Hope this shows up because it is worth the time spent enjoying it....
These boys ain't from Kansas.....or maybe they are....I'm just glad their descipline is on our side...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGU3mpfRoM
these ain't girls with batons.......
TC...you can gloat now.....
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
I think it's that guy's fault
there are a couple missing here, but the longroof has photos....besides, I blaming the guy in the middle of the last photo for all of this mess...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Twelve Days
On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.
On the second day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the third day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the fifth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the sixth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the eighth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the tenth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the eleventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a cartridge in a bare tree!
Another reason
during this season of our birth to............
CELEBRATE LIFE........
Merry Christmas Bear.....
Whom I saw Today.......
preface this by a phone called received Sunday while at the ball field in lovely Winter Haven Florida.....came in on my cell phone and the area code was 850...
the panhandle......little sis Joan is calling......FAIL.....my sister Carol.....she wished to speak with my bride, not so much to me.....hand the phone off to my bride and ten minutes later she hands it back to me, with the message that my two older sisters had organized a couple of boxes of stuff shipped to them from Mother's estate and Carol was dropping them off at our home on her return trip north on Monday.....had a couple of commitments on Monday so I was home when Carol and George dropped by....I haven't seen Carol in about 7 or 8 years and was experiencing an awkward moment when she stepped out of her suv....ended up to be a nice visit...short, as I had an appointment 20 minutes away and they were on their way to visit their grandchildren in St Augustine....
never even occured to me that Carol might have grandchildren...never even thought of her as being old enough to have grandchildren.....turns out she has several kids.....when she spoke about them, her entire face beamed like a sunray was shining on her, and her alone....the joy I was able to feel looking at her as she talked about her kids was truly a blessing.....kind of like the bus when he talks about the boys.....or Ganey when she is looking out her kitchen window to see if the blinds are up on the house next door, and seeing that they are......
I hope that one day I am able to enjoy that too...I was glad to be exposed to that side of my sister....this is what enabled me to.....
CELEBRATE LIFE...................on Monday
the panhandle......little sis Joan is calling......FAIL.....my sister Carol.....she wished to speak with my bride, not so much to me.....hand the phone off to my bride and ten minutes later she hands it back to me, with the message that my two older sisters had organized a couple of boxes of stuff shipped to them from Mother's estate and Carol was dropping them off at our home on her return trip north on Monday.....had a couple of commitments on Monday so I was home when Carol and George dropped by....I haven't seen Carol in about 7 or 8 years and was experiencing an awkward moment when she stepped out of her suv....ended up to be a nice visit...short, as I had an appointment 20 minutes away and they were on their way to visit their grandchildren in St Augustine....
never even occured to me that Carol might have grandchildren...never even thought of her as being old enough to have grandchildren.....turns out she has several kids.....when she spoke about them, her entire face beamed like a sunray was shining on her, and her alone....the joy I was able to feel looking at her as she talked about her kids was truly a blessing.....kind of like the bus when he talks about the boys.....or Ganey when she is looking out her kitchen window to see if the blinds are up on the house next door, and seeing that they are......
I hope that one day I am able to enjoy that too...I was glad to be exposed to that side of my sister....this is what enabled me to.....
CELEBRATE LIFE...................on Monday
Sunday, December 13, 2009
What did you do this weekend....????
The weekend started Saturday at 05:00......rise and shine....we got a 2 hour drive ahead of us.....gotta be at the fields by 08:00.....haven't been to these fields before...softball, not baseball......on the road, iced the cooler down at our local stop and rob and hit the Eisenhower Road at 05:45...(John is not sure what these are, Interstate 4 for him).....call the kid at 07:00, John is still not sure what time I am talking about, but he can figure that out on his own.....make sure the kid is awake...he has to be at the ballfield in South Daytona, baseball for him as he is the assistant coach on a traveling team heading to Cooperstown, by 08:00....07:30 the kid calls back checking directions to the ballfield......07:45, we arrive at the Diamond Plex in Polk County Florida....
