Mom is Here...I repeat...Mom is here

My parents landed in Milwaukee on Tuesday afternoon. As a nice gesture my siblings and I decided to stock their room with a few items. It was also to keep Mom from hitting the local Pick & Save five minutes after she landed. They've made it a habit at staying at an Extended Stay place in the area. Offers have been made for them to stay here but we're answered with "Your father and I just like to relax at night". This is usually met with a gawk from Dad, because I think he'd rather stay with one of his kids and their families. He just goes with Loria's flow.

We fixed them up with numerous items...water, soda, snacks, lunch meat, bread and some condiments that aren't available for quick fingered Loria to steal from the hotel. She got pretty excited about the cushy toilet paper and then showed me that she managed to get two rolls from home (to tide her over until she got to the store) into her suitcase, along with bathroom cleaner and coffee. What can I say? Gotta love her for her crazy ideas.

I phoned them this morning to see what their plans were for the day and was told they were going apartment hunting. Huh! Did she finally cave? Did she finally realize that their getting up there and might want to move closer to their family? Did Ben Sr. finally get through to her? If this is the case and they do decide to move back, even for part of the year, I will be a little more at ease. I would love for them to live their later lives doing what they want but Ben Sr. has had some health issues and as strong as Loria is, I'm not quite sure she can handle anything to stressful on her own. I'd love to make the move and be closer to them to be able to help out, but that would mean leaving my own kids & grand kids. I'm just a little to attached to them and I remember the feelings we all had when Ben & Loria hit the road in 93. As they pulled away in their fully stuffed Saturn I had this unexplainable feeling. Now that there's talk of them maybe returning I'm starting to feel a little hopeful.

As for now the alert is out. Loria will hit Pick & Save at least every other day, she will hit Kohl's a few times, Sara Lee is on the list and of course Kopp's at least 3-4 times( I sent her gift cards) . Funny how we take those places for granted, but she gets a big thrill out of them.

Wii Says I Need to Get Fit

After a two week hunt I finally found and ordered the Wii Fit. With shipping I paid 30.00 more than the store's were advertising but sometimes the grasshopper just can't be patient. It arrived on my front porch today. I was like a kid at Christmas. I'm loving it so far (except for the part that told the truth and told me I was fat). I did Yoga, I ran, I managed to somehow not fudge up on the stepping thing to bad (had to do it 3 times for perfection), I attempted to dodge some soccer balls and I skied. My favorite so far : The hula hoops. I can see this going on for 30 minutes a day, or shall I say "I must do this for 30 minutes a day". My goals are small.

I get a kick out of my husband standing in the room telling me everything I'm doing wrong. I offer to let him check it out and he makes some silly excuse about his back hurting. Just wait until I can golf better than him. Bring it on buddy!

On a different note, I am loosing my faith in our health care system. My sister's husband went in Tuesday for a simple gall bladder removal. He came home Tuesday night and ended up back in the ER at 5am for intense pain. After 6 hours he was admitted to the hospital and they were attempting to control the pain. On Thursday his doctor finally decided to do a scan to see what the problem was. He had bile leaking into his system. Today they corrected that problem. He's usually a very good natured guy, but his comment today was "This mess may warrant a letter".

Mom & Dad are coming to town Tuesday. Won't they be a little shocked at my combat zone of a back yard. We now have a dumpster in our driveway for the broken up cement. It's making it's way into the dumpster little by little. I think I've thrown a stone or two in there since Tuesday.

More Up Then Down

This baseball season hasn't been very good to us as far as getting to a game. "A" can usually score on some tickets through work but they've been few and far between. We managed to get tickets to last nights game. They were the usual seats he gets, 8 rows in back of the Brewers dugout. I love the view, but I have to tell you, the people around that area suck. Every time we've used these tickets it's the same shit. The row in front of us and our row is like a revolving door. Do you think you could take all three of your kids to the bathroom at one time? You don't need to stand up for the entire beer transaction when you are sitting in the 3rd seat off the aisle. These beer guys are pros's, they will get your beer to you when you are seated. I love the game, love the seats, appreciate that they were free, but people just need to be more considerate of those around them. We spent more time standing up to let people in or out then sitting. I felt sorry for Barney as he's a little sore from the porch project.

