Golf, Baseball, & Thieves

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Yesterday I was forced to participate in a golf tournament at the Wildwood Golf Course which everyone in the country knows is located on the West side of Highway 30 not too far past the truck scales on the way to Portland from Scappoose. Most everyone of importance also knows that Jack & Wynette had their wedding reception in the Wildwood Club House which was located right next to Highway 30. At some point in the future, it mysteriously burned down, the golf course receded back into the forest, lost & forgotten, and was ultimately resurrected and expanded into an 18-hole course that careens through a small valley, and up and down hills. The current owner is, in my opinion, an abject jerk, so I don’t go there often. I may never go there again, for that reason. One person mentioned that he’s a “money whore,” which was confirmed by his willingness to insert walk-on golfers into the midst of the tournament we were involved in. Nice.

The tournament was a version of best ball, and it was gratifying to me that a couple of my balls were deemed best. That just means that I hit my ball better than those in our foursome so everyone was allowed to hit their next shot from that spot. I even made a few pretty good chip shots onto the green. My foursome was composed of Doug & Jim, high school classmates, and George, a person none of us had ever met until tee time. All in all, it was a good day.

On the way home I followed Doug home so I could check Carolyn’s computer to see why her Gmail wouldn’t appear. She wasn’t there when we arrived, but her computer was energized so I hit a few keys, clicked the Gmail icon and it popped up quite smartly. When Doug saw this he went, “Hmmm. She must have figured it out.” Then we sat in the living room and visited for a while. Then I went home to play in the dirt for a while before cleaning up to attend Lydia’s soccer game.

Before getting dirty, I took my mid day pills. Shortly thereafter, we went to Diane’s Mom’s, Jean’s, house for a visit where I promptly fell asleep. Then we went to the soccer game which wound up in a 2-2 tie. They played against the 14U rec league team and Lydia played goalie the whole game. Since it was a practice game, and most of those on the 14U team are in-coming St. Helens freshmen this year, the goalies switched sides at half time. The second half Lydia had to block against the varsity team and that’s when she gave up the two goals. But, she blocked about 20 shots. She did good.

Back at home, I had a hard time staying awake so decided to go to bed. It was then I discovered that I had taken my sleeping pill, the dreaded Ambien, somewhere around 3 pm. So, the erratic behavior Diane witnessed was totally not my fault. I slept through the night anyway, which surprised me.

This morning I got back into my morning nap routine and didn’t go out to get dirty and sweaty until 10 am or so. Consequently, I only got about 4 hours in before it was deemed time to eat lunch. We had Taco Bell tacos, always a favorite.

While writing this, I got a text from brother Jack, who is in Arizona with his first wife at this time, watching Sage pitch against a California team at the Cincinnati Reds training field in Phoenix. Sage, as you may all recall, is Maryssa’s boyfriend who is going to play for the North Carolina Tarheels after he graduates from high school next year. He’s a talent to watch. Click his name to check him out – Sage Diehm. A little more research revealed that Sage is the first Idaho baseball player ever recruited by North Carolina. Last text I got from Jack indicated that one of Sage’s teammates had hit a triple, driving in one run so it was 1-0. Nothing since so I have no idea what’s going on now. The suspense is killing me, but I’m not going to beg for an update. Nope. Just not going to do it.

I’m going to have to go rent a large piece of equipment from Don’s Rental so I can move some dirt around a little, leveling the area next to garage in preparation of installing a load of gravel that doesn’t squish up when a car drives over it. That’s wheat we have right now is squishy rocks. They are all round, which was intentional, to allow for good drainage into the pipe I installed some time back. Now I want to park something on it, like one of the old motor homes, or my truck, and need non-squishy gravel so it will remain level. To get the equipment home means I must spend a bit of time trouble shooting my truck to find out which ignition wire I dislodged the last time I drove it so I can get it started. I’ve already cleared this event as one that isn’t technically “working outside” since I’ll be inside the truck, so I’m good to go. Just need to work up a little more motivation. Might even see about getting the old ’73 RV fired up. Or not.

You may have heard about the crime spree going on around town these last few months. Thieves are going around during the day, knocking on doors so see who’s home. Those who aren’t get robbed. Those who are home are asked questions about someone they are looking for, wondering if they are inside. Last I heard, about 60 homes had been robbed. Sadly, the spree has extended to our quiet little dead-end street. Since we have Panzee, a large barking dog who greets family, friends, and strangers with the same intimidating welcome, I doubt seriously if anyone would be motivated to break into the house in our absence. But, you just never know. To be on the safe side, we decided it would probably be a good idea to lock all the doors, to everything, when we leave. In the past we’ve failed to do that many times.

So, any of you who may be compelled to visit our house when we’re aware be forewarned that Panzee, Breezie, and Ozzie have been training as a team to take down anyone they don’t know. It will work like this … you enter the house, via any access, and Panzee will make a concerted effort to rip your testicles off while Breezie takes care of your eyelids. Oz will gnarl his way around your ankles, severing your Achilles tendon, allowing it to snap up into the calf of your leg accompanied by an incredible amount of mind-numbing pain, ensuring you cannot flee the scene. In the unlikely event you are of the female persuasion, Panzee will go for your neck and face. If you have large breasts, you may want to wear a really tight sports bra because they’ll probably get in her way. Breezie’s and Oz’s missions do not change. I do not feel there’s a need to post this information outside the house because the dogs will make their presence known at the first hint of a foreign presence.

In the event you are still compelled to pay us a visit, please ensure you have the name of your next of kin somewhere on your body. Since the back of your shoulders probably will remain undisturbed, it would be a great place to tattoo that information. Alternatively, if you are opposed to tattoos, please have your partner in crime use a permanent black marker to help you write this information on the inside band of your underwear. If you don’t wear underwear, the waistband of your pants will suffice.

