Billie Jo, Dakota, Ed, Kelly, Izzabella, Barb, Joe, Mom, Rob, Linda, Kathryn, Eric and I met at Barb & Joe’s house for Thanksgiving Dinner. I went to Barbara’s house on Wednesday to help set up and peel potatoes. Wednesday night I spent at Mom’s. Thursday AM Mom & I went to Rob & Linda’s for breakfast before going to Barbara’s for a Thanksgiving Dinner that couldn’t be beat. Pictures below.
I share season tickets to the SU basketball games with three others. That means I end up with 5 home games. This year the two exhibition games (Cal State & Lemoyne) were lumped as one game I chose to go. I like the early season games as an opportunity to see new players/freshman that are likely not to play regular minutes during the main season.
Most exhibition games are scheduled against Division II and III teams. Last night SU played Lemoyne and lost! It was a good game through out. SU struggled on defense and the Lemoyne students at the game went crazy with the win.
We have a healthy growth of bittersweet in several trees across the road. Kathryn harvests it for fall decorations. This year she had a bright sunny day for collecting the vines. She and Linda collected it on Friday, gave it a week to dry out and then on Sunday she went to Rochester to visit her brothers and decorated Fran & Isabel’s graves with bittersweet.
Eric was the Pokemon character ChimChar for Halloween. He got to wear the costume three times. He and his buddy Colby went to the Utica Zoo Spooktaculur fundraiser two weekends ago; last weekend Jen took him to the HP Middle School Halloween Carnival and then finally the HP Halloween parade.
I was blessed with a really good soccer team this year. Unlike previous years when I served as assistant coach, this year I plunged in and served as coach. I kept attendance of the kids, tried to have a schedule for each practice, knew in advance who was going to be missing for upcoming games and usually developed a rotation pattern before each game.
It was a great bunch of kids. There were 4 repeats from last year’s team: Joey, Josh, Cole and Eric; and four kids moving up from U6: Trevor, Patrick, Dylan and Nick. A few of them were fast and aggressive about scoring goals and we did not lose a game all fall season. They got much better about passing, staying spread out and running to an open area.
We finished up strong with a makeup game on Thursday night and our final game on Saturday in the rain and mud. The team scored several goals including those by Josh, Cole, Joey, Dylan, Eric and Trevor. Eric’s goal was a looping kick distance from the goal that sailed over the heads of the defense, bounced high in front of the goal and when in. When asked if he was shooting for the goal or passing to Joey, Eric stated that he was shooting.
After our final game we had snacks, gave out kudos for the 4 kids who made 12 of our 13 practices and games (Eric, Trevor, Patrick and Dylan) and 1 who had perfect attendance (Nick). I handed out a collage of action photographs that Kathryn had taken from various games.
As we hit the end of October and the temperatures cool the fish become less active. I have been actively feeding 3xs a week all summer and my bag of RISE fish food is nearly empty. On Wednesday we took the last 1/2 can of food to the pond and got only a few fish interested in eating. Not only were there only a few fish eating, those that did were slow in moving to the food.
See you in the spring, fishies.
Friday Eric’s class visited the HP Fire Station as part of Fire Safety Week. Kathryn joined the class. They had several speakers and stations including going through a smoke house, holding a fire hose, checking out the ambulance, etc. Eric asked a couple of questions from his Cub Scout book so he could satisfy a Cub Scout badge requirement as well. I spent most of Friday packing our camping gear for our overnight camping trip on Saturday and Sunday.
We joined Mark, Matt, Nathan and Mark’s dog Natalie at the Kibby Pond Trailhead a little before noon. We were immediately faced with a small stream crossing which we managed negotiate without getting wet feet or having the kids fall in. Once across the stream we put the packs on the dogs and headed up the trail. It was almost 2 mile hike in and a climb of 600’ so Nathan and Eric dictated a few breaks along the way where we could sit on rocks or logs eat our lunch or just rest.
Kibby Pond was very pretty. The leaves were a little past peak but very colorful.
Nathan and Eric posed in front of Kibby Pond as we searched for an appropriate campsite.
