I'm baaaaack! (Sorta)

It’s been more than a month since I posted here. No excuses just not much drive to post upon the multitude of idiocies that have been going on in the world.

******

The Tundra got its new brain. It took just a bit over an hour for the mechanic to install the (very expensive) computer. Everything seems to be going well.

******

Dallas Seavey won the Iditarod by 2 minutes over Aliy Zerkle. The 2013 winner, Mitch Seavey, (Dallas’ dad) finished third more than three hours later.

******

A plane disappeared somewhere in the Indian Ocean and the 24/7 cable news channels do nothing but speculate as to its fate. Day. After. Day. After. Day. (I’m glad I don’t bother to watch TV news unless it’s an occasional peek at what passes for local news here in the middle of nowhere.) 

Searching “Flight 370” (with the quotes) on the CNN website produces 754 results. A similar search on the MSNBC site yields 134 hits. And FOX News gives 149.

Speculation, and that’s all it really is and continues to be, as to what happened runs the gamut from mechanical failure to black holes. 

Meanwhile those same stations virtually ignore political corruption and gun smuggling occurring from coast to coast.

@Mayorof Charlotte resigns after public corruption, bribe charges

(He’s a Democrat, but you’d have a hard time finding that tidbit in this article.)

@Fewcan reconcile Leland Yee with the charges against him 

(He, too, is a Democrat and a California State Senator—who strongly pushed for strict gun control. You’d be hard pressed to find that in this article.)

 ******

My sister hosted a family reunion party at her house in New Jersey. Descendants of my Mother and her sisters gathered from Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Cousins, their kids and grandkids along with various spouses got together. Those on the west coast and the south didn’t make it but we had a great time just the same. 

****** 

Baseball season has started and I'll be following my Mets--at least until July fourth, longer if they start doing well. Unfortunately, my TV contract does not have MLB access and recently dropped the YES network. (I don't mind the latter unless the Mets are playing the Yanks.) I can watch the Pirates, Phillies and even the Cubs on a fairly regular schedule. 

I lost the nail on my frostbitten finger. A new one seems to be growing. It’s slightly deformed but we’ll have to see if it becomes more “normal” with time.

******

The bears are back. We have had two visits: one from a mamma and her yearling cub and one by a two year old. As a result, the bird feeders have to come in at night.

******

My knees were doing very well until about a month ago. Then I suddenly developed a sharp pain in the right knee just above the joint. It only happens when climbing or descending stairs but it’s enough to make me go to the orthopedist tomorrow.

 I started doing yard work in the form of felling a couple of trees along the edge of the yard, limbing them, cutting the larger into fire place lengths, and using the new chipper/shredder to clean up the smaller branches.And I slipped on some of the snow that was on the ground while I was cutting down the trees. Didn't think I hurt myself at the time, but ever since the pain has been getting worse.

I might have pushed too hard in the warm weather we’ve had in fits and spurts. I started doing lots of birding doing several walks on consecutive days.

 ******

As far as birding goes, I did have a good time going to various spots in Tioga County, PA and even got up to the southern end of Seneca Lake (Watkins Glen) in New York. I took lots of photos and will be posting some of those in the days ahead. The birds that migrated south have begun returning and/or passing through on their way north so there’s plenty to see. I missed a few that have already gone by, like the Snow Geese (although I may have seen a flock or two wing overhead), but there are more showing up every day.

 The Goldfinches are getting more and more yellow, a sure sign of Spring(?) even if the peepers aren't sounding off and the Woodcock haven't returned to the mountain. (Some have been seen down in the valley, however.)

 ******

Finally, March Madness has culminated in UConn vs. Kentucky for the National Championship as I type. On the women’s side it’s two undefeated teams (Connecticut (37-0) vs Notre Dame (35-0) squaring off in the title game Tuesday night.

Interesting Week

And, yes, "May you live in interesting times," is a curse.

*sigh*

Went to the Post Office Friday morning to get the mail. As I got in the Tundra and turned the key, the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Check engine, ABS, 4HI/4LO, Brake...all were lit up and/or flashing. Still, the truck turned over and rolled freely (no brakes or 4-wheel drive).

As I drove down to get the mail, I noticed the odometer wasn't working and neither was the speedometer or the computer that calculated the mpg and range.

Called the mechanic and took the Tundra to get looked at. The ABS Actuator (the computer brain that runs just about everything) needs to be replaced...next Thursday. This is a $2K headache I didn't really need.