Better yet, just ensure you have proper ID on entry.

Good luck.

Now I must quit for today and go outside, by request, and climb to the top of a 24′ extension ladder to replace one of our outside security lights.

Soccer, Softball, & LeBron

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

I may have mentioned that I’m not a huge fan of soccer and determined that the reason is because I didn’t understand the rules. Then Lydia gets heavily involved, claiming as her favorite sport, so Diane and I have been going to lots of games. I learned that those in attendance, who understand what’s going on, are more than happy to share what they know which is handy because I’m not shy about sharing my ignorance of the game. I’ve learned a lot and, on my very own, determined that soccer is more about strategy than anything else. I could be a wrong determination, but I like it because it makes sense. Having a little talent in how to pass the ball back and forth helps in the overall process of advancing the ball down the incredibly huge field with the intention of getting it past the opposing goalie.

Then, along came the World Cup. Everyone got in a frenzy when the US made it past some big soccer countries, advancing passed the first rounds. It was amazing to watch it unfold. It’s hard to not get caught up in all the hoopla because it’s a little infectious.I resisted, however, as did Diane, and we stumbled across an ESPN channel where Team USA was involved in another kind of World Cup.

It was softball. Much more fun to watch because things actually happen. We found it very peaceful to sit in our recliners and watch the USA ladies advance through the ranks and make it to the title game.

We watched them squeak by Canada in one of the early rounds 5-3 last Thursday, then got all comfy to watch the USA-Japan game Friday evening. Although ESPN programming indicated the game was scheduled to view, they apparently found it far more important to blister the airwaves with a table full of analysts giving their unwanted and unnecessary opinions about where Lebron James would choose to play basketball next season.

Seriously, who gives a rip? Folks in Cleveland do, I’m sure, but to pre-empt the USA vs. Japan game in favor of conjecture seemed to be a bit of over-kill, in my humble opinion. We checked the channel every once in a while, but the softball game was never shown. It was disappointing. I kept track of the score via the internet, but finding a source for that information was not easy. Apparently it wasn’t a big deal to anyone but us. In case you’re interested, our USA Ladies won that game 8-1. It would have been fun to watch.

Then, yesterday, they played against Mexico at 10 am. We didn’t get to watch that game, either, but it wasn’t ESPN’s fault. We simply had to honor a commitment to help clean up in and around our church. It would have been a good one to watch, though, because USA only won 3-2. But, they won and advanced their record to 5-0. Yesterday evening they played again at 5 pm against Chinese Taipei. We watched that one and it was a sad day for Taipei. The USA was home team so lead off and our first two batters were hit by the pitcher. So, two pitches and we had two on base. It just got worse from there. The score was 10-0 after 2 innings and was stopped after 4 innings when it went to 14-0. That win put USA at 6-0 with a chance to win it all against Canada this morning in the title game.

We didn’t get to watch that one, either, because we went to church. But, I kept track and learned that Our Girls beat Canada 5-2.

So, USA wins!

Just for the record, we suffered through the last 15 minutes of the Germany vs. Argentina World Cup finals, watching the clock creep past the 90 minute mark, then 100, until around the 113^th minute, or so, and FINALLY!, Germany scored. I didn’t actually care who scored, but it was gratifying to see that one of the teams did. It was quite a celebration with Germany fans jumping up and down all over the place and Argintina fans sobbing about the loss.

I’ll say it again, that I’m not a real fan of soccer, but I have to admit that single goal was a thing of beauty. The way the ball was kicked in from the left, fielded with a chest bump, then kicked deftly passed the goalie before it could hit the ground was pretty awesome.

Kinda makes you forget about the previous 2 hours of 0-0 and confirms my thinking that soccer games shouldn’t have their clocks count up to 90, but count down to 0, just like other games that use clocks. I think there’d be more of a sense of urgency by the players if they could hear the crowd chanting, “5 … 4 … 3 … 2 …1 …0’, as the clock times out. Instead, it’s “87 … 88 … 89 … 90”, plus whatever the referees determine to be added to the clock for stoppage of play (I think). Most of those are caused, I’ve learned, from some very, and not so very, convincing drama by the players.

I especially liked the guy that bites other players. That’s a nice way to promote the sport, don’t you think? Wonder how many kids he has.

Jennifer, Lydia, and Jeran visited us this afternoon to recap their fun stay at Camp Tadmor this past week. They arrived with a DVD of all the events so we watched it and had to agree it is a pretty awesome place. In order to watch it, however, I had to hurk a DVD player up from the basement, after finding the remote, and connect it to the TV. Our old sound system had a DVD player, but it had a stroke and died quite dramatically a few months ago. We’ve been trying to save money for a new one, so we can hear the TV, but dentist and medical events seem to be more important. One of these days all our teeth will be gone and we can get one.

Independence Day and Beyond

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Here is it, Sunday, July 6th, and I didn’t wish all of you a safe and happy 4th. Now that it’s over, I trust all who are reading this still have full use of their digits and senses. Unless someone is reading this to you, I trust you at least have the use of some of the important parts that you were issued at birth.

Now, the reason I’ve not been around lately is because we’ve had house guests … Bob, Steffani, and Maryssa … from Idaho. I know, I mentioned Idaho not too long ago, but that’s because we were there. Apparently the three mentioned above decided to follow us home after waiting for an appropriate amount of time, hoping we’d forget we just saw them a short time ago, I’m sure. As soon as they arrived I was forced to give up my garage door opener so they could have unlimited access to our home.

That’s not true, of course. They were officially invited. Really. They were. All of them.

