Leaves Here, Leaves There, and a World Series

Bagged leaves last weekend.

Buried roses, put up chicken wire, and added leaves today.

 Tis that time of year.  Last weekend I raked up the leaves in the back of the yard.  I discovered that in the midst of all this raking that it is actually some pretty good exercise.  It felt good for the shoulders.

Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants, Game Four of World Series

Today, I finished burying the roses.  Then I took some stakes and cable-tied the chicken wire around the rose garden.  Last year the dog and squirrels ran through the area so much that my cover of leaves was pretty well gone by the end of the winter.  Hopefully the wire will keep everyone out.  I don't think I will feed the birds back there - and that should keep the squirrels and rabbits out....






This is Game Four of the World Series.  The Tigers are leading 2-1 after four innings.  The Giants are up 3-0 in games, but it is not over, until you win that fourth one.

This is a picture of Matt Cain, the Giants pitcher in Game Four.  Go Giants....

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My Day in Pictures...

I woke up this morning to a foggy, cool day.  This panoramic picture from my phone doesn't really give a great idea of how foggy it was.

Foggy morning.

To celebrate Moonie's 11th birthday, I brought her along on my weekend trip up north to visit Dad.  After a patient wait in the car we tried to head to Elm Creek Park Reserve.  We thought we could make it to the park before the road closed, but no luck there.    Here is what we found.

Eagles nest with two adults.

We did make it to the reserve after muck circumnavigating.  We didn't find any shots that were as good as the eagles, but Moonie had great fun out and about.



















Next it was home to rake up leaves and give the shoulders a little much-needed work.  Here is Moonie at 11.

Finally, as I was unloading pictures on my camera, I found this.  Joe Mauer catching a pop fly...

Joe Mauer with the catch in fair territory versus the Tigers.

Peace.
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Debate Number One....

I am surprised by all the talk of a "Romney Win".  I would only count this as a win for Mitt if you have very low expectations for Governor Romney.  He avoided major pitfalls and gaffs, but he looked anything but presidential for much of the evening. 

Romney had a couple of set lines that he tried to use, but he isn't that good of a public speaker to make them work.  They sounded as forced as they were....

I am glad we got to see that we have two distinct choices....that much is pretty clear.

Romney win...I didn't see it.  He won if you mean he didn't complete screw up - by that measure, he won.

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The Axe Falls in Minnesota...

Former First-Base Coach - Jerry White

Former Bullpen Coach - Rick Stelmeszak

Yesterday, Twin's general manager, Terry Ryan, made some surprising moves that seem to clearly send the message that 195 loses over two years is not going to be accepted.  Longtime Twin's coaches Rick Stelmeszak, Steve Liddle, and first-base coach Jerry White were all handed their papers yesterday and let go.  Hitting coach, Joe Verva, and bench coach, Scotty Ullger were reassigned to other duties and manager, Ron Gardenhre, and pitching coach, Rick Anderson were given one-year contracts.

Former Bench & Third-Base Coach - Steve Liddle

These moves surprise me because the Twin's have long been known for not making big shake-ups and hiring new people from within.  In my thirty years here, we have had four managers, and two of them have managed the team for the last 25 years.  That is not a lot of change.

The message to our manager, Ron Gardenhire and everyone else seems pretty clear - its time to get back to the play-offs.

Well, okay - game on.

In some senses, this had to be done at some time.  While we think of ourselves as a great defensive, smart baseball team - the reality is others have passed us by and we are average.  We led the league in double-plays, but that might be because we have let too many runners on base.  I think Gardenhire has done well with how we use pitchers, but our grasp of defense and base running has been less than model.

I am a bit surprised that Gardenhire would stick around after all his buddies were asked to leave.  I suppose he is too old to start over in a different organization and work himself back to the top, and he is too young to just walk off into the sunset.

Well, the message has been sent, we shall see how the boys roll with the news...

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