Spooky
2 November 2006 @ 11:28 pm
Yes, again we’ve been MIA in terms of posting in recent weeks but not for any reason other than we didn’t really have a heck of a lot to report over that time. It seems that life has fallen into a routine for us. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but it seems ridiculous to just post: “Today, for dinner, we had pork chops and apple sauce.”
Well, news that is fit to print is that Lea has finally started taking a few steps in the past couple of days. In fact, her first steps came on Halloween, which is odd in that Jakob started walking to almost the exact day after he was born. By the end of this weekend, we wouldn’t be surprised if she’s running from room to room, chasing the cats or her brother. She is doing a lot of climbing, too: up onto the dining room chairs, the dining room table, the bathroom sink, and a few other places. Speaking of Halloween, in case you’re curious, we dressed the kids as M&Ms. Both of them love trick-or-treating; in fact, Jakob practiced all day Tuesday saying “trick or treat.”
All that remains is some of the latest news from the Red Sox, who have picked up Tim Wakefield’s option for 2007 and signed Mike Timlin to another one-year contract. Both of these guys will 40-plus this coming season but they are still considered key contributors, Wakey in the rotation and Timlin in the ‘pen. Looking from the outside in are, among others, free agents Trot Nixon, Gabe Kapler, Mark Loretta, and Alex Gonzalez. Personally, we’d like to see all of them return, especially Trot, who is currently the longest-tenured player in the Red Sox organization (since 1993 - signed by Lou Gorman of all people) and one of the original “dirt dogs,” but the business of baseball doesn’t always consider those factors.
At least recent negotiations between the players and owners resulted in a labor deal that will keep peace in Major League Baseball for the next five years. Congratulations are also in order for the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the World Series in five games over Detroit last week, albeit the fact that they had fewer wins than Boston did this past season (86 wins for the Sox versus 83 for the Red Birds). In fact, St. Louis has the distinction of having the fewest regular season wins ever posted by an eventual World Series winner for that same season. Red Sox and Yankee fans take little comfort in that.
All’s Fair
9 October 2006 @ 12:48 pm
Hey, we’re back after Jeff took the past week off from work. Fall is actually a great time to take a vacation in New England because there are several fairs that take place in late September and early October around here.
Early last week, we went to the Fryeburg Fair in Maine, just over the border from East Conway, NH. Fryebrug, of course, is derived from the German expression: “Have you ever seen so much traffic?” The fair itself was great but, coming from Conway, we got stuck in a three-mile backup that took - no kidding - ninety minutes to get through to where we parked. Nevertheless, it was great! We had Jeff’s parents with us and Jakob and Bumpa, of course, could not get enough of the antique tractors on display. We also got our fill of livestock: horses, cows, oxen, pigs, goats, sheep, and almost any other farm animal you can imagine. Tiffany kept her distance due to her allergies, which makes you wonder how she survived growing up on a farm! We also sampled the usual county fair diet, which included corn dogs and soft serve ice cream.
We also went to a nice little street festival yesterday in nearby Newburyport, a nice artisan’s town on the North Shore of Massachusetts one town removed from the New Hampshire border. Again, we just walked around and checked out the different vendors and watched a nice half-hour performance by a yo-yo expert. He did just about every yo-yo trick in the book (walking the dog, around the world, rock the cradle, etc.) but had some others that were way more advanced and, of course, threw in lots of humor to keep the audience captured for the entire performance.
We also finished a few more items in the basement. At this point, we are done per se except for some minor details that we would call finish work, like installing baseboard and door trim, applying some paint, etc. Already, we have the kids down there to play, although they are still under adult supervision to make sure that they stay out of trouble. Lea is very close to taking those first steps but even so, as we reported in our last post, she moves fast. Jakob, of course, can’t keep himself out of those places that we ask him not to go so it remains that we must keep an eye on the two of them for a while longer down there.
