Well, I finally tracked down a "traditional" barber in town here to get a nice "once over" as it were and return to my favorite stubble style. I had to renew the tabs on The Weasel at the courthouse (only two days before the deadline) and decided to stop at the barber just across the street from the Ben Franklin store. It's a hole in the wall, basically, with just two barber chairs and no wait. The barber was a friendly older gent, perhaps in his late 70s to mid 80s. I recognized him fron an old newspaper article in the Grand Forks Herald I read last spring that mentioned he had been in business for some 41 or so years at the same location and is one of a dying breed (traditional barber) who refuses to retire as long as he enjoys what he's doing. Anywho, as I sit down, he asks me where I'm from. I give him the lowdown of growing up here, then living out in Seattle and moving back to TRF. I mentioned, "My dad used to teach in town here" and after he asked who that was and telling him, he revealed that he used to sing in the choir under dad's direction back in the late 70s/early 80s and indeed knew exactly who dad was if not me specifically. Turns out we were on the same album cover when Trinity recorded way back in the day. He was a tenor at the time and reminisced how most of those fun guys back then had passed away, i.e. Walt Forney, Dennis Wegge, etc. The barber's name was Dean Hamms. He apparently still attends Trinity, though until now I never noticed.
After the haircut, we headed off to the grocery store to pick up some snacks and managed to bump into Cathy Hagen again in the produce department (bumped into her last time in the Wal-Mart produce department about a couple weeks ago) and I talked to her about Mr. Hamms. She mentioned he could be a feisty character. We both agreed we need to work on getting him back into choir. If Opal can still sing, there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to... :) It was a bit of an adventure shopping today as Daniel decided to help out in the produce selection (unbeknownst to me) by bagging about six different varieties of Washington State apples for me and putting them in the cart. When all was said and done, my initial plan of "just" a bag of Red Delicious apples had turned into a dozen different species from Braeburns to Galas to Pink Ladies to Fujis. Gotta love him... Aaron made his rounds of the free sample stands with cantaloupe, watermelon, and pineapple chunks. I think about 60 percent of the fridge is now loaded with apples, lettuce, baby spinach, shredded cheese, and other salad fixings, so we're eating like rabbits this week. Daniel was actually fighting over who got the first salad to eat the other night, so he doesn't mind the extra veggies much at all, though I'm afraid if I feed him too many veggies and not enough meat and potatoes he's going to float away with our next strong wind.
As for baseball, Aaron had another blowout loss on Monday against the Royals with a score of 10-2, but managed to hit a couple. I've tried to explain that he doesn't need to swing at every pitch (about 1 of 4 pitches were actually strikes). We'll see how he does tomorrow night in his next game against the Reds at 3:30. Daniel has another T-ball game at 9 a.m. tomorrow too. Aaron spent a half hour tonight practicing pitching with his buddy, Drew, so hopefully his fielding/throwing are progressing well. I didn't watch him, as I didn't want him getting nervous that "Dad's watching." I'm hoping we'll have time this weekend to head to the park and get some real batting practice in for a while.
Well, it's time to wash some dust-covered baseball pants, socks, and shirts now before tucking the boys in for the night, so I think I'll sign off for now...
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
A Sad Day Today....
Tyler, one of the pastor's kids from the corner house just came over after his family had been gone this weekend and said before now they weren't allowed to say anything, but now it's official. He and his family will be moving in August back to Alexandria where his dad has been voted by the church they originally came from to return as pastor. They've been in Thief River about 5 years now and unfortunately his dad wasn't able to make ends meet with the congregation here in TRF, so they have to move. It's a sad day, as they were Aaron and Daniel's first friends they made upon arriving in TRF last year and hundreds of hours have been spent playing with them since. They have represented about 95 percent of the boys' playmates, so it will be a tremendous void to fill once they've gone. Thankfully we still have another couple of months of baseball before they leave so it will give the boys time to assimilate the change more gradually and school will start up again soon after that, so they will hopefully make new friends quickly. With any luck, another family will move in quickly. One thing is for sure, this house and yard will be pretty quiet for at least a while without the daily comings and goings of their buddies. I'm thankful for the time we have had them here, however brief it's turned out to be.
