College Football 2011, Week 2 results

Two of the Top 25 teams lost to unranked opponents this week (#16 Mississippi State to Auburn and #21 Missouri to Arizona State) and another fell to a higher ranked team (#@3 Penn State to #3 Alabama) so there will be some realignment in the polls. While some games were closer than expected, most were ho-hum affairs.

******

Here’s this week’s results for all the Top 25 college teams. The three rankings are, in order, the AP/Coaches'/CBSSports.

1/1/1 Oklahoma (1-0) The Sooners had the week off.

2/3/3 LSU (2-0) The Tigers feasted on the Northwestern State (1-1) Demons 49-3.

3/2/2 Alabama (2-0) ‘Bama found Happy Valley a pleasant place to visit as the Tide rolled over the #23 Nittany Lions of Penn State (1-1) 27-11.

4/5/7 Boise State (1-0) The Broncos had the week off.

5/4/6 Florida State (2-0) The ‘Noles had no trouble against the Charleston Southern Buccaneers (0-2) as they came away with a 62-10 win Saturday evening.

6/6/9 Stanford (2-0) The Cardinal enjoyed their trip east as they thumped the Duke Blue Devils (0-2) 44-14.

7/8/10 Texas A&M (1-0) The Aggies had the weekend off.

8/9/5 Wisconsin (2-0) The Badgers trounced the Oregon State Beavers (0-2) 35-0.

9/7/12 Oklahoma State (2-0) The Cowboys enjoyed and easy time against the Arizona Wildcats (1-1) Thursday night as they rolled to a 37-14 victory.

10/10/11 Nebraska (2-0) The Cornhuskers fell behind 17-14 at the half to the Bulldogs of Fresno State (0-2) but locker room corrections obviously worked as Nebraska won 42-29.

11/11/8 Virginia Tech (2-0) The Hokies edged the East Carolina Pirates (0-2) 17-10 as the VT defense held the Pirates at bay all game.

12/12/16 South Carolina (2-0) The Gamecocks managed to edge the Georgia Bulldogs (0-2) in a high scoring affair 45-42.

13/14/4 Oregon (1-1) The Ducks bounced back after a week 1 loss by routing the Nevada Wolf Pack (0-1) 69-20.

14/13/17 Arkansas (2-0) The Razorbacks whipped the New Mexico Lobos (0-2) 52-3.

15/15/14 Ohio State (2-0) The Buckeyes held off an upset minded Toledo Rockets (1-1) 27-22.

16/17/22 Mississippi State (1-1) The Bulldogs stood toe-to-toe against the Auburn Tigers (2-0) only to come up short 41-34.

17/16/15 Michigan State (2-0) The Spartans shut out the Owls of Florida Atlantic (0-2) Saturday afternoon 44-0.

18/18/25 Florida (2-0) The Gators shut out the UAB Blazers (0-1) 39-0.

19/24/18 West Virginia (2-0) The Mountaineers struggled in the first half as the Norfolk State Spartans (1-1) held a 12-10 lead at half time. That changed in the second half as WVU pounded the Spartans for a 55-12 rout.

20/NR/NR Baylor (1-0) The Bears enjoyed a week off.

21/19/24 Missouri (1-1) The Tigers were upset at home by the Arizona State Sun Devils (2-0) Friday evening. The game went into overtime with Arizona State coming away with the 37-30 win.

22/NR/NR South Florida (2-0) The Bulls routed the Ball State Cardinals (1-1) 37-7.

23/20/23 Penn State (1-1) The Nittany Lions fell to the #3 Crimson Tide of Alabama (2-0) 27-11.

24/21/NR Texas (2-0) The Longhorns came back from a 13-3 halftime deficit to edge the BYU Cougars (1-1) 17-16.

25/25/13 TCU (1-1) The Horned Frogs rebounded from a week 1 loss as they romped over Air Force (1-1) 35-19.

NR/22/19 Auburn (2-0) The Tigers beat the #16 Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-1) Saturday afternoon. 41-34. Look for Auburn to return to the Top 25 this week while the Bulldogs drop down.

NR/23/NR Arizona State (2-0) The Wildcats beat the #21Missouri Tigers (1-1) on the road 37-30. The teams are likely to trade places in the polls.

NR/NR/21 Notre Dame (0-2) The Irish were edged in the closing minute on the road by the Michigan Wolverines (2-0) 35-31. The Irish led 24-7 after three quarters but Wolverines scored 28 points in the fourth quarter.

Older Couples

Just got these over the transom from a friend:

A Police STOP at 2 AM


An elderly man is stopped by the police around 2 a.m. and is asked where he is going at this time of night.

The man replies, "I am on my way to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body, as well as smoking and staying out late."

The officer then asks, "Really? Who is giving that lecture at this time of night?"

The man replies, "That would be my wife."

And another from the other side of the aisle...

An elderly lady was invited to an old friends home for dinner one evening. She was impressed by the way her lady friend preceded every request to her husband with endearing terms such as: My Love, Darling, Sweetheart, etc The couple had been married almost 70 years and, clearly, they were still very much in love.

While the husband was in the living room, her lady friend leaned over to her hostess to say, 'I think it's wonderful that, after all these years, you still call your husband all those loving names. The elderly lady hung her head and said,'I have to tell you the truth, his name slipped my mind about 10 years ago, and I'm scared to death to ask the cranky old asshole what his name is.

THAT IS ABOUT RIGHT!