Consequently, we spent most of our time waiting on them hand and foot from last Sunday evening through yesterday morning. Sounds bad, I know, but it was totally self-imposed. They didn’t expect that kind of treatment and, in truth, they didn’t really get it. Since they’re related, they don’t get that kind of treatment. They had to scavenge for any scrapes of food they could get, just like I do. Being the oldest, and slowest human in the building made it difficult to obtain the minimum daily fiber intake which resulted in an overall 10 pound weight increase. Without the need to compete for bathroom time, I’m confident I’ll quickly rid myself of the extra weight fairly quickly.

The real reason our three house guests visited was so the youngest of them, Maryssa, recent Skyview High School graduate, has a boyfriend, Sage, who is playing baseball on a summer league in Portland. All of the young men playing in the league comprise a pool of new talent for all those professional baseball teams out there. If he doesn’t get drafted, he will go to the University of North Carolina after he graduates next year. Sage is a stellar example of what many of today’s youth lack – manners and respect. Thankfully, he was exposed to our small town relatives who also exemplify that example when he visited our home several times during the past week. I did my best to be the best host ever s there’s a chance I’ll get a ticket to see a pro baseball game one of these days.

July 4^th started early for me. Not only because the dogs got me up early, but also because I had to stay up and honor a volunteer commitment to help place flags around town with other Lions International members at 0700. Since I had an American Legion obligation to participate in a flag raising ceremony in front of the old courthouse at 0800, I just stuck around down town. After the flag, I helped set up the combined American Legion/Veterans of Foreign Wars booth at which some items were being raffled off to the public passing by on their way to the waterfront area. One was a 20’ flag pole and another was a weekend stay at a beach cabin in either Warrenton, Oregon, or Ocean Park, Washington. The Columbia County Humane Society had a booth next to us and they raffled gift baskets. I donated money to the flag pole and gift basket raffles.

I don’t know what time I left during the morning, but I had to be back at 1:30 pm to participate in a bell ringing ceremony. When I returned, my friend Doug gave me the choice of which bell to ring so I chose the one at the marina in front of the old court-house. The bell is in a ½ replica of the warning bell tower located on Warrior Rock a little ways up the Columbia River from St. Helens. The replica is located near the waterfront gazebo where a very loud band was playing right up until the moment of the bell ceremony so I had a rapt audience for this interruption of their afternoon entertainment. The bell ceremony consists of ringing the bell 13 times, for our original 13 colonies, at 2 pm every 4^th of July. All the bells in town had someone pulling their ropes at the same time. It was quite solemn.

I stayed in the area of the information booth until 5 pm at which time I had to leave and attend the family dinner Diane had been working on for the last 3-4 days. In attendance were Diane, Bob, Steffani, Maryssa, Sage, Daniel, Jennifer, Cedric, Lydia, Jeran, Jean, and me. I had to put another leaf in the table to accommodate those in attendance. It was a terrific repast with lots of great food, just like normal for this time of year. After the meal, we all sat around waiting for it to get dark while Sage, Cedric, and Maryssa played catch in the back yard. The ball was missed and lost 3 times in dense bushes. I found it every time because I had long pants on and I’m not afraid of spiders. The last ball went into the hay-field behind the house just about the time Lydia appeared riding Gracie, our neighbor Stacy’s horse. This is the first time Lydia has ridden the horse and it happened about 10 minutes after Stacy met Lydia. Amazing. A demonstration about first impressions and trust, I believe.

While I was diving in the hay for the last lost baseball, my friend Doug arrived at the house toting the 10×10 pop-up I took for use at the information booth. That, and the flag pole I won. How amazing is that? I won the flag pole! And a flag! Now I’ll have to go dig a hole and set it up.

Yesterday we, and our guests, rose fairly early because it was time for them to head back to Idaho. On the way, however, we all attended one of Sage’s baseball games at the University of Concordia in Portland. He was the starting pitcher and I was really looking forward to seeing him hurl the ball. His fast ball is in the 92-93 mph range and he has a wicked curve. Sadly, infield defense wasn’t up to speed in the first two innings, allowing 4 runs on two errors. The pitching was good, but the coach pulled him after two. From there it was a scoreless battle until the 6th when Sage’s team started getting hits and tied the score. In the 7^th “our” team had last at bat and held their opponents scoreless. Then the bats got busy and “we” loaded the bases with one out. Next batter, a lefty, swung at the first pitch and hit a line drive down the first base line in a spot where the first baseman had no chance to catch it. Game over, we wind 5-4. Had that hit happened in an earlier inning, it would have cleared the bases, easily.

Then we said goodbye to our Idaho guests, Sage, and, Jack and Wynette, and went home. Did I mention Jack and Wynette were there? Don’t believe I did. Well, they were and they sat directly in front of us. Jennifer and Lydia rode with us to the game.

This morning we got up earlier than usual and went to church, came home and ate 4^th of July food.

That’s about it to this point.

Oh, ya. I won one of the gift baskets, too. How about that? Also, our guests took my garage door opener home with them. A police report has been filed.

Here’s some photographic evidence of what happened …

FIFA, Rising Star, Dirt Tracks, A Parade, & Dead Chicken

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Soccer has never interested me a great deal, but I’ve watched more than a few games over the years. Mostly, it was little kids learning the game and, more importantly, the value of being a team member and trusting your team mates. I made the last part up, but it makes sense, now.

More recently, I’ve been watching high school soccer because that’s one of Lydia’s chosen sports. Because of that, it’s imperative that I watch every game possible. Lydia is playing goalie, not an easy task. She said she finds it exciting and boring, all at once. But, she gets to wear those really cool Mickey Mouse gloves.

Observing the game with a more critical eye to positioning, and passing, and asking a lot of questions of those around me, I’ve developed a new appreciation of the sport and felt compelled to watch the entire 95+ minutes of today’s game against Portugal. I even got excited! when goals were scored and the USA surged ahead 2-1. Then, just as easily, I was dashed back to earth when Portugal’s #7 made a pretty awesome kick to one of his team mates who head butted it into the net, during the last-minute, I think, to end the game in a 2-2 tie. It was a bit disappointing, but no one lost. I have no idea what happens next other than USA plays Germany, I think.