The best part of this trip was the sites we took in while leaving. If you want to be a big girl and drink, then learn to handle it. At least puke in privacy not on the curb of the most used exit. There she was, some guys perfect girl in all her glory with puke dribbling all over her. I think her boyfriend deserted her, so I'm sure she's up for grabs now.

The next best part of the evening was a stop at Leon's. I think that was the plan for most Brewer fans heading that way as the team shirts were in abundance. My nice husband bought me an ice cream. What a guy!

Update on the porch....Ben and Barney are both pretty sore. Quote from my husband "It was fun for the first hour or so". The cement slab is all broken apart. Now it just needs to be hauled to the dumpster that will be ordered soon I hope. Not sure how long it's going to be until he stops moaning with every move he makes. Growing older sucks!

Buckwheat is Alive!

On my last leg of my route to work this morning I noticed the funky hairdo of the driver in front of me. I then noticed that in the passenger seat was something about the size of a soccer ball but I couldn't make it out. It looked as if the headrest was covered with some type of furry round thing. As we turned the corner I got into the lane next to him and glanced over. Had I been drinking anything it most certainly would be splattered against my windshield at this point. The driver had a Buckwheat thing going on. Dreds all askew. The passenger is what made me laugh the most. This woman had the brightest clown colored perfectly round Afro that I have ever seen. I'm wondering if they were headed for some costume party, buy why at 6am. It made my hair thrown into a ponytail look pretty good.

Remodeling Update..........the walls of the old porch are completely down. Tomorrow the rented jackhammer will be picked up and the breaking of the cement will begin. I figure by the time I get home from work my husband will be unable to stand without jiggling or speak normal for a few hours. HaHaHaHaHiHoney.....HaHaHaHaHaHow was your day? I give him credit, he's taking on a big chore.

Go Brewers!

Coming Of Age

I finally made it into this decade by purchasing a Wii yesterday. What I need to find now is the Wii fit. Appears that everyone is out of them. Can't find it online unless I want to pay nearly double the price. I think my friend Skinny K should sell me hers as I'm fatter than her and need it more. Think that little ditty will work?

I have some kind of bite on my arm that I don't think came from a mosquito. I've managed to keep the itching under control but it's now developed a red blotch around it. I don't feel weak or faint yet so it must not have been anything to drastic. It just looks pretty ugly. This was the result of the weekend of camping. I wasn't bothered much by mosquito's, just flies and nasty earwigs. Those little suckers were hiding every where. We had a good time. The weather was a little muggy but nothing drinking 60 gallons of water didn't cure. I have to say my intake of beer was not much. I figured the water was much better for me than downing 8 or 10 beers. Now I know someone might disagree with me, but it was just to hot to drink beer.

We did manage to keep the fire tended but probably not as well as Stb would have. It was 80 plus degrees outside so we saw no need to huddle around the fire. I think we basically had it because it's what you do when you're camping. The rain did not put much of a damper on the weekend as it rained one night while we were already sleeping and not again until Saturday night around 10 pm. It did help to cool things off a little and make sleeping a little more comfortable.

The trip to the Casino was somewhat profitable for me. T was walking past me and rubbed my arm for a little luck. He couldn't have been more that 10 feet away when I hit $250.00 on a slot machine. I took that out and went to another machine and within a minute or two hit $125.00. That was the end of my streak for this trip. It did keep us out of the hot, muggy weather for a few hours.

As usual the food and company were good. The steaks on Saturday night were good. Bonnie made her infamous crappy coffee cake which was eaten just out of pity for her horrible cooking abilities. (yummy once again) Sorry stb I was unable to save you a slice for fear of being accused of harboring the goodness.

The only thing bad about the weekend was that it ended.

