TWTWTW

(Anyone know the origin of that title?)

Let me eschew all political talk for the time being and concentrate upon what I've been up to. In one word : "Not much." (As Biden and Obama would say. Oops. Sorry.)

After all the rain we had last week (two storms of over 0.6 inches on Tuesday and Thursday and another of over 0.8 inches on Saturday night) things finally dried out sufficiently for me to get the deck work done. From Sunday through Friday we have had no rain at all and the only moisture I had to contend with was from early morning dew, thus all my staining was done after noon.

Tuesday was spent doing all the front and west side decking area as well as the stairs leading up to it. Staining is a semi-mindless activity that lends itself to contemplation which was perfect fro Tuesday, 9/11. In the evening, as the sunset--a beautiful red sky--I could see the contrails of three or four passenger jets high overhead coming from the west and thought about the beautiful day 11 years ago when all such skywritings disappeared.

Then I spent Wednesday cleaning and washing the smaller front entrance deck and railing. Once that dried overnight, I was able to stain that area on Friday. 

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Wednesday I also managed to cut the grass which, although the season is nearing an end, is still growing by leaps and bounds.

And speaking of growing. The snap peas I planted around August 18th are now over 8" tall and starting to twine themselves around the strings I put up for them. With luck, they've got another month or more before a killing frost will likely come our way. Maybe we will get some peas, maybe not. (I say this remembering the late October snow we had last year.) The tomatoes are looking pretty bad but we did harvest over a peck of cherry tomatoes this year and enough larger tomatoes for some nice BLTs. There are some still on the vine that are ripening but the vines themselves took all that rain last week pretty hard; meaning they are mostly withered and looking like hell. When the plants are finally done, I'll be bagging and tagging them instead of trying to mulch them for fear of any lingering tomato blight. The zucchini and cucumbers are through and need to be pulled and bagged. (Not for blight, although they are right next to the tomatoes. Rather for the vine borers that some of them harbor.) I finally pulled the string beans out of the ground the other day--and harvested two more quarts of beans along the way that Terry processed for the freezer which is now jam packed with veggies.

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I've been thinking of putting in a couple of more raised beds and/or expanding the ones I've got. The only problem I have is where to locate them. I was sure I knew were the electric line and phone line went as they left the house buried beneath the surface in a trench that went out to the power pole, but after that, I wasn't sure of the exact location of the telephone line that leads to the box out near the road. So, being a good boy scout, I had Terry call 811 so they could notify folks that I planned to dig. The theory is the 811 service then notifies everyone under the sun and the various services send someone out to mark their lines/pipes. And by "everyone" I mean EVERYONE. They called the four gas companies working in the county, the wind farm operators on top of the mountain, the township, the two electric companies operating in the area, and the phone company. 

As expected, almost everyone responded with a "No services/facilities on site." Only one power company and the phone company were of interest to me as anything else would have showed up on our deed. Our electric company sent someone out Thursday--a very nice young man--who looked up at the powerlines running overhead and asked, "Why am I here?" To which I replied, "Beats me. I KNOW where your lines are. They go underground from there to there in a very deep trench before going overhead. It's the phone line that I'm unsure about." "Sorry I can't help you there. They get a little touchy if we do anything with their lines."

Today we got a visit from the young man from the telephone company. (This was important because our phone lines carry more than phone. They also have the internet and TV signals.) He got out his equipment, hooked everything up, and started walking along the route followed by the power lines in that deep trench. But then he veered a little to the north and kept walking west past the pole a good 10 feet further than I remembered before swinging almost due north and toward the corner of the one garden I already have. Sure enough, the line goes right under the corner of the garden I had assumed to be a safe distance to the west of the phone line. It's a good thing the line was buried about 18 inches down and I had only dug about 6 inches in that area before filling the garden area with trucked in soil. I want to add even more soil to that particular bed anyway.

Looking at the lay of the land, the route the line takes makes sense as it follows a far more gentle slope than it would have if it followed the line I thought it did. Still, my mistake of the route--especially since I was here when the bloody thing was put in--certainly makes calling 811 a priority.

So now that I know where the phone line, the power line and the septic/drain lines run (last two were never a problem) I can start planning my garden expansions. Not sure where the soil is going to come from, but I'll get it from somewhere.