Friday afternoon/evening at the Aeire

Since we were unable to attend the wedding being held this afternoon in New Jersey, Terry and I decided to head over to Wellsboro and the Gemeiner Arts & Cultural Center where she had helped put together a show of the works of the Embroiderers of the Twin Tiers. Ladies from New York's Southern Tier and Pennsylvania's Northern Tier had contributed various pieces of their stitching arts for a marvelous display that will run through the end of the month.

After, we drove over to the Pago-Mar Farms Market, a fruits and vegetable market on Route 287, to pick up a box of tomatoes for more sauce and a box of peaches to be canned. They also had some acorn and butternut squash we will be enjoying in the near future. (A man can only take so many zucchini dishes!)

Then we headed south on Route 15 to the town of Liberty and The Landing Strip Restaurant for their Friday Fish Fry Special. Fried flounder, shrimp and bay scallops with home made cole slaw, French fries and baked biscuit for under $9 and worth much more.

Now it's a relaxing evening at home. Without any rain. For now.

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....

Now there's something you don't see every day!

Drunk Swedish elk found in apple tree near Gothenburg
(Elk = Moose in Sweden)

(h/t Theo)

The best laid plans...

We tried. We really, really tried.

We left he Aerie at 10:30 AM with the best of intentions of going to New Jersey. I consulted Penn DOT's 511 web site and Terry had been watching the news on TV. All said the roads were passable except for a stretch of I-80 near Bloomsburg but they were setting up detours around that spot. Heading east on Route 6 was out of the question as a large swath of that was closed. We didn't check Route 17 but that too is close to the Susquehanna and has no levees to protect it. South and east seemed our best bet.

[UPDATE: Terry just found (5:00 PM) that a section of Route 17 was closed near Waverly, NY and covered by water near Binghamton, NY.]

Before we left, I emptied the rain gauge. There were 3.1 inches of water in it since Wednesday at around 3 PM when I had dumped 6 inches out. Make it a little over 9 inches of rain since last Thursday.

Well... We went down Route 15 to I-180 at Williamsport. The rivers there were very, very high but not breaching the the levees...yet. A little further past Williamsport the town of Montoursville was under three or four feet of water but I-180 was okay. When we got to the interchange with I-80 though we were not allowed on the interstate. We tried heading northeast on the back roads only to find many of them were also closed. We attempted several routes only to find ourselves heading toward Wilkes Barre where, according to the radio, there were multiple closures. At that point we decided to head home. Even that was troublesome. There was a time when we weren't sure we'd even be able to get home.

In total we spent over 5 hours, traveled 210 miles and ended up seeing parts of Pennsylvania we hadn't seen before only to end up back at the Aerie. We are not pleased.

It would have been nice to attend Danielle and Alex's wedding, but...

The radio out of Bloomsburg was saying this flooding will be the worst in 40 years. In August of 1972 Hurricane Agnes came up the Chesapeake and stalled over the upper reaches of the Susquehanna watershed. The river crested at 30.2 feet in Bloomsburg. They expect the river to reach 30.8 feet sometime tomorrow. Flooding is already extensive in areas where levees were not constructed after Agnes.

Terry and I were married in New Jersey the weekend after Agnes (we still had strong winds on that Saturday) and relatives from the Wilkes Barre area couldn't make it. Now the situation is reversed: we are in PA and can't get to NJ for a wedding. C'est la vie. What goes around comes around.

More on the flooding here.

Antoher wedding to attend.

Driving into New Jersey this afternoon to attend a Friday evening wedding. They say they chose this time because it was all that was available before the groom (a submariner) goes on active duty for six months and the bride starts her pediatric internship. I think it's because the bride's Dad is a HUGE Rutgers football fan and the Scarlet Knights play on Saturday.

The bride's Mom is Terry's cousin Nancy. They grew up together in Linden. The wedding is just to the northwest of that city.

We'll stay at a hotel near the Linden airport and drive home Saturday. With luck we'll be home in time to catch the Rutgers-North Carolina game on computer if not radio/TV.

College Football 2011, Preweek 2

Already there have been some shake-ups in the polls. Teams that lost have either been moved down (Oregon and TCU in particular) or completely out (Notre Dame and Georgia) of the Top 25. Even teams that just didn’t play as well as expected are out—including last year’s BCS Champs Auburn.

This week there are, again, many “safe” games for teams looking to boost their status or iron out problems before conference play begins but there is one that pits ranked teams against one another (#3 Alabama @ #23 Penn State). And four teams are already getting a week off.

******

Oh, yeah. The pros start their season this weekend, too. New Orleans @ Green Bay tee it up Thursday night with a full slate of games Sunday and a double header on Monday. (New England @ Miami at & PM and Oakland @ Denver at 10:15 PM)

Go JETS! (at home against Dallas)

Go GIANTS (at Washington)

******

Here’s this week’s match-ups for all the Top 25 college teams. The three rankings are, in order, the AP/Coaches'/CBSSports.

1/1/1 Oklahoma (1-0) The Sooners have a week off.

2/3/3 LSU (1-0) The Tigers play host to Northwestern State (1-0) Saturday night.

3/2/2 Alabama (1-0) ‘Bama heads north to Happy Valley to face the #23 Nittany Lions of Penn State (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

4/5/7 Boise State (1-0) The Broncos have the week off.

5/4/6 Florida State (1-0) The ‘Noles will host the Charleston Southern Buccaneers (0-1) Saturday evening.