Well, unfortunately, the Red Sox finished well out of contention for the baseball playoffs this season but the good news is that the Yankees got bounced in the first round by the Detroit Tigers (ha-ha!). So neither of us have anything to celebrate and only the future to contemplate until the 2007 season begins. It will be an interesting off-season as usual with several key players from Boston up for free agency and some hard decisions to make by the front office. In the meantime… go Patriots!
You’ve Been Schooled
26 September 2006 @ 9:30 am
Jakob has really taken to his new school very quickly. It’s amazing to see how excited he is to go and play with his little friends. So far, he’s brought home more than a few art projects and the refridgerator is getting crowded. Of course, the few hours that he’s away from home gives Tiffany a little time to get some work done around the house that’s nearly impossible to handle when he and Lea are both bouncing off the walls.
Lea is doing well, too. After the excitement of turning one, she is really getting around the house with ease. It’s amazing how quickly she can go from one room to another just on her hands and knees (apparently there is no incentive to starting walking yet and that’s fine with us). She’s also learned to go up and down the stairs on her own, making sure to carefully back down the stairs one step at a time, though Mommy and Daddy have to be sure to be close by in case she loses her balance.
This past weekend, we had the chance to visit Tiffany’s family out in New York and had a great time. Already the leaves are turning and it was great driving down the MA Turnpike and NY Thruway and watching the display unfold through the Berkshires and well past Albany. It’s also interesting to see our nieces and nephews get a little older each time we get the chance to visit with them. It’s hard to believe that these are the same kids who were once as old as our kids are now, but now they are well on their way to adulthood. It sends shivers down your spine - the good kind, of course!
Well, happy autumn, everyone!
Happy First Birthday, Lea!
13 September 2006 @ 6:30 amNever Forget
11 September 2006 @ 6:30 am
This post is dedicated to our friend, Peter Gay, one of the victims of September 11th who was flying on American Airlines Flight 11 and died at 54 years young that day along with the many other innocents whose lives were taken by a cowardly terrorist act. We love him and miss him. Wherever you are today, please take a moment to pause and reflect on what happened that day and how important it is that we carry on the legacy of the people that we loved. We shall never forget…
It Don’t Look Good
6 September 2006 @ 3:00 pm
Did a little research this morning on the state of the Red Sox, who lost 21 of 29 in August… entering the last game of the current series with the White Sox, the club is eight back of the Yanks in the East division and six back of the Twins for the wild card spot.
In reality, the Sox not only need to start winning but the Twins, Yanks, and White Sox need to fall into a funk similar to what Boston experienced in August and I just don’t see that happening. If New York plays .500 ball for the rest of the season (13-12), Boston would need to win 21 of their last 23 to win the division outright — New York has already won the season series. Plus, the last weekend of the season has the Twinks and the Pale Hose squaring off for three games, so Boston really needs to get ahead of those two teams before then to have a realistic chance to earn the wild card, and they have just three weeks and 20 games to do that.
After 2004, I’m sure anything is possible but, with just one starter still in the rotation from the first week of the season (Josh Beckett) and the closer (Jonathan Papelbon) shelved for possibly the rest of the year, can the Sox pull off the near-impossible? To me, shipping David Wells to San Diego pretty much told me that the Sox were raising the white flag on the season. But, we shall see…
If the Sox are eliminated, I’m going to root for the Tigers if they can hang on and win the division (four games up on Minnesota right now). After years of futility — 12 straight losing seasons dating back to 1994 — it would be nice to see them go the distance. Jim Leyland is severely underrated as a head coach and, IMO, more than deserves his second Manager of the Year award.
You Make The Call
@ 2:45 pm
Here is the latest close-up of Jeff’s parents’ four-month-old (or roughly thereabout) Siamese cat that they named Tilley. When they got her as a kitten, it was unclear whether she would be a blue point or a chocolate point, but it seems clear now that she is the latter. Her and Tonka, our cat that we gave to Jeff’s parents shortly after Jakob was born when he was a couple of years old, have become great friends. Life is very good for these cats…
Leaves That Are Green
29 August 2006 @ 7:30 am
It’s hard to believe that September is right around the corner; where did the summer go? For most of July and August, we had hot and humid weather, but now the temperatures in the morning hover around 60 and it’s been raining on and off for the past week. Sooner than we know, we’ll be raking up leaves in the yard and, shortly after that, pulling out the snowblower to clear the driveway - yikes!
