Spittin'!!!!

TR Baker asked this question the other night while watching one of the baseball play-off games.
Is there any other sport that involves as much spitting as baseball?

Is it a pre-requisite and part of the hiring process?  I can hear the owners and coaches now...

• He pitched 2000 no hit games but more importantly, won the national spitting contest at his local state fair!
• He's the world's best home run hitter but better than that, he "spit" out a fire in his home.
• He caught the most fly-balls for the season and contributed to the survival of the rain forest with his spitting!

And what are they spitting?  I watch them put a handful of some kind of seeds in their mouth and then (apparently another huge talent) somehow, inside their mouth, open the husk for the seed and "spit" the shell!  Is it tobacco?  I thought that was against the rules anymore!  My grandson says they're chewing bubble gum (Big League Chew).  If it's bubble gum and they spit it out, how come all the players don't have "gum-stuck" shoes?  And then I see what must be just plain spit!  

How can we stand to watch the game?  It's disgusting when you think about it.  The other night when TR began this discussion we monitored the next 2 minutes of the broadcast and EVERY player the camera showed was spittin'!!!!  I wonder what their mothers think as they watch their sons spit on TV?

And if that isn't enough, late in the game, check out the "floor" of the dugouts.  So glad I don't have to clean that up!

As popular and acceptable as it seems to be, you'd think spit would be used everywhere.

Song title - Spittin' on the dock of the bay...

Nicknames of famous people - Spit Romney

Articles of clothing - Spittens

What can you add to this list?  Am I the only one who wonders about this?  Well, one thing's for sure.  The play-offs are winding down to be followed by the world series, to be followed by a baseball vacation, to be followed by spring training, to be followed by another season.  What do those players do with all that spit in the off-season?

Top of the 8th - Tigers/8, Yankees/1.  Is the Yankees dugout worse than the Tigers?

OK, enough already!!!!!  Happy Thursday evening!

Please don't stop praying for my friend Pat.

 

 

 

Knitting again!!!!

OK - I went back to knitting classes and this time we began a scarf!  Finally, what I wanted to do.  It's a 3 week class and hopefully I will be done with it by then.  It's the casting on that drives me crazy.  The first square (for lack of a better word) is regular knitting, then comes pearl, then comes something else and so on until 6 squares are done.  There are 3 of us in the class and the other two got to the pearl stage but not me!!!!!  Still trying to figure out the regular knitting part.  I'm very frustrated as I have no patience and failure is not an option (I might have to change my thinking on that).  Anyway, it's going to be a scarf for TR Baker.  It's red, black and dark grey.  I hope he likes it.  And I haven't finished Madeline's dishcloth yet, but I will!!!!!!!  The wonderful person teaching really works hard to encourage me.  Last night I think she felt sorry for me and tried to sneak a finished dishcloth into my bag.  I saw her do it and told her I couldn't accept it and she said of course I could.  Then I told her I wouldn't be able to take it into my home because it was yellow!  (I don't do yellow anywhere, anytime, anyplace!)  I don't think she quite understood that but she continued to be kind and gracious while removing it from my bag.  This knitting thing has become more of a challenge than I ever expected!

Last week was wonderful, so wonderful that I'm sort of sad this week.  Can't anyone come and play with me?  My dear friend Barbara J, will be visiting me early November hopefully.  I must share with you something that Kristi wrote to me in an e-mail.  I just love it and I think it says what all of us often want to say.  She wrote...
"There's not much more energizing than a couple of long, full days with good sport/best friends.  It lingers well with me."
Don't you love that?  And it lingers well with me too!

Last night after knitting class, I sat down and tried to watch the presidential debates.  "Tried" and it wasn't easy.  I finally had to do something else...anything at all that would get me away from those arguing, smug, contradicting children.  That's what they seemed like to me.  I love reading the fb comments of those who watched.  Most of my fb friends feel the same way and we're all good people!  What is our world coming to?  And then I always have to throw in who wants to be the President anyway.  I swear, I honestly believe some of us taxpayers (me and my friends) could do a better job of running the country than the options we have available to us!
We have spent years and years not buying things unless we had the money to pay for them!
We have spent years and years working hard to live on the money we earn and pay our bills at the same time.
We have spent years and years hoping our medical insurance will cover the expenses we incur (and I was married to the insurance man!).
We have spent years and years trying to save enough money to be able to "retire" and continue to survive.
We pray to God and trust in Him to guide us.  Well, I'm hoping He speaks to me about this election!  I need His help!
Ok, enough of that soapbox!

