A little rain goes a long way

My front lawn still looks like crap but it's way better than it was in August. I suspect that this spring I will be scratching the scrub and spreading some seed in the hopes that it will fill in and grow back into the nice green carpet it was in June of this year.

On the down side, if it does grow it means I will have to mow it which is somethig I've only had to do sporadically this summer.

•

I have to admit to being a little hungover today.

I met John at a local victualer last night and had a few more adult beverages than I probably should have. On top of the hangover, I have a head cold that is causing my nose to run like a faucet.

I'm hoping that the head cold is one of those three or four day ones and is gone by next week because I want to get some flying in.

A stuffy head does not go well with significant changes in altitude.

•

I'm going to watch the Red Sox but I've kind of given up hope that they'll end the season with the best record. There are only three games left in the season and they are currently two games behind the Rangers.

That means the Rangers need to lose two games while the Red Sox need to win all three games in order to end the season with the best record.

•

Here are a few links:

• Only in Florida.



• Also, only in Florida.



• This is your butt. This is your butt on drugs.



• Researchers: Contributing to the betterment of society or a complete waste of perfectly good oxygen.



• Oops...



• The French are very passionate about customer service.



• What is it with people dressing up as clowns. Is this a new thing?

Something happened to my links....

On the right side of this rambling PoS is a sidebar that contains things like archives, profile, search tool, etc... It used to contain a listing of links but for some reason that list went away. I have no idea why or how it went away. I'm not even sure when it went away.

Oh well, I guess things come and go around here. Why should my ramblings be any different.

•

The Red Sox are the ALEast division champs but they won it on a down note. They became the champions when the Blue Jays lost to the Orioles, not because they beat the Yankees.

The Red Sox lost to the Yankees and are now one and a half games behind the Rangers in the race for the best record in the American League. There are four games left in the season and the Red Sox need to win all four of them in order to end the season. If they only win two, the Rangers need to lose two and I don't think that is going to happen.

A win against the Yankees tonight would be a good start.

•

Now I'm going to watch some baseball.

Here's a couple of links for you:

• Key line in this story: "This time, her blood-alcohol content was .383"



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Week.

The Red Sox couldn't pull it off last night.

The Red Sox and the Yankees swapped leads two or three times last night but in the end, the Yankees prevailed. They also lost the best record when the Rangers beat the Brewers.

They still have a magic number of one game to win the division because the Blue Jays managed to beat the Orioles.

Tonight, the Red Sox need to beat the Yankees to clinch the division and the Rangers need to lose to the Brewers so the Red Sox regain the best record.

Counting tonight, there are only five games left in the season and it would sure be nice if the Red Sox went into the playoffs with home field advantage.

•

You should click on these links:

• This is funny.



• Only in Florida.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "12:35 p.m. A Hungry Horse woman reported that her chair was stolen two years ago and she thinks she knows who has it, but she can’t prove it."

Getting close to doing some night flying

One of the tasks I need to perform in order to qualify for my pilots license is three hours of flying at night and at least 10 full stop landings at night.

My instructor and I agreed that since we're both old and neither one of us stays up late, we would wait until sunset was at least 6:15 or so. Sunset is now around 6:30 and I anticipate that sometime in the next two weeks, I'll give him a call and set up some night flights.

I also still need to complete a three-stop cross country trip of at least 150 nautical miles in length. I'm thinking of going back to Lebanon New Hampshire and stopping at Keene on my way back. That will exceed the 150 nm requirement and give me three stops - Lebanon, Keene and Northampton.

•

No, I did not watch the debates last night.

I started to watch but after 5 minutes, I decided that the last thing I wanted to subject my poor, tired brain to was the screeching of Rodham or the insults of Trump.

I turned the debate off, put on Salvage Dogs and fell asleep on my couch,

When I woke up this morning, I read the news and came to the conclusion that the debate winner was Gary Johnson. Yes, he says a lot of crazy stuff but since he wasn't at the debate, he was the only that didn't say something stupid last night.

•

The Red Sox now have the best record in the American League and the magic number for them to win the ALEast division is 1.

I'm going to watch the game while you do whatever it is that you do. If what you do is click on links, then here are a couple of them for you to click on:

• An Australian Called Rob would be a fantastic name for a 1980's feel-good movie.