A Long Way From Home

My drive to work every morning is usually spent thinking of random crap. For some reason my imagination seems to run wild in the morning. I think it's the boredom of the ride in.
This mornings focus was on the one lonely mosquito flying around my car. Did it spend the night in my car? Did it get in when I got in? Did it attach itself to me and hitch a ride? Should I kill it? It wasn't making a run for my blood, it was just sitting on the drivers side window. I didn't notice if it had a full belly of blood. I started wondering about the mosquito and if it needed the blood to fertilize it's eggs. Was it the male sent out for food for the not yet hatched eggs? If so he was going to find out that Wauwatosa, where I was getting out, was a long way from my back yard. Or maybe he got in with me last night. I chuckled as I thought about his other half impatiently waiting at home for him. What if he stung and sucked up some blood from a drunk. Would he then come home and be accused of being at the bar? Would she fall for the "took a wrong turn" or "You are not going to believe what happened" story. Should I give the poor fellow a break and open the window and let him out? From where I was as that point he wouldn't have far to go to get back. Should I put him out of the misery of his nagging partner and smack him now? My mind switch directions and went off on some other thought. A few minutes later I felt it. The sting. The smack. That was the end of the worries of the fate of the lonely mosquito. Until that is...

I got home from work and for some reason thought about it again. It intrigued me so I did a little research on the mosquito and found that it wouldn't have mattered where I let HER off. The female is the blood collector and she doesn't use the blood to fertilize her eggs. I didn't spend a whole lot of time on the subject, just enough to know that no future mosquito's were harmed in the swatting of the free loader in my car this morning.

I Need To Dust

I left for the store yesterday morning and returned to find that A and Ben had been working on tearing down the porch. The porch sits on the west side of our house which is where the kitchen and dining room are. It was mostly the width of the dining room. The boys had succeeded in removing the roof and doors. I walked in the house and was shocked by just how bright my dining room was. This was nice, except for on small thing. You could see every speck of dust and you could see dog hair on the floor that I just vacuumed hours before. You could tell that I hadn't dusted the rarely used dining room chairs in a while (not as bad as Stb's). Crap! Now there has been a can of worms opened which is going to just mean more work for me. I am liking the afternoon sunlight hitting the room.

The second problem with having this room under construction is our dog. She has never been on a chain, except for going for walks. She is not a very happy camper right now. Apparently a temporary fence is under construction. Last night I got the lecture on making sure I don't just open the door in the morning and let her out. "Duh" was my reply (I will admit it was a bit cocky). What do I do this morning? You got it, I opened the door, let the dog out, headed for the bathroom and realized my mistake.
I went back outside to find her just sitting on the deck. I'm not quite sure she realizes there is freedom for the taking.

We had a trivia tournament Saturday and although we didn't win big, I think we did okay. The questions were a bit harder than usual and we seconded guessed some of them but out of 26 teams we came in 6th place. We had a substitute player, while Stb was off on a roof top in Chicago. Thanks to Clete and his memory of song lyrics. My husband who was accused of usually being in la-la land was on it with the 3 second sound bytes from TV shows. I watched him scribbling away on his scratch paper as they were being played. I think he's now gotten over us replacing Great American Hero with St. Elsewhere. Oops..sorry honey.

After a long day at Trivia we went on to a small church festival where my husband and brother made their usual haul. Let's just say to all the fellow campers that it better rain a lot as they are stocked up with Jack for a long time. If Bonnie's nice she can probably get one just for sitting in her chair looking pretty. We also have about a years supply of hard salami. After the festival it was a sad goodbye to some great friends who have been visiting from Virgina. We'll miss them. Here's to a safe trip home.

Naked

My husband finally got the drawings together and made the trek to City Hall for the building permit for our porch. By the time I got home from work the demo had started. I didn't even get to say my last goodbyes before he started ripping it to shreds. There must be some kind of sick joy a man gets when ripping something apart as there he stood with crowbar in hand and a scary smile on his face. I know what was running through his head "I'll get you for all the times I had to fix the damn leaks. I'll show you".

By 8pm tonight the entire inside, the windows and the siding on two sides of the porch were gone. Part of the shingles on the roof are off. He had to call it quits as the bugs were getting to him. In a different situation I think he would have been out there with flood lights. Funnier was the guy next door looking over in pure admiration. He wanted in also.

