My yard is clean

At some point in the very near future, I expect a phone call from the guy who fertilizes my lawn asking, "Are you ready for your first application?"

Normally, when that happens, my response is, "No. My lawn is covered with leaves." and they say, "Well, call us back when you are."

If my timing is correct, this year they will call me in the next few days and for the first time in years, I will say, "Yes, I'm ready. Come fertilize."

⧫
The Red Sox are playing the Rays at 7:00 tonight.

The Bruins are playing the Flyers at 7:00 tonight.

I'll be flipping back and forth between the two.

⧫
Time to make some dinner, get into my sweats and watch some sports.

You can click on these if you want:

• Baby steps...



• Only in Florida.



• Also only in Florida.



• Yes, this is also only in Florida.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "2 p.m. Bob was tired and took a nap."

Nice Easter day.

Easter consisted of our little household bubble, meaning it was my wife, my daughter and myself. I'm kind of hoping this is the last holiday we need to keep our distance because it would be nice to see the boys and finally meet our grandson.

Speaking of which, he's doing very well. Thanks for asking.

⧫
The Orioles managed to beat the crap out of the Red Sox this afternoon and I'm ready to question the decisions made to keep Garrett Richard's on the roster as a starting pitcher.

I don't remember each inning he pitched during spring training but I do know that I was not impressed. Now that I see him in the regular season, I can say that he is not pitching very well and "not pitching very well" is what killed the Red Sox last season.

After 2 innings, with the bases loaded and the score 3-0, they took Richards out, put Josh Taylor in and....

....he proceeded to walk the first batter he saw with only four pitches to bring in the fourth Oriole run.

Taylor threw four fastballs that were all 6 to 12 inches above the strike zone. He could do nothing with his fastball so he started throwing breaking balls.

Now I'm no major league baseball hitter but I do know that if you are at the plate and you know the pitcher can only throw breaking balls, you know when & where to swing the bat. Apparently the Orioles also know that trick because by the time the third inning ended, the score was 10-0.

Did I mention it was only the third inning?

As for the hitters, they weren't doing much better. The final score of the game was 11-3.

They are now 0-3 and I don't think that Cora has a clue as to how to right the ship.

This could turn out to be a long season for us Red Sox fans.

⧫
I'm pleased to say that my cobol skills are back. I've managed to create datasets, write datasets, read datasets and manipulate data.

Since the machine comes with a 'C' compiler, maybe I'll start writing some 'C' code to see how that goes.

I realize it sounds odd but I'm having fun playing with this machine.

In other Raspberry PI news, when I tire of mainframe stuff, I've decided I'll install a new OS and move the machine up to my family room, plug the HDMI interface into my television and turn my tv into a streaming media machine.

I figure streaming Netflix, Disney+ and Youtube on a 55 inch high def television is better than watching it on my laptop.

Maybe I'll get that Discovery+ thing...

⧫
Dinner is done, Jordan Spieth has won the Valero Texas Open and I'm going to watch some news.

You can click on these if you want:

• In my opinion, the first indication should be, "If you don't remember how many you've had, you should call a cab."



• How come no one shot these assholes?



• I guess she really wanted that quarter pounder with cheese.



• Only in Florida.



• I used to want to go to Sweden. Suddenly, I don't want to go to Sweden anymore.



• She is the inspiration for the t-shirt, "Bomb Squad: If you see me running, try to keep up!"

It's one of those dates.

I just thought I'd point out that today is 4/3/21 in case no one else has mentioned it to you.

⧫
The Red Sox are now 0-2. They lost to the Orioles 4-2 this afternoon and I have no idea why.

I'm beginning to think it's the 1980's all over again.

Then again, it's only game 2 of the season. There are 160 games left for them to get their shit together and start playing like I think they can play.

⧫
As for the other sport I follow at this time of the year, the Bruins managed to beat the Penguins this afternoon 7-5.

It appeared they were going to lose the game because the Penguins scored first and held the Bruins to zero goals during the first period.

Then, between the first and second period, some magic or some such shit happened and the Bruins came out skating like maniacs. They scored 5 goals in the second period and two more in the third.

They are still in fourth place in the east but the Flyers are falling further behind them. The problem is the Bruins have a nasty April schedule because they had so many games postponed. They are playing four games a week until the end of the season and that is going to tire them out.

Four games a week also means a lot of swapping back and forth between the Red Sox and the Bruins.

⧫
Not much else to prattle on about today.

Enjoy these links:

• Sparking Nuclear Waste Drum would be a fantastic name for a 1970's disco band.



• I've owned dogs my entire life and I can tell you with complete honesty: Dogs don't care what you call them. All they care about is head scritches, belly rubs and getting a bite of whatever it is you are currently eating.



• I did not know that you can treat ingrown toenails with salt.



• Only in Florida.

Well that kinda sucked

The Red Sox got shut out today when the Orioles beat them 3-0.

I thought Evoldi did a pretty good job through 5 & ½ innings but the kid pitching for the Orioles, Means, was better.

Tomorrow is another game so we'll see what happens then.

⧫
The Bruins lost 4-1 last night and they kind of deserved it.

They had no energy & no fight and the Penguins flat out beat them to the puck every time.

They play again on Sunday at the same time the Red Sox play so I'll have to do the flip-back-and-forth thing.

⧫
Dinner is done and I'm going to watch some bad television. Enjoy these linkis:

• So much for that whole, "We'll only tax the rich!" bullshit they've been slinging.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, tries to slap you around.



• That's not what's supposed to come from Uranus...



• Key phrase in this story: "The most expensive event is adding a teen driver to your policy."



• Only in Florida.



• The Scots are quickly overtaking the Japanese as the weirdest people on the planet.

I was right

Turns out I was right last Tuesday when I said, "Then again, I checked the weather for Thursday and it's looking like rain almost all day. That means the game will probably get postponed."

The Red Sox and the Orioles will open their season tomorrow (Friday) at 2:10.

⧫
The Bruins will take on the Penguins at 7:00 this evening and if they win, they will remain in fourth place. If they lose, they will still remain in fourth place.

Either way, I'll watch the game while polishing up my cobol programming skills because you never know when someone might want an old cobol programmer.

⧫
I don't think Trump was a good president. I never cared for his treatment of people. He really pissed me off when he called John McCain a loser for spending years as a POW in a North Vietnamese torture center.

Having said that, I also want to make note of the fact that we never saw video like this when Trump was president simply because he made an effort to stem the tide.

What kind of scumbag drops a three year old child & a five year old child into the desert and runs away from them? More importantly, what kind of alleged parent hands their child off to a scumbag like that?

What the hell is wrong with those people...

⧫
Here are some links for you to visit:

• Speaking of presidents I don't care for: We are all screwed.



• Key phrase in this story: "The man was reportedly sitting on the toilet like any other normal day when he suddenly felt something bump his rear end from inside the bowl."



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



• This is kinda cool.



• There's an old joke: When life hands you lemons, make a vodka tonic...