Monthly Archives: September 2013

HP Gold vs Waterville

After losing two closely contested games the U12 Boys finally got a 2-1 win over Waterville.  Josh D. followed a goal attempt by Zach and scored on a rebound off the goalie.  Carter and Luke scored on a give and go.  The boys played the best game to date.

2013-09-22 HP Gold vs Waterville

The team had no botched throw-ins; the goalies (Logan, Eric and Matt) ALWAYS got the ball to wing and not up the center. The team was aggressive committing to loose balls and challenging opposing players.  They did a good job of passing and unloading the ball before being double and triple teamed.
Defensively we have been reciting our mantra:

  • Prevent Scoring. Keep between the ball and the goal.
  • Delay the advance of the ball. Challenge and distract the dribbler.
  • Regain the ball.

We need better communication, particularly on offense, to announce open team mates (. i.e.  “I’m here” “You’ve got help”).  We need our goalie to call out “KEEPER” as soon as they touch the ball.  Matt almost got kicked in the head as he lost contact with the ball and a Waterville player kicked it in for a goal.

This is a young U12 team that will be pretty awesome if they continue this level of improvement for the entire year.

 

HP Gold vs Sauquoit

Eric moved up from U10 to U12 this year.  A number of the boys from his U10B team moved up as well: Logan, Zach, Nicco, Carter, Sawyer joined previous U12 players (Josh S., David and Matt).  Dean was a newcomer to soccer and JD and Luke came over from the other HP team.

Our 2nd game was versus Sauquoit and we lost 4-1, giving up one goal on a short penalty kick and one goal on an accidental tap by Dean.

The team got better this week:

  • The team played better as the game went on.  The team got more aggressive about committing to loose balls and challenging opposing players.
  • The boys got better about passing and unloading the ball before being double and triple teamed.
  • Communication was much better, especially on the defensive side.  We worked on that during practice and the boys communicated much better today.
  • I thought the team made an effort to play hard and were consistent throughout the game.
  • We were able to get everyone significant time playing offense and defense that will pay off in their development.

Eric played much harder this week and made an attempt to be 1st to the loose balls.

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So yesterday Luke fell and got the wind knocked out of him. I came out on the field and talked with him.  I asked him if he was OK while he was laying down and if anything specific hurt.  Luke said that he was OK. So I told Luke that probably his Dad was worried about him and that he should just lift his hand and give a little wave or thumbs up.  Luke looked in my eyes and smiled that sly “Luke Smile” that I am sure his parents have seen a million times….I said “Oh, you are going to make him suffer, eh?” and he gave a big, ole grin. After another moment or two he decided to sit up. I think Luke may enjoy pulling Mom and Dad’s chain sometimes, eh?

Nicco off sides on Eric’s shot on goal.

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Front: Sawyer, Carter, Josh, Logan, Zach and Dean

Back: Nicco, Josh, Luke, Eric, David and Matt

Coaches: Jim, Jim and Doug

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Every team picture has to conclude with a Funny Faces version.

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Cleaning Up the Garden

This weekend I picked a grocery bag of Roma tomatoes and a 5 gallon bucket of Early Girl tomatoes and then tore up the three rows of tomatoes.  I pulled out the green beans and enlisted Eric’s assistance in digging up our row of potatoes.  I washed all the potatoes, wrapped them in newspaper and put them in a sealed five gallon bucket in the basement.

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Our pear trees have a bumper crop and Kathryn is attempting to make apple/pear butter spread.  We gathered three buckets of apples from the wild apple trees across the road.

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Dirty Girls 2013

Kathryn re-joined the Dirty Skirts team for another Dirty Girls run in the Buffalo area.  This time the race was held at the Elegant Builders Raceway Park, a racecourse (i.e. level ground).  The Dirty Girl obstacle course is not timed or competitive so one can go at their own pace.  She ran the 5k mud run in 37 minutes with someone she met at the race, Nina, and then re-joined her team to repeat the last third of the race course.

Dirty Girls Group

Before and after pictures of Kathryn.

Kathryn Before the Race Kathryn After the Race

September Garden

The end of our gardening season is coming.  We have had a couple nights of frost and needed to cover the garden.  Out of view of this scene are acorn squash. Shown in the foreground are yellow wax beans that I planted the yellow wax beans late as replacements for the peas (largely eaten by the dogs).

Then there is a row of brussel sprouts, broccoli and volunteer cherry tomatoes.  The brussel sprouts will continue to grow into snow season; we are trimming small broccoli heads; the cherry tomatoes were a mistake.  I should have pulled them out to keep them from spreading all over the garden.

There are three rows of tomatoes Burpee Early Girl and Roma tomatoes. Finally a row of prolific green beans.

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Eric and I built a fire pit in the backyard and held a small bonfire while he and I played badminton over the clothes line.

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Clam Bake at Helmers

Kathryn has had a 3-tier clam steamer she received from her mother many years ago.  We have stored it in the barn loft and finally she scheduled a meal with the Helmers to try it out.  The bottom tier held water that would become broth as the levels above steamed.  The next level held sweet corn and potatoes.  The third or top layer, not yet deployed, held clams.  We got a good heat going with the charcoal.

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Max and Freck came to watch.

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We knew there was a line of thunderstorms coming our way and we could see lightning and hear thunder for 15 minutes before it hit.  We sprang into action just before it hit and rigged a plastic tarp over the fire to protect the charcoal from the rain.  The tarp was effective in shedding the rain, but the runoff from the storm formed a stream through the fire pit.  Phillip struggled with the fire.P1010232

The rain came down hard.

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Phillip was ankle deep in a stream of runoff that doused our charcoal fire.

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Phillip deployed the smoker but the flames were a little too much; engulfing the clam steamer and causing steam to come off the tarp.  Rachael and Phillip began dumping water on the fire to douse the flames. Plan B was to cook inside but since the power went out Plan C was invoked to cook  on the propane grill.

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Kathryn and the boys stayed inside and played board games.

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So we ate by candle light and a fantastic meal.  Unfortunately, the components were prepared separately and we still didn’t get an opportunity to use the clam steamer.

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Canning the Garden

Kathryn has been canning in the wanning days of summer

  • 26 quarts of peaches
  • 29 pounds of blueberries
  • 12 quarts of cherries
  • 29 pints of green and yellow wax berries
  • 3 pints of elderberry jam and 3 pints of elderberry tonic
  • 7 quarts of tomatoes

While we were in Utah the rabbits ate the beans down, but they recovered nicely and we are now drowning in green beans.

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If you are at our house this Thanksgiving there is a good chance that green beans will be on the menu.

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The cook had some spirits to help her get through the process.

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Yummy tomatoes.  Probably there will be more to come.

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