The second day of the Seventh month of the year of the Camellia

WAITING FOR THE FIREWORKS!

SOON!

 

The 30th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

A NEW BANNER WILL FLY!

Congratulations are in order for the South Carolina Baseball program!

National Champions and a new banner will surely fly at their stadium!

Last night's game against UCLA was classic baseball.  And both teams should be honored!   Forget who was playing, what for, and the incredible history surrounding the place.

The Game Cocks were destinies darling from the get go!

  Each player contributed as did their families and that experience could be felt even through  television!  

There were no long haired hippy types playing ball just to get a paycheck at the end of the game! 

 There WERE families in the stands, some of who could not watch when their sons came to bat! 

There were Sisters who actually cheered for their brothers, if for only a little while! 

There were fathers who had played on that same field bursting with pride for their sons!

There were some tears shed on the winning team as well as the losing team!

There was raw emotion!

This was apple pie and motherhood!

It was fourth down and inches, with seconds to go, in a tied game at the Super Bowl, on EVERY pitch for eleven innings!

There were players playing beyond their ability because that's what you do!

There was Rosenblatt Stadium!

There were fans who just wanted to be there, regardless of who was playing or who won, just to honor the old field for the last time! 

There was a right fielder who had his butt chewed out because he couldn't put down bunts nor call for a fly ball resulting in a nasty collision with his second baseman!

But HE drove in the winning run, and all is well in Mudville because mighty Casey (Whit Merrifield)  did get the hit in the 11th inning to win it for the Cocks. 

This was the last game capping sixty years of history at that place!

A fitting final game of honor for that place and that time!

And there were the good people of Omaha, who sixty years ago built it.

  And come they did!

Thanks Cocks!
Thanks Omaha!
Thanks Rosenblatt!

The 29th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

The 28th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

ODDS N ENDS

We spent the entire weekend doing chores and watching the University of South Carolina beat Clemson University (also of South Carolina) in the playoffs of the College World Series. 

As they say in the south...............SUHWEET!

Now the Gamecocks have to work their magic Vs. UCLA starting tonight in a three game series to decide the best college team in the country.....err the world!

Can anyone say 1969 Mets?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_World_Series

The back yard fence is finished and now the other third must wait till next spring.  I am not going to do another one in ninety-five degree heat.  Looks nice though and the stain makes it almost disapear.

I have to work on the grass and a small patio at the entrance from the Charleston Alley side entrance.  Take another year to get er done.

Sunday late after noon we went out to the lake and floated around in what felt like 80 degree water, but is was still cooler than the 98 degree air.  What a place!  Lake Murray is man made, but huge and almost reminds me of the Chesapeake.  Almost!

Finally, a storm came up but we didn't get too much rain which is much needed.  I did get some great sky photos, which is another argument for always having a camera handy.

And finally, on the way home I caught a rainbow over the state house in Columbia.  Faint here as I missed it by about three minutes, but not too bad.

The 25th day of the sixth month of the year or the Camellia

LIVING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH THE TELEVISION

OK, so I am old enough to remember Milton Berle on a little 12 inch black and white box they miraculously called Television.  And it wasn't even one my parents owned. 

We've come a long way baby.

I do enjoy baseball on TV......I can fall asleep within an inning and half.  Except for the world series or playoffs, then they actually play baseball.  The other two million games a year is just,,,,well Blah!  I even remember our high school allowed the broad cast in the lunch room of the game that Don Larson pitched his famous perfect game.  Good stuff.  For you babies out there I watched such people as Mantle, Maris, Yogi, Martin, Mays, Musial, and Ford. 

 Can you plug in the first names?

As some of you might recall I played a little ball in High School.  Well, at least till my senior year when some girl gave me that kissing disease called mono-nuke-leousis.  About two weeks before the season started.  This would be the first season I had missed playing with the same chums/team that we ourselves put together as kids on the playgrounds of my youth.  We had no little league back then.  Just a playground league that we kids created.  And the same nine guys were unbeatable through high school. 

