Stoned!

I was at the fly shop this weekend and saw some really cool stonefly patterns - of course I don't think I can tie them - hotwire, 20 inchers, turkey biots, on and on. So I've done some research on the net and come up with a couple of cool patterns. Please feel free to send me links to a few more.

Black Stonefly



Rubber Legs




Black Biot Stone



Yellow Stone



Hotwire StoneFly




FlackBack Brown Stone




Brown Tubing Rubber Legs Stone

Awesome Possum by Wapsi ROCKS!

I'm not much of a dubber, actually I own very few types of dubbing - mostly just antron and a few other various flavors that just get me by. I found a fly pattern on the internet that I really liked and couldn't tie the pattern with the antron dubbing crap I have - yes, I had the right colors, but it wasn't "stringy" enough - it needed more "guard hairs" (I found out what these were called) too make the pattern look much more buggy.

I wasn't exactly sure what to look for - I knew I needed to hit one of the fly shops in my area - and I knew that the best shop in the area was Anglers All on Santa Fe in Littleton. So Avi and I headed over on Sunday to check them out - they have some of the best selections of Awesome Possum by Wapsi dubbings and so much more.



Avi loves playing with Bridger the black lab, but he was away on vacation in BC this time - so I had to bribe her with a fruit snack to be good. She played with the foam bodies and checked out all of the fly boxes (as usual) - and she did well not to get into too much trouble (or hurt herself). I found the dubbing and in the perfect colors for the new fly. The fly is known as the Orange Caddis (a BlueAngler pattern).




I tied up a handful on Sunday night while watching football and really like how they look. I can not wait to try them this weekend. Hopefully I will get into some fish this weekend - as I have a day off and some of my buddies are able to come, I think I am going to do a full day trip up in the the Granby/Tabernash area. We should see some browns and maybe a Koke (if we hit a different area). Should be a good time.

Week 3 - Steelers lose to Philly

What a miserable game - absolutely bad. No other way to explain it - the offense just could not get any momentum and the OLine sucked. When Willie Parker can't get 2 yards a carry - that is s very bad sign.

The obvious problem with the game was teh offensive line that allowed 12 or so sacks - it was just stupid how poorly these guys played and the fact that we couldn't change the protection at halftime has me a bit concerned. Yes, I agree that many of those sacks are on Roethlisberger - due to him moving around and stepping into defenders. It makes it very very hard for an OLine to create a pocket around the QB when the QB is constantly moving.

I'm not sure what the Steelers coaches were game planning - when you have pressure like that on blitzes, just dump the ball off to the blitzing side - but Ben just couldn't do it. And they kept getting eaten up - which is dumb, because the Eagles didn't change their defense all game. That is a bad sign. A winning team knows how to shift their skills to take advantage of changes in their game plan and coverages mid game. We obviously are not that team. It seemed like Tomlin was just waiting for the Steelers to do something on Defense and win that game.

The defense played very well - holding the Eagles to 13 points and numerous turn overs and big stops. An offense has to be able to score more than 15 points every game - or else you should expect not to win.

I was not impressed with the D as much as I probably should be - Woodley played ok (although I caught him taking a play or two off on runs to the other side), Polamalu played well, Ryan Clark played well too, Timmons played well in spurts, but he kind of disappeared. The run defense was decent. But, they couldn't stop the screen plays - which is unacceptable with the LBs we have.

The offense was pitiful - Heath Miller was a bright spot I guess. Other than that they were sh!t.

I'm disgusted just remembering this game. Oh, and Philly fans are horrible - I heard crickets a few times in that stadium during the game.

Steelers beat the Clowns

Ok, I still like this team - although we weren't as impressive on Defense in Week 2 against the Browns. The Browns are better than the Texans, they have more offensive weapons and seem to play the run a little better. That said, the weather really slowed the Steelers down - wind and rain played a major role in the low scoring game.

What I was impressed with:

Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes are great receivers - and they make Ben look good.

Ben makes a lot of good decisions - but he still holds onto the ball a lot. I will never understand how he holds onto so many balls when he is getting smacked and tackled.

I still love Heath Miller.

Jeff Reed is money.

