Gentleman Yardperson Meets Yard

 

   One day, after Carolyn and I had been married a few months, the yardman, Randy, after a days work on the premises, presented his bill for payment. He had mowed, weedeated, picked up limbs and stuff from the yard, and anything else that he had noticed that needed attention.

   Now you need to know that my charming wife had lived alone in this house, with its three acres of property, for nearly 18 years, and needed help on this large lot to keep it up.

   Another factor in this story, is that, since Randy had done the work for a few years, all of the equipment that had been used over the years, fell into disrepair. Time had rendered most of it unusable as Mr. Randy used his own. (It still took all of one day to get that 3 acres under control)

   Back to the lawn service bill. A check for 200+ dollars got the place in shape for another 10 days or two weeks depending on the season, the rainfall, and the temperatures.

   Shucks, I need something to do around here, I could take care of all that. After all I had done it for years out in Apison where we had 25 acres, and here we have only 3. I was also a bit younger then, but I still felt pretty good.

   Let's do it.

   We bought some new equipment, a Cub Cadet mower with a 46" cut.

   Mowing was the easy part. Getting ready to mow, somewhat tougher. Moving fallen limbs and debris takes time, and then there is the disposal thereof. Burning permits, certain parts of the year when the risk of setting the world on fire is minimal, like October to April, are needed.

   Notice what we call the burning pile, piling up in in the south part of the back yard at the top of the hill. We just keep building it up until we can set it ablaze later. That will be fun.

   Seriously, I have enjoyed the working outdoors, just being useful. After all with my only time commitments being 2 hours of Pickleball on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am available.      

   One day, a few weeks back, my sweet wife asked if there was anything else I would like to have to facilitate my new jobs.

   I mentioned something that every man needs in order to get things done, a pickup, right?

   Not one of these new monster pickups with the high price tag, but maybe just a smaller one, used, that could be used to scoot around in, haul some pine straw maybe, run to the station for some gas for the mower and weedeater, and just move other stuff as needed.

   We did not need two cars here, and we use hers to travel, we could get by with very little outlay of cash. We looked around casually while we pondered what to do.

   Then Wednesday we found a 2007 Ford Ranger, regular two seater cab, long bed, 67,000 miles, and it fits in the garage, too.

   The rear window had a lot of hunting and fishing stickers, and we had them remove all but 3. A small apple logo, and a one from the Ford assembly plant, plus the big Superman emblem at the top.

   Perfect for a Gentleman Farmer

   Now to find the cape that goes with it.

And The Winner Is.......

   When we last left the Bowman Blacksburg house, this being after round 4 of the Sensational Sorry Tournament where the 5 inmates of the house were locked in a terrific battle for the crown, a legacy that will be passed down for years and entitle the winner with the permanent status of an icon in the Hall of Fame of Sorry players, the scores were:

      David.             18
      Laken              16
      Miss Carolyn  16
      Papa                14
      Lucy.               12

   Then the final game as the world awaited news of the victor and stood ready to proclaim the "Sorry Player of the Year" for 2019.

   It was no epic struggle, rather a beat down as the winner soared and the others were left with the smoke on the path.

   Miss Carolyn showed her tactical skill set and walked, or ran, away with the title.

   She was the Sorry Champion, and as she stood looking into the future for the next world to conquer, the rest of us were forced to admit

   That we were just "sorry".

   But fun was had by all, and four weary combatants could only force a smile and vow "to get her next year".

   We'll See....

Stealing Thunder

   Today we are stealing some thunder from Donna and Noel and family, the originator of the tabletop tournament for vacation days with kids.

   Since Carolyn and I are teen sitting for a few days, and the rain is coming down outside, we are instituting our own version of the tournament. Since there are 5 of us here today, we are playing 5 games of Sorry with one player sitting out each game. Winner will get 10 points, second place 5 points, third, 3 points and fourth 1 point in each game with the winner of the Sorry tournament being the one with the most points.

    At the end of game 2 the scores are:

      Laken 10
      David 10
      Lucy    9
      Miss Carolyn 6
      Your's Truly   4

   Update after game 3:

      Miss Carolyn 16
      Laken             15
      David.            13
      Lucy.               9
      Y.T.                 4

   Stay tuned for future developments.

An Unplanned Adventure

   Between the bookend events in Virginia this trip, Drew's graduation from Blacksburg High and our teen sitting stint beginning on 6/6, we caught a beautiful unplanned day and decided to make an exploration upcountry.

   Beginning at the juncture of US 460 (the main route into West Virginia from Blacksburg) and Virginia State Route 42 into New Castle, we drove the 40 miles or so of this scenic, two lane roadway  on a "chamber of commerce day", blue sky, puffy white clouds and lots of green grass.

   A day or two earlier, we had been in Newport, a village on 42 right off 460, and so I use a shot from that day to begin our odyssey. A 1916 covered bridge only used for walking these days.

   We were cruising along, just enjoying being out together, when my wife said to me, "you may not have noticed, but we just passed a really pretty church that looked like a good picture". I had noticed the building and I did turn around and retrace my steps back south.

   Parking a little way from the church, I took a couple of shots. Level Green Christian Church, established 100 years before we were born, in 1836. A neat church in a pretty setting. The main structure of the church dates from 1896 with subsequent additions in the mid 1900s.

