Yesterday actually lasted until early today. It has been quite a while since I have willingly been up so late. And completely undocumented.
The day had many parts.
Part 1. Morrning. Watering the raspberries, strawberries and tomatoes. Coffee. A brief look at a newspaper. All normal. Then picking up, straightening, putting out guest hand towels, and making a list of a few still needed items. Shopping for said items. Set up screen in the yard (see prior post). Locate plates, napkins and utensils for later.
Part 2. Afternoon. Take Carl and Dennis down for the Mariners game and drop them off. Return home. Set up chairs in the backyard. Do a little work.
Watch the Mariners tie the game in the eighth and win in the ninth. The best part about the ninth was, with runners at 1st and 3rd and one out, the As had the infielders drawn in for a double play PLUS brought an outfielder into the infield too. And Raleigh , Mariner catcher, hit the ball into the ground, it bounced over the pitcher’s head and two of the 5 infielders went for it and one misplayed it off of his glove. The ball never left the infield, and even with 6 defensive players there were no outs recorded.
Early evening. The boys return from the Mariners game. Tables arranged on the deck, dishes for serving food chosen, and snacks set out. The biggest effort here was setting up the projector to run the films. There was a misstep, literally, that pulled out a cord from an end piece. Dennis, intent on fixing the issue, requested a soldering iron – which we did not have, followed by super glue – which we did. Running extension cords is always interesting. It requires leaving the door to the basement open, and still a few feet short of our goal. And then a three prong end required, which our short extra extension cord did not have. I know we have an adapter, but I could not find it. Finally remembered we have all of these short extensions called surge strips, with multiple 3 prong receptacles. Set up finally completed.
People arrive. A smaller group than many years, but all interested and engaged. Food is brought – pulled pork, corn bread and coleslaw. I ate more than I should have. Lots of talking. And finally the sun was low enough.
Evening. Film show. 3 films. The first was from the 40s I think, teaching kids proper baseball form. The second was from 1984, featuring the San Diego Chicken. The chicken was about as much baseball as there was, although a ballpark was the scene for him being late for work. The film was about the high price of energy, describing how higher prices change you buying habits, supply and demand, and finding alternatives. There were some cute touches, like the Chicken’s home/coup. And carpooling in a truck loaded with other chickens in crates. The third film got back to baseball, showing pitching styles and tips featuring 3 major league pitchers. Newhouser of the Tigers is the only name I can recall. Probably because he was one of Rey’s friends great uncle.
Late evening. Mingling and talking. And more film watching… inside. One of our guests, Mark Handley, filmed a lot of footage of friends at the Kingdome, at senior league games and elsewhere. He has recently loaded the raw footage onto an external hard drive. He brought it over and plugged his computer into our TV. Viewing our much younger selves was a hoot, and carried us well past midnight. We only stopped because none of us thought an all-nighter was a good idea. One of the parts we watched was the last baseball game in the Kingdome in 1999. One of the few pictures I took showed Carl and Rey, engaged in baseball talk during the pregame.
Late night. Bringing the important bits inside.
Early morning. Bringing the less important bits, that you don’t want rained on too much, inside.
Still to do. Take the screen apart and put the chairs away. And deal with leftovers.
It was fun. And it may be one of the last backyard baseball shows. Dennis is the driving force and continues to push forward, but is slowing down here and there. Maybe I am wrong, and we’ll still be seeing his films in 5 years.
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