I'm excited about getting a new screen porch, but I'm also a little sad. I can remember coming here when my kids were babies and sitting out on the porch with them and my younger siblings and parents. Many a family dinner, birthday celebrations and holidays were spent on the porch. The playpen was tucked in the corner so the kids could be out there and see out all the windows. Many poker games and board games where played out there. There were a few sleep overs on cots on the screen porch. Many TV shows watched and just chatting around the table. Most of all, my dad built the porch. There have been renovations over the years but it remained the original structure he built. To many good memories.

I know my husband will do an excellent job rebuilding the porch and I'm sure there will be many more memories to come. It's just a little sad right now. The back of my house will look naked for awhile and hopefully will not become a mud hole. Maybe we'll find some rare fossils or coins when digging that could bring us new found wealth.

And Three Makes it "Enough Already"

Late last September our AC took a poop. We had had a service guy over for yearly maintenance and he had discovered that the Freon was low and filled it. They suspected that there might have been a leak but wasn't to concerned about it. At the time we had inquired about the repair costs and replacement cost as the unit is going on 20 years old. So who thinks about these things in the winter when you're more concerned about getting heat in your home? Last week we decided to make an appointment for service. Husband called several places just to get more than one option. Guy #1 shows up yesterday. Not really worth it to fix it as it is at it's life expectancy. Gives us a figure of $2700.00 to replace the unit. After our jaws hit the ground we were able to ask a few questions. This is nothing more than pulling out the old unit and putting in a new one. Some electrical permit is involved. Not sure why. We tell him we'll let him know. In the mean time we borrow a room AC from Ben & Annette (thank you) to put in our bedroom to allow us to sleep.

Did I forget to mention that when I pulled in the driveway after work yesterday that I saw the hood open on my husbands truck? I should have just kept driving. He replaced the water pump today ($80.00).

Guy # 2 shows up today. I was at work so I got the information second hand. $2300.00 and they'll replace the furnace also for $1400.00. WTF? (knock on wood) nothing is wrong with that. He then tells me that the guy said there is a recall on our furnace. It's also 20 years old. I call bullshit as the people that serviced our furnace in March this year would have told us. I think it's a plot. My guess is that now in October when I turn the heat on it will go out. Then I'll get the AC for $1400.00 and the furnace will jump to $2300.00.

So, as if that wasn't enough...I decide to do laundry tonight. Go to put the first load in the dryer, turn on the dryer, the heat comes out but the drum does not turn. "Oh no, this is not happening" I calmly reach inside and turn the drum by hand, close the door, start it up and it makes this terrible clunk and begins to turn. I'm thinking the belt must have slipped. I then got a little nervous that it would stop and just burn my clothes so I went downstairs every few minutes. The old gal held on for three loads. I told Mr. Fix-It when he got home and all I saw was rolling eyes. Poor guy took vacation this week to begin working on the screen porch and has done nothing but fix things so far. I could put money on the fact that it won't get looked at.

This is my bad things happens in threes. I consider myself free and clear for awhile now. I can now go on living my life a little easier until the next thing comes along.

If this is the worst that's going to happen I feel pretty fortunate.

I Really Need To Carry A Camera

When I left the house yesterday morning for Summerfest there was a little chill in the air. Local weatherman said cooler by the lake. Using my better judgement I left the jacket in the car. There was no need for the extra baggage to carry around. The weather was great! A few of the guys managed to get a little pink in the face.

The day was interesting. Anytime there is a large gathering of people there are some that really stand out. I'm pretty sure it's the ones that want to stand out. This is where the lack of a camera is felt. People watching is a great thing! There were the usual Mohawks but what I found strange was the 50 plus year old woman with the red, white and blue one. There must have been a sale on black fishnet stockings somewhere as they were worn by many early 20 girls. The best outfit has to go to the girl with the thigh high fishnets made really fashionable with the furry boots. I spotted a girl that appeared to have lost her shorts or pants as she was just sporting boy shorts undergarments. I can pretty much say they were of the Hanes collection. We stopped to listen to a band (I am bad with band names) who had a good following of the "charlie Brown Christmas Special Dancers".