6/6/9 Stanford (1-0) The Cardinal travel across country to face the Duke Blue Devils (0-1) Saturday afternoon.

7/8/10 Texas A&M (1-0) The Aggies have the weekend off.

8/9/5 Wisconsin (1-0) The Badgers play host to the Oregon State Beavers (0-1).

9/7/12 Oklahoma State (1-0) The Cowboys host the Arizona Wildcats (1-0) Thursday night. This is a rematch of last year’s Alamo Bowl won by OSU 36-10.

10/10/11 Nebraska (1-0) The Cornhuskers host the Bulldogs of Fresno State (0-1) Saturday evening.

11/11/8 Virginia Tech (1-0) The Hokies head east to face the East Carolina Pirates (0-1) Saturday.

12/12/16 South Carolina (1-0) The Gamecocks (1-0) travel to Georgia to face the Bulldogs (0-1) Saturday afternoon.

13/14/4 Oregon (0-1) The Ducks will host the Nevada Wolf Pack (0-0) Saturday afternoon.

14/13/17 Arkansas (1-0) The Razorbacks host the New Mexico Lobos (0-1) Saturday night.

15/15/14 Ohio State (1-0) The Buckeyes host the Toledo Rockets (1-0) Saturday.

16/17/22 Mississippi State (1-0) The Bulldogs will be on the road to face the Auburn Tigers (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

17/16/15 Michigan State (1-0) The Spartans will host the Owls of Florida Atlantic (0-1) Saturday afternoon.

18/18/25 Florida (1-0) The Gators host the UAB Blazers (0-0) Saturday evening.

19/24/18 West Virginia (1-0) The Mountaineers will host the Norfolk State Spartans (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

20/NR/NR Baylor (1-0) The Bears will have the week off.

21/19/24 Missouri (1-0) The Tigers will host the Arizona State Sun Devils (1-0) Friday evening.

22/NR/NR South Florida (1-0) The Bulls will host the Ball State Cardinals (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

23/20/23 Penn State (1-0) The Nittany Lions host the #3 Crimson Tide of Alabama (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

24/21/NR Texas (1-0) The Longhorns will host the BYU Cougars (1-0) Saturday evening.

25/25/13 TCU (0-1) The Horned Frogs try to get back on track at Air Force (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

NR/22/19 Auburn (1-0) The Tigers will host the #16 Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

NR/23/NR Arizona State (1-0) The Wildcats play on the road against the #21Missouri Tigers (1-0) Friday night.

NR/NR/21 Notre Dame (0-1) The Irish try to make a comeback on the road against the Michigan Wolverines (1-0) Saturday night.

Aerie Report, September 7, 2011

So I spent the better part of the day up in Corning going through the steps for pre-op on the calcified lump in my right thigh. Met with the surgeon who will perform the operation, got a compatible pain med for the knees from the young female doctor who can't wait to shoot me up for the arthritis in the knees. Alas, that shall have to wait until "The Lump" has been out for several weeks so I can see if the anti-inflammatory meds she prescribed a couple of weeks ago have done any good.

Then it was over to the Corning Hospital to have a chest X-ray, EKG, and blood work done. Chest X-ray looked clear. The EKG looked excellent. Although there was a question about my pulse--just 39-44 beats per minute--which is not new. When I had surgery on my back 20 years or so ago, they almost didn't want to do it because my pulse was so low. My BP was a wee bit high at 130 over 80 but that's a level it's been at for years and years. Essentially, baring something weird from the blood work, I'm good to go on the 15th.

******

Later, Terry and I went and had lunch at Five Guys in Horseheads. It's a burger and fries joint that's growing into a national chain. If you haven't had one yet, just a word of warning: Go with one small fries for two people and think seriously of the small burger. They really serve up a heap of good food for a reasonable price.

I had a regular--that is to say "large"--bacon cheeseburger with tomato, onions, and mushrooms while Terry had the same sized cheeseburger with virtually the works. We also got one large fries to share and it was enough for four people. This was to be our main meal for the day. We left pretty well satisfied and knowing we would come back again. (There's a regular mall and several strip malls including a Staples, Michael's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Barnes & Noble nearby so, yeah, we'll be back.)

******

Getting home, I emptied the rain gauge before heading into the house. It's been raining and raining and raining some more since sometime over the weekend. I last emptied the gauge last Thursday before our trip to West Wareham. The gauge held six (6) inches of water. If it rains all night like it did in the hour AFTER I emptied it--and it might--there could be another six inches in there tomorrow afternoon. Some farm creeks are well over their banks and some small rivers have flooded roads in the county already and the runoff hasn't reached many of the lower lying creeks yet.

There's a report that the local high schools are ready to recruit for water polo teams. None of them have pools, but field hockey and soccer just are not going to cut it if the rain doesn't stop soon.

College Football 2011, Week 1 results

Week one has ended and, due to the usual scheduling of non-conference (and non-challenging) opponents, there were few surprises. Only two matches saw ranked teams face each other and the meeting of #3 Oregon vs. #4 LSU in which LSU proved victorious could hardly be called an upset except in the margin of victory (40-27). The other game saw #5 Boise State roll over #19 Georgia 35-21 and one could say that too was as expected. In games that could be considered true upsets, the unranked Baylor Bears came out on top beating #14 TCU 50-48 in what was perhaps the most entertaining game of the week while unranked South Florida upset #16 Notre Dame in a 23-20 squeeker.

Here’s the results from all the Top 25 games. The three pre-season rankings are, in order, the AP/Coaches'/CBSSports.