Casey Hampton looked good.

10-0 vs the Browns!

What I wasn't impressed with:

Where were the LBs today? No pressure on the QB - that is bad news.

Polamula can't jump - two balls he should have batted away after the receiver caught the ball - but instead he jumped for the ball instead of playing defense and batting it away.

Our Fullback (Carey Davis) does not impress me at all. When Krieder was here he would make 2 or 3 pancake blocks on some LB during each game - we don't have that anymore.

Where is Nate Washington? Where is Dallas Baker? Limas Sweed? We have more than 3 receivers.

Mitch Berger waits too long to punt - I'm nervous about it.

Sodded the Yard

Took Friday off and sodded the back yard in 2 days.

Friday was rainy and crappy, but I started anyways - kept the bugs down which was nice. Sod cut the whole thing and moved it to the curb/side of the house/hill where Cabo runs. John the nieghbor helped me move about 30 wheel barrels. Paul showed up at 3pm and started on the sprinklers. I spread 30 barrels full of compost - only about 1/4 the pile in the driveway. I stopped around 7pm.

Day 2 - started at 9am, the boys were waiting for me. They started moving dirt while I helped Paul finish the sprinklers. About 10:30 we started spreading the dirt to thin and level it out. At about noon we started laying the sod - Eric/Dan/Steve/Johnny/Paul and me - done around 3pm. Clean up wasn't much fun either. I have 1/3 a pallet of sod left and a huge mess in the front yard for them to throw away. Let's hope they take it on Monday when they come and pick up those bags.

Here are some pics.

Hockey 9/11 - Thursday League - Championship Game

Game 3 of the playoffs
I've been in 4 championships in hockey and lost them all
no goals, no assists
the kids were amazing - we were down 5-0 to start, we won 8-6

my first championship in inline hockey - I got a t-shirt

referees were HORRIBLE as usual

Hockey 9/11 - Thursday League

Game 2 of playoffs
no goals, no assists
played D
played with the kids and John the goalie
we lead the game 5-2 quickly and then we were losing in the third 7-6
but we won 8-7
1 penalty for "kicking" although the ref admitted he wasn't sure if "kicking" was even a penalty
we played at 9 for the championship game

Foam Biot Emerger

Hey Scott - I figured I'd make a post for you on one of my favorite patterns to tie - I haven't had a chance to fish it yet. Someone gave it to me in a fly swap and I liked it a lot - I tie it slightly different with wire rather than a biot - but it is essentially the same thing.




I tie these in multiple colors - olive, grey, brown, tan, black - might even try red. I mix and match the color of the body and the the color of the antron. For instance I might use an olive body and white antron - or olive body and brown antron.

I assume you would fish it behind a dry as a dropper, or you could fish a couple of these unweighted as nymphs.

Send me your address and I will send you a few to try - my email is brandon722@yahoo.com

Steelers look good!!!

I'm impressed - simply impressed.  The Steelers looked amazing - offense was super efficient, while the defense was stifling.  The hits were hard, whether it is the offense slamming into guys or the defense slamming Schaub in the dirt - the team played smash mouth football. 

These are my observations:

Heath Miller - I have so much man love for this guy - he catches everything, and he stretchs out the defense because they can't handle him.  Ben has so much trust in him that he knows Miller will catch anything and get the first down.  Oh, and the guy can not be tackled by one tackler - he carries two or three guys with him.

Aaron Smith - it's great to have you back. Seriously - the guy was filling holes and in on a lot of pressures and tackles. I saw him sprint out on a screen and disrupt the play as well - nicely done. Welcome back big guy - we missed you.

Ryan Clark is a hitter - he slams into the run and whacks receivers constantly.  He went out hurt in the game, but came back to bitch slap a guy later on.  Yes he got a penalty late in the game, but it would have been a TD had he not.  We missed his presence last season.

The OL was tough. Mario Williams beat Smith once but MW is awesome. Williams was invisible after the first quarter though. The OL got better as the game went on. 

The LBs are unreal. We will easily lead the league in sacks - although I think they didn't try rushing all the time.  The pressure is amazing - the LBs were everywhere and physical.  Farrior is an animal - and Woodley will be the AFC defender of the week.

