Oh, To Be a Simple Man

No, Ashley, we didn't let E sit in front of the TV all weekend.    He was bonding with his cousins.

This was a big week in many ways.  S left for Fort B and in traditional Army fashion, he was stuck in San Jose an extra day after the computers crashed and he couldn't be processed.  "Hurry Up and Wait" was the Army motto my father used to repeat.  S got a first hand lesson on his first day as a soldier.

B finished his first year at FSU in fine form.  Now looking for a job and trying to keep his cat,  Earl-J, happy.

The last person in the above picture, J, is I suppose like most fathers--along for the ride, watching.  Or maybe that is just my take on the world.

This week I also attended a funeral of the mother of a good friend from high school and college. There were many friends I hadn't seen in a while, as well as some I see fairly often.  Nice to be in the presence of good people. The service was nice, and it should be.  This was a nice woman that had lived a life serving others.  I never heard a cross word from her mouth and she lived to help, especially feed, others.  Some would say she had lived a difficult life, moved from the Midwest in the 1940's as a child, worked in a packing house, then raising two boys and a husband.  I don't think she would say it was difficult.  I think she would say she just made the most ofeach day.

As I was listening to the song, "I'll Fly Away," I was struck by the simplicity of this wonderful woman's life.  Not the "Oh, such a simple woman,"  thoughts.  The "WOW! What a glorious,  simple example of a great life lived."  Why do we humans complicate matters so much?  The longer I sat and listened and looked at the people at the service, I was struck by the power of simplicity.  The singularness of doing a few things, well. 

Oh, that I become that simple.

The Baseball Games are Over, but. . .

The high school season is over, though basebal continues as it should.  We finished 13-14, a smidge under average.  We needed to be above to make the playoffs, and I suspect for some of the team this is the better place to be for them.  For myself and others it isn't.

Now the rest of baseball takes over.  The field has to be maintained through July.  The Lions All-Star game is June 6 and some of the field projects need to be finished.  There are Babe Ruth games that the field will have to be marked for, which isn't a bad way to make some money.  W will do that with a bit of my help.  

Life at this time settles into another rhythm.  School is speedily winding down.  Summer school is on the horizon with its different pace and structure. Four days a week isn't bad, but many students have a difficult time with 6 hours of English a day.  We will have two new teachers in the English department next year and that will be a big change.  The leaving and changing of the staff was expected, just not so soon.  I have matured enough to realize that the teachers leaving and left are great teachers and greater people.  I will miss rubbing shoulders with this greatness and I fear that I won't be able to hold up their standard.

The gardens are up and growing.  This will be a new adventure and I hope to enjoy the bounty.  It is always fun to see new plants sprout and push skyward through the earth.

S is leaving soon and possibly B will be home for the summer.  I look forward to being with W and A.  I'd like to do some of the activities I used to do with B and S like hiking and visiting local places.  I haven't been to Mineral King in years and was reminded of it in a friend's post.  I wonder if the marmots are still running amok.

M and I have many things to do, not the least of which is eating and talking.  Summer evenings with a bit of cheese, home-made pizza and a glass of wine is a great way to decompress.

Half a Year With No China, Well Almost W/O China

The picture above was taken outside a Fresno eatery that we frequent when on our monthly Restock Brad at college and pilgrimage to Trader Joe's/Whole Foods.

Last blog I intended to mention how the No New Clothes/No China jig was progressing.  I forgot, that's been happening more lately, so I thought I'd do a mid-point review.  If you are unfamiliar with our committment you can read about it on Maureen's blog.  I haven't thought about it much, though a student asks occasionally how things are going.  I guess I don't get out shopping much, A would say never, so it doesn't affect me much.  What I do notice is that when I am out in any retail space I have a habit of looking at the label for the manufacturing/processing origins.  This happens in the grocery store, the hardware store, sporting goods store, any where.  A semi-local department store with an over 100 year history recently went bankrupt and closed.  We shinnied on down with the other ghouls to look over the retail carcass and I found myself not looking for clothes, but at the labels for country of origin.  Now I could use some replacement clothing, but I stopped looking very quickly and went on my location quest instead.  

