Happy Birthday Uncle Keith!!!!!

 I just want to take a minute today to with my Uncle Keith a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I hope he has a great day!

Go Cubs Go!!!!!!!!

As I'm sure you have seen, the Chicago Cubs won the National League pennant Saturday night!  This is something I haven't seen since 1945... which, of course, means I have NEVER seen it.  Now, some of you may have seen this story on Facebook, but I'll share it here in case you missed it.

I watched the game with the sound off.  Why?  Because I was nervous and didn't want to hear what the announcers were saying.  I was worried they would spend the whole game talking about a fan from 13 years ago who did nothing wrong but was blamed for the Cubs losing that year.  I cannot begin to tell you how much it ticks me off that people still blame him for the loss when the players were to blame.  Anywho... I wasn't in the mood to hear it.  So the Cubs jumped out to a lead and I watched the game part happy, part nervous.  Part of the time was spent pacing around like Granny would do while watching a football game, and part of it was spent rocking in Da's recliner.  We get to the top of the 9th... the Cubs are 3 outs away from making history... but I understand the game isn't over until it's over.  The Wife then looks over at me and says, "Can you turn the sound up?"

All I could do was look at her and say, "Are you kidding me?"

I mean, look... I KNOW that me having the sound on doesn't matter to how the game is going.  But I also KNOW that IF I were to turn the sound up at this point in the game and IF the Cubs were to then choke the game away, I would carry that guilt with me the rest of my life. That wasn't something I was willing to risk.  And, to be honest, I was a little surprised (and slightly disappointed) that The Wife would even ask me to turn the sound up at that point.

So, the Cubs won and now they are four wins away from making all of my dreams come true.

Happy Birthday Susie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would like to take a minute to wish my sweet little Susie a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! She is a great little girl who hates to beat me at anything (it’s kind of funny/sweet) and hates to lose to anyone else. She had a “girl’s day” on Sunday with The Wife and Mary Ruth to celebrate her birthday a little early. Here are some pictures from that day…

While the girls were away, Daniel and I had a “boy’s day”… We went to church, had PB&J for lunch, took a nap, watched a Western (The Magnificent Seven… the 1960 version), went to Ye Ole Fashioned for supper and ice cream and watch some NFL football. Here’s a couple of pics of that…

Daniel napping

Maverick napping

Scooby napping... with a ball in his mouth and his head up

Happy Birthday Jane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’d like to take a minute today to wish my Labor Day Cousin Jane a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!! I hope she has a GREAT day!!!!

So for any of you who were worried… we survived Hurricane Matthew. The worst thing that happened to us was our DirecTV went out Friday night (right before the start of the Clemson game) and we lost power for about 3 – 3.5 hours (after the wind and rain stopped) Saturday. Other than that, we did great. Some limbs fell, but not many. The people in the back of our neighborhood weren’t as lucky. Flooding got most of those houses. Hopefully all of you were able to stay safe during the storm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to keep my post today short and sweet and simply wish my cousin Louis a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope he has a GREAT day!

Happy Birthday Chandler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’d like to take a minute today to with my Labor Day Cousin Chandler a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope she has a GREAT day!!!!!!

So, since my last post there have been some things to make me tear up (for different, manly, reasons). The first was watching Vin Scully call his last regular season home Dodgers baseball game. There is something special about watching someone who is great at their job do their job. I don’t care if it’s the fella pouring your driveway or the Hall of Fame baseball announcer calling a game… it’s nice watching people who take pride in their work. Not only is Vin Scully one of the best, he’s been doing it forever. By “forever”, I mean since 1950. At the time, only four MLB teams (2 in the AL and 2 in the NL) were integrated (a 5th team, the Boston Braves, would get their first black player in 1950). Anyway, it was touching to see the love the players, umpires and fans showed to Scully during this game.

On this same day (the last Sunday in September), it was announced that Arnold Palmer (hall of fame golfer and legendary man) had passed away. So far, I have not heard anyone (and I mean anyone) who has had a bad thing to say about Mr. Palmer. Word is, as great as he was as a golfer he was even better as a man. Everyone has talked about how nice of a man he was. Everyone. That almost never happens when talking about someone who has been in the public eye for so long.

I’m going to go a little out of order here and talk about a nice moment that got to me. It happened in the seventh inning of the Cubs game that night. Manager Joe Madden came out and took catcher David Ross out of the game. Ross is retiring at the end of the season and this was a chance for Cubs fans to show him some love. Something about this move touched.

The last thing was hearing of the passing of Jose Fernandez. To be honest, hearing of the passing didn’t do much to me because I didn’t know him (or of him… I love the Cubs, but don’t know a ton of other players)… but seeing the reactions from other teams (including the Cubs) was touching. Then, on Monday night, I saw this (well, not exactly this… this is just a report of what the Marlins did last Monday night…)

It gets me every time…