Considering the outcome of the game, and that most soccer matches are very low scoring, I’ve made the following conclusions about the game.

Games are scheduled for 90 minutes to make sure only the fittest make it to the end.
The first 85 minutes are used to test defense and offense.
If goals are scored at any time before the last 5 minutes, it’s a bonus for that team.
Super Star players can retain their status with a 1% success rate on kicks & passes.

Now I’ll have to find out when the next game is scheduled and watch that one, too. But, I’m going to record it and only watch the last 5 minutes.

Rising Star, the new “Look At Me I’m A Singer” show, made it’s debut this evening. In preparation for the big event, Diane loaded the app on her iPad so she could help make decisions about who would win. Sadly, all the hoopla about this program is totally lost on those of us who live on Pacific Standard Time, because all those decisions are keyed to the program being aired at 8 pm East Coast time. Since it aired here at 8 pm PST, what Diane got on her iPad app, when the program started, was who all the winners were. It was a done deal. What a total waste. We didn’t watch it, and won’t even bother looking the next time it’s on. The hype is totally not for our time zone.

Dirt track racing has been going on here in River City (St. Helens) for as long as I can remember. Diane’s cousin, Don, has been associated with it for as long as I can remember, too. He’s a huge promoter and, at age 67, is still giving the young drivers fits on the track. He’s raced all manner of vehicles over the years and is currently piloting a modified rig that moves along just as fast as all the other vehicles out there. His nephew, Johnathan, also drives. He, and his sister, Victoria, got started at a young age thanks to Uncle Don. Johnathan started at 13 and is currently running his own 4-cylinder hot rod, having a lot of fun. Victoria has moved on and is currently married to an active duty sailor. We had the pleasure of sitting in the stands with them yesterday afternoon to watch Don and Jonathan see how many laps they could make in their respective races without destroying their rides. Don did real good. Jonathan did, too, most of the time, but wound up totally destroying his right rear tire as he passed a car on the last lap. The two cars were smack up against each other coming out of turn 4 on the 1/4 mile oval, and Johnathan was moving a little faster. End result was the car on his right got his left front bumper into Johnathan’s right rear wheel, causing the tire to disintegrate. He kept going forward, however, and managed to rip most of his opponent’s front end off as he went by.

What fun. Here’s part of the fun …

Jonathan’s #2 …

Uncle Don’s #0 …

Fun in turns 1 and 2 …

Kayliah, Alec’s Sister, and Victoria’s only Sister-In-Law, giving me her sultry look. I think she had a different name for it but I can’t remember it. She did say that it works best with a little flick of her hair.

Jennifer was in attendance …

… as was my first wife, Diane …

… and in the sunglasses are Pam, Alec, and Victoria

Lydia with one of the many little girls she entertained during the race. This one was trying out new hair styles …

A fun moment for Jonathan just before he attempted to relocate a very large, very heavy, yellow tractor tire. I actually think he missed it head on and didn’t move it much, but I bet it was pretty exciting for him.

KC will be sad because we had planned to make a trip to Cannon Beach to see her yesterday, but there were a lot of things going on in town that we normally attend with Diane’s Mom, Jean, plus falling in the driveway kinda tweaked my back making the prospect of 4-5 hours in the car unattractive. Yes, it was an exceptional day at the beach and there was an annual sand castle contest, and we’re sad we missed it, but my body is better off for passing it up. Sorry KC.

Instead, we went to the Kiwanis Parade, an annual event, after which we went to the Methodist Church for a dead Chicken BBQ, another annual event. Funny how they both seem to occur on the same day. Probably planned.

Here’s Diane, Mom Jean, Jennifer, and Lydia poised to watch the parade come down the hill …

We were all sitting across the street from the mortuary, and people were arriving for a funeral as the parade went by. You can see them in the back of this picture I took of Mikela driving her Dad’s tractor …

This is her Dad, Henry, driving a pretty nice Mustang …

… and this is her Grandma Doris driving one of the CC Rider buses …

I have no idea where her Mom, Pam, was. To remove the funeral home from the shots, I moved to the other side of the street during a lull. That way I had a chance to talk with folks who were going into the home. I don’t know who’s funeral was … only that he was a WWII guy who learned to fly at the same time as one of the Navy vets who was going to see him off on his next journey.

This is what my truck is going go look like some day. Really, it is.

This Star Wars guy made some threatening gestures, but it was all in fun …

Two of the Columbia County Fair Rodeo princesses …

After the parade, we went a little ways to the right on this street and ate chicken at the Methodist Church. Sorry I didn’t take a picture. I ate an entire half of a chicken and it was pretty awesome. Greasy, but awesome.

The pictured events are not shown in the order in which we attended them, but that’s OK. Just know we had a pretty good day and we all went home happy.

Hearts & Softball

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

This morning at 0930 I had a nice chat with my cardiologist about the results of my echo-stress test. That happened on May 5th. I had an earlier appointment for today’s meeting but the doctor kindly rescheduled due to some sort of conflict, or emergent event. Because of all that I figured today’s appointment was a routine followup. It was that, and then some. However, it would appear that I have a bit of a problem. It’s one that can be fixed, but it was a surprise.

After the doc told me what a terrific job I did with the stress test, and that the echo cardiogram revealed that my heart is in pretty good shape, just a little calcium on the flappers. Nothing to be concerned about there, but he was concerned about the way the tests ended way back there on May 5th.

That brings me to the reasons why I had the tests in the first place.

Years ago I went to the doc to report an odd pain I got at the base of my jaw whenever I make one of my superhuman physical efforts at things like walking really, really fast, or when I get tingly things down my left arm when lifting heavy things. Really, this has been going on for years. Many of them. Ask Diane.

