Cup of Coffee

July 20, 2013: Exit

51 Comments

The Milklings are leaving for two weeks. This is bad for me but brutal for my elder daughter, who's obsessed with routine (I know, I know. Everyone is. But she's worse). I'm glad Skype exists in my time.

51 thoughts on “July 20, 2013: Exit”

  2. Off to NU for a whirlwind short stay including a surprise 85th birthday party for Grandma.

    1. I know. I was bent toward it in my younger days, so I know what I'm looking for. I don't think she's near that point, as bad as it seems sometimes.

  4. On a somewhat related note, it was one year ago today that circumstances dictated that my marriage of 11 years needed to end. I have had to get used to not always having my boys around (6 & 3). I guess the best thing I can say is that they seem to be adjusting better than I have.

    1. Sorry to hear that. I'm not making a judgment, just saying that divorce is pretty much always painful, no matter what the circumstances. Hope things are starting to get better for you.

      1. While I won't go as far as saying I am glad it happened, I can say that I am better off than I thought I would be at this time last year.

    2. Would kinda be neat to get a speaker (if you had the room for it), or one of the infamous fan blades from behind home plate.

  6. I've been wracking my brain all morning to figure out why July 20th is significant, and I just remembered that it's the anniversary of the suicide of one of my close friends. I shouldn't have thought so hard, I guess.

    This is not one of the better days on the WGOM calendar, it seems.

    1. It's now the day we had our first plasma television installed and the day my dad rescued my cat from going to the pound!

      1. Sweet. Let's make new memories.

        Tonight I have to do that whole club thing. My wife and I are trying to figure out if we have anything to wear that won't make us look out of place. We'll be just fine at the casino. I'm wondering if I can get into a poker game and say "Well, I can go to the club with you guys, or I can stay here for another hour and finish in the money."

      2. Now you ffind out you could have waited on the plasma and had a Metrodome scoreboard installed instead...

    2. A couple of other items of note. One year ago today The Dark Knight Rises opened and an asshole in Colorado committed a massacre in a movie theater. And I was hours away from having a heart attack. So yeah, a memorable day but not in a very good way.

  7. I'm surprised TK calling Ryan Doumit the team's MVP of the first half didn't get a mention here. I have a ton of respect for TK, but that statement seems to me as worthy of mockery as "We miss Henry Blanco." If TK or anyone else in the organization honestly believes that Ryan Doumit, with his .238 average and his .690 OPS, is the team MVP so far, the Twins may have trouble going 109-53 this year.

    1. I missed that. This almost tops Laudner saying Deduno will be the nucleus of the Twins pitching staff.

    2. I missed that, too. As much as I like TK, if he really thinks that Doumit is Twins MVP, I'm going to have to start taking a lot of his comments about prospects a lot less seriously.

  8. So, we too have had a plethora of frogs in the yard this year. While I was mowing, I wondered why I haven't been seeing snakes, too. Not long after, I saw my first garter snake in quite a while. The neighborhood watch is on the prowl.

    Now, if only they all ate spurge. 🙁

    1. I just mowed the back yard and have to get back out after lunch with the sprayer. I share my back fence with two neighbors. One just moved in a few weeks ago, but the house was on the market and empty for more than a year before that, and the old neighbor did no yard work at all for the three or four years he was there. Their whole back yard is infested with creeping charlie now and it's infiltrating my lawn under and through the fence. I'm also getting moss and mushrooms back there. I really need to aerate the whole lawn, the soil is just way too compacted for growing good grass. Or maybe I'll just dig up all the grass along the fence and put in some plant beds. Our hostas are growing like crazy and need to be divided soon. That may be a better plan anyway.

        2. more seriously, I think you've already ID'd the problem -- not enough sun, and perhaps too much moisture. Can you remove the turf and plant something shade-friendly?

        3. Moss indicates a few different potential issues, but the big ones (besides low light) are compacted soil, poor drainage and low pH. If you have oak trees like I do, they create acidic soil all around them. Assuming the area gets adequate light (at least 4 or more hours per day) the best thing to do is rake out as much of the moss as you can, aerate the soil and and test it. If the pH is low, add lime. Then you can either fill back in with new sod or reseed the area.

  9. Interesting quotes from the Cleveland Plains Dealer from Francona about pitching to Mauer in the 8th inning:

    Francona said he gave no thought to intentionally walking Mauer.

    "The question I have is why would you walk Mauer?" said Francona. "Then you've got first and third and the guy on third can fly. So how can you defend that? They can do a lot of things.

    "If you hold Mauer at first, you've got a hole open on the right side. I just think you're asking for trouble there."

    1. Of course, the other point that should be mentioned is that Morneau followed Mauer with a double, so if they had walked Mauer, it may not have mattered.

  12. Awesome. A Columbian 23-yr old, in his first TdF, wins King of the Mountain, Best Young Rider, Winner of Stage 20, and 2nd place overall.

  13. Before heading to the hardware store, I told my wife I was going out to pick up a hoe. I should have provided more context.

  16. boxscore line of the night: Erik Bedard
    6.1 IP 0 H 3 R 1 ER 5 BB 10K

    had a no hitter, and took the loss

Comments are closed.