July 25-28

Monday lunch at the mall started the new week in the usual manner, in the evening I was at the ballpark. At 6:00 the sun was out and it was hot and steamy, by 6:30 there was heavy cloud cover and the grounds crew rolled out the infield tarp. The wind velocity picked up from the north and the rain followed in quick order, the start of the game was delayed until just after 9:00. I hung out for about two innings and elected to call it a night. In the morning I saw on the Internet where the Barnstormers lost 10-8 to the Sugar Land Skeeters, the game wasn't over until well after midnight (I know that feeling, as they say I've "been there, done that"). On Tuesday the series continued under ideal weather conditions, Sugar Land made it two in a row with an 8-4 win. The visiting Skeeters scored early and often, the Barnstormers never led at any point. Mike McDade had a big night with an RBI single and a two-run home run, Sean Halton contributed a solo homer but it wasn't enough. Mike Lee started on the mound and suffered the loss. On Wednesday the teams finished the series under the blazing sun at 11:00am, at that hour I was on my way to Jenny's house for our usual midweek lunch date. The Barnstormers won to avoid a second consecutive series-sweep, the next home date is not until August 9. On Thursday we were set to start the summer street hockey season but for a while in the afternoon things were doubtful. There were thunderstorms in the area, we had some mid-afternoon rain but by 5:00 it was gone and the pavements were drying. We got going on time at 7:00 and played two games, on this night the Green team met the Orange and the Blue played the Tan (we had planned on Tan being Gold but the t-shirt supplier Don ordered through did not have enough gold in stock). Both games were competitive (which is what the summer season is all about) but the results are not officially logged because there are no standings involved, the whole point is to play for fun and recreation. Each team plays nine games (three versus each opponent), this night's matchups occur again on August 9 and 18. We were done shortly before 9:00, as I was locking up some light rain began to fall. When I got home I showered, by then the rain was coming down steadily so all things considered we were very lucky. Take care, thanks for reading.