The skyline of the city was beautiful.


The attendance was around 22,500. 


I had my first $8.50 beer and it was pretty tasty.


Every home run hit is cause for fireworks!
There were three last night. 


A great time had by all of us!


I will say that with the hassle of trying to get downtown, avoiding road construction, getting lost, one way streets, the crush of people on the sidewalks and the freaking heat I was thinking this might be the last big league game I went to. 
After all that crap though, sitting in the stands and enjoying the live game more than made up for it.

Then the game was over and all these people were leaving. 
I was so surprised how smooth the exit was. Unbelievable.
When we hit the sidewalks is when it got a little sketchy.
Three or four homeless people on every block and what looked to me like scary thugs intermingled with this throng of baseball fans making their way to their cars. Super glad we only had to walk two blocks to our parking garage.  

I was worried about finding our way out of there in the dark, but the way out had no construction and traffic moved at a fast clip. I was unnerved at how fast traffic moved. One thing goes wrong with any of the vehicles around you and you are toast. 

Anyhow, we made it home and fell into bed. 
Glad we took the day off from work. 

I see a nap in my future and some canning. 
More pickles and maybe some tomatoes.

later :)


PS I totally forgot to add that the Twins lost to the Astros lol Great game tho!

Monday, August 8, 2016

Highlights

We've had a busy few weeks around here. 

Some of the highlights were the end of the Wheeler season. 
The boys played up in Rice Lake and came up with two wins and two losses. 
I never heard with the point spread how they came out - third or fourth place, but they sure had a good day of ball even though they were down two key players.

I was thrilled that Mom and Gerry were here to see this last tournament.
Gerry came up with us first thing in the morning and stayed all day. While Chyann drove Mom up mid-day. 
I didn't take as many pictures as I normally would for whatever reason. Too busy gabbing I suppose. 
Our boy got a lot of good hits that enabled him to steal some good bases.

He's ready to run.



Sliding into home is always a good thing and he did it multiple times. 




My favorite picture of the day. 
Sure it looks like I've got a third arm here, but that's alright I'll probably get this one framed anyway lol
Damn it was hot and humid.
 I was worried about the heat bothering them, but they assured me the humidity in OK was a lot worse and the hot weather we were having was totally tolerable.


Afterwards the coach made a great end of the season speech. I wonder if he'll decide to put the team together again next year. Guess we'll see.  


An after game celebration burger was in order at Caden's favorite burger joint. 
Gerry confessed that he wasn't too keen on a whole day of baseball, but said he absolutely enjoyed the shit out of it. 
Even going on to say multiple times that Caden is a "solid" ball player. Seriously Caden never saw so much action at third base all freaking season and he made good plays every single time. I was so proud of him.
Hearing that pleased the hell out of Caden too. 


 I've discovered this crazy thing called snapchat.
Maybe you've heard about it? Well friends you've got to get it.
It's more fun than you'd expect.
My Mother and I sure enjoyed it.


Man we had a good time playing with the pictures!


Surprise of all surprises Colton came home to see the Grandparents!
And attend his five year class reunion.
FIVE years?
Yes. Hard to believe right?
Dozer never lets him out of his sight. 


I can't tell you what a thrill it was to see my Mother - twice in one year no less. 
Scrabble championships were usually won by Chyann when she played, but Mom and I a few winning games ourselves.


Caden sure enjoyed having his sister back home for a few weeks. 
We all did. 
Hamming it up at Walmart, much to her dismay. 


HA! 


While our girl was home we started riding the wild beasts again.
Many an evening we came in with noodle legs and sore butts.
Loved every minute of it.
She is back to St Cloud and now has a job so likely we wont be seeing her as frequently. I'll definitely treasure the time she was home. A short lived bridge between the old life when she was here as a child and the adult world she is beginning. 


Random picture of a turkey roosting in the back yard. 


My tomatoes are really starting to come in. 
That first tomato sandwich totally lived up to all my expectations. In fact I have at least one a day.
Three batches of pickles canned and zucchini of some sort at every meal. 
I love this time of year. 

Except for the rotten ragweed. 
oy oy oy
Allergy season is once again upon us.
Headache and congestion city. 

Fall ball started yesterday.
The boys are there tonight. 
Which was almost derailed by Caden having an embedded freaking bug in his eye?!?!
How does that happen?
Nothing like a run to urgent care first thing in the AM.
Anywho, I hope it is as good experience as last year was. 

later folks :)