It was a good day. The bottled beer was chilled, the fried eggplant was better than last year and the company of friends was good. We left around 6 ish to be driven to the Park & Ride on a very empty bus. There was a little bit of silly singing for every one's enjoyment on the trip back. We were then able to enjoy a minute or so ride in STB's car back to Ben & Annette's house for a dinner of Gold Rush chicken and pizza and the best fries in Milwaukee.

It's A Vacation Day That You Can't Go Home

The tittle of my blog is a quote made by a co-worker on Tuesday. It was pretty dead by us for three days. We were on a repetitive, yet boring job. Around 8am Tuesday I made the comment that this could be a long two days. After joking around a bit I said "It's like hell with no fire". A few minutes later he came back with his comment. For some reason all three of us found it funny at the time.

Fortunately my company gave us a four day weekend. I'm thankful for that, as our weekend has filled up quite a bit. Today my daughter, sister and I took 6 kids to the Racine Zoo. I haven't been there in about 20 or so years. It's very small but very well kept and the kids seemed to enjoy it. There's quite a few animals with no lines or people mashing into you to get a view of the gorilla that moved an inch. The view of the lake is great. Racine has a very well kept beach area which I've been to before for air shows. And here's a plus...it doesn't smell at the beach.

The weather is promising to cooperate for the weekend. I'm glad it won't be sticky hot as walking around Summerfest sweating your ass off isn't all that appealing to me. We're looking at mid 70's which, if it happens could be perfect. I'm not really into the fireworks thing so we'll be heading to Ben & Annette's house after Summerfest. Sounds like a good day is in order.

Happy 4th To all of you and remember to say a little prayer for all those protecting our Country right now.

It's Raining Again.....

I think the only thing that would have cut through the humidity Friday & yesterday was for it to rain. The clouds that were coming toward my house yesterday afternoon did prove to be a little nasty. And the cooler dryer air that came with it was a relief from the humidity. Today I was able to shut off all the fans in the house and let nature take it's course. It's cooled off quite nicely.

I ventured out with my friend today to our first visit of Strawberry Fest held in Cedarburg. We were meeting up with some others and were warned in advance to get there early as it does get a bit crowded. They were planning on arriving at 7:30 am for the start of the Strawberry Pancake Breakfast. We were not going that early. We arrived around 9am and the crowd was pretty scarce. That is until we walked the the main road and saw "the line". The line for the pancake breakfast went down the block and around the corner. Sorry but no pancake is worth that wait in line for me. We opted for the $3.00 Strawberry Shortcake which proved to be possible the best I've ever eaten. We met up with our friends and strolled around a bit. By around noon the crowd was getting thick. It was that shuffle, shuffle, kind of walking. I was constantly looking for a spot to break free. Then I took a look at the sky and noticed the dark clouds. We decided to leave around 1230 and as we got it started raining. Had it been a little warmer and not so crowded we may have stuck around as there were a few bands playing but seriously beside the small vendor tents there was no where to go to not get soaked. That and the fact that the two public bathrooms I saw had lines longer than drunken Opening Day.
All in all I did accomplish the shuffle. Now I should be all set for Summerfest.

Future File Tape

My husband has been working some long hours the past week due to his company having a booth at Summerfest this year. Yesterday he came straight from work in time to catch the ending of the first inning of Dylan's baseball game. He looked pretty worn out. After a few minutes he casually mentions to me that his mug may be on tv later. He was interviewed while setting up at Summerfest and told to watch the 10 pm news. I walked in the bedroom after Trivia last night to find him sound asleep and caught him on the news. His infamous words while unloading the back of the work truck "Yeah, it's been a rough one". End of his fame. When I told him about it this morning he laughed and remarked that they had talked to him for about 5 minutes. I also had to ask him if he knew this was coming as his hair was looking somewhat good. Not the usually standing on end or combed back look. Perhaps they caught him early in the day.

