Build It and They Will Come

Hi everyone, it's been awhile since I posted and when I did the video I shot for the post was listed as private hence not many folks got a chance to view it. I corrected that today so if your were denied access it is now available in the public domain. That post was in September so I've got some catching up to do. I am in Texas now at my wife's family homestead in Smithville, Texas and have been since the first week of November with the weather being summer-like ninety per cent of the time. The property sits on or around about forty acres which is mainly used for growing hay with the house in the middle of it all and aside from a few property fences and trees it's a pretty open area. Last year while I prepared for Cleveland Indians Fantasy Camp here in Smithville the thought occurred to me that I could build a baseball field on this land somewhere although at the time I never got around to it. Well guess what? I finally got around to it. A little history is in order here before I continue. Growing up in a small college town southwest of Cleveland, Ohio our home was across the street from a vacant field which the owner allowed us the play on anytime we wanted. Now this was the fifties so youngsters had to use their imagination to find ways of entertaining themselves.(Sorry guys, no XBox 360's or iPhones) My mother introduced me to baseball by taking my brother and I to a Cleveland Indians game sometime in the mid fifties and that became our main diversion. When I first saw the lush green grass at Municipal Stadium I was awestruck at the intense green and the geometry of the infield, it left an indelible mark on my spirit one I intended to replicate at some point. My first attempt prior to the current one was to build a slightly downsized field in that vacant lot across the street. I hauled dirt from underneath our front porch to build a pitchers mound and carved out base paths and an infield with a shovel. This became the venue where we would spend countless hours playing wiffle ball with two or three on a team and modified rules to make up for our lack of personal. This pastime endured well into our college years until the land was finally sold and a house was moved in to occupy the site of our beloved ballpark. It's amazing what you can do with an open field, a riding lawn mower, a long measuring tape, a source of dirt, a shovel, a rake and a wheelbarrow plus a good dose of manual labor. Since I first carved it out of the vacant hay field at the end of last week I've tinkering and refining it a little each day and continues to look more and more like a ball field as it evolves. My daughter Sarah, her husband Matt, and myself christened it last Sunday with a little BP (batting practice) with souvenir baseballs from spring training and a real wooden bat, there's nothing like the sound of cowhide on ash of a Louisville Slugger. Here's a quick look. In 'Field of Dreams' James Earl Jones' monologue captures the essence of the magic that is baseball.

Home Sweet Home

Not long ago I wrote a post describing what had happened to our home in Livingston while we were away for the winter in Goodyear, Arizona. Five months later I am happy to report that we are now back in our home with repairs now 100% complete. It's been a long haul waiting for this project to reach completion but now at long last it's a done deal and we couldn't be happier. You never realize how important somebody or something is until you are without them or it for a long period of time. Here's a quick video tour of our 'new' home.

The Rare Double Rainbow

With the right combination of rain and sunshine we're rewarded with the rainbow, white light refracted into it's various color components. This was taken two evenings ago on the deck of my neighbor and good friend Paul Bradley and we were gifted with not only one rainbow but two.

227 Clark St. Berea, Ohio

This little white house has housed three generations of my family from my paternal grandparents to my mother and father, and lastly my brother Jim. It was where I grew up and became the person I am now. The house and the property it sits on are a treasure trove of cherished memories from the day we moved in 1949 until the day I left for war in 1968 and not to return again except periodic visits with my own family. The house is empty now and probably at some point in the future will be sold to finance my brother's care in assisted living and then some other family will begin their traditions at 227 Clark St. Berea, Ohio.

Long Time No Post

Yes chief that's true, it has been a long time. Well the reason is that this long delay has everything to do with what has been going on in my life of late. First of all the good part and that was the birth of my granddaughter on the 8th of April in Atlanta, Georgia. My daughter Sarah and her husband Matt took delivery of a 9 pound baby girl named Lily, but that's only half the the story. Here's a link to a featured article that appeared in a suburban Atlanta magazine just a short time ago , http://fayettewoman.com/lily-love-story.html . The article explains in detail what happened on this incredible journey to new life.
Now to the less happy affairs that have intersected my life. I have an older brother Jim, four years my senior, whom I had to place in an assisted living situation due to his numerous falls at his home in Ohio where he has lived alone for the past twenty years. It's never an easy thing to remove a person from the surroundings they so cherish not to mention the fact that he's the third generation of my family to have lived there. At this time Jim seems to be adjusting but right now he's on trial run stay at this facility to see if it's going to work out for the long term. So far so good.
The last episode concerns our Montana home which sustained an uncontained water leak due to a frozen pipe on an interior wall even though the heat was on. This happened in late March just we were preparing to come back to Montana from Arizona. We were alerted to this disaster by a neighbor who was doing his weekly check on home while we were away. Three months later we are still putting the pieces back together and it

looks like it will be at least another month before we're back in the house. All this time we've been living in our RV with two cats and two dogs and I now understand the term 'bunker mentality'

What Is It?

During one my visits the Cleveland Indians' Player Development Complex in Goodyear, Arizona I came across this little guy guarding a section of drain culvert across from the main practice field. It looks like an owl but I'm not certain so if anyone happens to be able to identify her let me know. I am without any of my bird watching field guides so I'm clueless...............as usual. She seems to be protecting this particular area possibly a nest.

Spring Training From Goodyear, Arizona

Today marks the beginning of another baseball season as the boys of summer return to to Florida and Arizona for a month and a half of spring training. The weather here in Goodyear couldn't be better with today's high forecast to be 80! In an hour or so the air will be filled with the sound of leather on leather as balls crack into waiting mits along with the unmistakable sound of wooden bats against Rawlings Major League baseballs. For a baseball fan and former player the atmosphere is absolutely electric, this why we're able to endure the long winter. PLAY BALL !!!!!