College Football 2011, Preweek 4

There are still a lot of 2-0 and 3-0 teams out there. This week should see some reduction however as Week 4 has some stiff competition between ranked teams:

• #2 LSU vs #16 West Virginia,
• #3 Alabama vs #14 Arkansas,
• #7 Oklahoma State vs #8 Texas A&M,
• #11 Florida State vs #21 Clemson, and
• #25 Georgia Tech faces North Carolina—a team knocking on the door.

Everyone of those teams is undefeated--so far. Half of them won't be on Sunday.

Only #5 Stanford and #19 Texas have the weekend off.

Let's just hope the weather stays out of the picture this week. One game played after midnight (Oklahoma State vs Tulsa), and another stopped in the third quarter due to rain, lightning and tornado watches (Baylor vs Stephen F. Austin) put a damper on tailgating last weekend. And I don't care how badly the Texas-Oklahoma area needed the rain. Going for thunder, lightning and tornadoes was a step too far.

Here are this week’s match-ups for all the Top 25 college teams. The two rankings are the AP/Coaches' Polls.

1/1 Oklahoma (2-0) The Sooners will host the Missouri Tigers (2-1) Saturday night. The Tigers will be road kill ‘neath the Sooners’ wagon.

2/3 LSU (3-0) The Tigers go on the road to face #16 West Virginia Mountaineers (3-0) Saturday. The Tiger defense could prove too much for the Mountaineers. Look for a close game with LSU prevailing 27-24.

3/2 Alabama (3-0) The Crimson Tide hosts the #14 Arkansas Razorbacks (3-0) on Saturday. Roll Tide! By at least 14 points.

4/4 Boise State (2-0) The Broncos will have the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-2) on the Blue Carpet Saturday night. Will Tulsa be awake for this game after last Saturday/Sunday night’s 3 AM finish? Will Keller throw for another five TDs? Don’t know about the former but the latter is likely—after all he’s already done so five times. His “W” line will increase this week once more.

5/5 Stanford (3-0) The Cardinal will have this weekend off.

6/7 Wisconsin (3-0) The Badgers host the South Dakota Coyotes (2-1) Saturday afternoon. Badgers will romp by 24 or more.

7/6 Oklahoma State (3-0) The Cowboys travel to Texas A& M to play the #8 Aggies (2-0) Saturday night. Could be THE game to go into overtime—just what the Cowboys don’t need but they will win it nonetheless. OSU 31, A&M 24

8/8 Texas A&M (2-0) The Aggies host the #7 Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-0) Saturday night. Aggies get beat in a close one.

9/9 Nebraska (3-0) The Cornhuskers are on the road to play the Wyoming Cowboys (3-0) Saturday night. Nebraska comes away with a 10 point win.

10/13 Oregon (2-1) The Ducks play at the home of the Arizona Wildcats (1-2). The Ducks continue to paddle their opponents trouncing the Wildcats by more than 21.

11/14 Florida State (2-1) The Seminoles move up the coast to play the #21 Clemson Tigers (3-0) Saturday. With their starting QB beat up from last week’s game, the Seminoles will fall to high powered Clemson and it won’t even be close.

12/10 South Carolina (3-0) The Gamecocks will host the Vanderbilt Commodores (3-0) Saturday night. Someone has to lose and it will be the Commodores. Gamecocks by 17 as it's Lattimore right, Lattimore left and Lattimore up the middle.

13/11 Virginia Tech (3-0) The Hokies are on the road to face the Thundering Herd of Marshall (1-2) Saturday. Not a good year to be member of the Thundering Herd. Hokies score twice on special teams in a rout.

14/12 Arkansas (3-0) The Razorbacks play at #3 Alabama (3-0) Saturday. 'Bama big.

15/15 Florida (3-0) The Gators play the Kentucky Wildcats (2-1) on the road Saturday evening. Gators in Kentucky? Oh, yeah! By at least 17.