Ben had only we completions and 137 yards - but he was money. No mistakes, nothing fancy, accurate passing, don't do too much. Smart smart smart.

ST were good - no mistakes, nothing fancy.

Hines Ward is amazing.  He got a BS penalty on a PI against a LB who was grabbing him.  But he did manage 2 TDs. He just keeps smilin'.

FWP is simply an amazing back - somehow he had 130+ yards and 3 TDs.  He had a nice 30 yard run at the end of the game - then he came out and Mendenhall came in. 

Mendy looked mediocre - but I'm gald he got a chance to play. He'll give FWP a nice rest.  I would have liked to see the Steelers throw him (or any other RB) a pass.

I feel bad for that rookie left tackle for the Texans.

Reed is money.

Tomlin is money.

1-0, bring on the Clowns.

Flies to Tie this Winter

These are the flies I have to tie this winter:

RS2

Killer Midges

Mercury Midge

Black Mercury Midge

Black Beauty

WD40

Chironomid Bomber

Zebra Midge

Pheasant Tails - with legs

Copper Johns

Skinny Nelson Flashback

Scud/Czech

Baetis Emerger

Ultra Prince

Tricos

Hare's Ear - Olive

Green Machines


Larva

More to come....

Hockey 9/4 - Thursday League

first playoff game
no goals, no assists
played D
played with the kids
John was the goalie
played against Chris the goalie
Chris stoned me 4 times - one went off his hand then post then hand again and fell at his feet
won 11-2

Manny again!

I turned my Red Sox calendar to September today and there he was - Manny Frickin' Ramirez. I don't want to have to look at him all month. Bad enough he's hitting something like .450 with 10 HRs since leaving - which is a joke - because it just shows he wasn't really trying in Boston. The best part is? Even if he hit 1.000 he couldn't get those Dodgers into the playoffs!!

Poker

Played Poker at Johnnies last night - came in first place - won $100 out of 10 people.

Hockey 8/29 - Thursday League

nothing
played D
played with the kids
John was the goalie
Played against Scott the goalie - probably one of the only goalies I have not scored against.
Lost 9-5

Friday, August 22 - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - Colorado River Liver Abuse Festival - Lone Buck Camping Area

Friday, August 22 - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - Colorado River Liver Abuse Festival - Lone Buck Camping Area

Kyner, Cabo and I attended the LAF this year (my first time) by driving up on Friday night, arriving at 7pm. We set up the camper quickly, said hello to some of the other attendees and headed to the water to fish the Parshall hole for an hour or so. I have fished this area a bunch of times, but never the Parshall hole. The Hole is amazing - a long chest deep rifle that is prime trout water - especially for nymphers.

Kyner took a bunch of pictures, and even caught a couple of nice trout. I hooked a few, but only landed one 14 inch brown trout. It got dark quickly and I couldn't see to tie on a streamer, so we called it a night. The bugs were furosious, even after dark!

The night's festivities included me trying to cook sausages over a roaring fire! No luck, so I went back to the camper and set up the stove. I ate and fed the dog half of it and headed back to the camp fire. The guys (and Kelly - the lone girl) were whooping it up - including Kyner doing a little dance to IanB and Old Frat playing the guitar and singing. Kyner drank more than a 12 pack of Coors Light tall boys and everyone had a pretty good time. Cabo and I called it a night first around 12:30am, Kyner crashed back at the camper closer to 2am.

We got a late start on Saturday - on the river just after 9am. We drove by the Parshall Hole again and there was at least 10 cars in the lot. We decided to move up a bit, another mile or so to a spot I can't remember. The river was wide and never over waist deep. Kyner hooked into a thick rainbow right away and I hooked a 6 inch brown. We moved down quite a ways, but I didn't even get a hook up the rest of the way. The fish were keying on trico spinners - there were clouds of them moving up and down the river. I didn't have my dry fly box with me, but I had a little caddis that I tried - to no avail. Kyner managed another nice rainbow further down river.