1/1/1 Oklahoma (1-0) The Sooners easily handled the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa: 47-14

2/2/2 Alabama (1-0) The Tide rolled over out-matched Kent State. Twenty-one points in the first quarter became 24-0 at the half. The final? 48-7 ‘Bama.

3/3/4 Oregon (0-1) The Ducks stuck close in the first half, but the #4 LSU Tigers mauled them in the third quarter as they posted 14 unanswered points. LSU never looked back as they handed Oregon a 40-27 defeat.

4/4/3 LSU (1-0) After taking a close 16-13 lead into the locker room, the Tigers came out roaring in the second half and downed the #3 Oregon Ducks 40-27.

5/7/7 Boise State (1-0) The Broncos and Kellen Moore easily defeated the #19 Georgia Bulldogs 35-21.

6/5/6 Florida State (1-0) The Seminoles tossed a shutout in downing Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks 34-0.

7/6/9 Stanford (1-0) The Cardinal dominated San Jose State 57-3.

8/9/10 Texas A&M (1-0) The Aggies proved they knew how to handle Mustangs as they defeated SMU 46-14.

9/8/12 Oklahoma State (1-0) The Cowboys cooled the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns 61-34

10/11/11 Nebraska (1-0) Taylor Martinez ran for three TDs (7, 43 and 47 yards) and Brett Maher kicked four field goals (50, 48, 34, and 21 yards) and made four extra points in leading the Cornhuskers over the Chattanooga Mocs 40-7.

11/10/5 Wisconsin (1-0) The Badgers rolled over the UNLV Rebels 51-17.

12/12/16 South Carolina (1-0) The Gamecocks downed the East Carolina Pirates 56-37.

13/13/8 Virginia Tech (1-0) The Hokies had little trouble defeating the Appalachian State Mountaineers 66-13.

14/15/13 TCU (0-1) In what was perhaps the most entertaining game of the week—if you weren’t a fan of either team or of defense--the Baylor Bears built a 47-23 lead after three quarters and still had to come back to upset the Horned Frogs 50-48. Aaron Jones kicked a 37-yard field goal with 1:04 left to give the Bears the win. Robert Griffin threw for 359 yards and 5 TDs. Kendall Wright caught two of those (35 and 28 yards) and threw for another of 40 yards to Terrance Williams. Williams also had a TD catch of 42 yards from Griffin. The Frogs’ Casey Pachell tossed for four TDs and ran for one in a losing cause.

15/14/17 Arkansas (1-0) The Razorbacks had little difficulty downing the Missouri State Bears 51-7.

16/18/21 Notre Dame (0-1) The Irish were shut out in the first half and trailed 16-0 when they switched QBs. Tommy Rees didn‘t quite have enough to pull it out as the South Florida Bulls came away with a 23-20 stunner in a game interrupted several times by thunder and lightning.

17/17/15 Michigan State (1-0) The Spartans iced the Youngstown State Penguins 28-6.

18/16/14 Ohio State (1-0) The Buckeyes zipped the Akron Zips 42-0.

19/22/20 Georgia (0-1) The Bulldogs got off to a 7-0 lead but the #5 Boise State Broncos stomped on any further hopes Georgia may have had as they handed the Bulldogs a 35-21 lesson.

20/20/22 Mississippi State (1-0) The Bulldogs rolled over Memphis Tigers 59-14 as Vick Ballard rushed for three TDs and 166 yards—on just 10 carries.

21/21/24 Missouri (1-0) The Tigers of Missouri slipped by Miami of Ohio RedHawks 17-6.

22/23/25 Florida (1-0) The Gators dined on the Florida Atlantic Owls in their opener, 41-3.

23/19/19 Auburn (1-0) The Tigers fell behind 38-28 in the fourth quarter but came back to eke out a 42-38 win over the Utah State Aggies.

24/NR/18 West Virginia (1-0) Rain, thunder and lightning caused the game to end early in the fourth quarter, but the Gino Smith lead Mountaineers pulled a 34-12 victory over Marshall’s Thundering Herd out of the quagmire.

25/NR/NR Southern California (1-0) The Trojans held a 19-3 lead at half time and had to hold on for dear life as they escaped with a 19-17 victory over the Golden Gophers of Minnesota.

NR/24/NR Texas (1-0) The Rice Owls managed just three field goals—one each in the first three quarters—and were down just 13-9 in the third quarter when the Longhorns got riled. Texas put 21 up the board while allowing nothing and came away with a 34-9 victory.

NR/25/23 Penn State (1-0) Penn State easily felled the Indiana State Sycamores 41-7.

THE Clam Bake: Part 2

After the luncheon of fresh made clam chowder and Boston Brown Bread fresh from the can (B & B does a reasonable job on this traditional dark, brown bread) it was back to the reason for this gathering! The Clam Bake. (Okay, they had a 50-50 and a couple of gift baskets to raffle off first. Proceeds to help pay for the copious amount of food, porta-potties and dumpster. Terry won one basket with all sorts of barbeque goodies: rubs sauces, spices etc.)

Food prep continued apace. When it was all done, each food bag had two red potato, one half of a sweet potato, one small onion, one haddock filet topped with clam stuffing, one package of sausage links, and a quart of clams. (Depending on the size, that could be 18-24 clams!) In a separate kettle, corn on the cob was steamed over a propane burner.

Clam stuffing gets cut into squares.

Stuffing stacked on haddock filet and wrapped in paper.

Hardwood charcoal is piled on the tray...