I carefully made sure the gas tank was full and discovered the gas gauge DOES work. Thank goodness!

Still, I'll be parking the Tundra in the driveway until next Thursday morning.

******

The latest winter storm may turn out to be a bit of a dud as far as we're concerned. As the storm approaches and the forecasters fine tune the track of the storm, it seems to be shifting to the south. We've gone from the "foot or more" area to the "3-6 inches" and now to the "1 inch" zone. I'll take it! AccuHunch will become my new Bestest Friend--for now--if this holds true.

Those in the central and southern portions of the state remain in the "oh my God" zones, however. 

******

It's been wicked cold here...again. We've seen a couple of mornings this week where it got below minus 5 degrees. But, aside from a few snow squalls that briefly produced white-out conditions, we've been relatively snow free. I don't believe we've seen so many sub-zero readings since we moved here in the winter of '06. And we're not done yet. Forecasters are saying we'll get another blast of super cold air once this storm moves off to the east. I saw a minus 10 prediction for Wednesday.

******

The Iditarod ("The Last Great Race!") kicks off this weekend with the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage scheduled for Saturday and the official start out of Willow on Sunday. The route has been plagued by comparatively warm temps and low snow fall all winter. Wish we could send them some of ours!

******

They finally closed on the sale of Mom's house in NJ. The money, however, will be held in escrow until the state signs off on the remediation of tiny oil leak that was discovered when the empty oil tank was removed from the front yard. That could take months to years according to the realtor. Even though there was an inspection done on site as the work from a licensed contractor scooped out the little soil that was contaminated (tests showed that nothing got into the ground water), the paper work must make its way through the halls of bureaucracy.

The closing almost got cancelled as the buyers and their attorney, kept bringing up niggling little items at the last minute. As first time buyers, they kept expecting a 60+ year-old house to be perfect. If either Terry or I were there, the sale probably would have been cancelled, but the estate's attorney has a little more patience than we do. Even so, even he is reported to have stood up at one point and said he was going to put the house back on the market.

******

On a positive note, yesterday was the first day of official spring training baseball games. Between now and Opening Day there will be stories of prospects and veterans who look good/poor; injuries; hopes; and dreams. Few will write about the teams that "haven't got a chance in Hell" of making the playoffs and few fans will admit that their team is out of the running. Hope springs eternal.

Another Lost Season in Flushing

That big "WHOOSH" heard earlier today was the sound of the Mets dreams going down the drain. Hopefully just for the remainder of 2013.

Jeez, nothing seems to be going right for the Mets this year. Injuries are part of the game but the New Yorkers have suffered what seems to be more than their fair share.

The latest is a partially torn UCL (ulnar collateral ligament) in the pitching arm of 24-year old Matt Harvey. This is an injury that could require surgery (Tommy John surgery) but the Mets and Harvey will see if rest leads to repair. He is, however, through for the season.

The Mets had said they were going to shut him down once he reached 200 innings this year and Harvey has pitched 178 1/3 so were talking just about 22 innings lost—call it three starts. Obviously, that’s not a big deal. But the injury is. If rest doesn’t suffice and surgery is called for, the NL All-Start starter will probably miss all of the 2014 season. And there’s no guarantee that when he comes back he will be anything like he was earlier this year: 2.27 ERA (159 ERA+), 0.931 WHIP and 6.16 K/BB ratio. Just this last Saturday he went 6 2/3 innings, 0 walks, 4 Ks and gave up 2 ER while absorbing the loss in a 3-0 game against Detroit in which he faced AL All-Start starter Max Scherzer (19-1) who went 6 innings, 4 walks, 11 Ks and, of course, 0 ER.

The Mets will limp through September without David Wright (hamstring strain), without Matt Harvey, without closer Bobby Parnell (herniated disc in his neck) and, despite being professionals, probably without much enthusiasm.

That Was The Week That Was

And one heck of a week it was.

There was a bombing at the Boston Marathon;

The Mets got snowed out in Minneapolis and again in Denver--twice in mid-April (and these weren't little bitty snow storms, either); gun control legislation was voted down in the Senate;

The President of the US went ballistic at the Senate for its daring to uphold the Constitution and the Second Amendment while in the background the Vice President appeared to be on the verge of tears (or maybe it was just gas);

There was a huge explosion at a fertilizer factory in West, Texas;

A wild man hunt in and about the Boston environs for a couple of Chechyan brothers whose names no one could pronounce (they had difficulty with Chechyan, too) who were reportedly responsible for the bombing at the marathon;

Those same brothers shot a cop at MIT; one brother got killed in the ensuing chase while the other tossed explosives at the pursuers before he disappeared in a suburban neighborhood causing tens of thousands of folks to be told to lock their doors and stay inside;

Then, finally, tonight, Suspect #2 was found hiding in a canvas covered boat in someone's backyard.

