It's Been a Awhile

In fact it's been more than a while somewhere in the neighbor hood of 2 1/2 months. Between driving back from Texas to Montana for Christmas, visiting my brother in Ohio, doing a incomplete rush job for Christmas shopping, then driving from Montana to Goodyear Arizona right after Christmas a blog post was the last thing on my mind. But now that we're settled in our RV in sunny and warm Arizona it's time to relate what the hell has been going on.
First of all I attended the Cleveland Indians Fantasy Camp at their player development complex in Goodyear Arizona. It was a week filled with all things baseball with former Indians' players, major league uniforms and club house facilities, and lots of playing baseball which was something I hadn't done in over forty years. And don't think my body didn't notice, after a few days the once empty trainers room now had a line of aging ball players serpentining out their door and down the hallway while the air hung heavy with the smell of analgesic rubs. Men hobbled around after our games with ice bags taped to arms, legs, knees, and shoulders. But despite all the physical discomfort most of the seventy some attendees endured we all had a wonderful time trying to recapture our youth in our attemtp to play a young man's game. My week came to an abrupt end during a Wednesday morning game when I swung at a low breaking pitch reaching out with left arm I felt the pop of something. That something was the tendon that connects the lower end of my

left bicep to my left elbow. I was assessed by the Indian's lead trainer and he confirmed my fears of a snapped tendon, I was quickly put in touch with Indian's local orthopedic surgeon and the surgical repairs were completed several days later. I guess that puts me on the DL for two months, but no mind, I'll be basking in the Arizona sun watching every Indians home spring training game until they break camp in April, not a bad way to rehab.

Train Towns

 

    My permanent home is Livingston, Montana a small town of around 6000 full time residents. Livingston's history is allied with the railroad generally and the now defunct Northern Pacific Railroad in particular. It was once a bustling railroad stop on the way to Yellowstone National Park and became known as the 'Gateway to Yellowstone'. Now with the Northern Pacific gone the tracks no longer head south to Gardiner the 'Gateway' town but veer to to west toward Bozeman and beyond. The locomotives now move the box cars and coal tenders labeled with the logo of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe instead of the luxurious Pullman cars of yesteryear.
    My present location of Smithville, Texas is also a railroad town owing a good deal of it's existence to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line also known as the 'Katy' line. As with the Northern Pacific in Livingston the Katy was eventually absorbed by a larger railroad in this case the present day Union Pacific Railroad which still domiciles crews here and maintains a small operations center.
    For whatever reason I am particularly fascinated by these huge diesel electric locomotives that go rumbling behind the homestead here on tracks that are less 100 yards away blaring theirs horn and belching black smoke while trailing freight cars and mineral tenders to destinations east and west. Here's a sample of the sights and sound that intrigue me so much courtesy of the Union Pacific Railroad.

The Live Oaks of Smithville, Texas

     The name live oak comes from the fact that evergreen oaks remain green and "live" throughout winter, when other oaks are dormant, leafless and "dead"-looking. The name is used mainly in North America, where evergreen oaks are widespread in warmer areas, along the Atlantic coast from southeast Virginia and North Carolina to Florida, west along the Gulf Coast to Texas and across the southwest to California and southwest Oregon. In particular, the campus of Rice University is home to thousands of live oaks
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A large live oak, called the "Big Tree," is said to a 1000 years old and is found found in Goose Island State Park in Rockport, Texas.

Pre-Fantasy Camp Experience at Progressive Field

       I'm here in Berea looking in on my brother Jim and also to attend a pre-fantasy camp get together sponsored by the Cleveland Indians. Jim is doing fine and as is the case with us all is slowing down a bit. I arrived on Thursday and will return to Texas on Monday. Yesterday I spent the morning at Progressive Field getting fitted for uniforms and also getting a chance for a little live batting practice in the four indoor batting cages that the Indians use. I also got a chance to meet some of the other participants in the January camp many of whom have attended five times or more in the past. I was surprised to see that I won't be the oldest guy there as there are several  who predate me. We were also instructed to prepare ourselves physically for a week of running, throwing, catching, and batting all of which we will do in the two daily games. My only concern at this point is whether this sixty seven year old body will stand up to the rigors of this protracted dose of physical exercise. I'll keep you posted.

                                Tom

Texas Retreat

   After a 1760 mile cross country trip from Livingston, Montana to Smithville, Texas we have arrived safe and sound at the Donnell Homestead. The journey covered five days and four nights with nearly thirty hours driving pulling a seven ton fifth wheel. We enjoyed perfect weather everyday of the trip along with gorgeous fall colors in their last hurrah. Unfortunately, in the process we had to transit several large cities mostly during rush hour among those were Denver, Salina KS, Wichita KS, Oklahoma City OK, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Waco TX. Now it's time to unwind and enjoy the peace and quiet of a small Texas town.

Monday Morning Rainbow

  When I went to let the puppies in this morning I was greeted by this visual treat.

Fall on the Yellowstone

The Yellowstone River which flows beneath our home about a quarter of a mile away is the longest river in the US, just under 700 miles, that is not damned at any point. It flows north out of Yellowstone National Park which is about sixty miles south of our home in Livingston, Montana. The fall of the year is an especially beautiful time in this region and this year it was exceptional with warm sunny days and cool nights. Those ingredients spell great fishing for trout as the river is low and very clear with temperatures cooling. Late afternoon insect hatches produce rising trout and is a great time to wade out into the river to test your fly casting and fishing skills. This video was shot along the road that leads to our home.