16/16 West Virginia (3-0) The Mountaineers will host the #2 LSU Tigers (3-0) Saturday. Tigers will be too much.

17/19 Baylor (2-0) The Bears host the Rice Owls (1-1) Saturday night. Bears eat the Owls for dinner.

18/17 South Florida (3-0) The Bulls host the UTEP Miners (2-1) in a Saturday night game. The Bulls will rout the Miners.

19/18 Texas (3-0) The Longhorns have the weekend free.

20/20 TCU (2-1) The Horned Frogs play host to the Portland State Vikings (2-0) Saturday afternoon. Portland State? Really? Frogs by a bunch.

21/22 Clemson (3-0) The Tigers host the #11 Florida State Seminoles (2-1) Saturday. Tigers carry the day in an upset over injured FSU.

22/21 Michigan (3-0) The Wolverines are at home to entertain the San Diego State Aztecs (3-0) Saturday at noon. The Wolverines will treat the Aztecs…poorly.

23/NR Southern California (3-0) The Trojans play the Sun Devils at Arizona State (2-1) Saturday night. Ain’t no sunshine for the Devils in this one. USC by 14.

24/NR Illinois (3-0) The Fighting Illini host the Western Michigan Broncos (2-1) Saturday afternoon. Illini tame the Broncos in a stomping.

25/24 Georgia Tech (3-0) The Yellow Jackets will host the North Carolina Tar Heels (3-0) at noon on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets' high powered offense should score often enough to keep their team undefeated.

NR/23 Michigan State (2-1) The Spartans will host the Central Michigan Chippewas (1-2) Saturday at noon. The Spartans pound the Chippewas.

NR/25 North Carolina The Tar Heels (3-0) will play on the road against the #25 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3-0) at noon Saturday. Tar Heels won't stop the Jackets, especially in Georgia.

Yep. Got that right.

see more dog and puppy pictures

College Football 2011, Week 3 results

Every one of the Top 25 teams saw action this week. Only two contests will pitted ranked teams against one another: #1 Oklahoma @ #5 Florida State and #3 LSU @ #25 Mississippi State. In both cases, the higher ranked team won.

There were a couple of upsets further down the list. Number 15 Michigan State was in the wrong place at the wrong time as Notre Dame woke up from its early season malaise. Number 17 Ohio State looked bad against unranked Miami. (What else is new?)
Still undefeated Clemson took it to #21 Auburn. And finally, number 22 Arizona State got beat by the Fighting Illini of Illinois. All these should result in considerable reshaping of the Top 25 list later this week.
Here are this week’s match-ups for all the Top 25 college teams. The two rankings are the AP/Coaches'.

1/1 Oklahoma (2-0) The Sooners played the #5 Florida State Seminoles (2-1) on the road and emerged with a 23-13 victory. The ‘Noles had tied it in the fourth quarter at 13 all on a Rashad Greene 56 yard TD pass from back-up QB Clint Trickett but couldn’t muster enough to pull it out.

2/2 Alabama (3-0) The Crimson Tide tamed the Mean Green of North Texas (0-3) with a 41-0 shutout. On offense it was the Richardson and Lacy show. Trent Richardson had 167 yards and 3 TDs on 11 carries (TDs were of 4, 58 and 71 yards), while Eddie Lacy had 161 yards and 2 TDs on just 9 carries (TDs were of 43 and 67 yards). First time Alabama ever had two runners surpass the 150 yard mark in the same game.

3/3 LSU (3-0) The Tigers went on the road Thursday night to play the #25 Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-2). The LSU defense helped whip the puppies 19-6.

4/4 Boise State (2-0) The Broncos played on the road against the Toledo Rockets (1-3) on Friday night. Boise State came away with a rather easy 40-15 win when Kellen Moore tossed for 455 yards and 5 TD passes—again.

