Baseball hates me

I agreed to join a fantasy baseball league in a moment of weakness earlier this year. Randy Capps, a former sportswriter here, was begging for more people to join. So before knowing the work - and now the angst - it entails, I agreed.

It sounded logical. I like baseball. I played softball for years, so I know the rules. It's a solid sport. I like the uniforms. I'm competitive.

So I joined.

I've regretted it ever since.

My team, which I dubbed the Flamingoes, hovered in fourth place through May in a league of all males - many former or current sportswriters. I was proud of my little pink buddies.

Since then, I have plummeted to a solid 10th place. I'm 10 points behind the guy in 9th place and more points than I can admit behind the league leader.

And it's all because of injuries. I've had a total of 8 guys on the disabled list in the past three
weeks. One guy has even been on it twice. I also had a pitcher suspended for fighting.

The guys call it fantasy baseball, but that's a misnomer. It's really nightmare baseball.

So here's hoping for a healthy few weeks.

I'd really like to say that one random chick (get it, Flamingoes, chick) from lifestyles beat at least one sports writer.

A stellar morning in the Killian household

Unlike most of my posts, this one won't have a photo. You'll see why.

I woke up to the usual morning whining of one dog or another, let the girls out for a little run in the backyard and started getting ready for work. Then I got the hiccups. Not so bad, except they were the hurty kind. I finished getting ready and let the dogs back in, put food in their bowls and made a smoothie for breakfast.

But when I went back into the living room to lock the door, there was a gray, hairy, bloody lifeless thing in my carpet that turned out, on closer inspection, to be a baby rabbit... with its tongue sticking out.

Revulsion set in. So did the heeby-jeebies.

I turned around to go get the shovel out of my foyer closet and saw a scattered brown mass on my rug.

Doggie diarrhea.

Which to clean up first?

I decided the dead thing would have to go first since it was creeping me out.

As for the poo, I just couldn't bring myself to take care of it yet, so I dumped the rug outside and I'll hose it off this afternoon.

Can anyone top that for a morning?

Lasagna

I spent the day Saturday doing some of my favorite things - sleeping and being lazy.

But I also tried to get a few things done around the house. I managed to get part of my spare bedroom painted and watered the plants in my flowerbed (worthless, considering it later rained), and did some laundry and cleaned a bunch of clothes that I don't wear anymore out of my closet.

I also took some time to make lasagna (I make my own sauce for it, too). One pan will be eaten now and the other goes in the freezer until my friend's birthday, when we'll use it to celebrate. (Said friend reads my blog, so for now she will go unnamed.)

Rain... finally!

I've been wondering lately if this summer is going to be like last summer... bone dry and weatheringly hot. It has definitely trended in that direction, but last night's rain (albeit only a little) was refreshing.

Here are pics of it from my house.

My, my, my...

There's a Kenny Chesney song that I heard recently that sums up this afternoon.

I don't know many of the words, but what I do know is "My, my, my, my key lime pie."

I made two for our monthly Design and Dessert sessions where we talk about page design.

We'll see how long it lasts in The Star's newsroom. An hour after cutting, one entire pie and half of another is gone.

And if anyone is wondering, real key lime pie (like mine) is not supposed to be green.

Something is amiss

Something is amiss with the thermometers at banks around Shelby.

At 7 p.m., one bank's sign on Lafayette Street read 100 degrees.

Less than 5 minutes later, another on DeKalb read 93.

What's up with that? Both were equally in the sun, so I know shadows didn't play a part.

Oh, happy day!

It's national
















doughnut day.


I heard it on the radio this morning and took it as an excuse to eat doughnut holes (and share them with the newsroom, too).

How wierd is this?

I'm blogging from a hotel room in South Carolina tonight after attending a workshop all day today. I left Shelby around 7 a.m. and drove until about 10 a.m., when I arrived at the conference center. After a long (but really good) day of meetings, I drove to my hotel, checked in, took a glorious nap (as you'll recall from my New York City entries, I love doing this) in a fluffy bed (I also have a thing for featherbeds).

I woke up three hours later, then went to the mall across the street to do a little walking around. I bought Gracie a new collar because she keeps breaking hers. (This new one is guaranteed for life, which will probably com in handy, considering she's been through four collars in three years.)

Around 8:30 p.m., I went down the street for dinner at a Chili's. I placed my order and started looking around the restaurant while I waited on my food, looked up and saw someone who looked really familiar. The first name registered with me as Matt. I couldn't remember the last name to save my life. So when my waitress came back, I confirmed that the waiter was, indeed, named Matt and had her send him over.

Turns out, it was Matt Tryon, who graduated from Gardner-Webb a semester before I did. What are the odds of that happening? (For those of you who know him, he's in grad school for advertising/PR.)

Anyway, I was really glad to see a familiar face and get to catch up. Yea Matt!

Saturday evening part two

Keeping the hay away from the cows is a challenge when the barn we're unloading into is located inside their fence. It takes a bit of creativity to keep them away from the trucks and trailers we're unloading. Once we're done, we close off the barn with gates so the cows don't pilfer it overnight.

he cow standing by itself in one photo was really bent on getting some of the fresh bales and had to be shooed away several times. He's even licking his lips in the photo.

The two women in the last photo are my mother (left) and my aunt, who were taking a break after we brought a load back to the barn.

I also had a bit of a surprise when I carried a bale from the trailer to the stack in the barn. When I sat it down, a snake's head and body were coming out of the bale... I dropped that one and backed away a few steps before I discovered that it was really dead and that it had evidently been hit by either the mower or the bailer. Its eyes were still open, so I made the boys take care of that bale. It was too freaky.

How I spent my Saturday evening

You guessed it... hay season continues.

This time was a lot easier because part of the field was shaded and we were using a much more open barn, so it's easier to breathe through the dust.

The first photo is of a load of hay coming out of the field. (I'm taking it from another truck.)

The second photo is of my cousin Jeremy, who is going back over the field to glean any leftover hay and turn it into a final bale or two.

The third photo is of two loads of hay waiting to be put into the barn.

Although the work is hot and heavy, it feels great to go inside when it gets dark, take a shower and just sit. It also makes you appreciate iced tea, air conditioning and cold showers.