We found a nice campsite on a slight knoll slightly removed from the pond so the dogs weren’t in & out of the water all day. There was room for three tents with lots of down wood. We were entertained watching Mark trying to recall how to set up his tent – a clear sign that he didn’t get out camping enough this summer!
While Mark and Matt cut wood, I cleaned out the fire pit and the boys played a version of baseball.
For dinner we made one pot spaghetti cooked in sauce, Nathan had hot dogs, and Mark & Matt had lasagna. The temperature dropped during the evening and there was a slight breeze. We sat around the fire and played the progressive story game and turned in at 8pm. During the night we heard migrating geese flying overhead in the dark, we heard owls and we heard beavers slapping the water nearby as they were surprised by our campsite. All very cool!
We slept fine. Eric and I were pretty toasty but Kathryn was a little chilled as we estimate the overnight temperatures settled in around mid-30s. We slept until 7am and woke up with temperatures warmer than it was the previous evening. Our hike out was easy. The dogs got along fine the whole trip.
Sunday afternoon we cleaned up our camping gear, did laundry and relaxed. Monday Eric, Trevor, Kathryn and I had a cook out. I warmed up some MREs by dropping them in boiling water. The boys didn’t find the meals particularly tasty, but they were intrigued by the wide variety of items that were included in the MRE packet: crackers, jelly, plastic ware, several powdered drinks, and a fruit bar – everything a soldier would need.
Every Wednesday around noon I send out a reminder to our Thursday Lunchtime Volleyball participants. Sometimes I have a report on last week’s games, sometimes a joke, and occasionally an extract of some volleyball rule. This was this week’s version.
(Where Juliet spake)
O volleyball, volleyball. Wherefore art thou volleyball?
Deny thy job and refuse thy lunchtime;
Or if thou wilt not, notify me such
And I’ll no longer bug thee.
(And Romeo responds)
Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
(And being Juliet she denies Romeo the opportunity to speak and she replies)
‘Tis but thy presence that makes my team.
Thou art thyself, though not-at-volleyball?
What is not-at-volleyball? It is nor hand nor foot,
Nor arm nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name!
What’s in a name? That which we call a Player
By any other word would play so well?
So a Player would, were he a player call’d
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Not-at-volleyball, doff thy name,
and for thy name, Player! As a part of thee.
And take all games.
As I drove on Route 10 from Canjoharie to Sharon Springs on my way to visit my mom I noticed a flock of large birds roosting in the trees along a fence line. As I drove by I saw they were Turkey Vultures and there must have been close to 30 of them. I stopped my car, turned around and went back to snap a couple of pictures. I counted 28 vultures in this photo and there were more back in the trees, a few across the road, a couple circling and, of course, a few feeding.
There was a dead bloated deer carcass in the ditch that attracted them.
The next morning it was foggy as I made my return trip, but they were still there; looking spooky in the fog.
This is Eric’s 3rd year of AYSO soccer. He played 1 year of U6 (under 6 years old) and this is his 2nd year of U8. U8 soccer is played 5 vs. 5, usually with 3 offensive attacking players and 2 defensive players (no goalie). Eric says he likes playing defense best and has gotten quite good about challenging an oncoming player and kicking the ball back up the field.
But being AYSO all the players rotate and play different positions so he plays offense too. Last spring Eric almost scored a goal. He found himself 20-30 feet from the goal with a loose ball and no opposition. Rather than dibble it in; he kicked it and the ball gradually lost momentum and stopped just short of the goal where it was kicked out by the other team.
On the way to the game Eric told me they had practiced goal kicks in PE at school that day and he hoped he would get a goal. Prophetic…..
This past game the opposing team didn’t use a 3 up 2 back alignment, but all 5 kids went after the ball. There was a clump of kids kicking at the ball and Eric went to the open area between the clump and the goal. Josh Savage either passed or just plain kicked the ball out of the group right to Eric who once again took his shot. This time he was a little closer and the kick was a little stronger. GOAL!
He was beaming from ear to ear. But afterwards he said he still likes playing defense better. I think because he can practice his dance moves like the pictures below.