Hmmmm.

Last Tuesday night we had 0.86 inches of rain in the gauge.

Thursday night we had 0.61 inches of rain.

Saturday afternoon-night we got another 0.69 inches.

What drought?

Last night-this morning the temperature dropped to 46.9 degrees--on the deck. It never gt above 64 degrees and is supposed to get down to around 38 tonight.

What warming?

All this rain and cold have brought the blight to my tomatoes. Overnight they went from looking healthy--if as yet unripened--to blech!

College Football Week 3

Week 3 gets under way on Thursday night with an important Big East match-up between South Florida and Rutgers. Both teams are 2-0. South Florida had an amazing comeback win against Nevada out in Reno on Saturday. Two long TD passes in the final 2:37 allowed the Bulls to wrest a 32-31 victory from the Wolf Pack. Rutgers has had two rather lackluster offensive performances (the exception is Jawan Jamison who has had two 100-yard rushing games so far) but their defense and special teams have been doing just fine, thank you. So far they’ve had one blocked punt returned for a TD and one interception returned for a TD. Saturday they held Howard to just 149 yards net offense. Now, if they could just get the kinks worked out on offense….

Friday night Washington State plays at UNLV. The Cougars enter the game 1-1 having lost to BYU on the road (30-6) and beaten Eastern Washington at home (24-20). The Rebels are 0-2 with 3-point losses at home to both Minnesota (30-27) and Northern Arizona (17-14)

Everybody else (who is playing) is playing on Saturday.

After upset loses suffered over the past weekend, four teams are gone from the AP Top 25 are Arkansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State. In their stead are UCLA, Tennessee, Arizona, and Brigham Young. Will these teams—all at the bottom of the AP rankings—be here next week? Time will tell.

(Numbers given are the rankings of: AP/Coaches’/CBSSports. NR = Not Rated Those in parentheses are last week’s rankings.)

1/1/6 (1/1/4) Alabama (2-0) The Tide rolls into Arkansas to play with—I mean—against the Razorbacks (1-1). Roll Tide!

2/3/2 (2/2/1) Southern California (2-0) The Trojans will travel a little closer to home this week as they play the Stanford Cardinal (2-0). Last year, the Cardinal pulled came away with a road victory, but they had Luck on their side at the time. USC did display a bit of a porous defense against Syracuse last week. This one could be close but look for USC to prevail.

3/2/1 (3/3/2) LSU (2-0) The Tigers host Idaho (0-2). Idaho? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Will the Lsu starters even get to finish the first quarter?

4/4/8 (4/4/7) Oregon (2-0) The Ducks will host Tennessee Tech (2-0) (an FCS school). There may be a lot of points scored in this one—by BOTH sides, but the Ducks should score more.

5T/5/3 (5/5/3) Oklahoma (2-0) The Sooners will have the week off.

5T/6/7 (6/6/12)) Florida State (2-0) The Seminoles will host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (2-0). FSU should win this one fairly easily but they really haven’t been challenged yet this year. Wins over Murray State (69-3) and Savannah State (55-0 in a rain shortened contest) may have built stats but not metal.

7/7/12 (7/7/17) Georgia (2-0) The Bulldogs host the Florida Atlantic Owls (1-1). The Bulldogs will have a new toy for Ugga.

8/9/15 (9T/9/19) South Carolina (2-0) The Gamecocks will host the UAB Blazers (0-1) Saturday evening. Won’t be much fun for the Blazers who have the 104^th best(?) rushing defense.  It’s a very young group that will have plenty of gray hair after this one.

9/8/18 (9T/8/25) West Virginia (1-0) The Mountaineers will host the James Madison Dukes (2-0) (an FCS team). The Dukes have posted wins of 55-7 (St. Francis, PA) and 42-3 (Alcorn State) in their first two games. West Virginia beat Marshall 69-34 in their opener two weeks ago. The Mountaineers should romp.

10/10/4 (11/11/6) Michigan State (2-0) The Spartans will host #20 Notre Dame (2-0) Saturday night. MSU edged Boise State (17-14) and romped over Central Michigan (41-7). The Irish creamed Navy (50-10) in Ireland and edged Purdue (20-17) at home. What will happen in East Lansing? Flip a coin.