...and lit using a propane torch.

It eventually catches after some prodding.
(Should have left the bags in the pile?)

Once the fire burned down to a nice bed of coals, a heavy metal tray cap was placed over the tray and covered with wet seaweed.

Seaweed goes first to provide the steam...and flavor.

The bake was prepared in a plywood box having a hardware cloth mesh bottom. Canvas soaked in seawater went down first, then the bags of food, followed by trays of hot dogs and linguisa (spicy Portuguese sausage) , then a covering of soaked canvas, plastic and canvas.

The bake goes on the hot seaweed.

Steam passes up through the whole thing to cook what's inside.

An hour or so later it's ready to be served.

Set on the side of the table, ready for dinner.

We moved in a buffet line picking up our sacks of food, corn on the cob and small tub of melted butter. Shuffled off to a seat under the tarps and enjoyed!

And then I forgot to take any more pictures as I was too busy eating! Sorry, you'll have to use your imagination.

After we enjoyed our meal--and sat around digesting it for a time--deserts came out. Home baked cookies, cheesecakes, and lots of other...stuff.

And after that, it was time to clean up. By nightfall, the tents were down, all the garbage was hauled off to the dumpster and the place was clean as ever. Only Bruce and Sue's immediate family and we four trekers (Nancy, Robert, Terry and I) remained to sit around the campfire.

It was great!

THE Clam Bake: Part 1

Bruce and Sue have nearly an acre and a half of land and while a third is dedicated to the house and small barn as well as a couple of huge vegetable gardens, the rest is an open pine grove ideal for picnicking and camping. The family is a large one (both Sue and Bruce have numerous siblings) and a gathering requires plenty of space and preparation. We were told that this was a small group compared to some years yet there were still approximately 75 folks there.

Saturday, a few family members showed up to begin prepping the potatoes and onions fro the chowder and food bags. Through it all there was a steady supply of raw and cooked oysters and clams on the half-shell for those wishing to partake.

Early Sunday things really started rolling. Bruce went out and picked up the two-and-a-half bushels of clams and we then went down to the water to get some seawater in which to wash them. After that things got both confusing and organized at the same time. Folks kept piling in and the gathering grew and grew. Every one pitched in to get things done.

Several large pavilions were set up to cover the tables
and offer protection from the elements.

Bruce seemed to be everywhere coordinating things.

Crumbled newspapers served as the base for the bake's charcoal fire.
Done in a tray as opposed to a pit, it made clean-up a snap.

All the foods were prepped to go into the individual meal bags for the bake.

Even more food for the bags.

The clams got bathed.

Clams got switched from one cooler to another
with new, cleaner seawater.

Meanwhile, a big kettle of clam chowder was prepared to 1) keep the natives from becoming restless ad 20 whet everyone's appetite.

Previously shucked clams and onions got ground for the chowder.

Chowder was the first order of business.

Teddy oversees the chowder.

Chowder is served.

Everybody wants some!

Back at the Aerie

Terry and I had a wonderful time in West Wareham, MA.

Bruce and Sue opened their trailer to serve as a guest house and we were made to feel right at home.

We were pleasantly surprised to discover we weren't the only couple from the Alaskan Adventure to be invited to the family clambake. Robert and Nancy from Tennessee pulled into the driveway with their camper in tow as we were unpacking our vehicle Friday afternoon.

Our Hosts: Sue and Bruce pose with their daughter
Caroline and her two kids Dougie and Morgan.

Our Alaska Gang: Rich, Terry, Sue, Bruce, Robert and Nancy

That evening we found that this would be one heck of a food weekend! It started with Cornish game hens on the grill with baked potatoes and baked onions with a rhubarb compote topped with vanilla ice cream for desert.

Bruce with the grilled Game Hens

Potatoes baking over an open fire.

After dinner we sat around the campfire with some adult beverages and caught up on the past year. Robert and Nancy had been down in Louisiana for the Mardi Gras gathering and Bruce and Sue had had a couple of folks drop by as they visited nearby Cape Cod.

******

As soon as I finish editing the rest of my photos, I'll be posting more. Suffice to say that Saturday saw the arrival of some of Bruce and Sue's family and early preparation for Sunday's clambake. Saturday also ended with one huge pizza party under the pines in the back yard, accompanied by plenty of adult beverages and another campfire.

On The Road for the weekend

We're going on the road this weekend. We've been invited to an old fashioned clam bake in West Wareham, MA. We met our hosts--Bruce and Sue--on our Alaskan adventure last summer. This is an annual event for them and includes their extended family and friends. Bruce promises lots of seafood and fresh produce all we have to do is bring our own beverages. We will, however, also bring a quart and a half of refrigerator pickles and a loaf or two of zucchini bread.

I've got a case of beer (but probably will not drink it all) and Terry's set aside four bottles of Finger Lakes' wine so we're set. Should be a good time.

******

Our travels will take us up I-88 toward Albany before we head east to the Mass Pike. Some of that area was pretty hard hit by Irene but I've heard nothing of road closures. As of mid-day yesterday (Wednesday), a lot of the National Grid power customers in that area of New York and east into Massachusetts were still without power. Bruce and Sue were on the east side of the strength of the the storm. Since Bruce hasn't said anything, I'm going to assume that they are and have been fine.

College Football 2011, Preweek 1

College football season is upon us. Murray State and Louisville start it all off at 6 PM EDT Thursday and, while neither is likely to finish the season in the Top 25 ranks, they do have the distinction of kicking off the 2011 collegiate season. Games will continue over the weekend including both Sunday and Monday since the NFL doesn’t officially start its season until Thursday, September 8th.