• NOW I find out about this....

I like last minute decisions.

I was watching the news this morning and from what I can tell, the rest of the week is going to be kind of crappy, weather-wise, so I made a last minute decision to get an hour of flying in. I called the airport to see if they had any aircraft available and as luck would have it, they had one rental left.

Apparently I wasn't the only that felt like flying today because the air around Northampton was a little crowded. That meant I needed to pay close attention to everyone and they needed to pay attention to me.

I would take off, turn to the north  fly about 10 miles and then turn around to re-enter the pattern, all the while talking to the other folks that were flying.

I did three pattern entries with full stop landings, all of which went pretty damned well.

I figure practicing pattern entry and landing is always a good idea. Anyone can get a plane up into the air but putting it on safely back on the ground is kind of important so I'll practice that every chance I get.

•

My uncle Marino is a writer. he spent a large part of his life working for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette writing about the local professional and college sports teams but his forte' was golf.

He loves the sport of golf even though he sucks at it but he sure can write about it.

As a result of his career, he was friendly with a lot of professional golfers and one of those that he was particularly close to was Arnold Palmer.

Back in 2005, the PGA asked Marino to write a tribute to Arnold Palmer for that years Seniors Championship. It was a great article and you should read it.

•

No baseball tonight so I'll have to figure out what I want to watch. The debate is on but I have no desire to watch it.

I'll see what I have for DVRs and if I can't find anything, I'll probably put the debate on while I surf the internet looking for funny stuff.

•

Here are today's links:

• Only in Florida. (I bet they get a call...)



• I cal bullshit. I ride rollercoasters every chance I get but I've had both kidney and gall stones.



• Ouch.



• Key phrase from not our favorite but close police log: "They discovered the man was drunk and he was singing."



• While not as weird as Florida, Arizona is right up there on the weirdness scale.

One o'clock is an even better time for a baseball game.

The Red Sox managed to win last night and then, for some reason I will never understand, managed to win again today. They have absolutely secured a spot in the playoffs and now they are also tied with the Rangers for the best record in the AL.

If they end the season tied with the Rangers, I believe (and as amazing as this may seem, I might be wrong) that the best record will be determined by run differential ( the difference between total runs scored and total runs against). If that is the case, the Red Sox have the best differential in the AL.

All things considered, as much as I'd like to see them with home field advantage, after the last two seasons I'm just happy that they will be playing baseball in October.

•

You should visit these links:

• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• I wonder what McGruff the Crime Dog has to say about this.



• Key phrase in this story: "Don't send your robotic lawnmower after the moose."



• I'd like to see that.

Six o'clock is a good time for a baseball game

The game is on and I'm pretty concerned because as I type this, the Red Sox are down 3-2 in the seventh. That is bad because the Blue Jays beat the Yankees this afternoon and it would suck if the Blue Jays were to pick up a game on the Red Sox.

So as it stands right now, the Red Sox are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the playoffs but there are two other prizes they are chasing.

The first is the ALEast division title.

The second is the best record in the AL. If they grab the best record in the AL, they get home field advantage in the playoffs. They also get the first round off while the two wild card teams play each other.

It's nice to have that first round off because it's basically a week off to catch their breath after playing a 162 game season.

•

You can click on these:

• Based on what those things cost when my kids were babies, it was probably one or two boxes.



• Only in New York City.



• This is why I always avoid cows when I fly.



• Bloodthirsty Turtle would be an excellent name for a crappy 1970s horror movie.



• Only in Florida.



• I wish they had this stuff when I was in my 20's....

I'm stuffed.

We went to the Eastern States Exposition today and ate our way through the place.

The Big E has become less of an agricultural fair and more of a craft fair. There are a lot of places to buy expensive crap you don't need and a lot of places to buy heavy, greasy food. There are still some farm animals and a few displays of farm equipment but for the most part, it's a place where people sell you crap.

We didn't get the Maine baked potato because they use cheese whiz. We got a Billies Baked Potato because they use shredded cheese.

We didn't get a Massachusetts lobster roll because they use shredded lobster meat. We got a Maine lobster roll because they use chunks of lobster meat.

We got some fried dough but not the stuff with the fruit on it. We got the good stuff with a big mess of powdered sugar all over it.