I’m not complaining, mind you, just reporting facts. Having those events actually helped me adopt a stress-free life which was good for me. I just decided that I wasn’t going to worry about anything no directly within my sphere of influence. I gotta tell you that it sure made life easy. Still does, actually.

Now, after today’s visit, I’m waiting for the doc’s office to call to tell me when I need to check in for my angiogram. Guess I have a blockage of some sorts and their going to find out what it is. Just don’t know when. I was told the chance that I’ll need bypass surgery is about 3% and that the solution would probably be one or more stents.

After that, Diane had a lot of time to wait for the St. Helens girls softball game against Rex Putnam. This was the game to find out who was going to play for first place. During our wait, we went to the movie and watch “Heaven is for real”.

It was another really defensive game, as expected. Over the course of 6 innings, Putnam scored 3 times to our 0. Then, all the sudden, it was St. Helens’ last at bat and they made it a very exciting one. They loaded the bases then got a hit that scored 2 leaving runners at 1st & second. Next hit was to shortstop who attempted to tag the runner on the way to 3rd, but lost the ball in the process. The runner continued toward home and was halfway there for the tying run when she stopped and returned to 3rd. We weren’t sure why. Next batter was out, game over. So, there will be no championship game this year for the Lady Lions, but they sure made it an interesting trip to this point. Next years should be a real hoot.

Now we’re home and it’s time for bed. Gotta golf tomorrow so need my rest.

Grass, Mechanics, Softball, Bad Parents, & Good Kids

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Yesterday we went to Rainier where Lydia was playing in a rec ball tournament, something she’s done a lot of in the past. It was an opportunity for her to reunite with old friends and to play again with many members of the HS JV team. It was a great day and the girls played just great, winning all three of their games. We only watched the first two, then Diane brought me home so I could go end the day mowing my heart out at the church. The last game we watched was against Scappoose which our girls won 12-3. When asked by the coach if she wanted to play in the tournament Lydia said, “sure, if I can play 3rd base.” That wish was granted and she did an excellent job. She hit well, too, getting one triple, that could have turned into a home run, and a triple that did turn into a home run. She was the leadoff batter in all the games. It was a lot of fun, invoking a lot of fond memories of these tournaments, and the girls had a great time.

Once home, I gathered up all my empty gas cans, the pitchfork, two batteries, and the battery charger and headed for the church. Along the way I stopped to gas up the truck and fill the empty cans, to the tune of $99, then headed for the church.

The first thing I did was drive the truck out into the overgrown field where I scraped together about 12 piles of grass. The plan was to pitchfork the piles into the back of the truck then empty it at the mulch pit. Knowing the tank was full of gas, I decided to just let the truck run until I got the piles picked up, and was going to move it. But, it quit again, Just like the day before. This time, however, the problem was deemed to be vapor lock. It was was just too darned hot out to let that huge engine just sit and idle. It wants to get out and run. Sadly, the transmission and engine have differing points of view on that subject. Although it gets from point A to point B OK, it makes a lot of unfamiliar noises in the process. So, it needs to see a doctor. Soon.

So, there sat my truck in the middle of the field. The hood was open and the back was full of grass, ready to be transported, but it wasn’t going anywhere. Not only because of the vapor lock, but because when the engine gets really really hot, the starter doesn’t work well. Probably because the battery doesn’t have enough kick, which is why I brought extra batteries and such. Even with all the extra parts, the only workable solution was to just let everything cool off for a few hours. So, I got the mower out of the shed and went to work, mowing around the truck.

In all, I spent about 7 hours doing that and the only part remaining was where the truck was parked. Then, to allow for more cooling time, I took my time cleaning the mower off and put it away.

Then it was time to take a shot at getting the truck started. Long story short, I got it running, then took it to the mulch pit and turned it off figuring if I could it started once, I could do it twice. I emptied the grass, got the truck restarted, then went home. It was all very anticlimactic, in a way. The only exciting part after the second startup was the interesting noises made by the transmission on the way home.

I was very tired when I got home and was sent directly to the showers, after removing an enormous bag of dirt from the Buick. I think it was the biggest bag of dirt Diane’s every purchased. I’m always amazed about the need to buy bags of dirt when we have an entire back yard full of it. Lots and lots of dirt everywhere.

Then I finished the June newsletter for church and went to bed. And slept.

This morning we made another trip to Rainier to see how the tournament played out. The first game was at 1045 so we were out of the house around 1000. Our girls won that one no problem, then Lydia was asked to fill in on another team so she played another game right away. This time she had 1st base. Immediately after the second game, Lydia switched shirts to play with her first team for the final game to win it all. It was against Scappoose again. If they won it was over. If they lost they would have to play again since it was double elimination.

It was a tight game from the start, very defensive in nature. Not only between the teams, but also between the Scappoose parents and Pete the umpire. It was a pretty ugly thing to watch as the parents wore Pete down, threatening to pull their girls out of the game if he didn’t recuse himself as the base umpire. I learned later that these parents had asked specifically that Pete not umpire today’s game because of perceived bad calls, and a confrontation from the previous day.

In the top of the 7th inning, with Scappoose leading 1-0, St. Helens had two runners in scoring position with one out. Lydia hit a pop up for the 2nd out so they still had a chance to at least tie, possibly go ahead. Then someone in the Scappoose crowd sent Pete over the top. He had heard enough from Scappoose parents, ripped his mask off, gave it a heave, and walked off the field.

Everyone on our side was standing around very confused because we didn’t know what had been going on that caused Pete’s departure. Then the Scappoose coach called all his girls in and said, “we’re done.” It was very confusing because he conceded a game he was leading. After a time it was shared that Scappoose conceded 1st place to St. Helens, but there was no real explanation. Just a lot of questions.