11/11/10 (12/12/16) Clemson (2-0) The Tigers will host the Furman Paladins (0-2). The Tigers should win handily, but the Paladins two loses (Samford 24-21 and Coastal Carolina 47-45 in three overtimes) have been…well…entertaining.

12/NR/5 (14/NR/13) Ohio State (2-0) The Buckeyes will host the California Golden Bears (1-1). Cal has given up 31 points in each of their first two games. They were able to score 50 against Southern Utah but only 24 against Nevada. They will need that 50 to beat the Buckeyes…but they won’t get it.

13/13/11 (15/18/23) Virginia Tech (2-0) The Hokies will head north to play the Pitt Panthers (0-2). It’s going to be a loooong year for Pitt.

14/12/19 (17/15/14) Texas (2-0) The Longhorns will play at the home of the Ole Miss Rebels (2-0). Texas should leave the Rebels in Ashes.

15/14/20 (21/20/NR) Kansas State (2-0) The Wildcats will host the North Texas Mean Green (1-1). Look for the Wildcats to come close—if not surpass –their 51 ½ point average while holding the Mean Green to far less.

16/15/NR (20/17/NR) TCU (1-0) The Horned Frogs will play at Kansas against the Jayhawks (1-1). Kansas’ one victory came by one point over Rice. TCU should have no difficulty.

17/18/22 (19/19/5) Michigan (1-1) The Wolverines host the Massachusetts Minutemen (0-2) who are not having a good time in their first year on the FBS level. Michigan by 30.

18/17/16 (24/23/22) Florida (2-0) The Gators will play on the road against the #23 Tennessee Volunteers (2-0). Tennessee has put up some impressive offensive numbers while Florida has struggled. The Vols pull off an upset in this one with the help of their home field advantage.

19/20/9 (23/24/10) Louisville(2-0) The Cardinals will host the North Carolina Tar Heels (1-1). Louisville will roll over NC.

20/19/17 (22/22/21) Notre Dame (2-0) The Fighting Irish will face #10 Michigan State (2-0) on the road.  

21/16/NR (25/21/NR) Stanford (2-0) The Cardinal host #2 Southern California (2-0) in what should be a very close game.

22/23/NR (NR/NR/NR) UCLA (2-0) The Bruins host the Houston Cougars (0-2).  UCLA will score big in this one.

23/NR/NR (NR/NR/NR) Tennessee (2-0) The Volunteers will host #18 Florida (2-0) and will pull off the upset.

24/25/NR (NR/NR/NR) Arizona (2-0) The Wildcats will host the South Carolina State Bulldogs (1-1) (an FCS school).

25/NR/NR (NR/NR/NR) Brigham Young (2-0) will play down the road against the Utah Utes (1-1) in a game that could go either way.

NR/21/24 (8/10/20) Arkansas (1-1) The Razorbacks host their worst nightmare: The #1 Alabama Crimson Tide (2-0).

NR/22/23 (13/13/8) Wisconsin (1-1) The Badgers look for redemption when they host the Utah State Aggies (2-0). They may get it…but it won’t be easy.

NR/24/14 (16/14/15) Nebraska (1-1) The Cornhuskers host the Arkansas State Red Wolves (1-1) and should come away with a solid victory.

NR/NR/13 (NR/25/11) Boise State (0-1) The Broncos host the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (1-1). The result should be a win on the blue carpet for the home team.

NR/NR/25 (NR/NR/NR) Washington (1-1) The Huskies will be licking their wounds after their drubbing by LSU with a home game against Portland State Vikings (1-1) (an FCS school). They should be very successful. 

College Football, Week 2 Results

“Week One ended with no surprises as every team beat a team that was either unranked or ranked lower than it was. This week we have no game with two ranked opponents, so it’s probably safe to say that there shouldn’t be any surprises this week either. But that’s why they play the games.”

That’s what I said, “That’s why they play the games.”  Just ask the (formerly) #8 Arkansas Razorbacks. Or the (formerly) #13 Wisconsin Badgers. Or the (formerly) #16 Nebraska Cornhuskers. Or the (formerly) #18 Oklahoma State Cowboys. For good measure, North Carolina and Nevada both lost by one point and will be heading down in the rankings. Expect LOTS of changes when the Week 3 Rankings come out.