We saw the baby chicks, the clydesdales and the sheep. We watched the sheep shearing and we
checked out the cows & llamas. We also watched the pig racing which is far more entertaining than horse racing.

Then we wandered around the Better Living Center not buying any of the crap they were selling. And believe me, they were working hard to sell us that crap.

•

The Red Sox and the Patriots both won last night.

With last night's win, the Red Sox are now five wins away from clinching the ALEast division title. Tonight they start a three-game series down in Tampa against the Rays. They have played the Rays sixteen times this season and they have won nine of those games.

Hopefully they win all three of the games but two out of three would be good. I'd also like to see the Yankees take all three of their games against the Blue Jays. If that happens, the Red Sox will clinch the division.

As for the Patriots, they are now 3-0 and I'm betting that Roger and his minions are still having a hissy fit.

•

While I fall asleep watching the baseball game, you can do whatever you want.

If what you want to do is to click on links, here they are:

• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• Criminal Safety Tip: Never rob a guy in a running car.



• I can see this becoming a new diet fad.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "5:43 p.m. A local boy lied to his parents about his homework."



• Key explanation in this story: "I had to explain that we are from the country, but we're not THAT country."



• Only in Florida.

No need to make a decision.

In 1982, George Schnurle III introduced his Multivision device to the general public.

You've probably never heard of Multivision or George Schnurle III because his invention didn't sell very well. As a matter of fact, I don't think he sold any of them. It was expensive as hell and really klugy but that's not important.

What is important is that it gave us a taste of something that would become known as PIP or Picture-In-a-Picture.

Thanks to George and his visionary approach to television, I am able to fall asleep watching both the Red Sox and the Patriots this evening.

•

Fro now on, when someone calls me from card holder services or wants to know how I'm going to vote or wants to clean my carpets or is from the Foundation of Reluctant Veterans and Blonds with Twitches, I'm going to pick up the phone and play this into the mouthpiece.

I have no idea if it will work or not but I'm hoping it annoys them as much as their phone call is annoying me.

•

I'm gonna put the ball games on.

Here are some links you might want to click on:

• Only in Florida.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• Hey Mark! Do you still have that spider on your mirror?



• Key correct impression in this story: "...my impression was that's a crazy ass 50-some-year-old perv."

Fixin' stuff.

We had some damage to one of our screens and today was the day I decided to replace it.

After completing the job, I can tell you this: Replacing aluminum screen is harder than replacing fiberglass screen.

The aluminum screen tends to tear when it's being pressed into the slot. You gotta go slow and be very, very careful.

But now that it's fixed, we don't have to worry about any mosquitoes coming in and giving us the zika.

•

The Red Sox won again last night and so did the Blue Jays. The Red Sox are still four games up on the Blue Jays and it's looking more & more like they aren't going to collapse this year.

In my mind, the best case is they keep on winning and finish as the ALEast Division champ. The worst case scenario has them lose more than a few games and they end up as one of the AL wild card teams.

I'm going with the best case scenario.

•

They've got my vote:

•

Since I woke up at 4:00 this morning (What can I say - I'm old), I'm probably going to fall asleep before the game ends.

While I do that, you can do this:

• When you're dead, if the only good thing people have to say about you is, "He was turning his life around", you lived a shitty life.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• This is why I don't buy bananas.



• The US has spent trillions and trillions of tax dollars on the "war on drugs" and this is how they are beating us.



• Ouch!



• Only in Australia.

Four games ahead and looking good

I managed to get home in time to watch most of last nights game. They beat the Orioles to take a commanding 4 game lead in the ALEast.

There are 12 more games left in the season and the Red Sox have a magic number of 9. For each Red Sox win, that number goes down by one. For each second-place team loss, that number also goes down by one.

The problem is, there is currently a tie for second place so both the Orioles and the Blue Jays have to lose.

I'm hoping they are both big losers.

•

The second game of the four game series is this evening so you can bet I'll be watching as much of that as possible.
.
Here are few links for you to click on:

• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Month.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the week.



• Is that a snake in your pants or are you just glad to see me.



• Key quote in this story: "The only thing we found was a kidney."



• It's only a matter f time before they outlaw these things.



• If I understand this correctly, she preferred jail over New Jersey.

