Life after Fantasy Football

In the past couple of weeks I have found out that there is life after fantasy football. The shock of the end of the season in the first quarter of the first game has warn off and I have moved on. I'm not sure if everyone knows that in the past few years Lincoln has had their "One Book, One Lincoln" campaign. This is when a group of literary genius' review a few recommended books and then come up with their number one pick, then fill the libraries with only that one book and ask everyone in the city to read it. They start up book clubs to get all together and discuss the book.

Brenda and I have read (or in my case listen to) most of the past books. There have been a couple that for what ever reason I haven't been able to get through but for the most part I have actually enjoyed them. I do believe that this is because I have become civilized - I don't grunt anymore but actually speak in sentences. I have found out that books can be my friend. Anyway, when the new OBOL selection was announced, I was excited that I could tell Brenda that it was "The Thirteenth Tale". When Brenda came home I was about to tell her when she said that she had been in town and had found a couple of things for me to listen to. One was a book on the comedy of golf and the other was the new OBOL! I was deflated!

I started reading (remember I say that though I listen to it on CD) and have really enjoyed it. I even finished it before Brenda. I can't tell you any more about this book because Bren needs to finish it first but then I will have my own book club and if anyone wants to discuss the true meaning of the book with me I will put the coffee on (as I think everyone who discusses books must drink coffee) and we can discuss.

With this book done I moved on to the book on golf. This is written by a man who golfed when he was young and gave the sport up becaused he "sucked" at it. After 30 years off, he decided to take it up again and continues to "suck" at it! What is really depressing about this is he talks about all the horrible shots he makes, the terrible scores he has and yet he stills shoots as good as (or should I say as bad as) me! This guy talks about how he is so embarrassed about his game that he only goes out by himself. He can't be seen by anyone who knows him.

He actually goes to World Golf Village (we were there last March) and gets personally sized up for clubs. They say that the only driver that he should be using is a Calloway Fusion (which is what I have). He can't hit it for anything (I couldn't hit a ball in the ocean from a john boat) and ends up giving it up to someone else. I might have to try that approach - give my clubs up one at a time.

Well, that is it - I gave up fantasy football for reading books (some on golf). Yet I wonder, in fantasy football, there is always the optimism of having that one good week when all your players score well. But in golf, it only takes that one shot to keep me coming back for more! And in some morbid way this goes beyond the game and on to books about the game.

Apple Marathon Day

Today was apple marathon day at the Weekly's. My friend Jayne has an apple orchard and graciously lets us pick apples. We started the day with the whole family going to her orchard to pick. I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures of us picking. The little kids had a great time carrying their bags around getting apples. The big boys had a great time using the apple pickers, and trying to outdo each other on who could find the best apples. We brought home 10 bags of apples, and then the fun really started.

We all had jobs to do. As you can see here, everybody is busy doing something. Braydon assesed the situation as he came through the kitchen early in the afternoon and asked me, "Why are you making all these people work?" I tried to tell him that they were choosing to work, and I wasn't making them. I'm not sure he believed me. Actually, I'm not sure anybody believed me.

Andy and Josh learned to make a mean pie crust, and make the applesauce. Jaime spent the entire time making the fillings for the pies and apples crisp. Mike, the boys, and Corrin took turns on the apple pealer / slicer gizmo. Corrin washed all the apples. Mike made all the topppings for the apple crisp, and I rolled out all the pie crusts.

Towards the end of our marathon, the little kids wanted in on the action too. Andy made pie crust for them, Jaime made the filling, and they did the rest. They did an amazing job! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of Breck's pie. Not sure if you can see it, but Braydon made a little pie crust man and put it on top of his pie! Lawson didn't have any interest in baking today.

Here are the totals for the day: 11 pies, 10 pans of apple crisp, 2 gallons of applesauce, and 6 pints of Caramel Apple Jam. Not bad for a kitchen that doesn't hold 6 adults, and two brothers who have to compete with each other over their applesauce and pie crust making abilities. Even though I am very tired, all in all it was a great day.

Lawson's Turn

Tonight was Lawson's turn to spend time with us while his big sister was at dance class. I told Lawson when he left tonight that I would put him on the blog. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what that means, but maybe after he sees this, he'll know. Two things Lawson likes when he comes to our house: playing games, and having his picture taken. He sees the bigger kids playing games and he wants to be just like them. So we "play" games. Here he is building his pipeline. He would roll the die, pump his fist, and say, "yes." Then he would put more pieces on the board. When he got tired of that game, he got out the big magnets and built this design. Right before he left tonight he wanted Mike to take one more picture of him. He looks so serious and grown-up, but awfully cute!

Death of a football team

I want to thank all of you who have sent me sympathy cards, etc. for my great loss. Of course I am talking about my quarterback in my fantasy league. If you remember, I blogged about spending over 1/3 of my total fantasy salary for Tom Brady. And if you pay any attention at all regarding the NFL you know that Tom tore up his knee yesterday in the first quarter of the first game of this season. With this tragedy coming so quickly is very shocking to me. Fortunately for me that I have the most sensitive sons as each of them have sent me sympathy cards. Josh's card came last night when I was still very much in shock and denial. Andy's card came tonight after I had heard that Tom was done for the entire year (and yet he did not mention that he was beating me soundly this week - that is truly a nice guy!). I will try to muddle through the season and give it the best that I can. And if another tragedy comes my way, forget the cards and just send cookies!
Mike

Tea Time with Emma

Last night Emma came over to play for a little while. After beating Mike and me at Sorry, and building towers with the magnets, Emma decided we needed to have a tea party. She choose the tea set, set the table, and planned the menu while I baked the cookies. For dinner we were going to have peanut butter cookies, and for dessert it would be chocolate sundae ice cream cups from the Schwan man (whose timing at our house was perfect - she loved shopping with the catalog!) After getting everything ready - including the booster chair for her "daughter," Emma had us come to the table. She served the tea, and the cookies. She was such a charming hostess! Our tea was perfectly sweetened, and our cups were never empty. Even her daughter had bites of cookie and sips of tea. After tea, we all settled on the couch and read one of Emma's favorite books until Daddy came to pick her up. Nothing is better than being able to spend time our with grandchildren! We are so blessed!

Princeton here we come!

Can you hear the rumblings from Princeton? I believe they are not ready for the Weekly Express as they come through town. Yes we went bike riding this evening and stopped just short of Princeton. We now have it within our reach. I think the whole town is "shaking in their boots"! Actually, we have now come to the 50 mile "stone" (that is 50 miles milestone). With the weather getting cooler in the evening I hope we can double that before the snow flies.

Speaking of evenings, I believe our's are going to become less busy pretty soon. Brenda had IEP's the last two Tuesdays. I am not sure, but I believe that stands for "Intensive, Exhausting and Painful". This is actually when she meets with student's parents who have special needs. She has many of these students so she had many meetings each evening (hence the intensive and exhausting). None of the teachers can leave school until 9:00 PM (hence the Painful). But now those are over.
I have only three Thursday nights of golf (these are not intensive or exhausting - just painful). We are now in third place and if I keep playing the way I am, I am sure we can make it to last place. The good part of it is now that the leaves will start changing, I will be able to enjoy parts of course that many don't ever see. I might have to take my camera for the wildlife.
Mike