Miscellaneous Thoughts

So why is it that John Rocker got 28 games and a $20,000 fine (later reduced to 14 games and $500) for offering his opinion concerning the diversity of the occupants of a New York subway but Ozzie Guillen only gets a fine for calling a sports journalist a perjorative name?

Tiger Woods is not a robot. He can't just show up on the PGA tour after that long a layoff. Not only did he recently lose his father to cancer, the first event he plays is the US Open on the weekend of Father's Day. And in New York to boot.

Speaking of golf, I broke 100 this year. If I could avoid the disaster holes (quad-bogeys), I'll start doing it quite often.

My garden is doing okay so far. It's been very dry, so the soil is starting to dry out and harden. I guess I'll have to use my new hose a lot this summer. I just predicted a warm, dry July-September for my climate outlook today. Maybe that means that just the opposite will happen (HA HA!). You never know!

UND has decided to move to Division 1 athletics. I think this is a big mistake. I don't know if there's enough money to cover the cost of traveling. Only the hockey teams have been D1, and I don't see the baseball, swim or tennis teams EVER being anywhere close to competitive. But what do I know? I'm not from here so I probably don't "get it"... <----- SARCASM, in case you couldn't tell.

The US soccer team should just avoid Europe like the plague. No victories! How does freakin' Australia make it to the knockout round? All I can say is Group E was very tough. Certainly no freebies! I wish I could be in Deutschland right now and experience it. Oh well, maybe I can go to Europe one of these days.

Goldfinches

I had a male and a female today at the feeder. The male goldfinch was a glorious yellow.

Garden Work

Today, I planted most of my garden. I have 8 cucumbers (4 pickling) and 1 pumpkin in the front bed. I put a new Spruce tree seedling out front to replace the old one. It didn't look good after being buried in snow all winter.

I put 4 Early Girl tomato plants and 4 Sweet Million tomato plants (cherry size fruits) in the back with the strawberries. Also in the back are 8 corn plants that I planted from seed about 2 weeks ago and a Sugar Baby Watermelon. I still have 1 corn plant and 9 green bean plants in cups (from 2 weeks ago as well). I used my 4 planters for 4 more Sweet Million plants. The two geraniums (original and transplant) are blooming downstairs. The low this morning was 30 F, so my patience was rewarded this year. The front yard thermo reported a min of 28.6 F.

I'm not overly impressed with the Lawn Patch, but it is early. I should know this week if it will work or not.

Birds

It's been a while since I blogged about birds. Maybe that's because there haven't been any unusual birds this year. I've had a few crows. They like to make a mess of the birdbath. I often see a pair of mourning doves. For the most part, I get different types of sparrows and groups of grackles. No bluejay or woodpecker. I have a suet feeder now, but it's not getting any visits. I don't know why. It seems like there have been more robins in the yard this year. Maybe later this year I will get some new birds.

Michelle Wie is an idiot!

So, Michelle Wie is going to try to qualify for the men's US Open. I just don't understand why she wants to play against men when she can't even win an LPGA event! She should follow the path that Annika Sorenstam took. Annika has been dominant in the LPGA tour for years and tried to play in, I think, the Western Open on the PGA tour. She did well, but if I remember right, she missed the cut. Anyways, the point is, Michelle Wie should focus on winning tournaments rather than participating in publicity stunts.

Commentary, Part 2

It will be interesting to see how high the Red River crests this year. Our snowfall is about normal and the snow-water ratio isn't outrageous, but I'm betting it will be over 40 feet this year.

Commentary

Okay, I admit it. I don't write nearly enough to call this a "blog", but it's not like anyone reads this stuff anyway. So, I will comment on recent happenings.

Topic One - Team USA and the World Baseball Challenge

It drives me nuts that the media (newspaper, TV, etc.) comes from some sort of perspective that because it's Team USA, it automatically means we should expect a gold medal. It's as though nobody else plays baseball or that no other team can have a better day than ours. It's so egocentric and plain wrong. Just because you put a team of multiple all-star players together doesn't mean that team will win every time. It's a classic case of "Steinbrenner Syndrome". He thinks he can BUY a championship for New York. What few people acknowledge is that there is more to baseball than having the best "talent".

In baseball, you need to have the players string hits back-to-back in order to produce runs. Every guy in the lineup can go 1-for-3 on a given day, but if those hits aren't strung together or no homeruns are hit, there won't be any runs on the board. This wasn't entirely a group of underachieving prima donnas (like Team USA basketball, for example) either. You have to have timely hitting.

How cold is it?

SO, after a month of ridiculously warm weather, we hit rock bottom. Our high today will be our first sub-zero high of the winter. We usually get several days of subzero up here during a winter. Maybe this cold now means that planting season won't be ruined by late frosts.

I'm smart!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Bird Watching

I have recently seen goldfinches. Also, a crow came to drink from the bath. Chickadees, Juncos, and Sparrows are the primary guests.

Snow

Snow today. I hope to play better racquetball today. I won my women's match, but lost in tiebreaker in the men's match. Way too many errors. I won't win the women's if I make those errors. I'd like to go to the men's consolation final, so I must play better!

Bird Watching

I have a bird feeder and bath in the front yard, and I've gotten into watching birds. I have seen the following birds: House Sparrow, Robin, Grackle, Dark-Eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, and Chickadee. Other animals have been a couple of rabbits and squirrels (red and gray).