This is not the first time he's been on the tube. His company was on the Gus Tour show about a year ago and he's all up in the tube. They were also on about 3 years ago and he was on for a quick second. I think he may have gotten over his camera jitters. Wonder what's next?

Free Food?

I don't usually touch on news items to much as I like to keep my opinions of some things to myself, but today I feel compelled to voice my thoughts.
Is this the way we want Milwaukee portrayed in the news? I know it's a touch of reality, but is it that we are that needy of a city, or that we are loaded with free-loaders? Did the city bite off more than they could chew? Did they not think that the offer of $542.00 in food vouchers for a family of 4 would not cause near riot scenes? The sad part about this is that probably only 25% of the people who stood on the line were actually flood victims. Having some of your kids clothes that were in the basement get wet does not make you worthy of receiving free food vouchers.
Openly admitting on camera that you're just there to see if you can get them, and don't really need them does not make you anything more that a free-loader.
Then to have the alderman and Mayor speak about how they were so shocked at the amount of people that showed up (1/2 of them not even knowing why they could get these vouchers) and say they didn't realize that our city had that many hungry people. Yes, we have hungry people. We have a lot of people who need help and cannot get it. They don't have enough people to process these applications, so many of these vouchers will get into the wrong hands. Your penalty for lying on the application: a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. If they bilked you into getting the vouchers, they will bilk their way out of any kind of retribution for lying. They will be let go as "Uneducated victims who didn't understand what they were applying for".
I've been in the down and out position in my life and did stand on the cheese line once and also received WIC for 6 months. I was fortunate enough to have parents who, without me asking, helped out. I would come home from mom's to find a few food items tucked in the diaper bag. In the words of my father "Where there's a will, there's a way". Sometimes we are all guilty of not getting our priorities straight but one with responsibilities soon will learn from their mistakes. I am, however not guilty of ever being a moocher. I can always find someone that's in a worse way than I am and help out if needed. The people that I saw on the news yesterday and this morning were nothing more than guilty of trying to get something that they do not have coming. The one's that really had the help coming were probably at the end of the line. Why do our news stations only show the idiots?

Polka Dots, The Monkey, A Fashion Show & Prizes

Apparently dousing yourself in a vat of mosquito repellent wasn't enough to ward off the pesky little varmints this weekend. I guess it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that mucho rain=standing water=eggs=hatching=mosquito's=biting me.
The back of my legs, my ass and my back has the appearance of measles. Fortunately, not many of them itch yet, but I'll be taking the generic anti-itch medication I picked up just for this occasion.

Other than that minor problem the weekend went well. Once again there was way to much food, plenty to drink and the company of good friends. This year the task of Pudgie Pie cook was handed over with proper ceremony to Stb, who did a fine job. You can probably read about it in his blog if he is not to modest to gloat a little.
We had a few sprinkles of rain but for the most part the sun was present most of the weekend.

Our guest this weekend was "monkey". He came flying in shortly after dusk of Friday night. My husband "scored" on this furry little creature with rubber band sections of legs & arms. You pull this thing back like a sling shot and when it lands it makes this annoying, yet funny screaming noise. "Monkey" survived the weekend being annoying, yet never being tossed into the fire.

I know the motto "What Happens At Camping, Stays At Camping" but I cannot hold back on the Saturday morning fashion show. Some one's father disappeared into his camper and reappeared moments later wearing a striking pajama ensemble made lovingly for him by his talented seamstress bride. These pj's will hold sentimental value as they were crafted from the very own "rainbow" collection of sheets that C & R used to tuck J and baby Precious into at night. And as if C didn't work hard enough on that project, she managed to (while sometimes under the influence) whip out 16 scrubbies in a vast assortment of colors. Time was a ticking away and that needle was going at a steady rate but she finished in time to award the prizes for those who earned them. The contest: when making the potato salad C found that some of the potato's were to small to cut up so she left them whole. Those who wished to partake in the contest were required to find the whole potato's. I think there's one still hidden in the bowl of salad so R could earn himself a scrubbie.

All in All it was a good weekend. For the next few day while I am scratching away I will have fond memories.