This may be just a new take on a college habit.  When I was attending Chico State I was the quintessential poor college student.  I lived on a little over $200 a month for everything.  Even in the late '70's money, that wasn't very much.  I learned some valuable lessons and it started me on my parsimonious ways.  Friday afternoon became a ritualistic afternoon for me.  I had scrimped and saved, turned in the recycling (not much really) and had a few dollars in my pocket.  I would walk downtown and start window shopping.  I had a circuit through guitar shops, used book and record stores, Salvation Army, Goodwill, and a mountain sport store.  I would look at the wares, sometimes for the fourth time that month, and ruminate on their value.  I knew I couldn't buy 95% of what I was looking at, but it was the adventure in my mind of thinking of what these objects could help me accomplish.  On the rare occaision that I did spend money it was usually a used book, record or shirt.  But I knew if I did spend it would cut into my end of the ritual hamburger with roommates.  So many a bargain was left with money unspent. Many valuble lessons were learned about what it important on those Friday afternoons.

Maybe those Fridays prepared me for this No New Clothes/No China challenge.  Regardless there have been two major challenges in this recent journey.  Clothes wear out.  I started with few work jeans and fewer pieces of underwear.  I have for years been know to wear clothing that is torn, ragged and holey while working.  I have reached new levels in this pursuit/fetish.  One way I have supplanted my jean situation is from S.  He is in the process of cleaning out his clothing in preparation for the Army.  It is interesting that baggy, low slung jeans for a fashionable young man have the actual waist size for his over 50 Pops.  I have been the recipient of a "new" set of work and nicer jeans.  Thank you, S.

The other problem is in my capacity as baseball coach.  So many sporting goods manufacturers have outsourced to China that I have been unable to buy almost anything that is made someplace other than China.  The baseballs the Section dictate are made in China.  Catchers gear and helmets, China.  I recently bought wooden bats for my yearly hitting pick-me-up and they were made in China.  So while I have been a success elsewhere, I have been an almost total failure in the baseball realm.

I guess I'd give myself an A personally and an F job wise.  I guess I like most modern Americans.  high personal ethics and morality,  but corporately a degenerate.

Been a While, Or It Must Be Baseball and Planting Season

Another collection of random thoughts that have been rattling around my head and helping me pass the time.

--Yesterday I went to the Fresno State football teams spring Red and White scrimmage.  Sam, Wilson and I drove up to see Brad and go to the scrimmage.  We ate lunch and walked to the stadium, which is across the street from Brad's apartment.  Interesting for a coach to watch another sport's practice.  Football, or at least the college teams I've watched are much more regimented than I have ever been.  Maybe I should try it.

Our local player, Vince Pascoe, saw much action.  And it was fun to listen to the fans near us discussing the quarterback controversy.  There are three quarterbacks vying for the top spot.  The junior from CVC in Visalia that did the tradional FSU gray shirt/redshirt thing and is the experienced one.  The local Fresno former all-high school sophomore that can run, but has difficulty passing.  And the incoming freshman that is the younger brother of the former FSU star and NFL quarterback.  The radio talk guys have been drooling about this for a while.

--Go to http://weharvestlife.blogspot.com/ to see the latest on our suburban sharecropping.  Maureen doesn't talk much, but she has worked very hard for the last two weeks getting this ready.  The pictures are of me, but I'm just the brute force, she is truly the artist and brains behind this operation.  Sam and Wilson have been a great help in the preperation.  It is going to be a fun summer.

--This was another wonderful week in Monarch baseball.  This season has been hard in ways I've not experienced much before.  And the normal ways coaching is hard have been worse.  I had the police try to intervene in one discussion, but my assistants stepped up and set him straight.  To call them assistants is a misnomer.  They are great coaches in their own right.  Two have been, or are, varsity coaches.  It really is different when you are responsible for everything in a program.

We as a team have five games left and have to win three to make the playoffs.  This week we had a great chance to rise up and be counted, but seemed more interested in prom preparations than baseball.  To their credit, they focused before the end of the game, but it was a bit too late to win.

--Brad mentioned yesterday that he recieved an email brom the school that there had been a shooting in the apartment complex next to his.  Not what we want to hear.  Deep down as a parent you might expect to hear that from your son in the Army, but not from the college student son.  But wasn't Fresno the murder capital of the US at one time?

--I edited my "books being read list" today.  It seems a bit long, but there are some interesting reads there.  Too bad I have too little time to read, or fall asleep when I try.

--I finally finished "Full Metal Jacket."   I needed three different nights before I finished it without falling asleep.  Still a weird movie and not a complete version of the times and places I'd like to believe.

--Did I say I'm really proud of Maureen and the garden/vegetable gig we're into?