(Numbers given are the rankings of: AP/Coaches’/CBSSports. NR = Not Rated Those in parentheses are last week’s rankings.)

1/1/4 (2/2/3) Alabama (2-0) The Crimson Tide shut out the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky (1-1) Saturday afternoon 35-0. AJ McCarron completed 14 of 19 attempts for 219 yards and four TDs (two each to Christion Jones and Kevin Norwood) and Alabama’s defense forced four turnovers. One thing sure to get the Tide’s attention this week: The Hilltoppers’ sacked McCarron six times despite the offensive line outweighing the Hilltoppers’ D by an average of 45 pounds. Quanterus Smith had three of the sacks.

2/2/1 (1/3/2) Southern California (2-0) The Trojans over powered the Orange of Syracuse (0-2) 42-29 Saturday afternoon at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. Matt Barkley completed 23 of 30 pass attempts for 187 yards and six (6) TDs—a school record. Three of those TDs went to Marqise Lee and two went to Robert Woods. Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib completed 30 of 46 for 322 yards and two TDs to Marcus Sales who gained 104 yards on eight catches. Nassib also rushed for a TD. The second half was delayed for over an hour due to weather concerns…something that would not have happened in the Dome at Syracuse. (I still cannot understand Syracuse playing home games in New Jersey. Sure, it may help recruiting in the New York City area—although half the stadium was filled with USC fans and the Syracuse campus is over 250 miles away. With the dome such an intimidating home venue, you have to wonder about this strategy.)

3/3/2 (3/1/1) LSU (2-0) The Tigers demolished the Washington Huskies (1-1) Saturday night 41-3. The Tigers spotted the Huskies 3 points before reeling off 41 of their own. Zach Mettenberger was 12 of 18 for 195 yards and one TD. Alfred Blue carried the ball 14 times for 101 yards and a TD. Kenny Hilliard had 46 yards on 13 carries and two TDs.

4/4/7 (5/5/5) Oregon (2-0) The Ducks overcame the Fresno State Bulldogs (1-1) 42-25 Saturday night. Kenyon Barner scored three rushing TDs and had a career high 201 yards on 34 carries for the Ducks.

5/5/3 (4/4/4) Oklahoma (2-0) The Sooners routed the Florida A&M Rattlers (0-2) Saturday night 69-13. Damien Williams rushed for four TDs including an 89-yarder as he carried the ball 10 times for 156 yards and Brennan Clay scored two TDs on eight carries for 62 yards as the Sooners had 662 yards net offense—349 of it on the ground and 313 in the air. Landry Jones completed 19 of 28 attempts for 252 yards, two TDs and an INT.

6/6/12 (7/7/7) Florida State (2-0) The Seminoles shut out the Savannah State Tigers (0-2) (an FCS team) 55-0 in a weather shortened game Saturday evening. The Tigers had lost the week before to Oklahoma State 84-0 so this could be viewed as a Devine intervention. EJ Manuel completed 11 of 13 passes for 161 yards and passed for three TDs in the opening seven minutes and Florida State's defense held Savannah State to 28 yards. Manuel played in just the first quarter.

7/7/17 (6/6/6) Georgia (2-0) The Bulldogs beat the Missouri Tigers (1-1) Saturday night 41-20. It seemed a heck of a lot closer though as the Tigers held an eight point lead (17-9) early in the third quarter before Georgia came awake to post 32 points to Missouri’s 3. Of course, Georgia was playing with out some of its starting defensive players who were left home for disciplinary reasons.

8/10/20 (10/10/11) Arkansas (1-1) The Razorbacks fell to the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (1-0) in overtime Saturday night 34-31. The Warhawks were led by junior QB Kolton Browning, who was 42 of 67 passing for 412 yards with three TDs. Browning also finished with 69 yards rushing, the last 16 coming on his winding, game-winning fourth-and-1 scramble in overtime that gave Louisiana-Monroe the win. Tyler Wilson was 11 of 20 for 196 yards, two TDs and one INT before coming out of the game with a head injury. He did not play the second half.

9T/8/25 (11/11/10) West Virginia (1-0) The Mountaineers had the weekend off and will host the James Madison Dukes (2-0) (an FCS team) Saturday afternoon. [I initially said they played this weekend.]

