Tag Archives: NCAA

Day 98 – Saturday – Green Valley, Arizona

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Today was a good one for a number of reasons. First, Diane had us scheduled to visit Green Valley to go see the Festival of the Trees at St. Francis Episcopal Church.

Green Valley isn’t very far from where we currently live, so it was an easy drive down I-19. It’s just a little way beyond San Xavier Mission so we got to see a little more of Southern Arizona and got closer to Nogales than we’ve ever been. Maybe we’ll make it to the Mexican border before this trip is over. We can’t cross it because Diane doesn’t have her passport. I don’t have mine, either, but I’ve got the magic driver’s license that will allow me permission to cross over. I won’t, however, because I made a promise to never go to Mexico without Diane. So, we’ll just get close.

Once at St. Francis Diane went in to see the trees while Max and I roamed around the parking lot. At the entrance there was a prominent sign alerting everyone that pets were not allowed. Although Max was wearing his working vest, I didn’t try to get him in because I suspect he would have found a reason to pee on one of the trees. Instead, he stayed outside and peed on bunches of rocks. It was OK. When we left the church, Diane drove around in the urban area so we could look at houses, just for fun. Green Valley is a nice place, and we discovered that houses here are wildly expensive, just like they are at home. We both like the architecture and the colors used to make the adobe-like homes. It’s very pleasing. I’m not a big fan of yards full of rocks and various kinds of cacti, and would rather have a lawn to mow but that doesn’t seem to be an option down here. They do get into the holiday spirit here, though.

Then we went to lunch.

I selected KFC because it’s one of our favorite places. When we got our order the young girl at the counter asked if she could give Max a chicken strip. I had to accept because I think there’s a rule somewhere about severe consequences if you turn down a free chicken strip at KFC. I chopped it up for Max and he gobbled it up rather quickly because he really likes dead chicken.

After lunch Diane stopped at a DQ and got me a large chocolate malt and herself a dipped cone. I paid for them. Now I only have $3 in my wallet. That’s OK because I don’t spend much cash. No one offered Max an ice cream cone, so we drove directly home.

The mountains caught my eye. We find them pleasing. These things surround the entire valley where Tucson and a bunch of other villages live.

When we got home, I gave Max his lunch. It was only a few hours late, but he didn’t seem to mind. He did, however, make short work of it. Once he was done, we took a walk around the park. He earned it because he’s really a good traveler. We walked a long way and found this little resting area that has 2 chairs, a bench and an ashtray for smokers surrounded by very large rocks. We didn’t stop to sit. Max just peed on a couple of the rocks, and we went on our way.

Around 1630 we got ourselves comfortable on our couches to watch football. Today the Oregon Ducks played Penn State for the Big10 Championship. The game was in Indiana. I don’t know why Oregon had to travel 2500 miles and Penn State only had to travel 497. That didn’t seem fair. Seems like whoever chose the venue for the game wasn’t a Duck fan and wanted to make it easy on Penn State. Surely that’s true.

I won’t bore you with details, but despite the travel distance disparity, and the ho-hum chatter about the Ducks by the TV announcers, THE DUCKS WON 45-27! It was a great game most of the time but we had to turn the TV sound down so we didn’t have to listen to the announcers proclaim how great Penn State is even though they were getting beat the entire game. Oregon scored first and never looked back. What fun. The Ducks are 13-0 and is the #1 seed for the Championship playoff. We also heard, from our daughter, Jennifer, that the Ducks are playing in the Rose Bowl this year. More fun.

Now it’s time for bed. I believe we will sleep well tonight.

Day 84 – Saturday – Pork Chops

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Diane decided that she was cooking today. We had some porkchops thawing in the fridge for a couple of days and it was time to spice them up. She did it in the crockpot and it was really good. It had sliced potatoes and onions under the meat and the end result was a lot like pork chops and scalloped potatoes. It wouldn’t be ready until 1730 so she had the entire day free to roam.

Once the food was in motion, we went to ACE Hardware, one of the many in Tucson, to get metal screws so I could properly attach the flapper seal on the bottom of the bedroom slide. That’s the part that blocks daylight from streaming under the slide when it’s extended. She figures if she can see daylight under the slide, so can mice and rats. Up until now, I’ve been blocking the gap from the inside but that’s a tedious task. I should have fixed it a long time ago but by putting it off for so long I was honing my procrastination skills to a world class level. Diane has convinced me that it’s time for me to give up on this lofty goal and get to work. What I needed was some self-tapping metal screws to put it together properly, so we took a little trip to a local ACE store. There are 5-6 of them in this town. Thankfully, it had free popcorn. I got to eat most of it before I dumped it on the floor on my side of the car. What a mess.

Diane dropped Max and me at home then drove off to complete her visit to the last thrift store she was at yesterday, the Humane Society Thrift Store. She had to stop shopping early because she wore the wrong shoes, and her feet complained. Today she’s in flip flops and can walk a mile in those things.

I stayed home with Max with the understanding that I was to find a way to use my time alone in a productive manner. So, between bouts of productivity I watched a little NCAA Football and randomly walked Max. We ate some stuff, too. I don’t remember what it was, but it was good. It was a nice day, so we spent some time lounging on the patio. Max got whiplash trying to get a bead on everything that moved, and I just sat there, reading. It was best to be outside because the crockpot aroma was getting to me. It was wonderful.

Watching football wasn’t really interesting to me until late in the afternoon. The Oregon Ducks, #1 in the nation, didn’t play today so I had to wait until 1700 when the PAC 12 teams, both of them, played each other for the title. The Oregon Ducks used to be in the PAC 12, but they went east to play with the Big 10 guys. They are doing OK, too.