As usual, most of the games during the first week are, shall we say, mismatches. The better team is looking for a patsy relatively easy tune up game and the poorer teams are looking to score some cash—and maybe some lightening in a bottle. (Remember Appalachian State taking down Michigan a few years ago? AS plays at Virginia Tech Saturday.) Most of these games pitting uneven teams are predictable, there’s always one or two that throw a scare into a team aspiring to a high ranking and/or a conference championship.

The bulk of the Top 25 teams should have no problem this weekend. Some will be trying to figure out who will be their starters. Some are trying to figure out who will be allowed to play whether due toNCAA or criminal investigations (Miami of Florida, LSU). Miami (Fla) plays Monday night at Maryland. #4 LSU hosts #3 Oregon Saturday night in what looks to be THE match of the week.

The only other game featuring two teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 sees #5 Boise State playing at #19 Georgia on Saturday night.

Below are the Top 25 in both the AP and Coaches’ polls along with each team 2010 final ranking in the BCS and their 2010 record. An NR means the team is not ranked in the Top 25 in that particular poll.[UPDATE: CBSSports.com was late to the party. They finally updated their rankings of all 120 college teams on Wednesday morning. I've added their rankings to the list below. The three rankings are now, in order, the AP/Coaches'/CBSSports.]

1/1/1 Oklahoma (#7, 12-2) The Sooners host Tulsa's Golden Hurricane Saturday night.

2/2/2 Alabama (#16, 10-3) The Crimson Tide gets its season rolling Saturday afternoon at home against the Golden Flashes of Kent State.

3/3/4 Oregon (#2, 12-1) The Ducks open their season on the road against #4 LSU Saturday night.

4/4/3 LSU (#11, 11-2) The Tigers host the #3 Oregon Ducks Saturday night.

5/7/7 Boise State (#10, 12-1) The Broncos start their season on the road against the #19 Georgia Bulldogs Saturday night.

6/5/6 Florida State (#23, 10-4) The Seminoles host the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks Saturday afternoon.

7/6/9 Stanford (#4, 12-1) The Cardinal host San Jose State Saturday afternoon.

8/9/10 Texas A&M (#17, 9-4) The Aggies host the SMU Mustangs on Sunday night.

9/8/12 Oklahoma State (#14, 11-2) The Cowboys host the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday night.

10/11/11 Nebraska (#18, 10-4) The Cornhuskers host the Chattanooga Mocs on Saturday afternoon.

11/10/5 Wisconsin (#5, 11-2) The Badgers host the UNLV Rebels in a Thursday night game, September 1st.

12/12/16 South Carolina (#20, 9-5) The Gamecocks will play on the road Saturday night against the East Carolina Pirates.

13/13/8 Virginia Tech (#13, 10-3) The Hokies host Appalachian State Mountaineers on Saturday afternoon.

14/15/13 TCU (#3, 13-0) The Horned Frogs will be on the road to face the Baylor Bears on Friday night.

15/14/17 Arkansas (#8, 10-3) The Razorbacks host Missouri State Bears Saturday evening.

16/18/21 Notre Dame (8-5) The Fighting Irish will host South Florida Bulls Saturday afternoon.

17/17/15 Michigan State (#9, 11-2) The Spartans host The Youngstown State Penguins (Penguins? Really?) Friday night.

18/16/14 Ohio State (#6, 12-1) The Buckeyes host the Akron Zips Saturday afternoon.

19/22/20 Georgia (6-7) The Bulldogs play host to #5 Boise State Broncos Saturday night.

20/20/22 Mississippi State (#21, 9-4) The Bulldogs will play at Memphis Tigers Thursday night.

21/21/24 Missouri (#12, 10-3) The Tigers host the Miami of Ohio RedHawks Saturday afternoon.

22/23/25 Florida (8-5) The Gators host the Florida Atlantic Owls Saturday evening.

23/19/19 Auburn (#1, 14-0) The Tigers will host Utah State Aggies Saturday afternoon.

24/NR/18 West Virginia (#22, 9-4) The Mountaineers will host the Thundering Herd of Marshall on Sunday afternoon in a backyard brawl.

25/NR/NR Southern California (8-5) The Trojans will tee it up at home against the Golden Gophers of Minnesota Saturday afternoon.

NR/24/NR Texas (5-7) The Longhorns host the Rice Owls on Saturday night.

NR/25/23 Penn State (7-6) The Nittany Lions will host the Indiana State Sycamores Saturday afternoon.

What's Next? Climate change will increase mental illness.

There have been quite a few folks in the blogsphere mentioning a paper , prepared for the Climate Institute, titled A Climate of Suffering: The Real Cost of Living with Inaction on Climate Change. It was written up in The Sydney Morning Herald by Erik Jensen Health in an article titled: Mental illness rise linked to climate.

Health says:

RATES of mental illnesses including depression and post-traumatic stress will increase as a result of climate change, a report to be released today says.

The paper, prepared for the Climate Institute, says loss of social cohesion in the wake of severe weather events related to climate change could be linked to increased rates of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and substance abuse.

As many as one in five people reported ''emotional injury, stress and despair'' in the wake of these events.

Three things to note here:

1- The paper was prepared FOR and paid FOR BY one of the leading proponents of anthropogenic global warming so it is not surprising it would tout some harmful affects from global warming.