9T/9/19 (9/9/8) South Carolina (2-0) The Gamecocks routed the East Carolina Pirates (1-1) 48-10 Saturday afternoon behind backup QB Dylan Thompson’s 21 of 37, 330-yard, three TD game as regular starter Connor Shaw sat out with a bruised throwing shoulder.

11/11/6 (13/13/14) Michigan State (2-0) The Spartans routed the Central Michigan Chippewas (1-1) 41-7 Saturday afternoon. The only score for the Chippewas came on a 55-yard interception return by Jason Wilson off Michigan State backup QB Connor Cook. Andrew Maxwell completed 20 of 31 attempts for 275 yards and two TDs while Le’Veon Bell rushed for 70 yards and two TDs on 18 carries for the Spartans.

12/12/16 (14/14/13) Clemson (2-0) The Tigers scored 32 points—in the second quarter—and rolled over the Ball State Cardinals (1-1) Saturday afternoon. Clemson surpassed the 500 yard mark on offense for the second consecutive week. DaAnde Hopkins caught three TD passes (he had six catches for 105 yards) and Andre Ellington scored twice on the ground (13 carries for 41 yards).  Tajh Boyd completed 19 of 23 pass attempts for 229 yards and the three TDs to Hopkins with 0 INTs before being removed for backup Cole Stoudt who went 12 of 18 for 123 yards and one TD with 0 INTs. Oh, and punter Spencer Benton kicked a 61-yard field goal to set a new Atlantic Coast Conference record. Boyd and Hopkins came out of the game midway through the second quarter.

13/13/8 (12/12/12) Wisconsin (1-1) The Badgers fell to the Oregon State Beavers (1-0) 10-7 Saturday afternoon. The Beaver defense bottled up Montee Ball all afternoon, holding the Wisconsin star running back to just 61 net yards and no TDs on 15 carries. It was the first time in 21 games Ball had not scored a TD. Wisconsin didn’t score until there was 1:31 remaining. Their onsides kick failed when it was ruled (on review) that kicker Kyle French had touched the ball before it had gone the required 10 yards. Sean Mannion competed 29 of 47 attempts for 276 yards and a TD for the Beavers.

14/NR/13 (18/NR/15) Ohio State (2-0) The Buckeyes beat the UCF Knights (1-1) 31-16 Saturday afternoon. QB Braxton Miller rushed for three TDs as he carried the ball 27 times for 141 yards and then he passed for a fourth (18 of 24 for 155 yards with one INT).

15/18/23 (16/20/18) Virginia Tech (2-0) The Hoakies beat the Austen Peay Governors (0-2) (an FCS team) 42-7 Saturday afternoon. The Hokies got off to a slow start but a long punt return and a blocked punt sparked the offense. Wes Kitts carried the ball 22 times for 110 yards for the Governors but that was the bulk of their offense as the Hokies had 419 yards in net offense to Austen Peay’s 221.

16/14/15 (17/16/20) Nebraska (1-1) The Cornhuskers fell to the UCLA Bruins (2-0) Saturday night36-30. With the score tied at 27 all, Datone Jones sacked Taylor Martinez in the end zone for a safety and put the exclamation point on the game. Brett Hundley was 21 of 33 for 305 yards and four TDs and Johnathan Franklin rushed 26 times for 217 yards for the Bruins. Martinez did rush for 112 yards on 13 carries including a 92-yard TD run and Ameer Abdullah had two TDs on 16 carries for 119 yards but it wasn’t enough for the Cornhuskers who were out gained 653 yards to 439 yards as UCLA ran 94 offensive plays to Nebraska’s 67. Hey! There’s another team playing in Los Angeles besides USC.

17/15/14 (15/15/17) Texas (2-0) The Longhorns shut out the New Mexico Lobos (1-1) Saturday night 45-0. David Ash ran 49 yards for one TD and tossed a shovel pass to Dale Johnson for a 45-yard TD and a short pass to Mike Davis that actually went across the line of scrimmage for another 22-yard score. Ash finished the day 16 of 22 for 221 yards. Backup Case McCoy was 5 of 8 for 64 yards and a TD.