The Oregon State Beavers played the Washington State Cougars for a full four quarters. The lead changed hands numerous times throughout the game, and it was tied 38-38 with 20 seconds remaining in regulation. Oregon had the ball, and it was 4th down. All the Beaver kicker had to do was nail a 57-yard FG. Which he did. Final score, 41-38, Beavers win. It was awesome.

While I watched the game, Max spied on the neighbors, Diane locked herself in the bedroom and watched old Columbo mysteries. It’s her safe place. I appreciate that she allows me to watch a game now and then.

Diane wouldn’t let me add a photo of her which makes sense. I didn’t even take one.

Later.

College Football and Falling Gracefully

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Whether or not you follow college football, you need to know that the Ducks are pretty awesome. They won their game yesterday 66-3. I know, it was one of those warm up games, getting ready for league play, and it wasn’t the most scored by a team this weekend, but, still. That’s a whole mess of points. The most scored in a game was by Indiana who won their game 73-35. The Ducks also racked up 772 yards of total offense, a new school record, and enough to currently lead the nation in that category. It looks encouraging. The Oregon St. Beavers lost yesterday, but they still scored 46 points.

Now I must report a weekend accident and the lesson I learned because of it.

Let me set the stage for you … we have underground sprinklers that kinda work, enough to get the bushes around the house nice and wet, along with our front porch. Diane found a need to turn them on yesterday afternoon because she didn’t think the water bill was large enough. She’s given up on watering the yard, which has turned a nice khaki color, my favorite color. The only thing that grows in it are random dandelions. Not many, but enough to make it necessary to lop their tops off once in a while.

We have 4 sprinkler zones in the front that are layed out in an odd pattern … one zone has about six sprinklers on it and they all overlap a great deal, and one only has 2 sprinklers on it. The latter is the one that sprays the porch, and also sprays Diane’s side of the bed if she forgets to close the window on her side of the bedroom. This has been tested.

She only lets each zone run for about 10 minutes, then switches. After turning them off, she called me to the front porch to look at something but I can’t remember what it was because when I stepped onto the porch my feet slipped right out from beneath me, causing me to go airborne for a brief moment in time.

It’s really amazing how much data your brain can accumulate while you are in an unplanned free fall, no matter how short. For instance, as my feet slipped, I did a swift calculation as to about where I might land. I had to take into account that there are three cement steps in the landing zone, so I had to run through the calculations a couple of times to make sure they were correct. By the time I was done with that, I was about halfway down and I was looking up at the porch light. It reminded me that I need to switch that old thing out for the new one that’s laying on my table saw in the basement.

Knowing the steps were going to complicate things, I just decided to land on my elbows, mostly on the left one because it’s the worst one I have, anyway. Plus, I remember what happened to Jack’s wrist when he fell off a truck and tried to block descent with his hands. Yes, I didn’t fall nearly as far as he did, but it still crossed my mind.

About that time, my left elbow hit the top step about the time my rear end hit the third step, as planned, to distribute the impact a little better. Then, all of my parts slid the rest of the way off the steps allowing the back of my head to clang against the top step.

Then, all was still. Diane was standing right next to me the entire time and didn’t make one move to stop my fall. She just watched. Admittedly, however, it happened pretty quickly so she didn’t have time to think about it. She just said, “do I need to call 911?”

I layed there a bit, taking inventory of my previously moving parts, and discovered that I could feel pretty much everything except most of my left hand. That concerned me because I didn’t want a broken wrist like Jack. But, I hadn’t heard anything snap, and I could move my fingers without pain, so figured I dodged that bullet. Part of my hand is numb all the time anyway, so a little more wasn’t a big deal.

Though I didn’t lay there very long, it was long enough to actually get kind of comfortable. But, my head started to ache so thought I better move. Plus, Diane was still asking me if she should call 911. She didn’t take my pulse or anything. I guess I was blinking and breathing so she figured I was probably a good judge of whether or not I needed emergency treatment. I actually am pretty good at that and used to be on a first name basis with all the folks at Urgent Care here in town. Most of my severe injuries were accomplished while I was home alone thereby creating a need for me to either dial 911, or just drive myself to Urgent Care. The latter was always the easiest, and quickest, so that’s what I did.

Finally, figuring I wouldn’t know what didn’t work correctly until I tried to stand up, I sat up and jump to my feet. Yes, that’s what I did. I may have even say “Olay!” when I did it, but I’m not sure. I do know that on the way up I didn’t experience any debilitating pain, which pleased me, so told Diane, “No, we’re not going to the emergency room.” I wasn’t bleeding and nothing appeared to be broken, but I wasn’t really sure how hard I hit my head, so stayed awake for a few hours to make sure I didn’t fall asleep, while Diane went to bed to read.

Don’t get me wrong, she was concerned, but not as much as a normal wife might be. She’s used to me injuring myself in odd ways much worse than this simple little fall, but I am getting up in zone where falls like that can cause serious damage. Apparently I’m part of the ‘Lucky Group’, so far.

My elbow hurt a bit, but feeling was returning to my hand. Oddly, too, my right shoulder and arm weren’t hurting and they’ve been hurting for weeks. Maybe I fixed it, somehow.

So, “what’s the lesson?”

Don’t wear your worn out Crocs out on a slippery wet porch unless you’re going to take tiny little steps and walk flat-footed. I knew that’s what I was supposed to do because I’ve slipped on the garage floor before, but never fell down. There aren’t any steps in the garage though.

Today I figured I’d be black and blue, but that didn’t happen. Can’t even see marks where I landed. I felt cheated, somehow, by going through all of that and not coming out of it with even a little evidence that ‘something’ had happened.

Maybe tomorrow will be different. I’m going out with the Lion’s Club to plant flags around town tomorrow morning in honor of Labor Day, so I better get to bed.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. In a couple of days it’s back to school for the kids. They’re real happy about that.