It was hot and we were ready to move on. We headed back to the parking lot and met up with Zackdog who was ready to go down and fish the same spot. We moved back to the Parshall Hole and met up with most of the gang. We chatted for a while and then headed up to the confluence of the Williams Fork. The Parshall Hole was completely full. I had never been to the confluence, so it was nice to sneak a peek. There are some nice holes in that area, including the Cable Hole and the Confluence Hole. We crossed over to the other side and fished down the Willy. I hooked and almost landed a small brown right off the bat - it was a pretty yellow/brown color of about 13 inches.

I didn't have much luck on the Willy, I did however fall into the river in a spot that looked shallow but was much deeper. I was trying to stay within the river bank and not cross the barbed wire fence. I bit it into the river and lost my breathe for a second until I realized I was taking on water. I had a ton of water in my shirt and more in my waders. Luckily there was a nice breeze and it was hot, so I dried out quickly. Of course there was a huge black cloud blowing in with some thunder and soon the wind kicked up and we got hit with some big drops. Cabo and I met up with Kyner and got out of there.

Back at the Parshall Hole (where you walk into the Willy from) we met up with the gang. We fished the area by the island split and I hooked into a nice 16 inch brown that fought well. Kyner got a cool picture of me the fish and dog. We fished the deep hole on the far side and landed a couple of other fish, including a nice fat colorful rainbow for Kyner.

We hung out a little while longer chatting - then decided to call it quits. We headed back to the campground, broke down the camper and headed home. I was home around 6:15pm. It was a fun trip and although I didn't catch many fish, it was good meeting everyone and getting the chance to fish.

 

 

 

Friday, August 22 - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - Colorado River Liver Abuse Festival - Lone Buck Camping Area

 

 

 

 

Hockey 8/21 - Thursday League

1 goal
played with the kids
played against Chris the goalie
played defense
I scored off him and while skating away to the faceoff circle he clunked me in the head with a long fling of the puck - what an amazing 1 in a million shot
we won 9-1

Hockey 8/19 - Tuesday League

zipped
played basically my same team from Thursday nights - all the young kids
Played with Chris the goali e- who played his best game ever
lost 9-0

Summer Vacation - Boston & Narragansett

We returned from our summer vacation last night at 2am. We had a great trip back east but are glad to be home, and are just about ready to go to bed early.

We started our trip by flying out on Tuesday, August 5th by flying out at 11:30 pm - which is pretty late - however, Avi does really well on the over night flights and she slept like a baby. Wednesday mroning we got in at 5 and were at Poppy's at 7 and napping by 7:30am. We got up around noon and had a nice chat with Poppy and then were on our way to Narragansett. We stopped in Foxboro at the Bass Pro Shop and picked up a fishing rod for me. We then made our way to Narragensett around 3:30.


Everyone was there and it was good to see everyone. We played it cool that night and just visited - but I wanted to go fishing! The next morning the boys got up and tried our luck out on the docks - not much luck other than a few pogies and a fluke. We did have a good time though and it was a lot like our fishing expeditions of two years ago - minus the stripers of course.

We had chowder that night and it was good. Thursday and the weekend were a bit of a blur - but we all tried fishing again, went clamming one day (although I didn't do much clamming) and even hit up some crabbing as well. We couldn't find a blue crab anywhere! The girls all hit the beaches with Avi and even hit the cove out by Point Judith lighthouse. The weather was hot and balmy with the occassional thunderstorm thrown in. We ate well - doing 10 lobsters one night, and then a dozen crabs and chowder another night. Monday Jen, Avi, Michelle and I met Dale, Hillary and Luke at the PawSox game in Pawtucket - it was a chance to break up the week and do something fun. Of course it was storm before the game too, but the game was played and we all had a good time.



Tuesday was Avelyn's birthday and we had the whole gang there - including my Mom and Dad who came up from Raleigh, and down from Boston to see her. It was a nice birthday and Avi had fun being the center of attention.

I kept busy fishing and clamming and crabbing - and eating my share as well - we did another 12 lobsters on Wednesday and more crabs on Thursday. I snuck out for some fishing on Thursday and managed a few more fish - a nice little black seabass and 4 searobins. The searobins were really cool - and they "barked" at me when they were sitting on the docks waiting to get unhooked. I had a blast chatting with the lobster guys and doing my own thing.