18/16/9 (19/19/19) Oklahoma State (1-1) The Cowboys got schooled by the Arizona Wildcats (2-0) Saturday night 59-38. Arizona actually trailed 14-0 before rolling off 30 unanswered points that apparently unnerved the Cowboys. The Cowboys had 15 penalties for a school-record 167 yards in that stretch. Then Oklahoma State rallied to bring it to within two points in the third before Arizona said enough is enough and scored 29 points during the final 27 minutes of play. Matt Scott completed 28 of 41 attempts for 320 yards and two TDs. Scott also ran for a score. Ka’Deem Carey ran for two TDs and caught one of Scott’s TD passes. Jonathan McKnight returned an interception 48 yards for a TD. Wes Lunt was 37 of 60 for 436 yards and four TD but threw 3 INTs including the one returned for a Wildcat score.

19/19/5 (8/8/9) Michigan (1-1) The Wolverines edged the Air Force Falcons (1-1) Saturday afternoon 31-25 behind the outstanding play of QB Denard Robinson. Robinson completed 14 of 25 passes for 208 yards, two TDs and one INT. He also had touchdown runs of 79 and 58 yards as he rushed 20 times for 218 yards.

20/17/NR (20/17/16) TCU (1-0) The Horned Frogs shut out the Grambling Tigers (0-2) (an FCS team) Saturday night 56-0. Casey Pachall and Trevone Boykin completed all 17 passes attempted for TCU setting an FBS record for most passes without an incompletion. They were 17 of 17 for 276 yards and four TDs. (Pachall was 9-9-201 and three TDs. Boykin 8-8-75 and one TD. Boykin also ran for a 34-yard TD.) The Frogs’ defense held Grambling to just 70 yards net offense. Dante’ Gray had a 70 yard punt return for a TD and Elisha Olabode returned an interception 28 yards for a TD.

21/20/NR (22/21/22) Kansas State (2-0) The Wildcats routed the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes (1-1) 52-13 Saturday afternoon. Collin Klein completed just 9 of 11 passes but got 210 yards out of those completions as well as one TD. He also rushed for three TDs as he carried the ball 22 times for 71 yards. The Wildcats’ John Hubert rushed for 106 yards and a TD on 19 carries while Daniel Sams scored two TDs on just three carries for 47 yards.

22/22/21 (NR/24/NR) Notre Dame (2-0) The Fighting Irish needed a last second, 27-yard field goal by Kyle Brindza to defeat the Purdue Boilermakers (1-1) 20-17 Saturday afternoon. That final kick was set up by a drive engineered by Tommy Rees, last year’s starting QB who was suspended/benched for his role in a brawl last May. Starter Everett Golson had completed 21 of 31 pass attempts for 289 yards and one TD with no INTs but several hard hits left him with an unsure grip on the ball so Rees stepped in.

23/24/10 (25/NR/NR) Louisville (2-0) The Cardinals manhandled the Missouri State Bears (0-2) Saturday afternoon 35-7. Teddy Bridgewater completed 30 of39 passes for two TDs and no INTs as the Cardinals ran 77 plays for 475 net yards compared to Missouri State’s 59 plays for 249 yards.

24/23/22 (23/23/23) Florida (2-0) The Gators came from behind to edge the Texas A&M Aggies (0-1) Saturday afternoon 20-17. The Gators trailed 17-10 at the half but shut the Aggies out in the second half while scoring 10 points of their own to come away with the win. Mike Gillislee carried the ball 14 times for 83 yards and a pair of TDs for the Gators. Jeff Driskel completed 13 of his 16 pass attempts for 162 yards but was sacked eight (8) times by the Aggies.

25/21/NR (21/18/21) Stanford (2-0) The Cardinal demolished the Duke Blue Devils (1-1) Saturday night 50-13. Credit for the win goes to all three facets of the game. Josh Nunes completed 16 of 30 passes for 275 yards and three TDs. Drew Terrell returned a punt 75 yards for a TD (as well as catching oneo f Nunes’ TD passes) and Ed Reynolds returned one of his two INTs 71 yards for a TD. Next week for the Cardinal it will be USC.

NR/25/11 (24/22/25) Boise State (0-1) The Broncos had the weekend off but will host the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (1-1) Saturday afternoon. [I initially reported that these two teams played this weekend.]