At the end of all games the girls line up and pass by each other slapping hands and offering congratulations, win or lose. That happened this time, too, but it was pretty evident that the girls’ best interest wasn’t considered by those parents who were making all the fuss. Both teams essentially lost today because some parents couldn’t behave themselves.

That’s pretty sad, don’t you think? More sad is that it happens all the time. You’d think they’d learn, wouldn’t you?

For what it’s worth, here’s most of the team with their 1st place trophy …

Right after I took this photo, there was a fitting, poignant end to the day that left us knowing the kids were OK in spite of how some parents acted. One of the Scappoose girls brought a plate of cookies and passed them out to the St. Helens team.

There’s hope after all.

Yard Work & Softball

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

OK, I know. It’s getting a little redundundundant, right? Softball and yard work. That seems to be my life lately, but it’s all good.

First, the yard work. Not our yard, of course. I don’t have time to do that. I went out late this morning to mow the church yard and attempt to remove the piles of hay I made a couple of weeks ago. I took the old truck to facilitate moving the piles from the field to the compost area because I knew it would crank right up. It did, too. Once at the church, however, I was a bit skeptical about turning off the engine until all the grass was moved because, as I’ve learned, once the starter gets hot on this engine, it’s hard to start. The decision about turning off the engine was removed from my sphere of influence when it ran out of gas while I was emptying the gathered grass of the first load.

That was a bummer moment. Just to test my belief, that it wouldn’t start, I tried. It wouldn’t even turn over one time. So, there I was, stuck at the church with my favorite truck in the whole entire world and I was supposed to be home by 1300 for our trip to Sandy for St. Helen’s second game in bracket play for the 5A Division State Softball Championship. More on that later.

Having a couple of hours until I had to be home, I thought I may as well be useful and see how much I could get mowed. Having anticipated the starting issue, I first replaced the battery with a fully charged one I brought with me. It didn’t work any better than the other one. So, I left the hood open, hoping the breeze would cool things off enough so the starter would actually work.

Then I mowed. I got everything done around the church and parsonage, but not the overgrown field. I did make a couple of passes through it, just to see how the mower would handle it, and it appears I’ll be able to get it done tomorrow.

After putting everything away, with only 15 minutes remaining on my time limit, I went back to the truck prepared to call Diane to rescue me. I got in the cab and immediately noticed that I may have added to the dilemma by leaving the ignition switch in the ON position. That couldn’t be good, I thought, but attempted to fire it up and see what happened.

The first thing I needed for success was to get the engine to turn over at least 5 times in order to get the pitiful amount of gas, that I had added to the tank, to the carburetor. I can tell when it’s not there because I have a clear fuel filter in the line just before the carb. I pressed the ignition button and it actually turned over enough to pump the fuel, but petered out on me before the engine caught. Another attempt revealed that I was in for a battle as it only turned about once. Not enough.

Since I was in the church parking lot I figured it would be OK to pray that it started on the next try. I pumped the accelerator a few times then held down the starter button, willing it to turn over enough times to start … and it did! So, I have further evidence that prayer works, even for stuff like this. It was running nicely and I had to go right away because I wasn’t sure there was enough gas to get home.

So, away I flew. Just before I got home my phone rang and I knew it was Diane telling me it was time to quit. Since I was driving, I didn’t answer, which is the wise choice for all of you cell phone users. She understood when I drove into the driveway a few minutes later.

Then we headed for Sandy for game two of bracket play for the championship. Daniel and Jennifer rode with us so we had a nice visit on the way. Sadly, I was in the front seat and was apparently not on my best behavior, the reported cause of the headache Diane had when we reached our destination.

Sandy was ranked #1 for the tournament and St. Helens was #8 so we knew it was going to be an interesting game and we weren’t disappointed. Through 7 innings the score was 0-0. Since St. Helens was the away time they batted first. The Sandy pitcher appeared to be getting tired and proved the point by allowing two hits, then she walked the bases full. She had two outs on our girls, however, so any base would get her out of the inning.

The next girl up was Alyssa, our leadoff batter. She’s an excellent bunter and can run like the wind. She tried twice but fouled them off and it was suddenly 3-2 with 2 outs, bases loaded.

She swung away on the next pitch and grounded it to the short stop. All three runners on base were in motion so there was a flurry of activity as the runner flashed by the short stop and the runner crossed home plate. The ball was delivered to the 3rd baseman in time, but a little off the bag … and the ball fell to the ground.

The runner was safe, and it was 1-0 Lions. The next batter went down swinging, ending our at bat. Then Sandy came to bat.

Our pitcher, Mariah, is excellent, and had 8 strikeouts and no walks to this point. Bottom of the 8th and they needed just one run to push it to the next inning. Mariah, however, was just getting stronger as the game progressed and fanned the next three batters.

Game over. St. Helens took out #1, and the 2013 Champs, advancing to game 3 which will be played next Tuesday. If they win that one, they’ll advance to the championship game which is going to be played at Oregon State. Their next opponent is ranked #5 so it’s going to be another interesting one.

Jennifer rode in front on the way home and I was banished to the back seat with Daniel.

Here are some pictures that capture a bit of the moment.

Lydia is #25 and #4 is the girl who got the run home on the error.

Lined up for the national anthem.

The end result.

Yard Work, Food, Liquid Nitrogen, & Softball

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Greetings and solutions to you all, wherever you may be this glorious day. It’s glorious, for me at least, because I was able to attain a vertical position this morning, and walk to the bathroom without having to shuffle my feet. And, my depends was dry as a bone! Mornings don’t get much better than that. Actually, I don’t wear depends, yet.

Over the past 4 days I’ve been pretty busy clawing crab grass from the ground around the tree I decapitated next to the garage. The tree has multiple stumps jutting into the air that display the potential of being a prime location for a bird condo. The truth of that has yet to be formalized into an action plan because none of the local builders have returned my calls. I can only surmise that none of them like birds, or they have no interest in participating in a plan to build a bunch of little condos that might only require half a piece of 1/4 inch plywood and some scrap wood for trim. Maybe a little paint, too.

