The coveted foul ball...Friday night, my wife and I, along with her boss and his wife, went to see the Fresno Grizzlies play host to the Reno Aces at Chukchansi Park. It was the bottom of the ninth with one out and the Grizzlies' catcher Steve Holm at the plate batting right. He fouls one off. It is coming our way in section 117 row 11, seats 3-6.
The women sitting in the next row in front of us are totally oblivious as to what is going on due to their constant "yakity yak" about this and about that. My wife and I and her boss and his wife are standing up to catch the incoming rawhide orb.
I can tell I will not be able to grab it without knocking down my wife, her boss and his wife. The ball falls in the row in front of his and hits the armrest of one chair in row 10 seat 5. The ball caroms towards me to the seat 3 in front of me. The ball is settles in its trajectory and has become lodged between the the chair and the person sitting in it. I grab it.
You're mine now!
Finally!
Now, I know I should have given the ball to the fan sitting in the chair in front of me, but only the strongest survive in this one-in-a-million chance. I grabbed it, it's mine. Even my wife tried to give me a lesson in ethics. Sorry, wifey-pooh, no way I am going to give up this ball. It is coming home with us.
Now, had it been a child sitting in the chair in front of me, I would have relinquished it without giving it a second-thought. Well...maybe...
The ball now sits in the trophy case along with other baseball memorabilia: The 2002 World Series Game 1 ticket between the Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants and the 2002 World Series Baseball still waiting to be autographed by Angels skipper Mike Scioscia, along with an autographed rookie card of former Los Angeles Angels (that still doesn't sound right) relief pitcher, Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez, who is now with the New York Mets.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
First harvest of our own blackberries. Plump indeed! Organic, too. Grown without fertilizer. Just duff (fallen oak leaves).We planted blackberry bushes between two oak trees this time last year in an area that gets an ample amount of water due to the runoff during the winter and spring rains from the RV parking structure.
There is plenty more getting ready to ripen. By this time next year, we hope to have a bumper harvest. Whatever we harvest we throw into the freezer.So far to date, we have harvested 2 pounds of berries!
Latest price check at Raley's in Oakhurst has organic blackberries priced at $4.99 for SIX OUNCES! Looks like a 25-count for THEIR berries. Their berries look no bigger than a nickel.
CHA-CHING!
Cobbler or crisp? Never had either! But not for long!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
My wife, FIL, BroIL, and I head out to Blackhawk Lake to fish. My wife and I get in the tandem sit-on-top kayak, while her father and brother get in the boat with electric motor.
Not a nibble. No stories of the one that got away. We purchased a Shakespeare rod and reel. I throw out the first cast. Just my luck, the line gets tangled up.
Other than that it was just a relaxing outing on the lake on Father's Day.
Later in the day it was burrito feasting time at Alfonso's Hideaway in Coarsegold. My FIL got a Freeloader Fork as a gag gift.