NR/NR/18 (NR/NR/NR) North Carolina (1-1) The Tar Heels were beat by the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (2-0) Saturday night 28-27. The Deacons’ Tanner Price led an 11-play, 93-yard drive late in the fourth quarter culminating in a 1-yard sneak for a TD to put Wake Forest ahead. The defense than stepped in; intercepting the Tar Heels’ Bryn Renner on a fourth down play with 1:25 remaining.  Michael Campanaro made 13 catches for 164 yards for Wake Forest and Price had an earlier TD run of 2 yards and completed 27 of 38 for 327 yards.

NR/NR/24 (NR/NR/NR) Nevada (1-1) The Wolf Pack fell to the South Florida Bulls (2-0) Saturday afternoon 32-31 as the Bulls came from behind on the strength of B.J. Daniels’ arm. Daniels finished the day 22 of 40 for 363 yards and three TDs—a 51 yarder to Andre Davis, 52 yarder to Chris Dunkley with 2:37 remaining and the final one—with just 38 second left in the game—a 56 yarder to Andre Davis. Davis finished with 12 catches for 191 yards. Cody Fajardo completed 27 of 38 attempts for 271 yards and a touchdown and ran for 134 yards and two more scores and Zach Sudfeld returned a fumble for a TD for the Wolf Pack. The Bulls trailed after the first quarter 21-6

My not so lazy day.

We got 0.86 inches of rain last night and it was still misting a bit this morning. Of course, that meant no chance of staining the deck. The sun did come out--eventually--around 4 PM and things are looking much better. Too bad Terry and I have a meeting with our financial planner tomorrow morning. Might have to wait until after lunch to start staining.

I did get some things done today. I went to Lowe's and picked up a new set of drawer glides to replace the broken one in the RV. Then I installed them. They both got replaced because the replacements were just a little bit larger (wider) than the originals. Pulling out one of the other drawers I noticed a missing plastic piece on one of the glides. The same piece lead to the failure of the drawer I just repaired. Luckily, I had a spare glide from the set I had to replace so that got fixed pronto.

While at Lowe's I also got an adapter and a cap to go over my freshwater intake so as to keep dust and dirt out. Still have to see about a 30 AMP extension cord and getting the power cord from the camper repaired. (The plug end has separated from the thick insulating rubber coating on the wire. The three wires are still connected but they are now exposed. I could live with it, but Terry is concerned. And when Terry gets concerned....)

Then we got a call from the notary down in Mansfield. She had just received all the papers and payments from Camping World and we could come pick up our registration and license plate whenever we wanted to--which was now. (Ever drive around with out a license plate? Even if you've got one of those temporary paper tags in the rear window, you are constantly waiting for some cop to pull you over. Mine wasn't even in the rear window but on the side. I thought sure some cope would pull me over as we drove to and from West Wareham, MA but it didn't happen. They were out there. I saw them. But they were either setting up or manning radar sites or already had someone else pulled over. Whew!) Anyway, so now the Winnie has a real plate on the rear and I don't feel so paranoid anymore.

Having gotten the PA plate and registration, I had to schedule an inspection. There's a place just over the other side of the valley in Mansfield that does inspections of motorhomes. I called and will take the Winnie over on Friday morning.

Oh, and I called Camping World to find out about the shower caddy that needed to be replaced. The part came in yesterday and I set an appointment to have that installed September 20th. They should have the tow dolly assembled when we get there.

Other than that, we had one meal of delightful clam chowder and another of left over fish with quahog stuffing, corn on the cob and sweet potatoes. MMM-mmm GOOD!

R.A. Dickey won his 18th game (18-4) for the Mets. Not bad for a 38 year-old knuckleballer.
Beer is cold, Chips are available. The NFL starts tonight: Cowboys at the Giants. Go Giants!

College Football, Week 2

Week One ended with no surprises as every team beat a team that was either unranked or ranked lower than it was. This week we have no game with two ranked opponents, so it’s probably safe to say that there shouldn’t be any surprises this week either. But that’s why they play the games.

No ranked teams are playing before Saturday but the Thursday night game is a doozy: Pittsburgh (0-1) at Cincinnati (0-0). With Pitt leaving the Big East next year for the ACC this could be the last of this particular back-yard brawl rivalry. And Friday night there’s Utah (1-0) against Utah State (1-0) in Logan, UT, another strong rivalry. Both games are on ESPN at 8 PM.