Here’s what’s left of the tree …

Can’t you see an array of little bird houses perched atop the stumps, at various levels? Sure, it wouldn’t be practical because it’s too accessible for the cat, but still … It would be a good exercise and might make someone’s Pintrest page. Who knows? Maybe there’s even an example out there somewhere, but I’m not going to look.

Here’s some of the debris I removed from around the tree … there’s a sidewalk under there …

To obtain all of this required that I deconstruct the home of a herd of rats that apparently call this area home. They had tunnels running all over the place, especially around and under all the tree roots. Fortunately, they weren’t home while this was going on. From the looks of the place, they left in a hurry at some time in the past because there was food on their little tables. It was all dried up, though, so it’s been there a while. I suspect that Breezie, the pushy cat, had something to do with their desire to relocate. Her, and all the other cats that make their way to the back porch area to get a free meal we put out for them every day.

Speaking of meals, here’s one I had a few days ago …

It was quite good.

Last Monday, as I’m sure you are all aware, was Memorial Day. I was up at the crack of dawn to help our Lions club put out flags, like we do every holiday. Then I had a reasonably priced breakfast sandwich at Sunshine Pizza. Bob Krenz rode with me as we did our share of the flags and we were done first so we got back to breakfast in record time. Bob is a WWII vet who served in Europe. One of those Purple Heart guys. We had a great time putting out the flags, then picking them up again in the afternoon.

All my free time right up to this point in time was used to play in the dirt, removing grass. All by hand, I might add. On my little hands and knees. Additionally, with the exception of a few morning hours, that’s ALL I did on Tuesday, between rain showers. Yesterday was especially festive because thunderstorms passed through and dropped tons of hail on me as I worked. I stayed dry, however, because I was wearing a heavy-duty rubber rain coat with a hood. Oddly, it’s easiest to pull grass and weeds right after, or during a rainstorm because the dirt isn’t so clingy. I was wearing kneepads, too, so my jeans didn’t get all muddy. It was a real mess out there for a while, but I stuck to it. Diane was working at prepping food for today’s Community Meals event while I was playing in the rain and instinctively knew I was out in it. The only part she got wrong was the cowboy hat. It’s great in the rain because it’s wide brim keeps water from running down my neck, but I didn’t wear it because I needed the rest of my body to remain reasonably dry so I wouldn’t catch pneumonia. That would make Diane a bit cranky, I’m afraid.

The missing morning hours on Tuesday were spent with a trip to see my new dermatologist in Portland. I go see these specialists once in a while because I just love the way liquid nitrogen feels on my tender skin. This one didn’t disappoint, either. He checked me all over and burned off maybe 15 spots on my face, ears, and neck. Thank God the spot on my scrotum was deemed to be insignificant. I’d’ve had a stomach ache for sure had he attacked that one.

We can right back home after the doctor visit so I could get busy in the dirt. Diane insisted, even though my once pretty face was all spotted up and felt like it had been lashed with a fistful of stinging nettles. The dirt was a good diversion.

I got to quit early yesterday afternoon because the St. Helens High School softball team played their first bracket game for the Oregon State OSAA Championship. Out of 16 teams they ranked #8 and played #9, Marist. St. Helens was the home team, but because of the rain, the game was moved to the Hillsboro Stadium complex. We went because Lydia was moved up from the JV team to play with varsity. She wasn’t expected to play, and she didn’t, but she was smiling the entire game. Had one of the outfielders been unable to play, she was there. Jennie and Cedric rode with us to the game so we got to visit. Cedric, I’m sure, went along for the ride because he knew there were going to be lots of girls at the game. He wasn’t disappointed.

Here they are all lined up on the 3rd base line for the national anthem. Lydia is in the middle somewhere …

… and here she is, #25, warming up between innings …

Officially, Lydia is the only freshman playing with varsity during the state playoffs. Abby, the other freshman selected, fell and tore all the ligaments in her wrist so won’t be playing anything for quite a while.

The game was pretty tight for the first few innings, a display of defensive excellence on both teams. By the 5th inning it was only 2-1 for St. Helens, then our girls figured out the incredibly effective change-up thrown by the Marist pitcher. She had our girls swinging away before the ball was 3/4 the way to the plate. Pretty frustrating. Bunting proved to be a crucial aspect of success, and our girls did it to perfection. Still, they had trouble advancing runners beyond 3rd base with the exception of the two runs.

Then came the 5th. Marist was shut down quickly in the top of the inning, then our girls came to bat. They bunted, hit, and walked the bases full with 1 out. The next girl popped up, for 2 outs. Then the hero came to the plate and hit a line drive double down the right field line. The right fielder let it get passed her allowing the runner to get to third, clearing the bases for a 5-1 lead. It was pretty awesome, and that’s the way the game ended.

Now they must play Sandy, the #1 seed, tomorrow. It would be nice if the game was also in Hillsboro, but that’s not a guarantee, just an option. That decision won’t be made until tomorrow. Two more wins and St. Helens plays for the trophy. What fun!

Going back a ways, here’s a photo of when we were placing flags on Veteran’s graves at Bethany Cemetery last Saturday …

That’s Roger (Army), Beth, Bill (Marine), and Doug (Army). Beth is the organizer who has all the cemetery maps and makes sure we know what we’re doing.

Today I’ve decided to stay clean just as long as I can because I will be helping at Community Meals this evening. Diane left at 1000 to get things organized for the evening meal. I’ll go later to eat and help clean the place up.

Now it’s noon, and I’m going to follow Panzee’s lead and take a nap. Seems like the right thing to do.

