Raincharm’s Weblog

Mid October to be clear. I have been busy, or tired, or just plain lazy.

Walk to end Alzheimers.

Last game of the Mariner’s season with Wayne Drop

Soccer walks

Apes game nonsense

The big erratic, looks rather like a nose sticking out from a bushy hairdo

Running into friends wandering the city

Burke Museum grand reopening

Tufts Love T-rex

Rod’s legs are visible in the background

The museum’s redo includes lots of areas where you can watch folks working. The biggest crowd was at a bilogical specimen prep area. They were defleshing a komodo dragon. I think this specimen was from the zoo, and they kept it on ice until the grand opening.

Playoff watching.

Flower planting. And garlic. This was all bulbs, no instant gratification.

So brief. Throw in work, and you have the first half of October in a nutshell.

Not the cat. Hernandez.

Felix pitched his last game as a Mariner last night. The “King’s Court,” sections of fans who chant, “K, K, K, K,” when there are two strikes on a batter, was 10,000 strong. Really. Probably half of the fans were in that area.

It was an emotional night.

Warming up in the bullpen. Fans were stacked 5 deep.

When he walked in from the bullpen before the game started.

When the Mariners took the field, Felix was the only player for at least a minute, while everyone cheered.

At the end of the 5th inning, when we were not sure if he would return in the 6th inning.

When he did leave the field after facing one batter in the 6th. And got a curtain call.

After the game ended, when he came back out to greet the fans in the King’s Court.

It’s only a ballgame. The Mariners aren’t going anywhere, again. But still you may see something special. 420 games over 15 years, all with one team. And look for the highlight of Dylan Moore saving a few runs with a spectacular catch, and the King’s reaction .

Felix

Yes, there is an ad first. If you scroll to the bottom you can find the catch highlight.

Carl’s team, the Silver Foxes, finally got to play their semifinal game. Schedules have been scrambled by rain. No rain today, but they got to play on a field with questionable lighting, in the evening, gloaming and just plain dark. At least two pop flys were lost when they flew above the lights. But the teams persevered, and the game sea-sawed back and forth. The Twins were leading the Foxes by 4 or 5 when one of our comeback players went down. He had a knee replacement before the season, but had been doing really well. Until he tripped rounding first and landed on said knee. I didn’t get close, but there was some blood and the medics were called to haul him to the hospital.

By the time that had transpired, the Foxes were down by 4 runs and the umpire declared the next inning would be the last. The lights would not only be too low, they would be out. Carl pitched three up and three down, so the Foxes were down to their last ups. They scored four runs in, game tied, 2 outs, and Carl up to bat with a man on second. And, they intentionally walked Carl! I suppose that shows respect, but … The next batter got to first, but then an out. Game tied 13-13.

So now we can only guess what happens next. Since the winner was scheduled to play in the finals on Sunday morning, the guess is these 2 teams will both show up to determine the winner, and that team will play in the final.

To balance the on field injury and a tie game, there was some fun. Three friends showed up to watch the game as did Audrey and Dean, with mom June. Audrey and Dean brought posters rooting on the Foxes and Audrey brought a story she wrote.

If only Audrey’s predicted score prevailed. And, it’s supposed to rain on Sunday

After Carl’s game on Sunday, they lost to the best team 3-4 in 10 innings, we decided that a long walk on Sunday would be a good idea. Then Sunday dawned dark and rainy. So we decided to walk at the ballpark, instead of to the ballpark.

We walked up ramps and down ramps and around the concourses. The first round took a long time. Initially we couldn’t even leave the bullpen area. Carl begged a cup of coffee from a bullpen coach while we watched a young call-up throw some pitches. After the rest of the park was open we escaped the bullpen, but kept stopping to talk with all of the seat hosts and others that Carl knows.

Finally we started adding steps. Well there was a stop at the team store sale where I scored a long-sleeved Mariner pullover. The walk was mostly under cover, but on the last run of the ramps we got to check the drizzle level.

Side view-barista

T-Mobile to CenturyLink (can you hear me?)

Coast Guard et al

Self loaders with huge cruise ship

Be Sure to Eat A Lot

North along Occidental

Selfie with Felix

Cargo loaders with suspiciously empty docks

10,000 steps or so later, we watched most of the game from our seats. We received a text from an unknown number with a picture of the two of us in our seats. This is not terribly unusual, but no plays had happened in our area. This was from a White Sox broadcast, sent by a friend of Carl’s. They were discussing beards.

There was a Sounders game going on next door, and the White Sox seemed determined to extend the game so both stadiums would empty at the same time. So we left after the Mariners tied the game and heard them walk off to victory from the car. Literally. A bases loaded walk.

One of our newest neighbors.

Carl had the privilege of caring for this little guy yesterday. He had a workout, feeding, changing and carrying.

The best part is, during this period, his parents both became US citizens.

This is more impressive as they are sleep-deprived new parents.

And this morning the sidewalks were filled with children and their umbrellas, heading for the school bus.

