The weekend that was

Kates and I had Chloe for four nights before we had to deliver her back to Kates' parents Saturday night ...

As usual, I loved having her around as I worked in our yard. We enjoyed wrestling on the floor with her at night. She woke us up every morning with her kisses. And we took her for lots of walks ...

We'd grown so used to having her around, it was kind of weird when we were in the kitchen making breakfast this morning and there was no little dog pacing around us, watching our every move . And when Kates suggested the two of us take a walk tonight, I was less than eager ...

* * *

Kates and I tried taking in the annual Kite Festival on the lakefront Saturday. For weeks I had been looking forward to the event, with visions of launching a kite with Kates and having Chloe chasing us around the park ...

But Mother Nature wasn't so cooperative. We arrived at the park in time for the grand launch -- a spectacle that features hundreds of kids and their parents trying to launch their kites all at once, with "Let's Go Fly A Kite" blaring from a PA system. But we'd barely had time to settle in and grab a couple hot dogs for lunch before the first wave of rain started falling ...

Within a couple minutes we were in no moods to fly a kite ...

* * *

By late Saturday afternoon, the sun had come out and it was turning into a gorgeous evening. I had spent the latter part of the afternoon working in the yard and finishing my planting for the summer. The colors were blooming; all my hard work the last few summers was finally coming to fruition ...

To commemorate it, I pitched the idea of having a picnic supper on our deck. But I hardly had the energy to grill ... Instead Kates and I headed to Tenuta's Deli. We picked up a couple paninis for carry-out, along with a couple pints of pasta salad, some fresh asparagus and a couple roasted corn cobs. Mmm mmm mmm ...

We brought it home. Set up on our deck. Ate like kings. And enjoyed the nature surrounding us as if it were the last day of summer.

* * *

After church this morning, we returned downtown for the Summertime Art Fair. Nothing too exciting, although Kates did find a pair of handmade earrings and I got a "Go Brewers" door-hanging for my collection ...

After a stop at home for lunch, we took a peek inside an old colonial home that had caught our eyes and was on the market ( ... Beautiful hard wood floors, large rooms and a big lot; the price was a bargain. But it was obvious this guy had done a quick fix-up job to get it on the market, and we wondered what he wasn't telling us. Especially after I tried pulling the string on a closet light and the entire fixture fell from the ceiling ... )

All the while, the sky was rumbling and some fierce clouds were settling over the city. And it all came crashing down as we came out to the car ... But we still had stops to make and proceeded to drive right into the storm. The rain drops pelted our windshield like marbles, and blinding flashes of lightning were striking in front of us. The rain was coming down in buckets -- no barrels ...

It was coming down so hard and so fast, the roads could hardly contain it. Soon we were driving in a few feet of water ... Never driven in anything like it.

But finally we did it make it to our destination, which was on higher ground and outside of the storm cell ... And 10 minutes later, we were heading back home along the same road we came. Only now the police cars were blocking the flooded portions of the road ...

* * *

You wanna talk about a crazy weekend in baseball!?

My jaw dropped Friday night when I saw the crawl on ESPN with the news that Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barrett had exchanged punches in the Cubs dugout Friday, and the report that Barrett needed stitches from an injury he suffered when the fight spilled into the dugout ... Sheesh!

Then, Lou Piniella gets thrown out of yesterday's game (check out the video!). I was listening to the game on the radio while driving and had made a stop at the city yardwaste center. But I was so enthralled with Pat Hughes describing what Lou was doing on the field -- mostly the parts about kicking dirt on the umpire and throwing his hat into left field -- that it took me a few minutes to actually get out of my car ...

Add to that, apparently it was a wild weekend all over baseball with gobs of managers and players getting into trouble. I was laughing nearly to the point of tears tonight as ESPN showed a montage of all the guys going nose-to-nose with umpires this weekend. But the best, by far, was that Braves minor league manager who covered up home plate and put on quite the show. ...



And now here I am tonight, watching the Yankees and Red Sox. Classic as always! I laughed too when I saw tonight's ESPN news crawl with the report that Roger Clemens had pulled his groin and would miss Monday's start... But it was even better watching the Sox post a five-spot on the Yankees and then seeing Joe Torre's sorry face while the Red Sox Nation chanted "Where is Roger!?" behind him.

And still, I repeatedly found myself more compelled this weekend to watch the women's college softball world series. I can't recall ever watching any women's softball until this weekend, but I caught part of a game while I was home for lunch on Friday, and every time I turned on the TV the rest of the weekend, I was looking for a softball game! I caught a couple of the Washington games, an Arizona game and almost all of the Northwestern games, including Monica Abbott and Tennessee's domination of Northwestern this afternoon. Geez, every time I turned on a game Eileen Canney was pitching. It astounded me how tough and talented these girls are ... I'm already awaiting next year's matchups ...