5/5 Florida State (2-1) The Seminoles lost to #1 Oklahoma (2-0) on the national stage Saturday night 23-13.
6/6 Stanford (3-0) The Cardinal tamed the Arizona Wildcats (1-2) 37-10. Andrew Luck had 325 yards and two TDs passing. Stepfan Taylor rushed for 153 yards on 22 carries for the Cardinal.

7/8 Wisconsin (3-0) The Badgers easily defeated the Huskies of Northern Illinois (1-2). Badgers scored 14 points in each of the first three quarters on their way to a 49-7 victory. Russell Wilson completed 23 of 32 attempts for 347 yards and 3 TDs as the badgers had over 600 yards of offense.

8/7 Oklahoma State (3-0) The Cowboys proved to be too much for Tulsa’s Golden Hurricane (1-2) Saturday night/Sunday morning. It was a wild and wooly affair that didn’t get started until after midnight and ended around 3:30 AM with a 59-33 final score. The weather –thunder, lightning and tornado warnings—was definitely a factor. The Cowboys’ Joseph Randle ran for 128 yards and 3 TDs while QB Brandon Weeden three for 369 yards and 2 TDs. Tulsa’s Ja’Terian Douglas rushed for 173 yards and 2 TDs on 12 carries and Trey Watts had 159 yards on 23 carries.

9/9 Texas A&M (2-0) The Aggies went up to Moscow, Idaho to face the Vandals of IU (1-2) Saturday night. They put 37 points on the board before the Vandals could answer—in the fourth quarter. Final 37-7.

10/11 South Carolina (3-0) The Gamecocks hosted the Midshipmen of Navy (2-1) Saturday evening. The Midshipmen forced the Gamecocks to come from behind in the fourth quarter to earn a 24-21 victory.

11/10 Nebraska (3-0) The Cornhuskers hosted the Washington Huskies (2-1) in a high scoring affair that saw Nebraska emerge with a 51-38 win.

12/14 Oregon (2-1) The Ducks routed the Missouri State Bears (0-3) 56-7. LaMichael James had TD runs of 1, 90 and 50 yards as he accumulated 204 yards on just 12 carries for the Ducks.

13/12 Virginia Tech (3-0) The Hokies defeated the Arkansas State Red Wolves (1-2) Saturday afternoon 26-7.

14/13 Arkansas (3-0) The Razorbacks beat the Troy Trojans (0-2) 38-28 Saturday afternoon. The Trojans didn’t make it easy for Arkansas as they amassed 457 yards in offense to the Razorbacks’ 454. Add Ladarrius Madden’s 53 yard interception return in the third quarter and Troy gave Auburn all it could handle.

15/15 Michigan State (2-1) The Spartans traveled to South Bend, IN to face the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (1-2). The Irish finally got things going right for them in a stunning 31-13 rout of the Spartans. Nothing spectacular from the Irish (well, except for George Atkinson’s 89 yd kickoff return) just steady offense and defense.

16/17 Florida (3-0) The Gators hosted the Tennessee Volunteers (2-1) Saturday afternoon. The Volunteers got off to a slow start and could not catch up to the Gators who triumphed 33-23.

17/16 Ohio State (2-1) The Buckeyes traveled south to Miami to face the Hurricanes (1-1) Saturday night. Miami looked disorganized two weeks ago but found all the right fixes as the upset the Buckeyes 24-6.

18/20 West Virginia (3-0) The Mountaineers went on the road to play the Maryland Terrapins (1-1) Saturday afternoon. The Terps fell behind early (27-10 at the half) and then made the Mountaineers sweat in at the end. Still, WVA came out on top 37-31. Geno Smith completed 36 of 49 for 388 (a career best). Terence Garvin had a 37 yard interception return for a TD in the first quarter for WVA. Eain Smith stopped the Maryland comeback threat with an interception with 1:13 remaining in the fourth quarter.

19/24 Baylor (2-0) The Bears had an easy time with the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (1-2) Both offense and defense showed up in this 48-0 shutout. Robert Griffin completed 20 of 22 attempts for 265 yards and 3 TDs. But most of the fans were thankful for the rain that caused the game to be halted in the third quarter.

