Flashback Friday #247

Witnessing A No-Hitter



Hello to all. Any one who knows me in real life knows that I'm a sports fan. I enjoy football, baseball, hockey, Olympics, and Genesis 26:8. That being said.There are certain things that happen in the sporting areanas that take special notice. One of those things in the no-hitter in baseball. It is a special thing to have faced the opposing batting order several times in a game and watch as each one trudges back to the dugout without a hit. it take grat skill and lots of luck to do this on the profesional level. It take even more when you're talking about girls slow-pitch softball.

Toni played softball for the local "city league" team. You needed a minimum of nine girls to have a team. Theirs had ten. If Toni wasn't in right field, she was on the bench. She platooned with another girl in right. All the other positions were set, especially pitcher.

Gina Queen was our school's version of "Big Ethel Muggs". For those of you that are unfamiliar with Big Ethel, she was the homely, super-athletic, wanna-be girlfriend of Jughead Jones in the "Archie" comics.

Gina was on fire that day.In softball the idea is to loft the ball up toward the plate and let the batter hit it. I don't know if she was adding some back-spin or what, but the batters weren't hitting the ball. Those that did manage to make contact were put out by a sure fielding team. That is until the final inning.

At the top of the last inning, the first batter flies out to center. The next batter makes contact and lofts a ball to short right field. I really don't remember if it was Toni or Becky playing at that moment, but the ball hits right at the tip of her glove , then bounces out for an error. The opposing team has a baserunner for the first time. The next batter hits a grounder to short. The shortstop gobbles up the ball, flips the the second baseman who then throws to first to complete the double play. Game over.

Gina lost out on the perfect game, but she got the no-hitter.

What's Going On At The Castle?

The other day, my grandaughter, The Girl, wanted me to play with her. I have an Imaginext castle and she needed me to put it together for her to play with. She drug it out of the toy room and I dumped it out, sorted the pieces and commenced to build a castle. Once I had the castle built, she had some grand plans.

First off, she wanted visitors to come to the castle. So I rounded up some visitors. I came up with a giant and an ogre. The ogre needed help crossing the street, so the giant held his hand.

Then there was a ball in the castle. Cinderella and The Prince were dancing together.

But everyone knows the story. The Prince also had to dance with Cinderella's ugly step-sister. This step-sister could have had as much beauty sleep as Sleeping Beauty and still have been ugly.

You've got to love the imaginationof a four year-old little girl.

Flashback Friday #246

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same


Greetings to all who have ventured this way. I hope you came here on purpose, but if you didn't, you can read my drivel anyway.

Currently, in my storytelling, we pick up our story during the summer between 10th & 11th grades. During this summer I've (if you've been reading my blog, you already know this) taken Driver's Ed, Moved into a new house, and dated Kelly Stump (again, even though I told myself I wouldn't).

Another thing that happened during that summer was that Toni & I got back together.She rode over to my house one day on her bike and told me that she had to talk to me. She knew that I wasn't one to talk a lot on the phone, unlike Carol, who would call me and get mad because I wasn't talking. Hello, you called, you should do the talking. Anyway, she told me that all the other guys she dated after we broke up, none could hold a candle to me. I was unlike anyone she had ever met. Then she asked if we give it another try.

Of course, I said yes because I hated the fact that I didn't have a steady girlfriend. I also didn't have enough self-esteem to ask anyone else. Here was someone who was asking me. I'd be crazy to say no.

I learned later on, at my high school reunions, that there were some other girls that liked me but wouldn't or didn't say anything. In retrospect, if they had dropped a hint or two, I probably would have tripped over them and gone about my business.

The Economy is so bad that...

The economy is so bad that:

I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

I ordered a burger at McDonald's and the kid behind the counter asked, "Can you afford fries with that?"

CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.

A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico .

Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.

Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.

The Mafia is laying off judges.

Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen..

Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh Great!! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!

And, finally...

I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan and when I told them I was suicidal they got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

Flashback Friday #245

It's My Party ad I'll...



Greetings to all. I have a special announcement to make. If you look in the "About Me" section, it no longer says that I am a 40 something year-old. Today, I hit the big 5-0. Since that is the case, I have a couple birthday stories to share with you that aren't long enough to make individual posts, but compiled, will do for today.

I could always remember when we moved into our big white house from the basement that we used to live in. I had gotten a birthday card that had a big 5 on it with a lion. I don't know what it was about that card, but I saved it for several years after. That means that we spent a total of 11 years in that house.

One year when I was fairly young. My paternal grandmother was going to make a birthday cake for me. She decided that she was going to make a coffee cake birthday cake (perhaps she didn't have the ingredients for icing?). All I knew was that I didn't like coffee, so having a cake that would taste like coffee wasn't appealing at all. I threw a fit until finally I got a real spanking for my birthday.

Lastly, on my 17th birthday, we had already moved from the house into the trailer. We were using the house for storage. Mom told me to go over to the house and get something (I don't remember what) out of her old bedroom. When I walked into that room. there stood a brand new ten-speed bike with a card on the seat with my name on it. Mom had bought a raffle ticket from a co-worker and won the bike earlier in the week. She figured that it would make a great birthday gift for me.

Doing the math, I've lived over 26 million minutes (not counting leap years). That sounds a lot older than 50 years.