We spent Firday driving to Connecticut to see Jennifer's grandpa and then back to Boston to see the Red Sox. We got to the game about 30 minutes early and sat in the rain - about an hour and a half later they finally called it a rain out - and we headed home. It sucked that Avi and Poppy couldn't see the game - it would have been fun. Saturday we went to see some college friends who live in the area, then we rushed to the airport and landed around midnight - we were in bed just after 2am on Sunday morning.

It was a great trip - very relaxing and fun. It is very good to be home however.

Softball 7/31 - Thursday League

2-3, 2 doubles, fly out deep
first game of playoffs
I was secret squirrel - didn't play defense in 1st inning, and of course the first ball is hit to LC and is dropped - other team got 1 run off it
won 22-2 in 3 innings
no defensive plays in 2 innings
I USED THE GOLD BAT! which means nothing to you, but I hit two balls to RC which I have never done in my life.

Hockey 7/31 - Thursday League

1 goal, 1 assist
played with John the goalie an dthe kids
won 12-3

Manny Ramirez an LA Dodger

Good ridance!

Manny was dealt with Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen in a three team deal for Jason Bay of the Pirates. The Sox seem to have given up a lot in order to rid themselves of Manny the cancer. Moss would never have been a regular in Boston, and was unnecessary because the Sox will have 4 OFs in Crisp, Ellsbury, Bay and Drew. Hansen wasn't showing any real progress. having seen him a few times on TV, he had amazing stuff some games and then would lose it - he gave up something like 16 base runners in his past 5 innings - which is attrocious. So, those two being moved is hardly a worry.



Bay for Manny is a plus for the Sox. Bay is under the Red Sox control through the 2009 season and only costs $7.5M next season. Although the Sox would not have picked up the $20M option on Manny, now they have a position filled and $12.5M to use on other areas (C, RP, another ace - which they should have tried to get one of at the deadline as well).

Manny spent 8 years with the Sox, and none were without his challenges. The Sox were over gracious in their dealings with Manny, and finally Manny forced his way out. He is quirky, happy go lucky and rich - but that doesn't make him any less of an ass. He has been a cancer to this organization and a cancer to his teammates. Any player that loafs and doesn't appreciate his $20M salary doesn't deserve to be playing a "game" for money. I hope Manny does poorly in LA and I hope he kills his opportunity at making a huge contract for next season.

Good ridance and good bye - I hope the door know left a nice mark in your ass on the way out. As Fitzy would say - Manny GFY!

My (former) Baseball Card Fetish

When I was a kid I was a freak about baseball cards. Sure, I dabbled in hockey/basketball/football cards, but I lived on baseball cards. That is probably the number 1 reason why I am in finance and a numbers geek. I love stats, I love averages, deviations, means, everything about numbers. I'm not a Sabermetrics guy, which surprises me, but I love prediciting and forecasting stats.

I have started looking at some of my cards over the past couple of weeks and thinking about my favorite set (1985 Topps) and it got me thinking about cataloging my cards and reminiscing about all the cards I used to have. Back before I moved out to Colorado I sold 100's of thousands of cards on eBay to make my collection a little more portable. I have about two to three thousand left - and most are worth more than commons (although some are just personal favorites or complete sets).

I also started last night cataloging my cards in Microsoft Access - I'll probably start looking for want lists online and start contacting collectors and trying to find good homes (at a price) for my existing cards.

But the internet has become such a great tool - and I was scanning it to find cool sites that show the cards from my era (1970-1990). I have found a bunch - check them out:

The Baseball Card Project - pics of all your cards in one spot. From the creator of the baseball cube, comes an awesome site that I myself wanted to start (but don't have the time or energy). Help him complete lots of sets and make this a more complete database!

The Baseball Card Blog - this is a cool site that does reviews on older sets, that does a six pack habit where they open six packs of cards and analyze the cards inside.

The Ugly Baseball Card Blog - a funny look at those cards we loved.

1988 Topps Blog - a day by day card by card look at the 1988 Topps set.

A Pack a Day Blog - it ain't cigarettes, but it is just as tough to quit! Who needs Starbucks.