20/22 South Florida (3-0) The Bulls scored early and often against the Florida A&M Rattlers (1-2) Saturday night. The Bulls won 70-17. B.J. Daniels was 21 of 31 for 382 yards and 4 TDs. Oh, and he ran for one, too. Teammate Darrell Scott ran for 146 yards and 3 TDs on 12 carries. He got a fourth TD on an 84 yard catch and run from Daniels.

21/19 Auburn (2-1) The Auburn Tigers jumped out to an early lead on the road against the Clemson Tigers (3-0) Saturday afternoon. Clemson, however, was having none of that as the stormed back to a convincing win 38-24.

22/18 Arizona State (2-1) The Sun Devils went on the road to play the Fighting Illini of Illinois (3-0) Saturday evening. The Devils came up short in a close 17-14 contest.

23T/21 Texas (3-0) The Longhorns headed west to play the UCLA Bruins (1-3) Texas romped 49-20. Case McCoy was solid in his first start as the Longhorn QB.

23T/23 TCU (2-1) The Horned Frogs fell behind the Warhawks of Louisiana-Monroe (1-2) 17-14 at the end of the first quarter but then woke up. Frogs won 38-17. Greg McCoy returned the second half opening kickoff 94 yards for a TD to put the Frogs on the winning track.

25/25 Mississippi State (1-2) The Bulldogs hosted the #3 LSU Tigers (3-0). Treated them real nice, too. The Tigers won 19-6. Could be the last time we see the MSU Bulldogs in the Top 25 this year.

It's Sunday. Let's go for a little drive...

...in a Ford Fiesta, no less:



(First seen at Phil's Phun site.)

HACKED!

My email account got hacked during the night. Some louse from Canada sending out spam to every address in my address book using my email. Not sure where I picked up the hitchhiker, or what I can do about it. I try not to open questionable attachments or visit sites that might leave a worm. Yet, somehow, something got past my protection (Norton's and Webroot) to do its dirty deed in the wee hours of the morning.

I knew something was up when I had 67 emails this morning after having 0 at 11 PM last night. Lots were from MAILER-DEAMON saying they couldn't deliver the message. Others were auto responses from folks who will get to the message as soon as they return to work on Monday.

*sigh*

Heck of a way to start off my birthday.

If you were the recipient of one of those pieces of trash, I apologize.

Wasn't me. Really.

Jazz for Cows!

Could be a new way to get them down from the back fields.

(First seen at Phil's Phun site.)

Gun Safety PSA from "Plaxico Burress"

Plaxico Burress was a wide receiver with the Giants when he accidentally shot himself with a pistol stuffed in the waistband of his pants. He spent 18 months in prison for having an unlicensed gun in NYC (not for stupidity). He's now a receiver for the Jets. Part of his sentence was doing safety talks and public service announcements on gun safety.

This is not one of them. But it is one funny spoof of what his PSA might be like. (Language may not be safe for work or little kids.)

Starring Derek Brantley. Written by The Landline. Music: Kevin MacLeod

Wife vs. Husband

Bruce just passed this email along to me:

WIFE VS. HUSBAND


A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.

An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.

As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"

"Yep," the wife replied, "in-laws."



W O R D S

A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day... 30,000 to a man's 15,000.

The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men..."

The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"



CREATION

A man said to his wife one day, "I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time."

The wife responded, "Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!



WHO DOES WHAT

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.

The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."

The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."

Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."

Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me."

So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says.........."HEBREWS"


The Silent Treatment

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.

Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 AM." He left it where he knew she would find it.

The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up."

Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

Mid September? Global Warming?

Jeez! Who turned the heat off?

What? Al Gore's doing "24 Hours of Reality" the Climate Reality Project trying to push his failing agenda...again?

