Which could just as easily be still crazy after all these years but more in keeping with recent titles here in this blog world, especially in the two-step brief and detail blogs that recently started. Anyway...
As I said a bit more briefly in the current daily blog, I woke about 10am after sleeping a few four hour blocks (I seldom sleep more than four hours without waking a bit as my REM cycles seem to be consistently four hours or less... just a bit more parenthetic aside detail about me, in case it matters... parentheses tend to let my mind wander and/or free associate here and there and wherever and you can find a whole lot more of that elsewhere in several very babbly blogs from the past and a few from the present, in case you didn't know and in case it matters), I texted Curly and offered to get more work done with him today and semi-reluctantly, he agreed (we are both living in achy bodies this week).
The job was taking down a hundred foot dead pine tree that was about ten feet from a house between other houses. It was about 18 inches across at the base. The tree came down perfectly thanks to clever tie-off points. Unfortunately, the perfect place for the tree to come down was a tall (about 15 feet) patch of bamboo. Curly sawed a path through the bamboo as he cut the tree into logs so there was a lot more to load on the the trailer than the tree. I loaded the trailer. Phew. The heat factor slowed me down (I must bring cold drinks next time) but I loaded the bulk of it and we cleaned up the yards together. Unloading was easier, but still today was a whole lot of very physical work. Good for the body. Must remember that rest is required just as much as exercise though. Rest Tuesday.
Than came softball (yes, the weekend begins). It was a travesty as we played the team that does not belong anywhere near a recreational league. They would be rated ASA A, at least, and at least half the team would be USSSA A rated as well. Our infield played on the gress and balls hit within glove reach of the infielders our zipped right past them. I got hit in the shin and that's going to hurt for a while. It is ridiculous that the people who run Merrill Park allow such a dangerously better team play recreational softball.
So the game ended 20-0 in three innings (the run-rule, or mercy-rule, is when a team is leading by a certain number of runs, the game is called. The run or mercy rules vary, but is usually 10 runs after 5 innings, 15 runs after 4 innings, and 20 runs after 3 innings. Some leagues play 20 runs anytime. Some play 12 runs after 5 innings. Some leagues have inning limits of five or seven runs to extend games.
So this semi-pro team were walking base to base half the time from the first inning on. It was batting practice for them with softballs coming 100 miles an hour or more at us. Standing 46 feet away from the bats hitting the softballs 100+ miles an hour is not a safe thing to do, but I pitch and that is a pitcher's lot in softball life (it's a science, after all). Am I complaining? Am I suicidal? Some think so. A lot of much younger much better athletes refuse to pitch. I think I vent the frustration so I can keep playing with a smile on my face. I deliberately do not look at or keep track of who hits me because I doubt anyone does it on purpose and refuse to make it personal. I enjoy the game and pitch much better than way.
I am still playing as much as I can, so apparently I love the game more than I love life (I joke, but a ball off one of these guys bats at my forehead or temple that I do not stop or evade would likely kill me or leave me with brain damage. Most pitchers do not face or think about that consciously. I am playing the odds in a very dangerous game. I don't even buy lottery tickets (less than once a year, if that often). Still, everyone is a gambler in some way.
After the game, a group of us went to Graffiti Junction again. They sponsor a couple of teams for the manager of the Friday team so she influences us to go there a lot. This time I did not have a cheesehead (8 ounce burger with four slices of cheddar cheese) with my addition of extra cheese (two slices of brie), bacon, and fried onions with tater tots as I did last time. I had a Cuban wrap with zuccini fried. I was still hungry afterward lol.
Never give up, never surrender.
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