The Red Sox are not playing in the post-season. Maybe they could have used local ace Red "Swamp Thing" Pooter (pictured here in an undated photo). What happened? They've done better with worse teams. Looks like it's the pitching guys. In September seven starters combined for a 4-13 record and a 7.08 ERA. I think that's got to be the worst in MLB history. The Boston sports writers are pointing at Theo Epstein saying that he didn't replace Buchholz and Matsuzaka injured and out back in July, and Ownership is pointing at the coach (the Coach?) for not being able to "reach" the players (the pitchers?). Bunch of babies.
We're not all baseball down here. We went for a ride the first week of September and stopped at a road-side craft fair. I chased Jack around while Jacqui looked for a wreath for the front door. There were a bunch of old farm tractors on display so we took some photos. We went into an old historic two-room house and Jack ran around like a nut. It was built on a platform of planed logs, had two enclosed rooms (one for all the beds and one for cooking, eating, living) divided and separated by a pass-through, and was covered by one roof. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, no insulation. It was built in 1940.
We had a good weekend on 9/11. On Friday night we saw a Texas League playoff between the Naturals and the Travelers and didn't have to worry about terrorism. It ended up being the only game they won in the best of five series. As always, Arvest Balbark was a good time, but Jack needed a distraction from the baseball, so we took him over to the area inside the park that had slides and a jungle gym.
His bad behavior over there (he pushed someone for crowding him) got him a time-out, and his subsequent melt-down unfortunately resulted in a quick departure. He’s still talking about this pushing incident, and getting pulled off the slide for a time-out, so I’ll assume it made an impact on him. Then, on Saturday we asked friends Chad & Theresa to join us to watch a polo match in Goshen, the town to the east of us.
We brought Jack, but not surprisingly, he was more interested in throwing a football around than watching the polo ponies run back and forth. After the match, we all went back to our place for more food & drinks, and to watch the Notre Dame game. Exciting game, but the result was a big disappointment, as Michigan scored twice in the last 1 ½ minutes (insane).
Jack has been asking to go outside to kick a ball at the neighbor’s fence and for us to chase him around to fake like we’re going to take it away from him. It’s like running wind sprints in high school. I can taste lung. Also, it was biker weekend here in Fayetteville (they call it BikesBluesAndBBQ's) so we included a few photos of Jack on his Harley Davidson big wheel ("my WHEEL") that he thinks is going a hundred miles an hour. He’ll pedal it for a few feet untill he gets some momentum, then takes his feet off the pedals. He leans back and gets this look on his face like he’s thinking about bailing out.
Watch out for road rash. We walked up to the neighborhood elementary school playground and Jack rode his tricycle ("my BIKE") until he got tired and made Jacqui push him. He and Jacqui went down the slides for about two hours and I took a ride on my bike. I’m thinking about mounting the video camera on the handlebars to give you a view of the ride around the neighborhood and the local trails.
On 9/18 weekend it was a rainy and cool so we took Jack to see the movie Lion King in 3D. That movie is about 20 years old and still doesn’t look too bad, but Jack didn’t like wearing the 3D glasses, and the story-line was a bit beyond him; Where did the daddy lion go? (He’s dead); Where did the little lion go? (He turned into an adult in 10 seconds Jack. It’s called magical realism); Why is that other lion in trouble? (He murdered his brother). He did like eating handfuls of “BOPcorn” though.
Anyway, how about a laugh? Jacqui has been saying she wants to get into birding, and she purchased this bird feeder to get started (click here for video).
We got to watch some football and baseball on tv over the rainy 9/18 weekend. AR beat Troy (but not by much due to turnovers) and looked to have a serious challenge against ‘Bama (they lost). Jacqui was very conflicted watching Notre Dame (as an MBA alum) beat her undergrad alma mater, MI State. And, after winning only 4 of their last 18, and loosing all 3 against the Rays, the Red Sox were only 2 games ahead of Tampa, and were looking more like they’d struggle to be a wild card team instead of the conference champs they looked like two months ago. There was still some hope, with 7 of the 11 remaining games in September, to be played against last place Baltimore (Tampa also had the tougher schedule with 7 of their next 11 against the Yankees). BUT, it didn’t work out and the Sox went on to lose 20 games in September and blew it in spectacular fashion.
The post season Red Sox fall-out may be just as devastating: they didn’t renew Tito’s option (and he’s rumored to be going to the W.Sox), and there’s talk that Theo Epstein may go to the Cubs (but yet they have him making some crucial personell moves?). The fan support for Carl Crawford, that had already been deteriorating since before the All Star break, has completely disappeared (7 years and $142 million?). Focus now shifts to Tom Brady not throwing any more interceptions for the rest of the season and then looking forward to seeing the Celtics roll their wheelchairs out onto the court for another winning year.
And, here’s a typical day of Jack returning from school: Walks in and says hi dad, goes into his room to get his Lightning McQueen car; goes into the other bedroom that is set up with his Matchbox car ramp, and then smashes them all into each other; looks in the little kid kitchen set for a treat (usually a cracker or some cheerios I put in there) and comes back out to tell me there’s a car pile-up on the ramp that I have to look at. What else is he into? Here’s a summary:
- Turning all the lights and ceiling fans on
- In bed he wants to hold but not use his pacifier
- Skipping some afternoon naps (click to see video)
- Not wanting his hair washed
- Eating Mom’s home-made oatmeal,
- Eating broccoli and asking for more
- Not eating any of his food unless you stand over him
- Taquito’s are still his favorite food
- Tearing the pages out of flip-books
- Pooping on the couch
- Continuing to get bitten at school
- Not wanting a band-aid
- Asking to play the game “we throw the football to each other” (called catch)
- Moving up to the size 5 diaper and asking to sit on the pot but not going
- Pretending to be a sleeping, snoring, codfish
We went to the air show in Forth Smith about 30 minutes south of us. They did a re-enactment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor (with fireballs and explosions) including a narration that was trying to be patriotic, but ended up being a little uncomfortable to listen to. We looked at some helicopters and planes, but Jack didn’t seem very interested until we got him a red toy airplane. The Thunderbirds were there but Jack was melting down so we headed home.
Well, that's all for now, as we bring a close to summer. Next month you might see: Tu-Tu's visit; pumpkin patch pickin’; photos from Jacqui’s d-i-y furniture refinishing project; hike in Hobbs State Park or maybe out towards the Buffalo River to look for some fall foliage; we head to the AR vs Auburn game to call The Hogs; and Jack’s Halloween costume. Also, I think this will be our last shot at going to the Backwoods Barn BBQ before the weather turns.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated with our “View Of Life In The South”. Also, as Jacqui likes to say, "Fall is all about getting back to basics." So, whatever that means, you'll be seeing it too.