Well, that might explain why the temperature at the Aerie was a mere 48 degrees AT 4 PM when we got back from the hospital.
(FULL DISCLOSURE: It HAS warmed up since the clouds cleared away. All the way to 52 degrees. But those clear skies mean temperatures in the mid 30s tonight with scattered FROST a possibility.)

It might also explain this:

Snow in forecast for mountains around Aspen
HA! you say. "That's at high elevations! Sure it snows at the tops of really tall mountains and some of these are, as the story notes well over a mile high!"

Well, that's true, but what about this:
Snow dampens BWCA fire, but respite likely to be brief ("BWCA" = Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota/southern Canada)

And from Watts Up With That we find:

This week, Sea Ice News: Arctic sea ice “may” have turned the corner Ice coverage of the Arctic is once again increasing...just as it does every fall.

If you're wondering why Albert has stopped mentioning the snow loss on Mt Kilimanjaro as a harbinger of DOOM!, well, maybe it's because that loss? It seems to have reversed: Snow slowly building on Mount Kilimanjaro

Speaking of Africa:
Mr. Watts has a report on flooddraughts The 4th IPCC report--the one that won the Nobel Prize--predicted more severe droughts in the Sahara and substantial increases in rainfall in the eastern Horn of Africa. Ain't happening. In fact, the southern Sahara, the Sahel, is becoming GREENER as it becomes more moist. As for the super increase in rain in the Horn region? Surely you jest: From the BBC: The drought and famine that is devastating the Horn of Africa is affecting more than 12 million people.

Injury/surgery report.

Back home after "Ambulatory Surgery" at Corning Hospital.

I went in to have a loose, calcified body removed from the muscular tissues directly above the right knee. That procedure was successful and easily accomplished. The lump ("I think it's a Titleists," said the doctor.) was not wedged in the muscle and popped right out.

I complained enough about the stabbing pain on the inside lower portion of the knee so that the doctor decided to do some arthroscopic exploration while I was under. He discovered a meniscal tear and some additonal loose bodies in that area and took action to clean things up and take out the trash. He also found there was some degenerative arthritis with some bone-on-bone contact in the rear of the knee. When we meet again on the 22nd, he'll be talking injections (Cortisone?) and future knee replacement, I guess.

Toughest part was trying to convince the anesthesiologist that my pulse (44 bpm) was a normal thing for me. He too asked if I was an exercise/running kind of guy. HA! Seriously, do I look like a jogger/marathoner? (Oh, and my BP was 147/77. Considered normal under the circumstances.)

I'm back home at the Aerie with orders to stay off the leg as much as possible, Keep it elevated for 24 hours--with ice, continue my pain meds, go for my scheduled follow-up on the 22nd, yadda, yadda, yadda.

College Football 2011, Preweek 3

Every one of the Top 25 teams will see action this week. Only two contests will pit ranked teams against one another: #1 Oklahoma @ #5 Florida State and #3 LSU @ #25 Mississippi State. The former could get interesting if the Sooners stumble early. The latter should be another victory for LSU.

As for the rest of the schedule, don’t look for many surprises this week.
Here are this week’s match-ups for all the Top 25 college teams. The two rankings are the AP/Coaches'. (CBSSports is slow in posting—again. Their Top 120 page says to come back October 3^rd for the rest of the teams. Maybe they’re playing that game with the Top 25 as well, although, they DID update for the first two weeks of the season. IF they get it posted tonight, I'll upgrade to all three polls on Wednesday sometime.)

1/1 Oklahoma (1-0) After a week of rest, the Sooners will be on the road to play the #5 Florida State Seminoles (2-0) at 8 PM (EDT) Saturday night.

2/2 Alabama (2-0) The Crimson Tide will host the Mean Green of North Texas (0-2) Saturday night. Will the Tide break 60?

3/3 LSU (2-0) The Tigers go on the road Thursday night to play the #25 Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-1) who are looking to bounce back after a 41-34 loss to Auburn last week.

4/4 Boise State (1-0) The Broncos are back in action this week. They play on the road against the Toledo Rockets (1-1) on Friday night. Toledo could surprise, but they will only keep it closer than expected.