First place by three games.

Tonight the Red Sox are in Baltimore for the start of a four game series against the second place team, the Orioles.

If they can take three of those four games, they will take a commanding lead in the ALEast and with only thirteen games left in the season that will probably seal the deal for them.

That would be nice.

•

They are saying that Garoppolo didn't break or tear anything but they don't expect him to play this Thursday. That means the new kid, Brissett, will have to step up and hold off the 2-0 Texans.

Still, all things considered, at 2-0 the Patriots are doing better than any of the talking heads expected them to.

•

I have things to do this evening that may, or may not, prevent me from paying attention to the Red Sox.

While I'm either watching or not watching, you should click on these:

• In case you haven't seen the news yet, they got him.



• Yet another reason why I wish we had a Kripsy Kreme near us.



• This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs... and wearing red underwear...



• Oh Canada.

If Brissett gets injured, expect to see Edelman as QB

The Patriots won today but not without suffering a loss.

Jimmy Garoppolo and a Dolphins player named Alonso both went down hard on Garoppolo's right shoulder. At first it looked to me like he might have broken his collar bone.

Hopefully Garoppolo has two more games in him because Brissett did okay but not great. As a matter of fact, the game was on the line during the last minute of play but the Dolphins couldn't pull it off.

So now that the Patriots are 2-0, Roger Goodell is probably throwing himself a little hissy fit. I picture him siting in the corner of his office with his knees pulled up against his chest, rocking back and forth and saying, "This is all Brady's fault!"

Oh, and in case you didn't see it, for a 6 foot tall, 250 pound guy, LeGarrette Blount can jump.

•

Speaking of sports, the Red Sox will play the Yankees at 8:00 tonight. This is because the boneheads at ESPN think people want to watch baseball games at 8:00 at night.

Someone needs to tell ESPN that no one wants to watch baseball at 8:00 at night.

Fortunately, the Red Sox are going into this game with a three game lead over both the Blue Jays and a two and a half game lead over the Orioles. It was a three game lead over both but the Orioles won this afternoon and grabbed that extra half game.

I'm hoping that when I wake up tomorrow morning I find out that the Red Sox are three games ahead of the Orioles and four games ahead of the Blue Jays.

That would be great.

•

Apple is developing a new strategy for their next iPhone:

•

I'm going to watch a few innings of baseball.

While I do that, you should enjoy these links:

• If this guy turns out to be one of those recently-arrived "refugees" from the middle-east, people are gonna be pissed.



• Only in Florida.



• Attention everyone - I have an announcement to make:
  People are stupid.
  That is all.

They won last night and they won this afternoon,

As of 5:00 this afternoon, the Red Sox had a two and a half game lead over the second place teams, the Blue Jays and the Orioles. The Orioles play at 7:00 and the Blue Jays play at 10:00 so I guess we'll know tomorrow if they are two games behind the Red Sox or three.

The Red Sox have one more game against the Yankees tomorrow and then they head down to Baltimore to play four games against the Orioles.

The Orioles and Red Sox have played each other fifteen times over this season and the Orioles have won eight of those games. As a matter of fact, the Orioles took two out of three the last time the met.

I'm gonna hope like hell that it's the Red Sox that take at least three of those four upcoming games.

•

Here are some links for you:

• It's only a matter of time before the democrats make these things illegal.



• Only in New Hampshire.



• Ouch.



• Why are the faces blurred?

They pulled that one out of their ass.

The Red Sox managed to win last night after spending the majority of the game in a four run deficit. They were down  by three runs in the ninth inning when they finally remembered what their bats were for and decided to hit the ball.

The game ended with the Red Sox winning 7-5.

In other baseball news, the Orioles lost and the Blue Jays won which puts those two teams into a tie for second place, two games behind the Red Sox.

I'm hoping the Red Sox win again this evening but in a more sensible fashion. Like maybe taking an early lead and keeping that lead until the game ends.

•

We get two or three phone calls every day asking us who we are going to vote for. I'm going to start telling them, "I'm voting for Hillary Trump!" and then hang up on them.

•

Yes, there is baseball this evening but I'll be doing other things.

You can visit these links while I do those other things:

• Not sure who the judge is but I like him or her.



• I wonder why he didn't get the job...