Did I tell you Gracie and I are having a Halloween Costume Party?  It's Sunday, October 28, 4-7pm!  Each of you is invited and we'd love to see you.  We'll be bobbing for apples, eating donuts hanging by a string, and putting our hands in bowls of icky stuff for a game we call gooey guesses!  The food will be wonderful, very spooky and of course, prizes for the best costumes!  Everything is nearly ready and this weekend Gracie and I will plan the food.  Those of you who used to be in the Hannah Sunday School Class will remember a Halloween Party HC Baker and I had at our Cherokee Road home.  There was a big crowd and lots of laughter.  I have photos from that evening and still love to look at them.  I'll have new photos to share soon!

Sweet dreams to each of you.

Please continue to pray for Pat.  xxoo              

I'm lonely already!

Just said good-bye to my dear friends, Kathy and Buddy.  They are our last guests on the calendar for 2012.  We had a wonderful time because Kathy tells the best stories.  I caught up with her life as well as the lives of her kiddos and perfect grandson, Kingston, her mother or "munner" as she's called by those who love her, her sisters - Janice and Dana, Keith and Tommy, and all the nieces and nephews.  Got a few stories about aunts and uncles too who have gone beyond the rainbow!  We shared stories about our history too.  Laughter IS the best medicine for all that ails you!

Last week was filled with great friends and continuous rain.  I went to the island twice.  When I went earlier in the week with Christy and Kristi, I thought I couldn't get any wetter, but yesterday, I went again with Kathy and Buddy and not only got soaking wet but very cold too!  And yesterday's boat crossing was a little rough!!!!  The island will close for the season at the end of this month and I am excited I'll not see it again until 2013!

Get this...
Saturday, Kathy, Buddy and I were in Petoskey in my favorite bookstore and my cell phone rang.  I answered it and it was my accountant (he's in Cheboygan).  He asked if I was in Michigan and I said yes.  He laughed and said I needed to come to his office on Monday (today) and sign my 2012 tax return!!!  He had filed an extension for me and then I forgot to go and sign it.  Today is the deadline!  What am I using for a brain?  Guess I better get that done...ya' think?

It is supposed to rain all week here.  TR Baker is wondering how he will ever get all the leaves raked once they are soaked over and over!  He has closed the outdoor crawl space vents and turned on the light in the well house (to prevent the pipes freezing).  I guess we're getting ready for the real winter!

OK - I've got to wash the bed clothes, clean the bathrooms and mop the kitchen floor and then I'm ready for YOU to come and visit!

Love you all!

Please continue to pray for my friend Pat.  Twelve weeks after being given days to live, she's still with us fighting the good fight.  Great is her faithfulness!          

Taking a quick break!

I'm having a wonderful week!

Fabulous friends Christy and Kristi have just left.  Gracie always loves for me to talk about them because they have the same name and come at the same time.  She calls Christy, the red-headed Christy and she calls Kristi, the other one!  They arrived Monday and the laughter began.  This was their 3rd annual visit.  The first year they came was just a few months after HC Baker had died.  I was still living in the blue cottage and trying to understand and accept the new Jo Ann Baker, widow.  It was also the first time I met Kristi.  (Many years ago Kristi lived in Louisville and became fast friends with Christy.  Kristi now lives in Saugatuck, MI, a beautiful resort area about 4 hours southwest of me.  So it was just the natural thing for Christy to stop by Saugatuck and pick up Kristi and come on up!  Confused yet?)  So anyway, now I can look forward to the C & K annual visit!  They were the first friends to see the "before" of the Topinabee home and now they have seen the "after".  They both have exciting personalities that keep the conversation jumping from one great topic to the next!  Actually what we do is solve the problems of the world.  We laugh and laugh and shed a few tears too.  We talk about our children and grandchildren, their current lives and our hopes for their future.  We also discuss the things we have survived, funny and not so funny!  The funniest story this year we kept referring to was Kristi's first attempt at making split-pea soup.  She had just had her first baby and her husband asked her to make split-pea soup.  She needed a few ingredients but the weather outside was terrible and she didn't want to take the baby out.  So...she had a bag of frozen peas and proceeded to take a knife and "split" those peas!!!!!  This statement by Kristi brought the only lull in the conversation during our 3-day visit!  And I promise you, Christy and I will never let her forget she did this!  There were so many other conversations from our hearts and of course, the "doing" of our annual traditions, but in 2010 we agreed, what's said and done at Jo Ann's, stays at Jo Ann's!  I was so sad to see them go but without a doubt, am already looking forward to next year.  We did discuss an interim visit somewhere because there are a couple of family "issues" that will definitely need updates!  My fingers are crossed!  I'm sending blessings and prayers for safe travels with them.