5/5 Florida State (2-0) The Seminoles will play host to #1 Oklahoma Saturday night.

6/6 Stanford (2-0) The Cardinal will be on the road this week playing the Arizona Wildcats (1-1) Saturday afternoon. Another game with potential to be close, but the Cardinal still have Luck on their side.

7/8 Wisconsin (2-0) The Badgers go on the road Saturday afternoon to face the Huskies of Northern Illinois (1-1). Badgers can rip a careless dog to shreds.

8/7 Oklahoma State (2-0) The Cowboys play on the road at Tulsa as they face the Golden Hurricane (1-1) Saturday night. Should be another W for OSU even on the road. (“Road” ? yeah, right!)

9/9 Texas A&M (1-0) The Aggies are back in action up in Moscow, Idaho as they face the Vandals of IU (1-1) Saturday night. Another ranked team on the road. The Aggies should have little trouble with the Vandals.

10/11 South Carolina (2-0) The Gamecocks host the Midshipmen of Navy (2-0) Saturday evening. This will be an interesting game. If Navy plays error free (turnovers, penalties) and prevents the huge play, they could pull the upset.

11/10 Nebraska (2-0) The Cornhuskers will host the Washington Huskies (2-0) Saturday afternoon. Close game, but the Huskies get husked.

12/14 Oregon (1-1) The Ducks will play host to the Missouri State Bears (0-2) Saturday afternoon. Ducks by as many as they want/can get before time runs out.

13/12 Virginia Tech (2-0) The Hokies will host the Arkansas State Red Wolves (1-1) Saturday afternoon. Should be Hokies by a bunch. If they get careless, it will still be Hokies by a smaller bunch.

14/13 Arkansas (2-0) The Razorbacks will host the Troy Trojans (0-1) Saturday afternoon. Arkansas looking to make a statement. The Trojans get…well, beat.

15/15 Michigan State (2-0) The Spartans travel to South Bend, IN to face the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (0-2) Saturday afternoon. Who does the scheduling for the Irish? HE should get fired! Spartans by 14.

16/17 Florida (2-0) The Gators will host the Tennessee Volunteers (2-0) Saturday afternoon. Could be a close game if Tennessee remembers to bring their ear plugs.

17/16 Ohio State (2-0) The Buckeyes will travel south to Miami to face the Hurricanes (0-1) Saturday night. Miami looked very disorganized two weeks ago. Even a little unorganized will get the crowd booing and the Buckeyes drooling.

18/20 West Virginia (2-0) The Mountaineers will be on the road to play the Maryland Terrapins (1-0) Saturday afternoon. I hope WVA remembers their sunglasses. More than Maryland’s uniforms are offensive. This will be a test for WVA, but the mountaineers should prevail.

19/24 Baylor (1-0) The Bears host the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (1-1) Saturday night. Remember how Baylor scored a ton of points against TCU two weeks ago? They should do so again against the Lumberjacks. And their defense should show up this time too.

20/22 South Florida (2-0) The Bulls host the Florida A&M Rattlers (1-1) Saturday night. Bulls will stomp the Rattlers.

21/19 Auburn (2-0) The Auburn Tigers play on the road against the Clemson Tigers (2-0) Saturday afternoon. The Tigers should win this one. (Okay, the AUBURN Tigers.) But it will be close.

22/18 Arizona State (2-0) The Sun Devils are on the road to play the Fighting Illini of Illinois (2-0) Saturday evening. The Devils will win in a close contest.

23T/21 Texas (2-0) The Longhorns head west to play the UCLA Bruins (1-1) Saturday afternoon. Longhorns will gore the Bruins. Not even close.

23T/23 TCU (1-1) The Horned Frogs host the Warhawks of Louisiana-Monroe (1-1) Saturday afternoon. Frogs will win in a romp.