The neighborhood regenerates.

The Pac-12 made a deal with the devil for TV coverage. I don’t know the details, but the former Saturday afternoon college football games have turned into mostly night games, and on the west coast guarantees nobody on the other coast will be paying any attention. By the time the Washington vs California was over last night, it was this morning (1:22 AM), and not many west coast viewers were paying attention either.

The delay in the game was a spectacular lightning storm. Most Seattle storms have one or two bolts and a thunder clap. This storm went on and on and on.

Radar Image after most of the storm had moved north.

We took a walk today, noticing some interesting botanical shapes.

Spirals

Umbrella over twisted trunks

And we got caught in the rain. But it was just rain. All signs point to fall.

Fall is upon us, so it’s time for the playoffs. All of the teams in Carl’s league make the playoffs. But then again, they pay to play, not the other way around.

The Foxes played the Tugs. They are usually evenly matched, depending upon which team’s pitcher is on and makes the fewest errors in the field. During the regular season the Foxes finished on top three times, and the Tugs won twice.

Today favored the Foxes. They won 11-0.

Carl pitched a 9 inning shutout, using only 76 pitches. Defensively he had 2 putouts and 6 assists. Great defense backed up the pitching, including 3 double plays. Really, it was a great game for the Foxes.

This was especially nice considering Carl was feeling out of sorts through much of the week. It has been up and down and up again. This included driving to Eugene, helping paint the exterior of a house, subjecting himself to an ER experience for half a day, and driving home again.

Just to keep today’s game in line with the rest of the week, for 2 innings he had an eye migraine, complete with fractured vision.

And as another reality check, not only is it SEPTEMBER! IT’S ALMOST THE SECOND WEEK OF SEPTEMBER.

RIP.

I worked with Rex for about 15 years. He was our primary building maintenance person and all around helpful guy.

He was a real support when Carl was going through his heart issues, as Rex had survived a similar situation.

And for a handful of us, Rex led the Saturday Morning Breakfast Club. Rex worked Saturdays so he could do noisy, in the way work with nobody in his way. Except when we showed up anyway. Rex would set up a few radios and blast oldies throughout the building. Nobody ever complained, because Saturday was Rex’s day, and if we chose to be there, it was part of the experience. And, because he was an all around nice guy, if he knew you were likely to show up, he would put a pot of coffee on.

Rex passed away on Tuesday. He had become ill a few months ago, and never really recovered.

This morning I went to work. On a Saturday. Two others were there as well and we toasted Rex with our coffees brought from elsewhere. I tuned into a radio station to stave off the quiet.

And I wandered by Rex’s work station and contemplated the few things he added to make the space his own.

The coming week shall bring you much happiness

How come I get blamed for everything

You have so much to be thankful for

And, his art. Doodles and miscellany. Many of our trash receptacles have flames. And the office rain barrels all are painted with foliage.

You are missed.

Taking a walk today. First one in a few weeks. Carl wanted to throw against a wall to loosen his shoulder, so we went to Ravenna Eckstein Community Center. I walked their path while Carl threw, and now we’re out for brunch at the Ravenna Varsity Restaurant.

Sort of a celebration of making it through the last week.

Carl’s Silver Foxes team won their last game, in the rain. I was soaked by the end. Carl pitched 4 innings, gave up one run. And he got a double, his third of the season. He has improved as the season has progressed.

And we are working our way through the accident fallout. They declared the car totaled and opened the door for us to spend a pile of money replacing the vehicle that had many more years of life, until it didn’t. So yesterday I took the afternoon off and we spent money.

This is the result. A 2017 Corolla with a bit over 11,000 miles on the odometer.

We looked really hard at a 2020 Corolla Hybrid. A sweet car, but a bit more than we wanted to pay.

The rental car has been returned and insurance updated. What remains is to accept the insurance company’s value of the dead car to help pay for the new car. And finally to hear formally what we know, that it’s the other driver’s responsibility and they will cover our deductible and rental car overages.

Back to the walk. I really liked these folks keeping an eye on the sidewalk.

It got into the 80s today. I played hooky to go to a day game. Not my normal schedule, but it was going to be nice, and more importantly, cousin Aimee and her partner MB were going with us.

This was Aimee’s first baseball game, ever. And possibly the last for a while. The four of us wandered the park for a while, and then Aimee and I settled into the seats while Carl and MB continued wandering, into the bullpen area. Carl managed to get a baseball from the catcher for MB. A successful time already.

And in the 4th inning, Carl caught a home run hit by Kyle Seager. This tied the game at 2-2, for the moment.

That’s Aaron Judge pushing his face into the wall. MB is shielding with her glove, Aimee is at the edge of this shot, and I am stage left.

This link will hopefully take you to the highlight. (And there is a 15 second commercial) Kyle Seager’s Home Run & Carl’s Catch

In the end the Yankees won handily, but we had a good time.

In other news, the Corolla has been declared a total loss. Time to find the title and search for the next car.