Friends, Family, Gardening, & Pizza

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today, even though it was a Monday, was a great day. A terrific day, even. I did all kinds of things that I like to do which is good because I’m so old. In no particular order, I got to say pizza, dig in the dirt, watch a softball game in person, eat cake, visit with friends, ride with Diane for dozens of miles on various freeways, mow the yard (all of it), and something else I can’t remember. Perhaps it will come to me as I get all that in order.

First, I dug in the dirt on the east side of the house, making a space for the five new roses Diane got in the mail a couple of days ago. I took my trusty pulaski out there and dug up about 400 pounds of grass that had to go. Before I could get it gone, however, Diane beckoned me into the house to and ordered me to scrub my body because we had to be in Vancouver for a scheduled lunch meeting with the 3 Jerry group. There’s a long story associated with the group and we three Jerry’s respond to our shouted numbers. Jerry T is #1, I’m #2, and the other Jerry C #3.

Actually, it’s a short story. We all belonged to the TVCC PT Cruiser club for many years beginning in 2000. Since there were three of us, we just numbered ourselves according to age, oldest first. So, there it is.

Then, since we’re all old, and retired, we started having lunch once a month. Others, whose schedules allowed, joined the group to ensure there were enough people to make a memorable amount of commotion wherever we went. Those folks are Vie A, Rick & Jody R, Colleen G, Tom & Linda V, and whoever knew of the lunch dates and could make it. Big Brother Jack and his lovely bride, Wynette, also joined us on occasion. It was all good and we never, not even once, got kicked out of any of the many restaurants we visited over the years.

Today was scheduled a couple of weeks ago and the venue changed, but I didn’t give it a thought. We went to Jerry #3 & Nelda’s house in Vancouver for a pizza party. What I didn’t know was it was also a birthday party for me. Diane set it up and totally surprised me. How fun is that? I went with Jerry #3 to get the pizzas, with some urging from Diane and others. We had a very nice visit and he didn’t scare me even one time. When we got back the cake was unfurled and the secret was revealed.

We sat in their back yard, ate the pizzas, the cake, and had a terrific time visiting. We always have a terrific time whenever we get together. Their backyard is totally unique, very electric, and serene. It’s very difficult to describe. It’s a very large back yard that has a pond in which a fake duck floats, a little bridge, many large trees to which cowgirl boots are nailed, some have teapots attached, many kinds of bushes, a few squirrels, and, reportedly, an unwanted rat. There are large antique chains hanging from sturdy supports, there’s a hammock, obtained in Costa Rica, hanging under a house-like structure, that has lattice for a roof, which Jerry #3 said he has to tear down because his old cat used it to sharpen his claws. The cat, I learned, is no longer able to sharpen his claws because he can no longer move them because he died. I sensed that wasn’t a bad thing, according to the person who told me about the scratching.

Tom told me a couple of jokes I was supposed to share, but they got lost in my head on the trip home. I’m sure they were both inappropriate for a mixed audience so it’s probably OK I can’t remember them. If I had, Diane would have objected because I’m supposed to be nice.

Sadly, 1630 rolled around and it was time to leave. We would have stayed longer, but softball games had been in progress since 1530 and we wanted to watch the second game, if possible. It was supposed to be a JV double-header against Wilsonville, but turned out to be only one because they didn’t have enough players to field a team because they needed them for the varsity game which started when JV was done. Sarah, Lydia, and Abby joined the varsity team after winning their game 4-3. They didn’t get to play because the varsity girls had a defensive battle on their hands, and no one got injured. St. Helens won 1-0. Our pitcher was awesome, striking out Wilsonville girls one after another.

After the game, sometime after 1900, we went home and let the dogs out. They were very happy to see us return. They were alone for over 6 hours. They’re really good dogs.

Then I mowed the yard. Then entire thing. I also mowed one of the neighbor’s yard. Toward the end I was happy that the mower had headlights because I needed them. I think I finished somewhere around 2100.

Now I must take garbage to the street, something I do every Monday night. Then I’m going to bed because I have to get up early tomorrow and go play 18 holes of golf with Jim O at Wildwood. Should be fun. I’ll let you know how that goes. On, snap! While I was type all that, Diane took the garbage out. Awesome!

By the way, today wasn’t really my birthday. That’s not for another 8 days. But, considering my advanced age, Diane thought it would be good to celebrate with our friends because you just never know what’s going to happen next. It was a good idea.

Relaxing & Lots Of TV

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today was just exactly like a vacation day, but a little different. We didn’t have to drive 1200 miles to do it. Instead, we got up late, and watched TV all day long. Didn’t even take a walk except to the bathroom. Diane insisted. The remainder of time we sat in our recliners ridding the DVR of old shows. It rained here all day so it was OK that we did that. I didn’t even get up to eat lunch. Diane made me a tuna sandwich and brought it to me.

Then we watched the Blazers lose the 2nd game of this series with the San Antonio Spurs. The Blazers got to within 8 points in the 4th quarter, but then Joey Crawford started calling phantom fouls against PDX kinda shutting them down. It wasn’t all that, of course. San Antonio shot the lights out and Portland had a horrible time making a shot. Still, they closed the gap with pretty darn good defense in the second half. Now it goes to Portland.

I’m sure all of you really care about that, right?

We just watched the end of American Idol where Jesse goes home.

Now it’s almost 2200 and time for bed. Sitting in this chair all day made me really tired.

Oh, ya … Lydia’s team went to Sandy this afternoon and beat them 15-7. Lydia said they 10-runner them in the 2nd inning then the game was called in the 5th in the middle of a torrential downpour. All the girls nearly froze because Sandy isn’t far from Mt. Hood and the rain out there ices one up quickly. They all had to be carried off the bus, into the already warmed up showers, when the bus returned to St. Helens.

That was a lie. No one really froze. They just got really, really, really, cold.