--I've got some of the baseball field projects done and a few in the process.  This year has been strange regarding the field.  At one point we had a 30,000 pound asphalt roller on the outfield to try and take out the ruts.  Did pretty well, but it took an exterminator to make a dent in the gophers and squirrels.  I counted 20+ squirrels running off the field one day.  I did find a 4 foot gopher snake the other day.  He didn't want to go in a hole, but was escorted off into the oleanders for safe keeping.  I keep trying to take a few of our bountiful cat population to the field, but Maureen won't let me.  I will feed them occasionally, Dear.

The bullpens have been tilted and the fence is on its way to being put back up.  It will help to have three mounds for practice and someday the extra tunnel will give hitters more practice.

I did order the wrong size slats for the fence.  I'm in the process of using a bandsaw to make them work.  I've got it down to about an hour to do one bag of 78 slats.  2 bags done, 8 to go.  

--My workplace has undergone quite a change in the last year.  With two retirements and a death, the English department is changing.  I'm not sure that more change is on the way.  I knew this day was coming, but didn't expect it for a few more years.  I like the people I work with and I think I'll like the additions, but I don't like being the voice of the department.  I'm really a coach that teaches English, as opposed to an English teacher that coaches.  I don't know how much longer I will coach, but I do know I will be teaching longer.  This will have to be a change in how I think and work.

--We had temperatures of 90-95 degrees last week.  A portent of things to come.  This will be a fun summer if you like roller coasters.  Whoopee, we're in for a ride.

--Sam is leaving in a few weeks.  Part of my discomfort is that I like being around our children and he won't accessible.  Even though Brad doesn't live here, he still is an hour away.  Sam won't be.  I guess that is part of being a parent and growing up.  I'm also guessing that others in the family will need some time to transition and I'm not talking about adults.

--The garden is a delight to walk through.  It will be fun this summer to see two yards lit up with plants.

--The chickens are getting big.  I am looking forward to building their house.  When, I don't know.  I have some ideas on making it a bit whimsical, but speed and expediency beats whimsy most times.

--We still have cats to move to loving homes.  The way I look at it, we could ship a cat to PA, Mt. Shasta and Napa and it would be cheaper than if the Garver clan invaded for a weekend.  Don't you agree?

--I have become accustomed to Maureen's home baked bread and now her homemade strawberry jam.  The homegrown potatoes in soups or grilled have been great.  I am so looking forward to this summer and getting fed.  That may sound a bit self-centered, but food is important and Maureen is the hostess with the bestest.  Or something like that.

Life is full and that should be considered good.  

Easter Ramblings. . . Or

Scrambled Eggs With the Leftovers: Musings on a post Palm Sunday Monday

--Bicycle riding is still fun.  Wind in the hair, what I have left, and a quiet time in the maddness.  I'm also finding it is a good way to stretch out sore legs after some kind of labor. 

--We still have four new kittens that we need to get  to new homes.  Oh to look at the world like a big playground as those those kittens do instead of their mother, sagging and dragging herself through life trying to avoid their desire to nurse.

--I have a new sense of sacrifice and service.

--The high school I work at has hired a new teacher.  Nothing big about that other than I participated in the process more than I have ever before.  Paper screening applications, interviews, and a trip to Lompoc to view a teacher teach.  The beautiful part is we hired a great teacher that could be a good thing for years to come.

--Six hours on the road used to be easier.  I needed a bike ride somewhere in the trip to stretch.

--Fish tacos at Scotty's in Pismo Beach are still great.

Pre-Addendum

Before last night's game we the coaches were talking with the Selma coach.  He is a thoughtful man who has survived a brain tumor and has had success.  We got to talking about where former players are now and typical coach/player issues and concerns.

He made the comment, "If you don't have parent/player issues, you aren't coaching.  Coaching is about changing things and telling players and parents what they don't want to hear."

Oh, so true.  After the game I overheard him talking to one of his players and I am sure the player didn't want to hear what he was being told.

Addendum

Last night we lost a particularly heart-breaking game in extra innings.  The players competed for the entire 8 innings.  That has been our theme and mantra this year--compete.  Whether you are ahead or behind, compete.  Last night they did and were ahead for most of the game of a team that we have not beat in the last three years.  We made many errors, but still competed and even came back in the top of the 8th inning to go ahead  with some very timely hitting.  Truly a wrenching defeat.  In the midst of that our starting second baseman was hit by a pitch, advanced and scored at the time the go ahead run.  The pitch that hit him also cracked his scapula/shoulder blade we found out later.  It was a game of strategy and twists and turns not normally seen in high school.  All but one of our pitchers pitched and everyone played for us.  

After all of the good and the bad of this game, a game where the team showed they are on the verge of something really good, one parent still made sure to comment/recommend,  "Coach, don't you think now would be a good time for some line-up changes."