In other news, Daniel tied his T-ball game last week 14-14 and Aaron's Orioles lost to the Brewers 16-8. Aaron was 3 for 4, but they managed to throw him out at first on each hit. The Brewers were a pretty good fielding team and they apparently had one fifth grader on their team. Aaron returns to action tonight against the Royals in a rematch with his buddy, Tyler. He has another game on Thursday against the Reds and Daniel has another T-ball game on that day as well.
I think it's about time to go get some errands done now, so I'll sign off for now. Looks like it may be a day of rain today (finally).
In other news, Daniel tied his T-ball game last week 14-14 and Aaron's Orioles lost to the Brewers 16-8. Aaron was 3 for 4, but they managed to throw him out at first on each hit. The Brewers were a pretty good fielding team and they apparently had one fifth grader on their team. Aaron returns to action tonight against the Royals in a rematch with his buddy, Tyler. He has another game on Thursday against the Reds and Daniel has another T-ball game on that day as well.
I think it's about time to go get some errands done now, so I'll sign off for now. Looks like it may be a day of rain today (finally).
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
A Busy Week...
The boys got their pictures taken yesterday at the Huck for baseball. They now have their official uniforms, Aaron in orange T-shirt with "TRF Orioles" on the front and the number 7 on the back in black lettering with a major league baseball cap with the Orioles mascot on it and Daniel in royal blue with yellow "TRF" across the front with a matching blue hat with embroidered "T" on the front. Of course all 30 some T-ball kids showed up for pictures, so Daniel was the very last boy of the whole bunch to get his individual picture taken yesterday after a long hour of standing around. He took the wait in stride, though, and even managed a couple good smiles. Aaron's pictures went much faster as there were a lot fewer players. The only two girls on the team, though, came wearing light blue t-shirts and different colored street pants/jeans, so when they saw the rest of the Orioles dapperly dressed in their matching orange T-shirts and caps, their dad got an earful. I felt kind of sorry for him as he wasn't aware he was supposed to order them up front from the screen printing place. The girls didn't seem to mind after a while, though.
Tomorrow is game three for Aaron, this time against the "Brewers" and Danny has his second T-ball game bright and early at 9 a.m. We'll see if the Orioles remain unbeaten and move to 3-0. Perhaps the Twins winning the past eight games in a row is a good omen?
Tomorrow is game three for Aaron, this time against the "Brewers" and Danny has his second T-ball game bright and early at 9 a.m. We'll see if the Orioles remain unbeaten and move to 3-0. Perhaps the Twins winning the past eight games in a row is a good omen?
Monday, June 19, 2006
The Start of a Winning Streak?
Just thought I'd do a quick update here before I forget and all these games blend into one blur. Aaron played the Cubs today in his second game and his Orioles won their second game, this time a little closer at 9-8. He was two for three with two singles. We went back to the field at 6:30 to 8 p.m. tonight to watch his buddy Drew play his game as well, so it's been a long day. Daniel has T-ball at 9 a.m. tomorrow and Aaron will be back at practice at 10:30. Sometime after that we'll be running back and forth to the Ralph Arena to get their team pictures done. I just hope it's a little cooler outside tomorrow.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Take Me Out To The Ballgame....
What a busy June it's been so far since school let out. The boys started Little League/T-ball season on the 12th and haven't looked back. They're on a schedule of four practices a week and last Thursday was their first game. Aaron's team, the Orioles, beat the Royals 14-9 and Aaron got a base hit with every at bat. Daniel seems to enjoy fielding, especially first base from the way he kept jumping up and down hollering "throw it to first!!!" I'm driving back and forth to the community college at least twice and sometimes three times a day dependong on the schedule to drop off and pick up the boys and their friends. Aaron has made huge strides in his physical ability, most striking in his catching ability followed by batting and throwing. I think he'll surprise some of his teachers come school in the fall. I picked up a dozen practice balls that are basically wiffle balls the size of a regulation baseball and we're able to hold batting practice out front without worrying about breaking the neighbors' windows or ruining their prize gardens. I think we may have the narrowest baseball diamond in TRF. Home plate is on the north end of my lawn, first base just south of my front walkway next to the Dutch elm out front, second base is the tree in my south neighbor's front yard, and third base is the red children's bench in front of the porch. I typically handle pitching and Drew plays catcher for the most part. Given how few of us on any given day, we tend to run out of batters, so there's a bit of base stealing going on so we assured of another batter up. Aaron's second game of the summer is on Tuesday, I think, against the Cubs and their team pictures are that day as well.