25/25 Mississippi State (1-1) The Bulldogs will host the #3 LSU Tigers (2-0) Thursday night. Could be the last time we see the MSU Bulldogs in the Top 25 this year. Geaux Tigers!

Aerie Report, September 12, 2011

Hey! The J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! pulled on out last night. The Cowboys had never lost a game where they led by 14 points in the fourth quarter...until last night. Blocked punt, fumble recovery on the 2 yard line (keeping Dallas out of the end zone), an interception, and a 50 yard field goal with 26-27 seconds left and the J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! come away with a 27-24 victory in week one.

******

Terry was out all afternoon so I entertained my self by peeling, slicing and canning 26 pints of peaches. SHE can carry the things downstairs! (Along with the 7 quarts of tomato sauce.)

With blueberry jam, strawberry jam, tomato sauce, and now peaches, all that remains is to find a source of apples for some applesauce.

******

Terry did go out late this afternoon to pick from the garden and reports that the string beans seem to have finally given up the ghost. (Perhaps they drowned?) The zucchini, too, are no longer producing. Might be time to pull both the string beans and zucchini plants and put them on the compost heap.

Freezer is packed with string beans, zucchini bread and grated zucchini, and blueberries. What's missing is meat. Which is sorta okay since there's no room in the freezer for it at the moment.

******

A most unusual day here at the Aerie: No rain. But, hey! The day ain't over yet!

Aerie Report, September 11, 2011

I spent the day in reflection...as many of you, no doubt.

And, yeah. I remember. And I'm still mad as hell.

******

When not thinking about the changes that have happened since 9/11, I spent time doing the normal things in life: watching football, surfing the net, canning tomato sauce...that sort of thing.

******

With all the stress on security at airports, one has to wonder why we still have a porous southern border and why ICE is kept on such a short leash with respect to illegal aliens.

******

Today, we had a few showers but nothing terrible and that is a relief. Temperature was in the mid 70s this afternoon after starting out in the high 50s this morning. More of the same is forecast for Monday.

******

I've got to get the grass cut again. IF it dries out and IF I can walk that much. I've also got to stack the firewood I split months ago. It needs to dry out.

******

I got seven quarts of tomato sauce out of the box of tomatoes Terry and I picked up the other day. Since we got 14 quarts out of two boxes two weeks ago, that yield is exactly what I expected. There's just enough left over to make tomorrow's dinner: sausage and peppers.

Tomorrow I tackle the box of peaches. Slices in pint jars with 60% syrup to cover. I should get 14 to 16 pints out of the one box.

******

My thoughts are with our friend Bruce up in Massachusetts. he's going under the knife tomorrow for prostate cancer. The doctors believe they caught it very early and that surgery to remove the bad boy C-cells should be about all that's needed.

******

I'm looking forward to my surgery on Thursday. This calcified lump needs to be gone so I'll get back to normal muscle action in the right thigh. Once that's done, I'll be better able to analyze the sharp pains I'm getting just below the knee. The MRI may have shown no tears, but it sure feels like one.

******

Knee problems (and lack of any photos of deer) may force my hand vis-a-vis the New York hunting season. I'm inclined to save my $300 bucks and shrug off this year up north. I still have to get up there to drain the water system, however. (Mark says that everything is A-OK. Irene and Lee have caused some erosion on the road beyond camp, but one of the folks up there has been spreading a couple of truck loads of crushed stone in the washouts.)

******

Rutgers football got robbed when the replay officials apparently didn't look at the TWO goal line plays where the the Scarlet Knights scored but were ruled out of the end zone. Coach Schiano should have called for a review even if it cost a TO. And an on-field official missed a blatant pass interference at the end of the game that cost a chance at a field goal. (North Carolina won 24-22.)

The RU defense gave up two long touchdown plays of over 60 yards (one pass and one run), but had 5 takeaways.

The Giants just stunk up the place as they lost to the Redskins today.

The Jets aren't looking that great, either. (Currently 17-7 midway in the third quarter.)

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.