The polls themselves are unsurprising--except for the CBSSports rankings which, frankly, look like they were made by a congressional committee. Don’t believe me? Check them out yourself. Teams WIN and get dropped ten slots or more (i.e. Arkansas, South Carolina), or don’t even play and fall at least 9 positions to be completely off the rankings (TCU went from 16 to NR).

(Numbers given are the rankings of: AP/Coaches’/CBSSports. NR = Not Rated Those in parentheses are last week’s rankings.)

1/1/4 (2/2/3) Alabama (1-0) The Crimson Tide will play host to the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

2/2/1 (1/3/2) Southern California (1-0) The Trojans will travel to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ to play the Orange of Syracuse (0-1) Saturday afternoon. (I cannot understand Syracuse playing home games in New Jersey. Sure, it helps recruiting in the New York City area, but their campus is over 200 miles away.)

3/3/2 (3/1/1) LSU (1-0) The Tigers will host the Washington Huskies (1-0) Saturday night.

4/4/7 (5/5/5) Oregon (1-0) The Ducks host the Fresno State Bulldogs (1-0) Saturday night.

5/5/3 (4/4/4) Oklahoma (1-0) The Sooners host the Florida A&M Rattlers (0-0) Saturday night.

6/6/12 (7/7/7) Florida State (1-0) The Seminoles host the Savannah State Tigers (0-0) (an FCS team) Saturday evening.

7/7/17 (6/6/6) Georgia (1-0) The Bulldogs play at the home of the Missouri Tigers (1-0) Saturday night.

8/10/20 (10/10/11) Arkansas (1-0) The Razorbacks will host the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (0-0) Saturday night.

9T/8/25 (11/11/10) West Virginia (1-0) The Mountaineers will host the James Madison Dukes (0-0) (an FCS team) Saturday afternoon.

9T/9/19 (9/9/8) South Carolina (1-0) The Gamecocks will be hosting the East Carolina Pirates (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

11/11/6 (13/13/14) Michigan State (1-0) The Spartans visit the home of the Central Michigan Chippewas (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

12/12/16 (14/14/13) Clemson (1-0) The Tigers host the Ball State Cardinals (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

13/13/8 (12/12/12) Wisconsin (1-0) The Badgers head west to play the Oregon State Beavers (0-0) Saturday afternoon.

14/NR/13 (18/NR/15) Ohio State (1-0) The Buckeyes host the UCF Knights (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

15/18/23 (16/20/18) Virginia Tech (1-0) The Hoakies host the Austen Peay Governors (0-0) (an FCS team) Satruday afternoon.

16/14/15 (17/16/20) Nebraska (1-0) The Cornhuskers head west to play the UCLA Bruins (1-0) Saturday night.

17/15/14 (15/15/17) Texas (1-0) The Longhorns host the New Mexico Lobos (1-0) Saturday night.

18/16/9 (19/19/19) Oklahoma State (1-0) The Cowboys head to Arizona to play the Wildcats (1-0) Saturday night.

19/19/5 (8/8/9) Michigan (0-1) The Wolverines play host to the Air Force Falcons (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

20/17/NR (20/17/16) TCU (0-0) The Horned Frogs host the Grambling Tigers (0-0) (an FCS team) Saturday night.

21/20/NR (22/21/22) Kansas State (1-0) The Wildcats host the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

22/22/21 (NR/24/NR) Notre Dame (1-0) The Fighting Irish play host to the Purdue Boilermakers (1-0) Saturday afternoon.

23/24/10 (25/NR/NR) Louisville (1-0) The Cardinals host the Missouri State Bears (0-1) Saturday afternoon.

24/23/22 (23/23/23) Florida (1-0) The Gators head to Texas A&M to face the Aggies (0-0) Saturday afternoon.

25/21/NR (21/18/21) Stanford (1-0) The Cardinal will host the Duke Blue Devils (1-0) Saturday night.

NR/25/11 (24/22/25) Boise State (0-1) The Broncos will host the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (0-1) Saturday afternoon.

NR/NR/18 (NR/NR/NR) North Carolina (1-0) The Tar Heels play on the road against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (1-0) Saturday night.

NR/NR/24 (NR/NR/NR) Nevada (1-0) The Wolf Pack will host the South Florida Bulls (1-0) Saturday afternoon.