• Researchers: Contributing to the betterment of society or a complete waste of perfectly good oxygen? We report, you decide.



• Only in China.



• Only in Florida.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "1:29 p.m. A local woman complained that the neighbor man was outside running his heavy equipment and she could hear it from her bedroom. A deputy advised her that this was not considered to be criminal activity."

Allow me to repeat myself: They need to win.

With last nights loss, their lead in the ALEast is down to one game over the Orioles.

They really need to sweep the Yankees or at least take 3 out of 4 games form them if they want to stay ahead of the competition.

Right now, there is a four game separation in the ALEast and other than Tampa Bay, it's up for grabs and everyone has a shot. Add to that the fact that there are only 5 games separating the top seven teams in the wild card race and you have traffic jam for a playoff spot.

After the last two seasons of being in last place, I'd like to see the Red Sox come out in first and make a run at the pennant.

•

We spent this afternoon/evening up in Keene dropping some stuff off for our youngest. That means I did not have a lot of time for interwebnetting.

Here are the few meager links I found:

• The bigger crime is that like most "bikees", he was probably wearing spandex shorts.



• Art: I don't get it.



• Stupidity: I don't get that either.



• I wonder if he ever sold it.

They need to win

There are 18 games left in the regular season and they are in first place. The Blue Jays seem to be on a downhill slide and the Orioles aren't playing like they were in the earlier part of the season but the Yankees have been on a real tear lately and they are now only 4 games behind the Red Sox.

The Red Sox don't have to win every game but they do need to win every series. That being said, they are tied 1-1 in their 3-game series against the Orioles and when this one is over, they go right into a 4-game series against the Yankees. That means they need to win tonight so they maintain that lead.

The way the Yankees are playing lately, the Red Sox are going to be hard pressed to win 3 out of the 4 but if they can split 2-2 with the Yankees, they stand a chance of going down to Baltimore with a nice 3 or 4 game lead in the ALEast.

Here's to hope.

•

So now I'm going to watch that game.

You should check these out:

• Only in Florida.



• We don't pay retired cops enough.



• Nothing like a nice quiet ride in the country.



• Are they saying this is bad?



• Our society has become a loose collection of terrified, paranoid, little rodents.

This is how you Sonic

I made my first trip to a Sonic a couple of months ago and I have no intention of ever going back.

Sonic is "fast" food that is anything but fast. Imagine if McDonalds takes 15 minutes to serve you a crappy hamburger and you pretty much have Sonic.

Now at this point, you are probably asking yourself, "Why the hell is he bringing up a trip to Sonic that he made two months ago?"

Simple; I don't like their business model but I do like their commercials.

There are some commercials that stick with you forever. For instance, I can still sing the Good & Plenty jingle, I can repeat, almost verbatim, the Alka Seltzer "That's a speecy spicy meatball!" commercial. I can tell you it takes three licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop and I can tell you that when it comes to Brylcreme, a little dab'l do ya.

The Sonic commercials are the kind of commercials that this generation will remember long after Sonic is just a footnote in the annals of dinning history.

Now your asking yourself, "Why the hell is he bringing up old commercials?"

Because Eddie Antar died and I will never forget that his prices were insane, that's why.

•

There's baseball to watch tonight so I best get to it.

Enjoy these links:

• You gotta love her mugshot.



• Key phrase in this story: "Chico is afraid of the family's chihuahua."



• Didn't Dr. Seuss write a book about these guys?



• Do you know what happens to you when you are offended? Nothing, that's what happens to you. Get over it and move on.



• Looks like mom is going to jail.

First cross-country flight is done.

I flew from Northampton to Lebanon, NH this afternoon. This gave me two hours of my required five hours of cross-country flying. It also gives me one of my three required stops at tower-controlled airports.

Here's the FlightRadar24 record of my return flight from Lebanon to Northampton:

Trust me, the record of the flight from Northampton to Lebanon looks exactly the same except that the little plane is pointed north.

Next up will be a multi-legged trip that I'll work out with my flight insturctor. I'm hoping a Northampton to Westfield, MA to Nashua, NH to Northampton meets the requirements but he'll be the one who decides that.

After I finish with my five hours of cross country flying, I'll schedule a meeting and a check-ride with the local FAA Examiner. Hopefully he likes what I can do and awards me with my my private pilot's license.