Field 5 for our first game.....nice complex....i.e. clean bathrooms.....we are a 'B' team and faced 3 'A' teams on Saturday....lost the first 2 and tied the 3rd.....basically got our hats handed to us......first game at 09:00.....got blown out.....second game at 14:00......got blown out again......third game at 17:00..... tied that one.....all against 'A' teams......guess we aren't as good as we wished.....
the kid's sister got to catch a game and half....no plays at home and she did a good job...no errors and she got a couple of good sacrifice bunts down.....not bad for playing up two years....I keep telling myself that....so it's off to find the hotel and await notification of Sunday's game schedule.....quick dinner provided by the kid's little sister's Mother and we wait.....and wait...and the phone rings around 21:30.....08:00 game Sunday...same complex.....hey when you lose all three on Saturday, don't expect to sleep late on Sunday......got to the complex at 07:00 Sunday only to find out we are scheduled to play at another complex 20 minutes away.....follow the leader and we arrive at a softball complex to the sound of cows mooing, chickens crowing, dogs barking, and horses neighing.......
loser's brackets are NOT glorious.......
umpires give us 20 minutes.....our first game is against the spring league State Champions who threw their Saturday games in order drop down a bracket....not real sportsmanship....but some people take this stuff way to seriously.....guess they were looking for an easy way to the finals......(loser's bracket and all).....but the kid's team played like there was no tomorrow.....they held the Spring State Champions to a tie game though the time limit....on to the Texas tie breaker....
put a runner on second and you get three outs....the result is....a win.!!!!!!!!...took the former Champs two innings to lose.....talk about an emotional high.......get a 60 minute break and it's back to playing ball.....ranked 18 out of 20 teams so the confidence level is not real high despite the recent victory.....the second game starts and it is now win or go home......a tripleheader later we are heading home......what a day.....parental stress level was extremely high as the girls played their way up the loser's bracket.....lost our last game in a tie breaker againest a team coached by an abnoxious SOB.....kind of took the fun out of it....finished fifth so it was a fanatastic weekend by all standards......as usual the longrooffan was no where to be found to record the weekend on film, (I am throwing the blame on him because I forgot we own a camara on Sunday)....however, I was able to catch a couple of photos.....not surprising the most intesting to me was the osprey nest on the light pole....I was unable to record the transfer of a fish from one adult to the chicks...but at least I saw it....unlike the Bear, I often forget to get the camara ready for the next shot.....but got home and was able to download a couple of photos of the weekend's activities......hopefully next year I'll be a better photographer....but then spectating gets in the way.....
local birds of prey......
chilling out before the game...
go...........
only action shots of the kid's sister we recorded.....
Field 5 for our first game.....nice complex....i.e. clean bathrooms.....we are a 'B' team and faced 3 'A' teams on Saturday....lost the first 2 and tied the 3rd.....basically got our hats handed to us......first game at 09:00.....got blown out.....second game at 14:00......got blown out again......third game at 17:00..... tied that one.....all against 'A' teams......guess we aren't as good as we wished.....
the kid's sister got to catch a game and half....no plays at home and she did a good job...no errors and she got a couple of good sacrifice bunts down.....not bad for playing up two years....I keep telling myself that....so it's off to find the hotel and await notification of Sunday's game schedule.....quick dinner provided by the kid's little sister's Mother and we wait.....and wait...and the phone rings around 21:30.....08:00 game Sunday...same complex.....hey when you lose all three on Saturday, don't expect to sleep late on Sunday......got to the complex at 07:00 Sunday only to find out we are scheduled to play at another complex 20 minutes away.....follow the leader and we arrive at a softball complex to the sound of cows mooing, chickens crowing, dogs barking, and horses neighing.......
loser's brackets are NOT glorious.......
umpires give us 20 minutes.....our first game is against the spring league State Champions who threw their Saturday games in order drop down a bracket....not real sportsmanship....but some people take this stuff way to seriously.....guess they were looking for an easy way to the finals......(loser's bracket and all).....but the kid's team played like there was no tomorrow.....they held the Spring State Champions to a tie game though the time limit....on to the Texas tie breaker....