Right now I have the washing machine and dryer working overtime because in 24 hours I will welcome first-time visitors, my dear friend Kathy and her husband, Buddy!  (We don't call Kathy "Kathy".  She's "Withers" to us.  When I told TR Baker Kathy and Buddy were coming, he said "Withers" is coming!)  They will be here by lunch tomorrow.  Can't wait!  And we will fit 2 weeks of activities into 4 days!  We have homecoming Friday night and a fundraiser on Saturday night and lots of sightseeing in between.  I love showing guests my new neighborhood.  Most are surprised to see that I live in a real house and wild bears are not outside my door!  I'm looking forward to making new memories with them.

Well, here's what's happening locally.
It snowed this morning!  It has rained the past 2 days so the ground was wet and is still too warm for the snow to "stick", but...it SNOWED!!!!!!
With the election getting closer, political signs are beginning to appear.  Oh my!  This will be my first time to vote in a national election in Michigan.
The transition from summer to winter is in full swing.  Boats and docks are out of the water, Mackinaw Island is closing down, the population is dwindling with the summer folks heading south for the winter, and you can get a parking spot at the grocery store!

My life is incredibly blessed by wonderful friends.

Please continue to pray for my courageous friend Pat and her children, Ashley and Stephen.

Love to each of you...
            

My day...

started at 8am when the delivery truck brought the last new set of bedding.  Now everyone can come and sleep in a bed with a new mattress and box springs!!!!  All have been replaced!  Whew!  Took a while but I got it done.  As of last Friday, we have been in the house for one year!  I've got 2 rooms to re-do this winter and then everything will have had at least one coat of something (and there is a mystery to some of it!!!).

The days here are beautiful right now.  The air is crisp and clean!  We have had frost only once I think.  I wore a sweater all day today, inside and out.  I actually saw a pick-up truck today with it's snow plow attached to the front end.  Holy cow!  There is the possibility of scattered snow in the next week!

One of my new friends called today and said she still had her boat in the water and wanted to know if I was interested in taking a boat ride to the marina and then have lunch.  I said of course and off we went.  We were the only boat on the lake and the water looked like glass.  Beautiful!  Had a good time!  What you see now around the lake are the people who pull the docks out of the water.  Most boats are asleep for the winter and the docks are disappearing.  The seasons change quickly up here.

Now for tonight.  I am really trying to learn new things.  There is a cute, new store in Cheboygan (15 miles north) called Creation Station.  They offer classes for all ages teaching all types of crafts.  Tonight was Beginers Knitting.  For $20 you got yarn, needles, and 2 hours of instruction.  I thought we'd learn to make a cute scarf, and then I could make everyone a cute scarf for Christmas.  Well, not happenin'!  What you learn to make is a dishcloth.  I said "WHAT"?  She said "a dishcloth.  Everyone loves them and they make a perfect gift."  I burst out laughing and asked her what kind of friends she had?  (Just for all your information - if you E V E R receive from me a gift that's a dishcloth, have me committed because I have obviously lost my mind!)  Intermediate Knitting is a scarf, but you need to bring your completed dishcloth to class to make sure you are ready for scarf knitting!!!!  I didn't slap her AND I did stay for the class.  I have knit 12 rows of the 25 needed to finish the dishcloth.  I'm so excited, I can't wait.  (NOT!)  Anyway, I do plan to complete my dishcloth and advance to the scarf.  Wish me luck!

I hope your day was a good one!

Please pray for my friend Pat.

xxoo