What's Happening?

Friday night's baseball game was lost in a painful way.  We were ahead or tied on two separate occasions and still figured a way to give the game back to the other side.  Most gruesome is the particular situations we fouled up on.  The plays and situations we work on and even specifically worked on twice last week, were the ones that led to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

We have 8 games left in the regular season.  We are in jeopardy of not making the playoffs. To avoid that we will have to win more than half of those 8; probably close to 3/4's of the 8. What is frustrating is the level of preparation the coaches have given this team is significant and the work the athletes have put in is considerable. There seems little to show for the efforts.  I'm guessing it's the section of the learning curve where new habits have not been fully encased in the brain and can only be put into practice inconsistently.

On  the home front, I have made further steps in cutting down the willow tree in the front yard.  Originally this was planted to bring shade in the morning to the front of the house.  Willows grow like a weed and the effort to keep it under control is big.  It's messy and shades the solar panels a bit. More over, it makes half the front yard unusable to gardening because of the shade.  Three strikes and the tree is out, soon.

We've always had a tree in its place, and will again.  A fruit tree will replace it and won't shade the front as much, thus allowing vegi's to be grown.  Currently one side is planted year round with some food crop and this will allow the other side to planted also. Yippee kiyo, more food to eat.

Maureen planted some tomatoes yesterday, and more will be planted soon.  We're finishing up a fence section to keep the dogs out of part of the garden.  Gunnar, our Belgian Shepard or Malinois, graduated from his first dog manners class. This is significant. Gunnar is a good dog that is becoming great.  He has the look that makes people wary, but had a gentle disposition. Gunnar was a pound-puppy that we rescued on his execution day. We weren't saving him to save him, but we had to put down our German Shepard, Calvin, and the next day we found Gunnar. These two dogs have convinced me that a shepard will always be in our home.

As a side note, I didn't know that such a thing as a Belgian Shepard existed until Gunnar.  Gunnar shot up in size, but is skinny.  We had him tested and prodded to figure out why he never would put on weight.  Never could figure out any cause.  When Maureen signed him up at Alpha K9 Training, the instructor asked the usual questions about reasons for the training and the breed.  In the discussion he suggested that Gunnar may not be a German Shepard, but a Malinois.  Research seems to agree.  Belgian Sheperds, or Malinois, are thinner and slighter than German Shepards.  They also don't slope in the back legs as much.  The Israeli secret service like this breed better because their lower weight is easier to carry if needed. Regardless, for us Gunnar is a great addition.