"Casey At The Bat"
Our little Casey had her first ever school fast pitch softball game last evening and let me tell ya, the nervousness was plentiful. The game went into the 2nd inning and our cubs turn was coming up. She was in the warm-up box and taking practice swings. I noticed something strange, she was swinging right handed and had her hands upside down ( left on top of the right). I said something to her about it because she should reverse the hands for batting right handed. She quickly informed me that the coach told her to hold them this way, I relented to the coaches strange wisdom. It was now our Cubs turn to bat, there was a runner on 3rd and 2 outs, she stepped up to the plate and was batting left handed, WAIT she is right handed, not left handed, why is she batting left handed. Strike 1, she is just standing there and swaying back and forth. Strike 2, she taps the plate and means business now, I turn and look at the other players and I heard a crack. She HIT THE BALL and the ball is hit to 2nd base. It was a race to the bag, the runner on 3rd comes in and scores a run. She reaches 1st and that turns out to be the winning run. What do I know about coaching baseball. Our Cub was the hero. She had the most fun she has had in quite a long time. We need to work on the other elements of the game like catching the ball without getting hit by the ball. Throwing straight and not knocking birds out of the air like guided missles. Casey needs a little fine tuning, but she can bat wrong handed anytime.

WHAT DOG!!
Casper does not know he is a dog. He has achieved peopledom. Ech, don't ya just hate it when people start talking about their dogs as if they were people and an important part of their family. I would just start gagging when I heard these stories. How can anyone devote so much attention and endless love for a DOG. Don't you wonder about the quality of their mental state, the sheer stupidity of caring so much for a DOG that they plan their lives around their DOG and gosh, they even talk to their DOG like he understands what they are saying. Some people even let their dog sleep in their bed. ECH!!
I don't know why we do it, I cannot explain the peacefulness and serenity a dog brings to me. I cannot explain why I treat Casper like a little person and watch over him and protect him. I cannot explain why I talk to him and nuture him. I cannot explain why I think he is cute and adorable and take lots of pictures of him. I cannot explain why: maybe you can when one day you too will get a dog. Casper has achieved peopledom.

The mouse wars of Okieland seem to be over for now. The battle raged for several weeks as each side probed the others defences looking for that single weakness that would bring defeat to the others side. If I lost, we would have to move and live in assisted living, if we won, the mouses would leave for better accomodations. They decided to flood the house with frontline troups and go into every room in the house and establish their dominance. They did not count on the importance of doing things the American Way, you know, throw money at it, the American way of dealing with things. Money to buy lots of traps to counter their move. Yep, I flooded the house with traps and after a week I declared victory. The spoils were 2 loves of bread for their side and 14 neutralized mice for my side. The traps remain in place as a deterrent and now are catching crickets and a few spiders. Ah yes, there is nothing sweater than the smell of Napalm in the morning (Apocalypse Now). I still havn't found that giant Tarantulla that Ractoon saw one night. I think he must have been dreaming..