2- This is Australia we are talking about here. The might just think THIS was a documentary. Or maybe THIS.

3- Given Al Gore's recent rants and off-the-deep-end statements (see here and here), they may be right. The man is unhinged.

[UPDATE: Anthony Watts of Watts Up With That? posted on this fallacious little article linking mental illness to climate change here. He points out that the move from a northern state to Florida--even for a week's vacation at Disney World--would have a magnitude larger affect than global warming has had in the last century. As he also points out, this is not a new linkage. "This is recycled crazy from 2008. Climate change and mental health [by] Prabhat Kumar Chand* and Pratima Murthy" and Mr. Watts concludes:"Sounds familiar, there might be plagiarism afoot, better send in John Mashey. o_O"]

Now THAT'S HOT!

Well now, this goes a long way to explaining why all the Texans here in north-central PA drilling for natural gas and laying pipe are outside wearing flannel shirts and smiles in the "heat" of our day (currently mid-70s). They must have felt right at home when the summer high of 102 degrees hit for two straight days back in July.

US Energy Facts

I saw this posted over at Maggie's Farm. It needs to be spread far and wide.

You won't here this coming from President Obama. He and the environmentalists have decided we're to become energy poor. Unless it comes from nuclear...wait that was two decades ago...windmills...no, that was before they discovered windmills kill birds, bats and views...solar...no, desert tortoises....Well, energy poor.





You want to reduce the cost of energy and boost the American economy? We could do that now.
You want energy independence? We could do it now.
You want to reduce the trade deficit? We could do that now.
You want to tell the Arabs in the Middle East--unsound and unsavory suppliers of so much of our oil--to go pound sand? We could do that now.

What's that? You're worried about climate change? Hell, CO2 is not driving climate change, it's following increased temperatures...just like it always has. Besides CO2 promotes plant growth and is a miniscule part of the atmosphere (currently just below 400 parts per million...and that's really tiny..less than 0.04% by volume). Despite the findings of the USEPA, CO2 is hardly the deadly chemical they make it out to be. (Twenty times the current level to make you drowse? That's toxic? And plants love that 1% CO2. They gobble it up. "...elevated CO₂ levels cause increased growth reflected in the harvestable yield of crops, with wheat, rice and soybean all showing increases in yield of 12–14% under elevated CO2 in FACE experiments.") And warm temperatures kill far fewer people than cold temperatures do. ("...Palutikof et al. (1996) calculate that in England and Wales for a 1 °C temperature rise the reduced deaths from cold outweigh the increased deaths from heat, resulting in a reduction in annual average mortality of 7000, while Keatinge et al. (2000) “suggest that any increases in mortality due to increased temperatures would be outweighed by much larger short term declines in cold related mortalities.” Cold-related deaths are far more numerous than heat-related deaths in the United States, Europe, and almost all countries outside the tropics.") Only mad dogs and Englishmen remain out in the noon day sun when shade is available. Warm temperatures also promote much nicer scenery. Check it out.

Drill Baby Drill

Those guys from Minnesota are at it again. This is one of their best parodies yet. A take off of Chuck Berry's Johnnie B. Goode.



(First seen at Theo Spark's Last of the Few)

Mmm, mmm, Good!

Fourteen quarts of tomato sauce

Fourteen quarts of tomato sauce ready for the pantry. And another going into the making of sausage and peppers as I type. Not bad from a bushel of beefsteak tomatoes. I probably would have gotten more if these had been Romas, but you can only can what they have at the stand and I've not seen any Romas for sale.

Tomatoes

With cool temperatures (under 65 degrees) and a stiff breeze blowing all day, it was a perfect day to be messing with lots of hot stuff on the stove. So this afternoon I reduced the bushel of tomatoes Terry brought home the other day to about 20-22 quarts of pureed tomato this afternoon. Two pots of that are currently simmering on the stove being reduced to a thickness Terry feels will be best for spaghetti sauce at some time in the future. A third pot is awaiting its turn on the low heat.

We're hoping to get at least a dozen quart jars canned and on the shelf tomorrow.

Immediately after the Storm

Yesterday I mentioned that the weather folks were saying that the rainfall around the Aerie would be only about 1/3 of an inch and that the bulk of Irene's fury would stay well east of I-81.

They were wrong. The rain started here around 9 PM on Saturday and didn't stop until approximately 2 this afternoon. As for the amount of rain: 1.5 inches in the rain gauge. We should get no more as I can see some blue sky out there in the west. The winds (more of a stiff breeze actually) were coming out of the east last night and the north for much of today. They are still coming out of the northwest at around 20-25 mph. As a result, we have had temperatures below 65 degrees all day. Thank you Canada!

Terry's Mom weathered the storm pretty well despite the eye of the hurricane passing almost directly overhead. (She's in Linden, NJ.) She's got some water coming into the basement through the walls but her sump pump is doing it's job and keeping the water outside where it belongs. Thank goodness she never lost power. She says there's hardly any street flooding in her area.

My sister, in Pequannock, NJ has also had some water in her basement. This is the first time since 1984 that she's had a problem. The ground around her home was pretty well saturated before Irene showed up so it's not completely surprising.

Terry's friend with property on Lake Parsippany and a second home on LBI says both have survived the high water. She does say she's never seen Lake Par as high as it is but it's a dammed lake so it's unlikely to go too high unless something blocks the spillway.