Blame The Cook

I think that Jesus has a personal liking for my husband. Every time we go to a church festival the man makes a haul. His booty for the recent visit included:4 cases of brats, a bottle of wine, a 12 pack of beer, a sausage and a ham. I went over to the paddle game that he was winning on and they knew him. They knew that he wanted to purchase the last paddle each time..and when he did , he won. I think he needs to purchase the last lottery ticket to ensure a win also.

Yesterday when putting all these brats away in the freezer I came across a box of Italian sausage that he won last September. They were all wrapped in freezer wrap and protected very well. I decided that we should have them for dinner. I gave him several options-spaghetti with Italian sausage, bombers or a little dish called Polish Chop Suey. He opted for the Polish Chop Suey. As I was putting it together I had second thoughts as two of the ingredients are sauerkraut and mushroom soup. "How bad can it be" I asked myself. It turned out pretty good and he must of thought so also as he went for seconds. About an hour after we ate I was outside painting the fence and the end of our driveway and he was loading wood in the truck for the weekend camping trip. It was then that I noticed a stank odor in the air. I stood up and looked at him and as our eyes met I said "Was that you? Oh my GOD!" By the look on his face I knew it was. He then says "Phew, that dinner you made is hitting me hard". This is my fault. This continued throughout the night. Why do I do these things? Last night he put E to shame.

Crushed

Game 2 of the inter-league tournament. Dylan's team (Yankees) won 5-4. They played a good game and were told that they were on to game 3. The coach instructed them to go home, shower, eat a protein filled lunch and return to the ballpark at 1 pm for their next game. (BTW-Dylan had a great hit into center field which tied up the game)

A & I took off with a plan to return at 130 ish. We were walking out the door and received a call from my son (who was very irate mind you) and told to sit tight for a minute as there was an issue with the game. I wish I would have not listened and went anyway. A few minutes go by and he calls back to let us know that they had to forfeit the last game. WHA...WHA...WHA..What? They won. It appears that after the game ending cards were signed off by the coaches that the coach from the other team had a question. This question came up in a game a few nights ago. The opposing team had a pitcher in for one inning, he then returned 3 innings later to pitch again. According to the Ump that night, who claims he called the Little League commissioner this was okay. They could return, but had to be out for at least two innings. So, today the Yankee's had a pitcher in for the first inning and pulled him out. In the 5th inning they put him back in. The coach walked over to the ump and opposing team coach to notify them of the pitching change and to give him the boy's name. The boy pitches, they win the game. The score sheets are signed and nothing at all is said. Nothing, until all these kids left the field and went home for their hour rest. All hyped and geared up for the next game.

The kid's come back only to find out they won't be playing. The coach's are all trying to get a hold of the commissioner who they find sitting at a picnic table with a bunch of other guys drinking beers. They question this whole mess and are told that it's in the rule book. No one can find it anywhere. The ass wipe goes on to tell the coaches and parents that the Ump made a mistake the other night in telling them it was okay. Well, then the coach wants their loss from the other night wiped off. To late the guys says...you had to do that before the next game played. so they try to get this gripe fixed as the next game hasn't started yet and the guy tells them his decision has been made. "Take it up with the committee". They ask that the game be postponed until they can get a straight answer. He contradicts himself several times in the conversation and lets the next game start. They are still talking to him when he brings up the point that they had to protest before the start of the next game. Ass wipe. Not sure what is going to happen next as there is a meeting this week over the whole issue. To bad for the kids on the Yankees team and way to go for the other team's teaching the kids that they lost...but won.

Here's a good one also. When the tournament rules came out it stated that there could be no alcoholic beverages in and around the diamonds. Someone questioned the commissioner about his beer. He had a permit. This is supposed to be the best league in the City. But, I guess there's no use crying over spilt milk.