And through it all, the mainstream media and a good portion of the opiners on the interwebs got nearly every single detail WRONG as they rushed to report what was going on.

The weather, not wanting to be left out of the mayhem, interrupted things at the Aerie a bit Friday night. After a lovely, but windy day, we were treated to a period of havoc starting around 5 PM. A thin but long squall line moved through just ahead of a cold front. Warnings of heavy winds, tornado watches, thunderstorm warnings, and torrential rains were constantly being broadcast over the emergency TV band along with the annoying “Beep…Beep…Beep.” We got only the winds and the rains between 5 and 6 PM. The rest developed to the east of here.

Following the Mets on the computer Friday night, I rejoiced when Ike Davis and Lucas Duda both went deep with solo homers in the sixth inning. Talk about your Miracles!

I would have been ecstatic to listen to them do it again in the 8th, but the power went out at around 9:30 PM and stayed out until 10:30 PM. Why? I don’t know. The storm had long past and any winds were mere memories. Apparently it was a local thing as we were the first to call it in and lights were still shining a short distance down the hill.

To top it off we got two calls from our alarm company asking if everything was all right. The first came at 11:15 PM when the power had returned 45 minutes previously, but they wanted to make sure we knew it was out and ask if we needed any assistance. The second came at 2:30 AM to let us know it had come back on and ask if we needed any assistance. I appreciate their diligence and concern, but I would have liked an uninterrupted night’s sleep too.

Is it any wonder I needed to stop at the liquor store today for more bourbon? [UPDATE: Completely forgot about the mail that tested positive for ricin sent to a Senator and the President by an Elvis impersonator. Yeah. One heck of a week!]

History! In baseball.

The Mets had a no-hitter this evening. Johan Santana tossed it against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets won 8-0.

This is the first no-hitter the Mets have ever had. All those great pitchers they have had--Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Koosman, etc.--threw no-hitters after then left the Mets.

Talking Baseball...Are these the NY Mets?

If you had told me at the beginning of the season that the Mets would be 21-17 in the middle of May, I would have said you were crazy. Yet, after today's 9-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, that's is their record-- 21 wins and 17 loses. Still doesn't get them higher than third in the NL East--toughest division in baseball right now. (Washington and Atlanta are currently ahead of the Mets. Miami and Philly are right behind. Even the 5th place Phils are at .500!)

The Mets should be better than 21-17, though. The Mets' bullpen, to put it mildly, really sucks. They have blown more saves and frustrated more fans than you could imaging. Probably have caused a few TVs to get broken, too.

Why, just in the last five games, they have managed to seize defeat from the jaws of victory twice. Sunday in Miami the Mets led 4-2 going to the bottom of the 9th. First they yielded the tying runs, then loaded the bases only to see a rarity: a walk-off grand slam home run, ruin the day. Last night they lead 3-2 going into the top of the 8th at home against the Reds the bullpen needed to get six outs. The Mets lost 6-3 as the Reds scored 4 runs in the 8th.

The Mets are using that cardiac kid Frank Francisco as their closer. While he has 9 saves, he can probably be credited with giving Terry Collins as many heart attacks. Francisco coming into a one or two run game int he ninth inning is like tossing gasoline on an open fire and hooping it doesn't go BOOM! Even today, leading 9-4 he could NOT get three consecutive outs in the ninth. He got the first two men up on a blooper and a ground out, but then walked the third. All he has to do is throw strikes in that situation. Let the man put the ball in play. But, no, he has to give him a free pass. Luckily, the next batter proved over eager and grounded out to second on the first pitch.

So why are the Mets doing as well as they are? Second baseman Daniel Murphy is hitting .331; Mike Baxter, part time outfielder and pinch hitter extraordinaire, is hitting .364; Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who came up from Buffalo to play left field when Jason Bay broke a rib, is hitting .291; and David Wright, who struggled all of last season, is leading the major leagues with a .411 batting average. (In today's game Wright was 2-for-2 with three walks, three runs scored--including the tying run in the seventh--and the go ahead RBI in the eight. Oh, and he stole third, too.)