A tight nit nine! 

 We even had Jeff Torborg as our catcher.  Jeff played for the Dodgers, caught Sandy Koufax, and went on to manage just about every other major league team.

But as usual I digress.

Late last night sometime around midnight, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks beat the team from Oklahoma.  In twelve innings.  I had just gotten back from watching Tom Cruise in his new movie"Night and Day".  By the way I am no fan of Hollywood, but go see that movie............it is really funny and good.  Google him for the movies name, I think I got it right.....Can you see a trend here between short and long term memory?

Anyway, the "Cocks" as they are called won in the 12th and earned the right to meet the Clemson "Tigers".  Both South Carolina rivals.  They both could be eliminated with one loss and the first game of two is tonight.  I will probably fall asleep in the middle of the second inning, but hope I am somewhere near alert by the ninth.  I have no horse in this race, but this world series has produced some wonderful baseball.

Seems like a good day for a nap....just to get ready to go the whole nine innings.

The 24th day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

SOMETIME WILDLIFE IS SMARTER THAN DOMESTIC LIFE!

Or urban, or suburban, or rural, or whatever you want to call our human existence!

Did almost four miles this morning on the RW, that's RiverWalk for you late comers!  And that reminds me, will you please pass this blog on to your friends and have them become followers.  I need the press.  And if you are not a follower please join and thank you in advance.

Anyway, I voted in the primaries-----so I can complain!

Why is it?

When you have a place such as this available to you to walk, run, cycle, or just plain sit,

And

People treat it like this?

I mean a trash can is pretty unattractive in the first place, but they try to make it as palatable as possible and I give the maintenance people high fives for all they do.  But this clearly ain't raccoons what did this damage.  Come on people!  I'll bet that their double wide is not in much better shape....whoever does this kind of "Stuff".

Raccoons would have delicately lifted the lid off....taken out what was inside.....and simply left the trash on the ground. 

Cause why?

Cause they know they want it left intact.....so they can come back tomorrow night!

Smarter than some!

I saw two homeless men sleeping on picnic tables and picked up my share of trash left by either the afore- mentioned critters or their stupid two legged brethren.

I have fashioned my walking stick.....I am known there as "Stickman".... to accomplish a number of different chores.

First and foremost it is a weapon!

  I have encountered some dogs along the way that needed to be disciplined, but fortunately I did not have to do it.  It's also good for the afore-mentioned two legged creatures who want to be obnoxious.  There is a half pound of lead buried in the top end of the thing.  Swung hard, it just has to create hesitation in the mind of any assailant.

Secondly!

There is a screw mount for my camera on the top of the thing, which makes it a mono-pod when I need a steady platform for my camera.

And finally, C!

I put a point on the bottom of it which serves as a stick with which to pick up paper and other trash left by the smart wildlife and the dumb homo-sapiens.  I don't have to bend over, which we all know is a good thing.

 

It also makes a good spear, which if not sufficient will be replaced with my 38 Police Special!

I am licensed to carry!

The stick that is.

  You will just have to try me to find out if I am licensed for concealed carry of the gun!

The 23rd day of the sixth month of the year of the Camellia

YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLDER WHEN............

I did my almost three miles on the Riverwalk this morning and it was a balmy 92 when I got back just before nine.  Not many photo ops this morning as it was kinda hot and most critters had found their way back to their dens.

Of course we humans were not smart enough for that and just slogged on through our appointed rounds.....sweating and hearts pounding.  One old fellow, now remember I am old, had to stop and re-hydrate.

  I knew he was old cause he was drinking out of a WWI or WWII canteen.

I must admit that the walk is pretty when done early in the morning.  It seems the good lord wanted to make sure that we all stop to read the signs along the way.

Oh, and you also know you're getting older when a mile and half out your have this overwhelming need for a bathroom.