   While standing at the car thinking about what kind of folks had attended this house of worship for all these years, I happened to look west up the nearby hill and noticed a cemetery at the top of the rise. There was a cemetery behind the church, so this must be a community one. Could I find a way to the top?

   Driving a short distance south, a sign proclaimed Williams Cemetery standing next to a farm road going west. Right away we were confronted by an old house, no telling what the age. It must have been some home in its day.

   The double track roadway went by the house and then began its rise toward the cemetery. After stopping to open the gate, we traveled to the top to find a well maintained acre or so of hilltop. With a view across and up and down the valley, it was a reverent spot. We spotted graves from the middle 1800s all the way to 2019. And what a view!

   Returning the the highway, we spotted an older car in the weeds beside the track. My question was "what was the make of the car and how old was it?" Check the Malibu on the steering wheel.

   Stopping to take a shot of the barn in the field near the old house, I trudged into the hay field and took a few shots. From its appearance, it looked to be still in use, at least for storing hay.

   Coming out of the field, we noticed a couple on the road with backpacks. Chad and Laura were thru hikers on the Appalachian Trail and had begun their trek at the trailhead near Springer's Mtn. down in north Georgia, and were walking to Maine. They had covered 600+ miles to this point and had a heap more to walk before they reached their destination 1500 more miles north. We wished them God Speed, and they walked out.

   The views on Route 42 were so pleasant, that we almost forgot why we were there on that day. There was a courthouse at New Castle, county seat of Craig County, and almost reluctantly we continued north.

   A few miles from the town, we spotted a historical marker and stopped to read:

   Eastern Continental Divide as you can read.

   From an overlook, we could see New Castle below.

   What began as a courthouse trip, gave us much more than we bargained for.

   But, while I sorta doubt it will be a cover story in Southern Living, for a couple of retired people, it turned out to be a picture perfect day.

   And we got pictures of three Virginia courthouses:

   Giles County, founded 1806, located in Pearisburg.

   Craig County, New Castle.

   Botetourt County, in Fincastle.

   What a Day!

Who Cares?

Who cares if the day is cloudy or sunny
If we are in or out of the money.....

Birthdays don't get any better than this:

Boiled custard in the fridge courtesy of my Sweet Wife.

For You Doubters Out There

   You said it could not be done, but here is the truth in an original photo.

   Silver Medalist (in unaltered or photoshopped photo)

Jack Painter and Myself with two ladies from the sponsoring agency.

Paddle Rattle Pickleball Tournament

   Today was an epic day in the annals of old men's Pickleball.

   My very first Pickleball tournament…and a Medalist at that, but this story deserves a slight bit of background, before the awards are handed out.

  First of all, you all know about this sport because I have mentioned it before, and I also put a picture of two couples playing (even though I did not know who they might happen to be), on my Fb page.

   I also place in this post, a picture of the Pickleball court, so you might get a mental picture of the scene of action. Smaller than a tennis court, with an area between the service court and the net, called the kitchen which has all kinds of special rules.

   We played indoors today, which was fortunate because it rained hard most of the day.

   Back this past Tuesday, a friend came up to me, saying that his partner had to back out of a tournament, and he needed someone to sub for him. Could I play this coming Saturday (today)?

   Checking my social calendar, I could, and so I showed up this morning at 9:15 ready to show how much I had learned in these past couple of months.

   At 10:30 or so we hd our first match, absolutely crushing our opponents by the score of 15-6. We felt good about our play and our chances for a medal.

   Then shortly thereafter, we suffered a defeat of our own 15-1, and our record dropped to 1-1 in our bracket.

   One more match in the preliminary round, and it was a close set, but we again lost 15-9.

   Now we are 1-2 and seeded 3rd in the double elimination finals coming up later in the day. The first two seeds will medal and the others will go home empty handed.

   Bear in mind that we finished the prelims around noon, and did not get to play the finals till around 4pm.

   Also bear in mind that we were seeded 3rd in our group based on skill level (we were in the  3.0, the lowest group playing today).

   One other thing, there were 4 teams in our group. We had beaten one badly, been solidly shellacked by another and played the last team close. Our chance for a medal rested on defeating the 2nd seed to get another shot at the #1 seed.

   When our final round came around finally, the #1 seed had to play #4, but then we learned that #4 had gone home after being beaten by all three other teams in the group.

   Next was our game against the #2 seed, and we felt good, knowing we had not been beaten badly by them, and knowing also that we had not played our best game.

   Then, the unbelievable, the #2 team had to leave, and that left only the #1 and us. Could we improve our game and wrest the gold medal away from them. They were good, and, I think, should have been a group higher in the ratings, but it was up to us to bring our A game and show them how it is done.

   We did improve, bringing our B- game and got trampled 11-3, 11-3.

   Actually it felt pretty good to score 6 points on them, and become a silver Medalist in this our first tournament.

   At the end of this day, we knew there had really only been two teams left in our group, and we finished last, but the story is of a silver medal around the neck, and we won't embellish the story any farther.

   At 82 I am only too happy to be able to play.

   Wait till the Family Cornerstone tournament comes around next year.......Gold Baby