That will be a good day indeed.

•

The Patriots, captained by Jimmy Garoppolo, won yesterday.

The funny thing is that all ten of the alleged "experts" from the NFLs media branch (ESPN) predicted that Arizona would beat New England.

They were wrong.

•

Now I'm going to watch some baseball as the first place Red Sox welcome the Orioles to Fenway for the first game of a three game series.

I'm hoping that the Orioles continue losing and the Red Sox continue winning.

•

While I watch the baseball game, you can click on these:

• Key line in this story: "This is the only 24-foot inflatable cow in the state of Arizona..."



• Screw the Peeps, if this causes an increase in the price of my Mike & Ikes, I'm gonna be upset.



• Here's your Ugly Naked People In The News story.



• Oops.

I was at MassMutual and my wife was teaching at A.I.C.

I called her and said, "Get ready to get the kids out of school and head for the hills because it looks like we are being attacked."

Turned out we didn't need to head for the hills but it was a tough few weeks for everyone. All the planes were grounded and there was a constant flow of news out of New York & Washington covering the smoldering ruins.

Eventually there were patriotic songs written, there was lots of flag waving and we got a whole bunch of new security rules we never had before.

We found out who did it pretty quickly and we went into the middle east with a vengeance. It would take us another 10 years to get the guy in charge of the group that did it and after he was dead, nothing changed. We still have all the security rules and we still have a whole bunch of people out there who want to destroy our way of life.

Personally, I think they succeeded because our way of life is drastically different than it was in the twentieth century. We are terrified of everything and it takes nothing to send us into a panic. We have been in one war or another for the last 20 years, thousands of our kids have died and thousands more have been maimed.

I'm not sure when we will overcome our current reality but I hope that one day in the near future, people will look at different things with interest instead of fear.

•

So the Red Sox took 2 out of 3 from the Blue Jays and now have a two game lead in the ALEast over both the Blue Jays and the Orioles..

As for the Yankees, they are currently 2 games behind the wild card and have a pretty damned good shot at making it into the playoffs if they keep playing the way they've been.

It's gonna be an interesting September.

•

The Patriots are going to play football this evening and since football has a fixed length of time, I assume I can watch at least half the game before I fall asleep.

While I watch that, you can click on these:

• Perhaps she should have listened to him.



• And I thought we had some tough airline security.



• Only in Florida.



• Seems like drinking is the only thing to do in Cleveland.



• I guess it didn't work anymore.

Still in first place

The Red Sox won last night but lost this afternoon. That leaves them with a one game lead over the Blue Jays.

Hopefully they will win tomorrow and take 2 out of 3 from the Blue Jays because this whole tied for first thing is starting to get old.

•

My dog is still suffering a little anxiety with the departure of his girlfriend, the small emergency backup dog. He pants a lot and his ears are always pinned back like he just got yelled at or something,

I'm hoping he moves on pretty soon because he drools when he pants and he leaves little puddles all over the place.

•

I'm trying to figure out what I want to watch this evening.

While I'm doing that, you can visit these links:

• Oh Canada.



• Beer: Is there anything it can't do.



• Only in Florida.



• Get ready for everything to suddenly get more expensive.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.

I blame Derek Jeter

When Ted Williams retired, he gave a brief speech in the locker room after the game and then went home to go fishing.

When Carl Yastrzemski retired, his entire retirement party consisted of him running around the field giving high fives to as many fans as he could.

When Rico Petrocelli retired, he tossed a ball up into the stands and then took a job hosting Candlepins for Cash.

When Derek Jeter retired, someone decided that they needed to have a celebration at every ball park he played in. During those celebrations, they made speeches, gave him presents, praised him for his years of baseball and basically inflated his already big head. In other words, they made lot of  noise about nothing to prove how much they loved him. The problem is, it set a precedent and now it's happening again.

I don't know about you but I've about had it with the whole "Everyone genuflect because David Ortiz is retiring!" thing.

Personally, I think he should have retired about four years ago.

Enough with the retiring.

•

I'm going to watch the baseball game.

While I do that, you should think about clicking on these links:

• Guess I better find a job.



• Key line in this story: "While we respect Brandon's right of expression, his actions are not a representation of our organization..."