We had a nice visit on Sunday from Jeff’s mother and his uncle Marshall, who hails from West Palm Beach, FL. We realized that we hadn’t seen him in nearly three years; we missed him two years ago when he made his annual late-summer excursion north and last year he stayed home to care for Jeff’s aunt Amy, who had surgery to correct a problem with her back. Not surprisingly, he looked good and really enjoyed seeing his great niece Lea for the first time as well as his great nephew Jakob, who was just an infant when last we saw him. Hopefully we will see him again sooner than three years from now and, if we’re lucky, perhaps we’ll catch him down in Florida where we can enjoy some fun in the sun!
On the Sox front - well, August has been absolutely dreadful for Boston. Did I say dreadul? It’s been disasterous! As of this morning, they are 8-19 and have been swept three times, including a five-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees at Fenway Park. The bottom line is that the Sox have fallen far out of first place (seven back) and chances do not look good for our boys to make the playoffs this year. It’s easy to see why; several of the veterans and every-day players like Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Alex Gonzalez, Manny Ramirez, and Tim Wakefield are either out or hampered with injury and it’s an assortment of who’s who out there (quick, who’s Dustin Pedroia?).
The news this morning gets even worse; Big Papi, David Ortiz, was flown home from Oakland last night because of an irregular heartbeat and it’s unclear if he will be shelved for the rest of his season - hell, for the rest of his career. This is the man who, right now, is the heart and soul of this team and is in line for possible MVP consideration. That matters not a bit right now, though; the important thing is not to have another Reggie Lewis tragedy. Winning should be secondary when the health of any player is on the line and you have to respect the organization for putting aside concerns for the direction of this team to care for one of its own.
Get better soon, Big Papi, and GO SOX!!! We still believe…
Arbitrary Post To Appear Alive
16 August 2006 @ 12:29 pmRats In The Cellar
19 July 2006 @ 9:57 am
We are so very close to finally having the cellar project completed. I installed cabinets for the wet bar and we’ve had measurements taken for the countertop, which hopefully will be installed by early August. The carpet was also installed in late June and we picked up our new sofa with the dual recliners along with a solo recliner shortly after that. I also finally hung the flat screen that we purchased in January on the wall and I’ve hooked up some of the new components to it so that we can watch DVDs and TV and surf the web with the computer (something that we’ve done very little of in recent weeks, judging again by the length of time between posts here).
We still need to have the plumber return to hook up the new toilet and sink in the bathroom but that should happen very soon, so hopefully we will have it ready to use full-time very soon. The trick is to make sure that what we don’t finish just yet will not pose a hazard to the kids. For instance, the fireplace that we have no plans to use does not have a door on it and it’s not quite the season to pick those up at Home Depot, in light of the recent heat wave that saw temperatures near 100°F this week. We also need to find a new home for the litter box so that Lea isn’t looking to try out those apples. This weekend, we should get some doors installed so that we can also close off areas like the laundry room, the workshop, and the utility closet.
In other recent news, we finally caught a Red Sox win in person! This season, Boston was 0-for-3 in games that we had attended but Curt Schilling and the offense finally caught fire last Saturday and shut out Oakland, 7-0, which coincidently was the first shutout pitched by the Sox this season. Boston had been as much as four games ahead of New York in the standings entering the All-Star break but some tough losses combined with a hot Yankees club has seen the lead drop to a half-game. It’s no surprise with these two teams again with strong rosters but the challenge this season may be to get that division title, as the Central looks like a better candidate to produce the wild card, with the defending World Series champion Chicago White Sox battling with an upstart Detroit Tigers club.
All is still well with the family. Jakob is “being three” and Lea continues to surprise us every day with something new. The cats are also doing their best to get those necessary 18 hours of sleep per day; it’s not easy with those mini-humans running around the house, shrieking with excitement. Mommy and Daddy just do what it takes.