Will they continue to hit this well? I'd be surprised if the continue to have the third best BA in the National League (second in the NL East), but I'd be willing to see their hitting go down if their bullpen would start doing its freakin' job and hold/save the games when the team is ahead in the 8th and 9th innings. Until that happens, the late innings will be finger-nail biting time.

1-0 and 161 to play.

The Mets scored just one measly run today...but it was one more than the Braves! Santana pitched five good innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out five. R. Ramierez got the win when the Mets scored in the bottom of the sixth. Frank Francisco got the save. Byrdak and Rausch had holds as the Mets pitchers limited the Braves to a total of four hits and three walks.

David Wright went 2-for-3 with a walk for the Mets and had the RBI.

The Mets have always had a remarkably good record on Opening Day--ever since 1962. It's the next 161 games they have trouble with.

[UPDATE: From CBSSPORTS.COM "Despite losing their first eight openers, the Mets improved to 33-18 on opening day -- the best in baseball." The Mets lost eight consecutive openers and since then they are 33-10. That's a 0.767 success ratio since 1970 and 0.647 over all. If they could maintain that 0.647 over the course of a 162 game season they would win 104-105 games. IF is a mighty big word for two letters.]

Aerie Report, March 31, 2012

We had an ursine visitor last night. Came up on the deck to snack on the little seed left in the feeders and knocked one of them over the rail. Left a bunch of muddy footprints, too.

******

I spent time yesterday (about 4 hours) turning over the two smaller garden plots, raking out the four plots, spreading some mushroom soil, raking that into the top layers, and planting a pound-and-a-half of onion sets. I would have put in some beet and lettuce seeds but by the time I got done doing all of the above my back and knees protested. The circling Turkey Vultures didn't inspire me either.

******

We did get the rain as promised so the onions should get off to a good start. The rain will continue through today. I'd say it was "overcast" at the moment but that would require that the clouds lift themselves considerably. It's not "undercast" either as we are smack dab in the middle of the clouds. The fog is limiting visibility to about one hundred yards. One of the hazards of being at 2100 feet when the ceiling is somewhere around 1500 feet.

******

I've noticed some of the Goldfinches starting to become much, much yellower as the days pass. That's a sure sign that spring is well underway. That and the loud, repetitive song of the Song Sparrow perched on the edge of the lawn. We've still got some Pine Siskins feeding with the Goldies and Purple Sparrows. I always thought of them as a winter bird and expect they will head north soon to nest in the denser fir forests, but maybe I've got some slackers that will be satisfied with the hemlocks, spruces and pines that occur in pockets on the hillsides.

******

Major League Baseball is wrapping up Spring Training this weekend and begins its regular season Wednesday night when the St. Louis Cardinals face off against the Florida Marlins in Miami. That game will be on ESPN at 8:05 PM (EDT). Thursday there are seven games scheduled including the Braves at the Mets. (The Mets had an absolutely horrendous spring going 7-17. Only Cleveland did worse at 6-20. Both are scheduled to play today. The Mets play every day until Thursday.) In addition to the game in New York, there will be games in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Chicago (the Cubs). Hopefully, there will not be any snow postponements.

It Has Begun!

This is the time of year when a young man’s fancy (and many a young girl’s) turns to the smell of new leather rubbed well with neatsfoot oil; the odor of ash rubbed hard with an old bone to compact the wood grain; the fragrance of a freshly mowed baseball field; the pop of a pitched ball into a catcher’s mitt; and the crack of the same ball against that ash bat recently boned to give it hardness as it is sent sailing over the fence.

This is the time of year when hope springs eternal. Baseball season has begun.

Last night, the Seattle Mariners defeated the Oakland A’s 8-5 in the first Cactus League game of the year. Today there will be four more Cactus League games and five Grapefruit League contests—including the first for those damn Yankees and cursed Braves. The Mets do not play their first game until Monday when they face the Washington Nationals. From then until October it will be baseball, baseball, baseball.

Oh, there will be some March Madness on the NCAA front (teams TBA soon), a long and extended NBA playoff (I’m pretty sure New Orleans (9-27), Washington (7-28 and Charlotte (4-30) are out of the playoff picture but as for everyone else…), and a similar NHL playoff (is anyone truly out of it?) leading to a championship or three--and, perhaps some crazy fans setting fire to a city or two—at the beginning/first half of the MBL season. Hopefully they will be done by the All-Star break. And there will be college and pro football to serve as distractions for those fans teams are 20 games out on September 1st. But it will be another summer of baseball. Lots of baseball. And that is good.

