Summer Olympics
I have been hooked on the Olympics since last weekend. I told myself I wasn’t interested in watching it this time, but I should have known better. Ever since I watched Mary Lou Retton as a small child, the summer Olympics have been exciting to me. Then when softball was added, I was even more excited. I was in the middle of my high school softball craze and made one of my goals to be in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Unfortunately, that’s one goal I didn’t reach.
NBC reporter Mary Carillo is travelling around China showing some of it’s unique and interesting characteristics. She is very funny and her witty exchanges with Bob Costas is one of my favorite parts of the primetime coverage.
Michael Phelps won gold in all eight of his races. He is an extraordinary young man. Raised by a single mom and diagnosed with ADHD, he shows what a person can do with hard work and dedication.
Nastia Luikin and Shawn Johnson finished with gold and silver repectively in the all-around gymnastics competition, the first time in history for U.S. women to do so. The body control of the gymnasts is amazing.
Opponents Carry Injured Runner Around Bases for Her Only Career Home Run
Here’s to hoping we all would have done the same in their position.
Old Friends
This is from an email my step-mom sent me. It’s wonderful.
Two 90-year-old women, Rose and Dorothy, had been friends all of their lives. When it was clear that Rose was dying, Dorothy visited her every day. One day Dorothy said, “Rose, we both loved playing women’s softball all our lives, and we played all through High School. Please do me one favor when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there’s women’s softball there.”
Rose looked up at Dorothy from her deathbed and said, “Dorothy, you’ve been my best friend for many years.. If it’s at all possible, I’ll do this favor for you.”
Shortly after that, Rose passed on. At midnight a few nights later, Dorothy was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to her, “Dorothy, Dorothy.”
“Who is it?” asked Dorothy, sitting up suddenly. “Who is it?”
“Dorothy — it’s me, Rose.”
“You’re not Rose. Rose just died.”
“I’m telling you, it’s me, Rose,” insisted the voice.
“Rose! Where are you?”
“In Heaven,” replied Rose. “I have some really good news and a little bad news.”
“Tell me the good news first,” said Dorothy.
“The good news,” Rose said, “is that there’s softball in Heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we’re all young again. Better still, it’s always springtime, and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play softball all we want, and we never get tired.”
“That’s fantastic,” said Dorothy. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams! So what’s the bad news?”
“You’re pitching Tuesday.”
Softball
Well, it’s been a while since I posted. Softball games are about to start. I guess we’ve been pretty lucky. We’ve only had to cancel two practices; one for cold and one for rain. We have team pictures Saturday and then the games begin on Tuesday. The team is definitely improving. I think the girls are learning and having fun, and that’s my biggest goal. They are wearing me out. They like to run the bases after practice, trying to catch the girl (or guy if Levi or Darryn is running with them) in front of them. I’m anxious to see how sharp we look Saturday, all in our uniforms.
I’m so tired. The Molly dog is scared of storms, so when they’ve been coming through at night, she’s been keeping me up. Then she gets to sleep during the day so that she’s ready for the storm the next night. It’s my day off tomorrow, so maybe I can get caught up…or I’ll just spend all day keeping her awake.
Lambing Season is Over
One other ewe had her lambs, twin boys, Thursday. Only one of them made it. We are past the point where they can have them, so I guess the other two didn’t breed.
The second softball practice is today. Hopefully it will be warmer than last week. And hopefully be more fun/productive.
Baseball!
Baseball season is here. The first full day of MLB. My friend Reggie Willits made the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim team. He’s a backup outfielder. GO REGGIE!! I have two fantasy baseball teams this year. One on Yahoo and one on MLB.com. So far I’m seriously under-impressed with MLB.com’s.
There are still three more ewes that have to have their lambs within the next few days…or we have a problem. We have 21 live lambs. They all seem to be doing good. The bottle baby is starting to put on a little weight. She’s cute as a button (I’ve always wondered why people say that. Buttons aren’t all that cute.).
It’s time for Little League summer softball. I’m head coach this year. My brother’s going to assistant coach. My mom is taking care of all the paper and leg work. I’ll be glad when we get that part over with and can concentrate on softball. The focus is going to be on learning the fundamentals. I figure, if we get those down, winning will come on it’s own.
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