• Only in Pennsylvania.



• There are idiots all around us.

This is what I was hoping for.

Tomorrow evening at 7:00, the first place Red Sox will play the second place Blue Jays, which is way better than saying that the second place Red Sox will be struggling to overcome the first place Blue Jays.

As things stand right now, there are 23 games left in the regular season and the Red Sox are in first place in the ALEast.

Only four and a half games separate the fourth place team from the first place team so nothing is etched in stone. The lead could very well swap hands several times over the next three weeks.

But being the first place Red Sox is way better than being the last place Rays or even the second place Blue Jays.

•

There is no baseball on this evening and I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.

That means I'm calling it an early night and leaving you with these few links:

• More proof that there are stupid people all around us.



• Pffftttt.... Kids these days....



• Impatient Wombat would be a really excellent name for a 1960's bubble-gum-pop band.



• Instead of driving your car into the ocean, you should probably just get some mouse traps.

Once again they are tied for first.

This is getting a little old. They just can't seem to capture and retain first place.

Since the Blue Jays are playing the Yankees again and the Red Sox are playing the Padres again, maybe they will all repeat what they did last night and the Red Sox will come out of it in sole possession of first place.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

•

I'll be glad when this damned Hermine moves away from us. I won't fly in winds like this because - and I know this might come as a shock to some of you - I'm not stupid.

I have however planned my first cross-country flight. My plan is to fly to two different tower-controlled airports and then return to Northampton. I also plan to travel more than the required 150 miles.

My plan is to leave Northampton and take a short hop over to Westfield. That is a tower controlled airport where I will land, set the airplane up for the next leg and then depart.

My second stop will be Lebanon, NH, also a tower controlled airport, where I will land, set the aircraft up for the next leg, probably go inside & use the bathroom and then depart.

My third and final stop will be back at Northampton.

This is a total distance of about 180 miles and it should take me roughly two and a half hours.

Now if I can find a nice day to do it, I'll be happy.

•

You can visit these links if you would like:

• I'm betting the place was pretty laid back.



• More proof that there are some pretty stupid people in our world.



• Key phrase in this story: "...told investigators he would rather be imprisoned than live with his wife."



• I bet it smelled wonderful.



• Oh Canada.



• Does anyone know if Bill Cosby was in Scottsdale, AZ this past spring?



• You should watch this.

More rain!

We didn't get a lot of rain but we got some and my lawn seemed happy to see it.

Here is a sequence of pictures showing the devastation and ongoing recovery.

The top picture is my beautiful lawn as seen in late May.

The middle picture is my poor desiccated lawn as seen in mid July.

The bottom picture is my recovering lawn as it looks today.

I'm hoping that in the next few weeks those bare spots begin to fill in. If not, I will scratch them up a bit and put some seed down so it gets a start during October.

Hopefully by next spring I will have a beautiful full lawn that is the pride of my neighborhood.

Or at least a lawn that is a lot more green and a lot less crunchy.

•

No, I won't be watching the Red Sox this evening because the game isn't on until 10:10 tonight.

I will, however, continue to hope that they win and that the Blue Jays lose.

•

You should click on these:

• Those wild and crazy Italians.



• Key line in this series of Tweets: "I have made a grave miscalculation."



• Apparently the Amish get out of control every once in a while.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays

The Blue Jays managed to lose to the Yankees this afternoon, giving the Red Sox an opportunity to move back into a first place tie.

Unfortunately, the Red Sox failed to capitalize and they lost to the Padres. That means they are still one game behind the Blue Jays.

This is not how I was hoping things would go.

•

Here are some links:

• This is why we are known as Massholes.



• Are they saying this is against the law?



• Only in Florida.

Tied for first place.

For a few hours, the Red Sox and the Blue Jays were tied for first place. The Blue Jays lost last night and the Red Sox won, which resulted in both teams having identical first place records.

Then today, the Blue Jays won and the Red Sox lost which put the Red Sox back in second place, behind the Blue Jays by one game.

Tomorrow, the Red Sox will go to San Diego to take on the Padres while the Blue Jays will go to New York to play the Yankees. I continue to hope that the Red Sox will take all 3 games against the Padres and the Blue Jays will lose all 3 games against the Yankees.