Today's the Day!

Pitchers and Catchers, baby!

It's on!



This year I'm going to find a way to go to a couple of games. Minor or major league won't matter as long as I can get out to the ball park and watch the action while sipping a beer (or two) and eating some peanuts, popcorn, Crackerjacks and hot dogs.



Spring is when every major league hopeful aims to impress and make the roster. Every year some young phenom shows up and heads north with the team. This causes the casual fan to ask the most important question:

Talking Baseball, RIP Gary Carter

It's nearly the start of the major league baseball season. Some players are already reporting to spring training camps in Florida and Arizona although things won't get really going until Sunday, February 19th. That's the date for pitcher's and catchers to report. Position players will be appearing later in the week (Friday, February 24th).

It's a time for hope and dreams to spring eternal. Next Year is here and every player and every fan has hopes his/her team can make it to post season play and, perhaps, the World Series.

Still, there is sadness in the air as well. The death of Gary Carter--aged 57, former catcher of the Montreal Expos, member of the 1986 New York Mets' World Champions, 11 time All-Star, 3 time Golden Glove winner, Hall of Famer--has cast a pall upon the sunlight diamonds. Diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer just last May, The Kid succumbed to the disease on Thursday, February 16th.

He will be sorely missed.

More here, here, here, and here.

Flooding Foto

Harrisburg, PA is home to the Washington Nationals' minor league team. They were supposed to host the playoffs against Richmond. That's no longer likely.

Minor league stadium under water

Now a swim meet....

Take me out to the ball game!

Went to a ball game last night over in Binghamton, NY. The Mets' AA farm team (the B-Mets) were playing the Red Sox affiliate Portland, ME Sea Dogs. Terry got tickets because one of her EGA (Embroiderer's Guild of America) contacts who owns a shop called Stitchery Row was a sponsor. For $6 each we got seats behind home plate, a hot dog and a small soda. Since the program included not just the game but a post-game fireworks show, that was a pretty good deal even for a two hour drive.

The gal from Stitchery Row had a table set up and we stopped by to chat. Terry had emailed a particular need and she picked it up and paid for it while we chatted. There were a few pieces of needlework on display as well as some magazines. Anyone interested could also get information about EGA and its activities.

Two of the pieces on display:





The ballpark is a simple affair, as to be expected for AA ball, but quite nice. The B-Mets are celebrating their 20th year in Binghamton--for which I have mixed feelings. Their previous home park was in Utica, NY just 25 miles from the Bolt Hole and I would have attended lots more games if they had stayed there. Alas, they moved a few years after I bought the Bolt Hole and before I actually had the time to attend those games.

As far as last night's game goes...well, it could have gone better. The B-Mets lost 5-2 after falling behind 5-0. The play was a bit spotty at times, but that is to be expected in AA ball where players are often still learning the game. I thought a few fly balls that were allowed to drop should have been caught. The pitchers for the B-Mets gave up two home runs and allowed another run to score on a wild pitch. The B-Mets' second baseman threw one ball way out of the reach of the first baseman on a sure out. (He may have had too much time to think about that one.)

And the Sea Dogs were not faultless either. They ran themselves out of more scoring when, with men on first and second, the hitter lashed a single to left only to run up the rear of the runner ahead of him. He was caught in a run down between first and second and eventually tagged out for the third out of the inning. (He wasn't helped by the slow poke in front who stood on second but should have made a break for third once the run down started.)

Still, it was good to get out and watch a game. Weird though, as Terry mentioned, not to have a play-by-play commentary going on. Forces you to really pay attention.

Top of the 5th and the Sea Dogs lead 5-0. Seats were pretty good!

There were 20-24 folks there as part of the Sit-and-Stitch promotion and Stitchery Row's owner welcomed them all. She even had little goody bags for most of the women who did, indeed sit and stitch, or knit, or crochet during the entire game. Only one other husband was in attendance (besides the Stitchery Row's husband, that is). A retired Navy Chief, he seemed to be enjoying the game. Certainly, he got the attention of one of the B-Mets mascots, Ballwinkle.

Ballwinkle makes the rounds.

Ballwinkle and kids of all ages.

I've no idea who the little kid is in this photo, but the guy to the left of Ballwinkle is the retired Navy man. The women seen here are part of the Sit-and-Stitch contingent. Terry would be right behind Ballwinkle and my seat was #22 visible in the upper right.