A Welcome Weekend

As long as the rain holds out or even stays to a minimum this could be a good weekend. I planned ahead and got all the little piddly things out of the way yesterday so I could actually enjoy the next 2 days. Dylan has baseball tournaments tonight and if they win, will go on to play 1 to 3 games tomorrow. Guess we'll be camping out for the day at the local park. Then it's on to the local Church festival where I can observe my husband playing every paddle game in site. This will stock up his bar with cheap booze and possibly a case or two of brats and Italians. He tried to bet me that he could make it through the festival without playing any games but I felt bad knowing that he'd loose the bet.

Work was a disaster this week. I think that's all I'm going to say about that.

My daughter had a surgery today that is supposed to relieve the pain she's having in her legs and back after having a back fusion over a year ago. I stopped at the surgery center on my way home from work as she was just getting into recovery. Funny thing is I know my kids embellish in drink here and there but I've never seen either of them in a state of drunkenness. She was a little dopey from the pain meds and it was hard for me not to chuckle a bit. They had given her a soda and crackers to munch on prior to letting her go and she was looking at these crackers like they were some sort of foreign object. Studying each and every one of them. Her choice of drink was an orange/pineapple drink which she went into detail about how WE used to get them at school. A puzzled look came over her face as she looked at me and realized we did not go to school together. After about 30 minutes she was released and I very sincerely wished my son-in-law the best of luck for the evening.

Slish-Slosh

Prior to the sky opening on Saturday I was on a roll with yard work. I managed to get in a little on Sunday before the second wave of storms blew through. Yesterday I took a quick look around to survey the effects of the monsoon like weather we had. It didn't look to bad at a quick glance. So I dug it in tonight and continued on my trek toward the summer yard. I figure if the porch is going into demo stage then at least our yard can look somewhat nice. I filled up two P&S plastic bags with those freaking whrilly bird things that fall from our tree. Anyone know of someone with a tree farm. I guarantee they will grow because if we don't pick them up the little buggers are sprouting up all over.

When I got to the far back yard I discovered that it was a big soggy. I'm not quite sure how the hubby cut the grass as it was soaked. The grass is lush and green. I started planting some flowers that I had bought and figure it'll be a few days until they need water. Although we don't have any standing water it's very wet. I feel very fortunate that we did not sub stain any serious damage.

When I ventured to the front yard there was a squawking bird up in the tree. This thing would not fly away. It was then I made the discovery. She was homeless and her babies had suffered the effects of the storm. It seems that the birdhouse that was hanging in that tree was blown to the ground. She squawked louder when I picked it up. The nest was still intact and I could see eggs. I guess I could have easily gotten rid of the birdhouse but I got it back up in the tree. Last look she was sitting on top of it....very quietly.

"Good Luck With Your Basement"

That little ditty seems to be the phrase of the day. Shows you how friendly the people in Milwaukee and surrounding areas are. Sure, we're all in the same boat.
We were fortunate to only have a small amount of water in our basement, but what do you expect when you get dumped on with 8 plus inches of rain. Our little sump pump could only handle so much but we're glad for what it did.

Our yard, on the other hand is a mess. All the bark and mulch I had out is washed away somewhere. The helicopter things that fall from our tree are covering our yard and decks. The best bet there is to wait a few days until things dry out and then suck them up. All in all I can't really complain, as there are families in much worse condition then we are. I just watched a home in Lake Delton floating down the Wisconsin River. People just need to be a little smarter and stay out of the swollen rivers and not send their kids out to play in the raw sewage pond that is now their backyard.

My new computer is all set up and operating. I'm loving it. I have a lot to explore and get used to but so far so good.

My weekend sucked except for Friday night when I went with Annette to the unveiling of the Pink Harley. Had two Cosmos and a few munchies and proceeded to the local pub where we met up with some friends. Being that STB was in Vegas, I was able to collect the winning tickets off the Miller Lite bottles several times (4). Saturday and Sunday were emotional crap days spent trying to convince the brain surgery brother-in-law to seek some help. He's currently on a roll to self destruction. Very sad situation, but people are wearing thin trying to help them out.

I'm back to the normal shift now and happy as a lark. It's a little quiet due to lack of employees, but I'm sure we'll get used to the change. We're on our way out to catch Dylan's baseball game. They had to switch the location due to the original one being now under water.

Hope everyone weathered the storm well