The Completist - Wax Heaven - just a casual look at baseball cards or today (and sometimes yesterday).

Squeeze Play Cards - fun site.

Fielder's Choice Baseball Card Blog - another addict.

These are just some sites that I peruse. I think they are fun to look at - although all the new sets are a bit overwhelming. Which is why I stick to the older sets.

It amazes me to think that rookie cards are worth hundreds of dollars straight out of the pack. When a guy has a whole career to fall on his face, after a great rookie season (or maybe he hasn't even played yet!) that seems like quite a leap. Especially after my hall of famer rookie cards hardly change and they already have proven themselves! And although I somewhat believe that the circulation of a card has an exponential relationship to the value - I have trouble believing some of the prices that an "excellent" rookie card of a HOFer gets when I highly doubt there are 200 or so in that condition of that very card. The non-mint stuff has to be worth more than they are being sold for on eBay. Sorry, but I don't get the price of these cards. If it was a 1973 car it would be priceless - but a 35 year old baseball card is just so-so in value? Whatever.

And don't get me started on grading! That's for another time.

Well, I just wanted to get something in writing here on some of the cool baseball card sites I have found. Mission accomplished.

MLB Trade Deadline

I can not believe I am going to say this - but thank God it is almost here - I can't take reading the 28 pages + on SOSH about the Manny deal that is dead/alive. Just trade him already, he makes me sick.

Hockey 7/29 - Tuesday League

2 goals
subbed for Andy
played D
played with Chris the goalie
played against the NetSeakers - they are the team with the kid I called a penalty on when I was reffing and he flipped out - but in a good way, he is not even a dirty player - I still feel guilty about calling that penalty
drew two tripping penalties - I would have had breakaways on each
played crappy D - we had 5 defensemen
won 8-5

Friday, July 25, 2008 - Union Reservoir, Longmont, CO

Friday, July 25, 2008 - Union Reservoir, Longmont, CO
Hot, hot, hot day - probably 95 degrees, mostly sunny, some puffy clouds, water temp 80 degrees and muddy and algea. By 3pm there was a HUGE rain storm that we were lucky to be off the water by.

Did the CarpStalk outing with Steffan, Andrew, MarkM and a new guy Paul. Met Paul (coming up from Co Springs) at 5:45 and was in Longmont by 7. Met Steffan at IHOP around 7:30, and then Andrew at 8:30 at Starbucks. Headed to Union and met MarkM at the docks. We launched and headed across the water. Andrew and Mark are pros at this - seriously, they both guide for carp - which is crazy to think that there is any money in this!!!

Mark and I had one boat and Andrew/Steffan/Paul in the other. Their boat had fish on almost immediately, but I think they lost a couple. We saw a lot of tailing fish - as the water color was better in the morning than the afternoon. It was amazing to see these fish wallowing in the water eating off the bottom with their tails in the air. They seemed like they would be soooo easy to catch, but that is hardly the case. I blew up and scare tons of fish - missed all of them and had no luck. I fished for about an hour, and poled for about an hor to give Mark a chance to fish. I didn't do too badly poling Mark's 16 foot skiff - which was pretty cool.

At about 11am Mark dropped me off in Andrew's boat and we fished 4 guys in it - which is not a good idea, but we managed - 1 guy would fish while the others would scout fish and tend to Andrew's needs (beer, peanuts, hold the pole while he pissed, etc.). Before I had got on the boat they had landed two (one for Andrew, one for Steffan) and lost a few (Paul lost one). Andrew had us into fish, and Paul was working the rod well - he got one on and lost it in the weeds. I jumped at the chance to cast, and they tried hard to get me into fish. Literally I missed 35 fish before I finally got one on - and it took off a couple of times - but nothing of any distance. I turned him 6 or 7 times until he finally gave up and I landed him. The fish seemed to be sunning themselves right next to the grassy areas out in the middle of the bays - not up near the cattails like you would expect.





This fish was quite the work in progress - I got skunked my last trip out there, and it felt very very good to land one finally. He was quite a handsome fella, and he wasn't nearly as slimey as I thought he would be - actually less than trout! He was rounder than any trout, and he was pretty hardy - and was 25 inches long!!