We had the 10:30 service at Trinity outdoors this morning on the south lawn. The clouds rolled in and we were expressing our thanks to God just as the thunder rolled in. We made it through the whole service with high winds and no rain, though. The new pastor advised the ushers to stand east of him and try to catch any of his sermon notes should they fly away; otherwise, he'd cut the sermon short. We had a Mexican fiesta afterwood hosted by the youth who are attending the national gathering in San Antonio this month complete the pinata. I sat next to Sandy and Dan Drevlow with Fella in between them wtih his daughter. Sandi asked if I was busy on the weekends and suggested if we were interested having the boys and I as guests at their place in Erskine where they have a paddle boat, swimming, etc. That sounds like a nice way to unwind. Sandy also mentioned we can enter Funny Bunny in the county fair this year and assured me she would be well cared for, as they water and feed them every hour on the hour to ensure they made it through the heat okay. That should be fun having our first ever animal exhibit at the fair. I know the boys are proud of that rabbit.
I think I'll kick my feet up on the couch here now and enjoy the few hours I have left of Father's Day. It's one of the quietest days of the week thus far, so I'm going to take advantage of the silence as long as it lasts. Catch up with ya all later....
We had the 10:30 service at Trinity outdoors this morning on the south lawn. The clouds rolled in and we were expressing our thanks to God just as the thunder rolled in. We made it through the whole service with high winds and no rain, though. The new pastor advised the ushers to stand east of him and try to catch any of his sermon notes should they fly away; otherwise, he'd cut the sermon short. We had a Mexican fiesta afterwood hosted by the youth who are attending the national gathering in San Antonio this month complete the pinata. I sat next to Sandy and Dan Drevlow with Fella in between them wtih his daughter. Sandi asked if I was busy on the weekends and suggested if we were interested having the boys and I as guests at their place in Erskine where they have a paddle boat, swimming, etc. That sounds like a nice way to unwind. Sandy also mentioned we can enter Funny Bunny in the county fair this year and assured me she would be well cared for, as they water and feed them every hour on the hour to ensure they made it through the heat okay. That should be fun having our first ever animal exhibit at the fair. I know the boys are proud of that rabbit.
I think I'll kick my feet up on the couch here now and enjoy the few hours I have left of Father's Day. It's one of the quietest days of the week thus far, so I'm going to take advantage of the silence as long as it lasts. Catch up with ya all later....
Friday, June 02, 2006
No More School!!!
It's Friday and the last day of school at Challenger. Hurray! The neighbor boys that are home schooled and have been done with their schooling for over a week have been counting the days until Aaron and Daniel get out of school so they can have somebody to play with during the day. I'll be heading out to Challenger at noon for one final school lunch with Aaron.
It's been an eventful few weeks since the last blog entry. Too many things to remember, so I'll touch on the highlights.
We made it through a rather hot spell last weekend with temperatures into the mid 90s. The central air conditioning wasn't working, so I had the ceiling fan plus a floor fan running downstairs and three fans running in my bedroom and just barely taking the edge off the heat. It was about 45 percent humidity, so that was better than Florida heat, I guess. We've had a straight week now of about 78-degree temps, so a lot more comfortable lately.
This past week we've had the opportunity to visit with Fern Williams' daughter, Debbie, and her children Matt (14) and Jessie (8). We fired up the grill the other night and had hamburgers and beer brats with the Murphys on the corner at Fern's house. Debbie had to leave for Arizona yesterday morning. That was a busy night for us (Wednesday) as I got the boys signed up at the last minute for T-ball/Little League through the Parks & Recreation Dept. at the Ralph Arena. They had "clinics" for baseball that night with Daniel's running from 4 to 5:10 and Aaron's from 6:40 to 8:00, so we had to eat between 5:10 and 6:40. That day sure filled up rather quickly. The baseball is being played out at the college fields. I think there were perhaps a half dozen less kids in Aaron's program than Daniel's, but both teems had close to 20 kids. They had five coaches, so plenty of individual attention. Both boys have made great strides in physical ability with thorwing and catching and it was obvious they both had the times of their lives out there on the field. Aaron had a huge grin on his face as he ran the bases in one of the drills. We'll be heading out to Wal-Mart tonight to pick up some baseball accessories, i.e. the special pants Aaron's been dying to get, cleat shoes, etc. and then to Universal Screen Print to order the custom shirts and hats before team pictures.
