April 18-21

Not much going on Thursday and Friday outside of the typical errand runs and visits to The Hotel. My mother's time there is scheduled to end on the 30th, if things work out the right way she'll be going home. She claims her back and ribcage area is feeling much better and her overall attitude seems much improved, as long as she continues on the right path we can't ask for much more. Don and I firmed up the spring dek hockey league format, we have eight teams (all seven from the fall season plus one new squad). Everybody plays everyone else twice, games are on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning on the 23rd with Mondays open for makeups. On Saturday the Barnstormers held their annual Fanfest with an exhibition game against the Black Sox, a traveling independent team that serves as a training ground for aspiring professionals. Jenny and her mother missed out on Fanfest in 2018 because of a family event but they were in attendance on this day. The Stormers host the High Point (North Carolina) Rockers in the home opening weekend, the Rockers are the league's newest franchise and effectively replace the now-defunct Bridgeport Bluefish who dropped out after the 2017 season (the Atlantic League Road Warriors kept the seat warm in '18). After the ballgame we checked in at The Hotel and from there we had our usual lunch during the supper hour. Sunday was my typical "personal" day, I went to the rink in the afternoon and did some preliminary work for the start of the season. Take care, thanks for reading.