As for the folks in Virginia, we've heard nothing. Irene was still a Cat 2 when it went passed them and, although weakening, could have still done considerable damage. Hopefully they and their homes are okay.

Grass and Garden Report, Saturday, August 27,2011

I've been going to physical therapy for the sprained right knee the last two weeks. The folks down at Elite are really great and are pushing to get me back on my feet and doing what I can with the twin knee noise makers "Snap" and "Pop." Add the new medication the orthopedist prescribed for the arthritic affliction and I was beginning to feel nearly normal again. (Well, as normal as I can be with these damn knees.)

As I stood out on the deck, I looked at the blossoming weeds and clover in a lawn grown high enough to hide my shoes when I go forth to pluck onions from the ground and cherry tomatoes from the one plant we've still got. The white flowers of the clover and the yellow flowers of one of the pea family looked pretty but they had to go. I last cut the grass somewhere around August 1 and it really needed to be done. I also hadn't had any exercise since August 5 when I sprained my knee.

Sooooo...I gassed up Mr. Craftsman and, along with Misters Briggs and Stratton went for a walk. A long, slow, somewhat painful walk. The grass was so high that even waiting until this afternoon didn't give it time enough to dry completely. It was so tall that I couldn't just let the mower mulch it back into the lawn. It was so tall that a side discharge, while possible, would have left rows and rows of clippings to be raked up. So I used the bag grass catcher instead. And the grass was so tall that the bag had to be emptied after about 50 feet of mowing. So I would start the mower. Push the mower 50 feet. Stop the mower. Empty the bag. Start the mower. Push the mower 50 feet. Stop the mower. Empty the bag. Over and over. I've now got a nicely cut lawn and a freakin' huge heap of grass clippings.

And sore knees.

I soaked them (and the rest of my sorry hide) in a nice hot bath when I finished and that helped a bit. I'm glad I don't have to do it again right away.

******

Tomorrow I tackle the bushel of tomatoes Terry brought home from the market yesterday. I'll wash, boil, mash, simmer to the proper thickness, and can them for home made spaghetti sauce this winter. Terry also got some sausage and will whip up some spaghetti sauce to freeze--if she can find room in the freezer. There's a heap of string beans and zucchini bread in there at the moment.

******

Speaking of string beans and zucchini...The darn plants do NOT know when to quit!. Terry's been getting a quart or more of string beans ever other day. And they are still flowering!

Zucchini have been super prolific also. Every two days there's another three or four coming into the house. Terry's been hunting up zucchini recipes to use up what we're getting as we get it, but the zucchini are winning. There are six eight on the counter as I type. I hate to admit that I'm enjoying some of the things Terry has been doing with the zucchini, but I am. I will, however, say no to the recipe for zucchini cobbler. Muffins are okay. I figure they're just miniature zucchini breads. But cobbler? Seriously?

And a slew of cucumbers waiting to be turned in to pickles. There's about a peck of cukes waiting pickling. And suddenly, after looking like hell all summer, those plants are starting to produce in abundance.

We're both about ready to pull up the bean and zucchini plants and call it a season. It's like catching walleye for the table. You wait and fish with anticipation for that first nice 18" walleye and feel great when you get it into the boat. The next 10 or 12 are great too. But that 100th fish...Okay. bad example that 100th walleye would be just as great as the first...even if you were allowed to keep them all and still had to clean 'em. You can NEVER have too many walleye filets in the freezer. NEVER!

Waiting...

Like almost everyone on the eastern seaboard, I've been following the progress of Hurricane Irene.

I'm sitting here looking at maps and trying to figure out how some folks we know are making out. Folks who moved to Virginia Beach and Gloucester, VA (right across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay). At this moment they're (hopefully) elsewhere. AccuHunch is reporting over 15 inches of rain already in the southeast portion of Virginia and Irene is swirling around an eye that appears to be right off Virginia Beach.

Most of New Jersey is already getting rain and bands of rain have swept as far west as Binghampton, NY where there was a report of over 1 inch. Same for down near Lewisburg, PA. One long, skinny but very intense line of showers down that way has dropped over an inch of rain.

The Aerie will see none of that. We may get a third of an inch of rain overnight but it looks like the storm track has shifted slightly eastward and lands west of I-81 will be spared the wrath of Irene.

Terry spoke to her Mom today. The old gal lives in Linden, NJ about 4 miles west of the Kill van Kull on Newark Bay and only a couple dozen feet above sea level--maybe. Terry went through a check list of things Mom needed to do (get food stuffs and anything else you want to save off the floor in the basement, plug up the basement sinks and shower, fill your freezer with ice cubes--use water bottles if need be, fill the bath tub, roll up your porch awnings, get the garbage cans inside the garage, fill your car's gas tank, etc.).

Mom is still of the mind that, "Oh. It's going over Staten Island. It won't affect me!"

Terry tried to explain that the strong winds will be reaching out 75-100 miles on eaither side of the track and even the rains alone will create flooding problems. I think she got through to her.

Later, Terry got an email from her cousin Nancy--Joe's sister. Her Mom lives across the street from Terry's and she (Nancy) stopped in to see if they were prepared. Nancy said Mom had done most all the things Terry had said to do and was pretty well set. Nancy reminded Mom that there was an older phone in the basement that would work even if the power went out. She also told Mom that she (again Nancy) would be staying over at her Mom's house for the next few days so if she had need, she should call. (Jessica is still in the house with Grandma and should be able to lend a hand.)

Not much else to do for them from 200 miles away. Except say a prayer. And that's been going on for a while now.