We released him, and kept on fishing - no more fish on after that. We got off the water around 3pm and headed to Andrew's house to get some of the Aunt Lydia's yarn - which I needed to tie him up some flies. The fly on the menu that works the best is Andrew's Carp Slider - the thing looks harmless, but is deadly.



Link to the recipe and instructions.

After leaving Andrew's we got stuck in a rain storm like no other - hail, huge drops and flash flooding along the highway made the drive home a bit longer than expected. We stopped at Discount Fly Fishing to pick up some materials for the Slider's. Now I have to tie a few!

Thanks guys for the great time today!

Hockey 7/24 - Thursday Night

1 goal
played D
played with John the goalie, and Harry and a bunch of new kids (same as last week, but not the same as last season).
these kids pass a lot and pass well - I like playing with them
my goal was tucked over the left shoulder of the goalie just under the post
won 10-5 or so

Softball 7/24 - Thursday Night

1-4, 2 pop ups, 1 ground ball - I SUCK!
Played with the normal crew
played the second place team - the team with the pitcher that Chris hit in the throat at the beginning of the season
played LC, had 3 decent catches, no errors
the other team scored only in one inning, 3 runs while I was on the bench as the secret squirrel was playing LC - that's how I roll!

We won 10-3, and it really wasn't that close - our Defense rocks.

Go Matt!

A friend of ours is in the final two of the TV show Design Star on HDTV. We met him at our good friend's wedding, but we had heard many stories about him. He was originally from Colorado Springs, and built a unique house in Palmer Lake, CO. "Palmer Lake Matt" is very good friends with our friends Ivan and Cheri (who have since moved to Wisconsin). Every time I needed to borrow a tool from Ivan, it seemed like it was always at Palmer Lake Matt's or Colorado Springs Jeff's house - so Ivan would go down there and pick it up (even though I told him he didn't have to). Ivan has helped me with several projects and I still call him from time to time with HVAC, furnace, water pump and other issues (thanks Ivan). Of course Matt moved to Los Angeles before Ivan & Cheri moved away (Matt has a great story about that - as he is an excellent story teller!).

Ivan and Cheri moved in May of 2007, but came back to Colorado to get married at Arrowhead Golf Course down in Roxborough in early June 2007. That is when we finally got to put faces to names. We were all seated at the same table and it was such a great night - not only were two great friends getting married, but we met a bunch more. The entire night was a blast, and we closed down the joint.

Well, about 2 months ago Jennifer got an email from Cheri (who is about to have a baby themselves next week!) saying that Matt was on the show Design Star. Well, to say the least we have watched and been huge fans every week. I have chatted with him briefly through email, and he is very excited. Of course this Sunday is the final non-live episode, and then the world votes and they announce the winner on live TV the following week. Matt is down to the final 2 and I think he could win the whole thing.

We wish Matt luck and are rooting for him! Good luck Matt!

You can watch it on Sunday's at 7pm MST.

Saturday, July 19, 2008 - Chatfield Res for Carp!

Not a whole lot to report - Cabo and I went out there, the water was easily a foot+ higher, so poor Cabo had to swim in most spots (trust me, it didn't slow her down).

We didn't see anything but the bikini hatch in all the normal places that Carp usually are. I don't think I'll be doing much more carp fishing this season.

Hockey 7/17 - Thursday Night

1 goal, 1 assist
goal was a nice walk in where no one want to cover me, I just put it in the corner
assist was super pretty - coming down the right side I slid by a guy, cut hard left at the last moment I slid a pass across and the guy slammed it in - happened so fast
new team - all young guys in their teens - but these guys pass really really well - and are fun to watch
no penalites - I basically watched a lot
won like 13-5 or something like that

Softball 7/17 - Thursday Night

1-3, I guess - BB, line drive out to center, line drive to center agin and he dropped it, strikeout looking (after the ump said something like no pitch - whatever).
played with the usual suspects
3 plays in LC, lost a line drive in the dark (under the lights) and it went for a HR
we won 19-3
my worst softball game ever (embarrassing)