•

So now that it's late and I'm tired, let me just leave you with these few links:

• Only in Florida.



• Horny Arachnids would be a great name for a 1970s sci-fi themed porn movie.



• Pfffttttt. Wealthy Rednecks.



• I'm not entirely sure what to say about this. My first thought was to make a Sully Sullenberger reference but I'm too tired to be funny.

One more move

In early June, we rented a van, drove to Keene, loaded all of our youngest sons belongings into it and brought them back to our house. The plan was for him to stay in Keene for a few weeks finishing up some work he was doing at the college and then he was heading home to start his adult life.

In late June, he suddenly started his adult life when the college offered him a job. This sent him into panic mode because now he had to find an actual place to live.

This week, he found a place to live and needed his stuff back.

Today, we rented a van, loaded all of his belongings into it and delivered them to Keene. We also used the van to go to the furniture store to pick up a couch that he had purchased.

Now we are home, the dog is very glad to see us and my back hurts.

I'm kind of hoping this is the last move I have to do but somehow I doubt it.

On the upside, the good folks at UHaul are getting to know me.

•

So the Red Sox won last night and the Blue Jays lost. This means the Red Sox are now only one game behind the Blue Jays in the ALEast.

I'm really hoping they do it again tonight.

•

You might want to visit these links:

• Key phrase in this story about this episodes Brilliant Only in Florida Criminal of the Day: "...a bag of marijuana fell from his pants"



• Oh Canada.



• Huffing Duster and the Stolen Scooter would be a great name for a 1990 children's mystery book.

Damn west coast trips...

Because the Red Sox are in California, the game is on at 10:00 tonight. That sucks for me because I'm not gonna stay up that late.

The Blue Jays, however, are playing at 7:00 tonight and I'm really, really hoping the Rays kick their ass several times over the next few days.

•

Based on all the weather reports about this storm that is coming up the coast, I doubt I'll be doing any flying next week. The one thing I've learned over the last few months is that you don't tempt the fates when you are flying a plane.

As near as I can tell, the fates are good friends with gravity and lets face it, gravity is the cause of every plane crash that has ever happened.

•

I want to say something about this.

I'm betting that he was standing on an island at a busy intersection, just like all the homeless people do.

I'm betting that he was approaching cars in order to collect money, just like all the homeless people do.

I'm betting that he stepped out into an empty lane to go to another lane and stepped right in front of oncoming traffic, just like the homeless people do.

So my question is if it's illegal for the homeless people to do this, why is it legal for firefighters to do this?

Don't get me wrong, I think that their drive to collect money to fund research into a cure for muscular dystrophy is an honorable thing but stepping out into traffic or even just standing on an island at a busy intersection is a dumb way to do it.

•

Here are a few links you can click on:

• Look, I don't like going to the dentist either but I don't dislike it so much that I arm myself when I go.



• Only in Florida.



• Unruly Stork would be a great name for a 1990s German Techno Band.



• Only in Florida.



• Key line in this story: "...he came to the door shirtless with multiple corn kernels stuck to his chest..."



• Here's something you don't see every day.

Do you hear that sound?

That's the sound of my lawn breathing a sigh of relief with today's rain.

The smatterings of green are becoming more and more pronounced so I'm hoping that at some point in the near future, it actually becomes a lawn again instead of the brown crunchy stuff it's been since July.

•

The Red Sox are on a travel day as they head to the west coast for a three-game series against the Athletics and then a three-game series against the Padres. For the record, neither the Athletics nor the Padres are all that good right now and I'm hoping they stay that way.

Once they finish with those games, they had to Toronto to play he Blue Jays and that is where the rubber hits the road.

I'm hoping they go into Toronto in first place in the ALEast and it's the Blue Jays that have to win every game to take the lead. If they are not in first place, they're gonna have to play like champions to take that lead.

•

While I try to figure out what I'm going to watch this evening, you can visit these links:

• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• Key line in this story: "But then, out of the blue, an ostrich comes into view..."



• Is Anti-Wrinkle what the cool kids are calling it now-a-days?



• Key line in this story: "He forgot he had driven on and just walked off."



• Key phrase in this story: "I came back about eight hours later — and I wasn't as sober as when I'd left — and the thongs are gone."



• Oh Canada.