Come next week, Aaron will be attending Safety Camp sponsored by the Pennington County Sheriff's Department and Thief River Falls Police Department where he'll be learning all about safety in sports, around the house, and around town culminating in a ride on the Canadian Pacific Railroad to Plummer, Minnesota and back where he'll learn about railroad safety. The camp is open to 2nd and 3rd graders only, so this is the only chance Aaron has to go. Daniel will be able to go both years if he wants.
The Parks & Recreation Dept. has a number of other summer activties I hope to get the boys involved in which include a trip to Fargo-Moorhead to watch a semi-pro hockey game between Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg, Manitoba in mid-July plus trips to the Pioneer Village in town and some wildlife sightseeing trips. THere's also a trip where they bring a sack lunch and their fishing poles and head to the dock here in town for a day of learning how to fish. Somewhere in between,we hope to fit in some swimming lessons at the Franklin Pool.
Hopefully between all of the above I'll get a chance to keep this blog relatively updated. I apologize in advance if I don't... :o)
It's been an eventful few weeks since the last blog entry. Too many things to remember, so I'll touch on the highlights.
We made it through a rather hot spell last weekend with temperatures into the mid 90s. The central air conditioning wasn't working, so I had the ceiling fan plus a floor fan running downstairs and three fans running in my bedroom and just barely taking the edge off the heat. It was about 45 percent humidity, so that was better than Florida heat, I guess. We've had a straight week now of about 78-degree temps, so a lot more comfortable lately.
This past week we've had the opportunity to visit with Fern Williams' daughter, Debbie, and her children Matt (14) and Jessie (8). We fired up the grill the other night and had hamburgers and beer brats with the Murphys on the corner at Fern's house. Debbie had to leave for Arizona yesterday morning. That was a busy night for us (Wednesday) as I got the boys signed up at the last minute for T-ball/Little League through the Parks & Recreation Dept. at the Ralph Arena. They had "clinics" for baseball that night with Daniel's running from 4 to 5:10 and Aaron's from 6:40 to 8:00, so we had to eat between 5:10 and 6:40. That day sure filled up rather quickly. The baseball is being played out at the college fields. I think there were perhaps a half dozen less kids in Aaron's program than Daniel's, but both teems had close to 20 kids. They had five coaches, so plenty of individual attention. Both boys have made great strides in physical ability with thorwing and catching and it was obvious they both had the times of their lives out there on the field. Aaron had a huge grin on his face as he ran the bases in one of the drills. We'll be heading out to Wal-Mart tonight to pick up some baseball accessories, i.e. the special pants Aaron's been dying to get, cleat shoes, etc. and then to Universal Screen Print to order the custom shirts and hats before team pictures.
Come next week, Aaron will be attending Safety Camp sponsored by the Pennington County Sheriff's Department and Thief River Falls Police Department where he'll be learning all about safety in sports, around the house, and around town culminating in a ride on the Canadian Pacific Railroad to Plummer, Minnesota and back where he'll learn about railroad safety. The camp is open to 2nd and 3rd graders only, so this is the only chance Aaron has to go. Daniel will be able to go both years if he wants.
The Parks & Recreation Dept. has a number of other summer activties I hope to get the boys involved in which include a trip to Fargo-Moorhead to watch a semi-pro hockey game between Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg, Manitoba in mid-July plus trips to the Pioneer Village in town and some wildlife sightseeing trips. THere's also a trip where they bring a sack lunch and their fishing poles and head to the dock here in town for a day of learning how to fish. Somewhere in between,we hope to fit in some swimming lessons at the Franklin Pool.
Hopefully between all of the above I'll get a chance to keep this blog relatively updated. I apologize in advance if I don't... :o)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
