Ouch

It's been a bloody week in softball and baseball so far...3 games, 3 bleeders. Oye.

Co-ed softball Monday night...a girl on the other team hits the ball to our shortstop...he bobbles it, he makes a wild throw to me at first, I tried but couldn't get close to it, the girl had already run past the base, I said "look out", she looked up instead of covering her head....and got hit just above the eyebrow with the ball. Ouch. She was a sweet young thing....and there was a lot of drama involved when she saw blood. Maybe she didn't know that eyebrows bleed a lot. She had her team call 911. Two cop cars, finally an ambulance....drama.

On Tuesday in women's softball, my friend Kris was catching....the throw came in from the outfield and she dove forward to make the tag and skun her knee. Lots of dust and dirt, she got the gal out, no drama. Then she wrote on facebook that all was well...until her dog decided to lick her wound clean in the night while she was sleeping! Ouch!

Then on Wednesday night at Billy's baseball game....the boy was pitching....

...pitching pretty well....and then I don't remember exactly what happened....

....I think it was a passed ball, or a wild pitch.....there was a runner on third, when the ball got away from the catcher he headed for home....

...Billy came in to cover the plate...

....the throw was low, it got there about the same time as the runner did....

...Billy caught the ball, sort of fell onto the plate while the runner came sliding in....

....and the umpire strategically was in the way so you can't see Billy taking the full force of the slide with the other boys metal cleat going directly into his knee cap.

He hung onto the ball, the boy was out...and Billy was out of the game with a bloody knee.

He wanted to stay to support his team, so we did...but after the game we took a little trip to Urgent Care where they did an X-ray or 4, cleaned the wound and determined that there was too much skin missing to stitch it. Ouch. He's pretty stiff and sore today, he'll miss tonight's game....but play-offs start tomorrow...I have a feeling he'll be feeling much better by then.

3 games, 3 bleeders...I think I'll stay home tonight.

On another note...I know that sports are risky, I know that accidents happen....but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would think that metal cleats are a good idea for baseball players....especially kids. It makes me really want to raise a stink....but somehow, I don't think I'd get very far with the good ole' boys of the baseball world and I don't think I'm up for that battle....which doesn't say very much for my character does it? What a whimp.

Father's Day

I'm a day late...but today's post is about Father's Day...a day to honor our Dads. It could have been a sad day, thinking about my dad being gone...but I've decided that Father's Day and my dad's birthday should be days to celebrate him and the man that he was. I miss him everyday, so why not reserve those special days for gratitude and joy to have been a part of this mans life.

When I was a little girl, my dad was larger than life. His big hands could do anything. The only thing bigger than his hands was his heart. Actually I believe that to this day.

No matter how tired he was, he had time for us.

My dad had confidence in me to let me try my wings....while he looked on.

He was there to give me away at my wedding. Looking back, I think it was harder on him that I ever realized. I'll never forget how carefully he put my long white dress in the back of the station wagon making sure it didn't get dirty or wrinkled....and how he held my veil while I brushed my hair before walking down the aisle.

My dad always listened when I talked to him....there was never a doubt that he cared about what I had to say.

He always made me feel like I could do anything I set my mind to...because that is what he believed. Here he is looking over my first performance review as a mechanical designer. He was interested, he was proud...and he didn't even has to say it.

He welcomed me home with a hug and a smile.

He took the time to make sure my family was a part of his world. This is Brian when he first started loving tractors....because of his grandpa.

He celebrated the simple pleasures...like his grandson proudly showing him his first pair of "farming boots".

He was a wonderful dad....but I think that he was an even better grandpa. He loved when the grand kids were involved in what he was doing in his world....

.... and he was quick to come into our world to be a part of what we were doing.

I am grateful for the time he and I had in Montana....

....and so grateful that when I asked him if he wanted to go with that his response was, "well, I'm not getting any younger." And the plans were in motion. I can't think of a more perfect way to have spent a full week with my dad.

My dad had a loyal following. This was one of his dogs...Alex....she adored him. So did Kelly, and Murphy, and my brother's dog Rusty, and Penny, and many more....dogs are a good judge of character you know.

Dad and I didn't ride together in the early years, but we sure had fun in the later years. The woods, the trails, the horses, the stories, the adventures, but most of all the time and the smiles we shared. Riding together is one of the things I miss the very most.

He gave us so much...the love, the support, the pride....

....the zest for living, teaching the importance of a good days work....

...being there to celebrate the big moments and the everyday moments....

...giving a pat on the back, a teasing comment....

....and most of all letting his love shine through with his laugh, his smile, and the twinkle in his eyes. How can I be sad on Father's Day when I know that I was the luckiest girl in the world to have been loved by a Dad like mine? I love you dad, Happy Father's Day.

Photo Catch Up Again

Isn't it nice to be done with the fencing project?? I thought so too. I haven't done a post to catch up with my photo-a-day project for a while....so here we go.

Flowers. They seem to be my favorite thing to take pictures of. We've had a lot of cool and rainy days in June....the flowers don't seem to mind.

Favorite photo subject number two....baseball. I love to take pictures of kids playing ball. It's been tough to get games in with all the rain. It's been hard to take pictures in the low light. But I keep trying.

The daisies are huge this year. Not sure if it's the weather or just that they finally are established enough to really bloom. Such a beautiful flower....doesn't it seem odd that they don't smell nice?

I guess it just shows that things don't have to be perfect in every way to be wonderful.

Day Lily. I planted quite a few of them in my new perennial garden. They are planted on a fairly steep slope...I hope that they are as low maintenance as they seem to be.

Back lit roses in the evening in my back yard. They are beautiful, smell wonderful...but have thorny stems....and the aphids like to chew holes in their leaves. Perfect, but not.

I don't remember the name of these roses...I thought that they would be climbers but they don't seem to be...but I like how they are sort of in between a traditional rose and a wild rose....and they are pink. Ahhh.

Another rainy daisy...see what I mean?

Billy playing catcher....how did he get so tall? Why is the sky never blue?

Wild flowers at the cabin.

A purple cone flower in my new perennial garden. I planted a lot of those too.

Billy at bat....the sun was actually washing out the trees in the background. I think we've passed the cool and rainy bend.

Eric and I went to the Twins game on Wednesday evening. The weather was perfect. Our seats were great. The Twins won. What else is there?

Billy's game was shortened last night because of a storm....but he hit a triple before the rains came. He got in under the tag. I liked how they were staring each other down.

And that's it. Caught up on the photos of the day. Now if I could just catch up on the laundry, the dishes, the sweeping, the cleaning, the weeding, the groceries, the....sigh....I think I'll just stick to picking the daisies. Happy Friday!

The Final Fence Post

The finished fence....South East corner. Ours is straight, the neighbors isn't.

This is the North East corner....and my un-planted perennials.

The back, or North side of the yard.

In between our side yard and the neighbors to the West.

The outside of the backside. :-)

The outside of the North West corner.

Pickets up close....4 screws each...just under 1600 screws.

The neighbors side. Isn't it pretty....I'm so glad that we went ahead and put in up.

The inside.

The gate. All that was left was the latch.

Eric was in charge of the latch.

It's sort of like the last piece of the puzzle. Anyone that puts the last piece in gets to say they finished the whole puzzle. Eric used to steal one piece from the puzzle and hide it, just so he could be the one to "finish" the puzzle.

I married him anyway. Almost a month to the day, the latch is in place....

....and the fence is done. Here is the fence that Eric built....

......with a little help from his wife.

Looks great dear.....what do you want to tackle next?