put a runner on second and you get three outs....the result is....a win.!!!!!!!!...took the former Champs two innings to lose.....talk about an emotional high.......get a 60 minute break and it's back to playing ball.....ranked 18 out of 20 teams so the confidence level is not real high despite the recent victory.....the second game starts and it is now win or go home......a tripleheader later we are heading home......what a day.....parental stress level was extremely high as the girls played their way up the loser's bracket.....lost our last game in a tie breaker againest a team coached by an abnoxious SOB.....kind of took the fun out of it....finished fifth so it was a fanatastic weekend by all standards......as usual the longrooffan was no where to be found to record the weekend on film, (I am throwing the blame on him because I forgot we own a camara on Sunday)....however, I was able to catch a couple of photos.....not surprising the most intesting to me was the osprey nest on the light pole....I was unable to record the transfer of a fish from one adult to the chicks...but at least I saw it....unlike the Bear, I often forget to get the camara ready for the next shot.....but got home and was able to download a couple of photos of the weekend's activities......hopefully next year I'll be a better photographer....but then spectating gets in the way.....
local birds of prey......
chilling out before the game...
ready......
set......
set......go...........only action shots of the kid's sister we recorded.....
another reason to.........................
CELEBRATE LIFE......
Sunday, December 6, 2009
At least she didn't cry about it..and other things to keep us busy
hard to imagine this is the baby girl of the family.....caught an elbow playing b-ball and she couldn't understand why the coach wouldn't let her go right back into the game......hard to explain liability to a young kid wanting to play ball.......
started to turn yellow tonight.....she got a shiner for sure....
and boy is she proud of it.....at least the eye is clear....
so guess how my weekend was spent.....
No, not at the ER....
Saturday AM at the training center for olympic atheletes in Clarmont Fl.....very nice complex sitting atop a hill in central Florida......not a hill like in the mid-west....but anything over 200 feet high in Florida is considered a very large hill......and I think we were at the peek of the highest, non man-made hill in Florida......very cold winds in central Florida on a 40 degree morning with 20 knot winds....softball and cold weather do not go together.....good for hot dog and hot chocolate sales....bad for cold beer sales....good for cuddling in bed together.....bad for standing on top of a hill watching kids play softball......good for a nice fire in the fireplace....bad for a day of forgetting where you stored your cold weather clothing......good for maybe even a jeep ride through the woods......bad for softball weather.....especially if you are a spectator.....seems Florida and 40 degree weather are not designed to be experienced at the same time.....unless you are inside with a blazing fire and a warm friend close by......
Sunday was spent at another complex enduring the cold while the kid and her team played another two games......2 outa 3 on Saturday.....1 outa 2 on Sunday.....got to figure how to get past the second round on Sundays...........short day today....left the house at 6:30 and got home at 4:30......even had a chance to watch some afternoon football before dark.....enjoyed a fantastic dinner prepared by the sungoddess and am able to record it now....
the kid has gotten a job that now requires him to subsidize our goverment....a couple of side jobs coaching the kid's sister's basketball team and another coaching a AAU baseball team heading to Cooperstown this spring....keeps him busy borrowing my truck.....but these are the reasons we.........
CELEBRATE LIFE
started to turn yellow tonight.....she got a shiner for sure....
and boy is she proud of it.....at least the eye is clear....
so guess how my weekend was spent.....
No, not at the ER....
Saturday AM at the training center for olympic atheletes in Clarmont Fl.....very nice complex sitting atop a hill in central Florida......not a hill like in the mid-west....but anything over 200 feet high in Florida is considered a very large hill......and I think we were at the peek of the highest, non man-made hill in Florida......very cold winds in central Florida on a 40 degree morning with 20 knot winds....softball and cold weather do not go together.....good for hot dog and hot chocolate sales....bad for cold beer sales....good for cuddling in bed together.....bad for standing on top of a hill watching kids play softball......good for a nice fire in the fireplace....bad for a day of forgetting where you stored your cold weather clothing......good for maybe even a jeep ride through the woods......bad for softball weather.....especially if you are a spectator.....seems Florida and 40 degree weather are not designed to be experienced at the same time.....unless you are inside with a blazing fire and a warm friend close by......
Sunday was spent at another complex enduring the cold while the kid and her team played another two games......2 outa 3 on Saturday.....1 outa 2 on Sunday.....got to figure how to get past the second round on Sundays...........short day today....left the house at 6:30 and got home at 4:30......even had a chance to watch some afternoon football before dark.....enjoyed a fantastic dinner prepared by the sungoddess and am able to record it now....
the kid has gotten a job that now requires him to subsidize our goverment....a couple of side jobs coaching the kid's sister's basketball team and another coaching a AAU baseball team heading to Cooperstown this spring....keeps him busy borrowing my truck.....but these are the reasons we.........
CELEBRATE LIFE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
