Yesterday was the big game and it came down to the final play. The oldest didn’t see much action as we only had 12 offensive plays in the first half which ended 0-0. He had a great rush on the other quaterback that forced him out of the pocket but also missed a tackle when a smaller quicker kid from the other team cut inside on him. The game started with neither team moving the ball but then we intercepted the ball and ran for a touchdown, only to have the ref rule that our player stepped out of bounds. Now I understand it’s only kids football but the ref was on the other side of the field and couldn’t see at all. Plus all of us parents on our side where our player was running, clearly saw him stay in bounds for the whole run. Unbelievable! The other team scored first on a pass play where a player got behind our oldest and his friend Vinnie and neither could catch him. We then did score and then the other team did again leaving them up two touchdowns to one with 14 seconds to go. We had the length of the field to go and very little time. Two long runs later we scored to tie the game with just a few seconds left. It was all coming down to the the extra point. We snapped the ball and our player rolled out to the right and threw a pass into the end zone that somehow ended up in little Vinnie’s arms, and we had won the game! Karma! The ref then ran down to the end zone trying to guess where Vinnie had caught the ball to see if he was in bounds or not (just like last week) but too late, the game was over and we won. As I said earlier, the oldest didn’t get to run the ball yesterday but he had played plenty of offense all year long. The coach had a long pass play drawn up for him but the opportunity didn’t present itself. (there’s pass only zones) For most of the first half he played safety which if the other team doesn’t throw the ball, he’s pretty much just standing guarding the middle as the rules allow only 1 player to rush. Anyhow even though he would have liked the ball, he understood that sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way plus as I said he ran and caught the ball all year long in other games. So now we have a 3 week break until summer football starts up. The best thing was after the game our oldest was a gracious winner, as his friend (the son of M&C our close friends) played on the other team. In the first half his friend had 3 good tackles and our oldest went up to him after the game and told him he was the best player on his team and that he had a really good game. He also invited him to the pool after the game but his chest was hurting as on one of our touchdown runs, our player literally ran right over him. I’m sure he’ll be ok but we were proud of our guy for showing good sportsmanship.
The rest of the day was spent with an hour at the pool, some football in the front yard and then some bbq chicken on the grill. Both boys were tired and fell asleep early which is good as they have swim team at 6:45 this morning. Not sure if we’ll do this all summer but the boys want to check it out and it’s free. The oldest, being so tall and thin, is a really fast swimmer so hopefully he’ll like it. They really want him on the team.
It’ll be 94 today, even hotter than yesterday, and is supposed to continue for the whole week. We’re all looking forward to going to our friends ranch in Saratoga Wyoming this weekend to ride horses and hike and stuff. We’ll be gone Friday until Sunday and have to figure out how to do the blog as I don’t know about internet service way out there. Worst case I’ll hand write it and update Saturday (I can do Friday post that morning before we leave and Sunday’s that afternoon when we get home) after we get home Sunday around noon.
This week I’m pretty excited for a couple of things. First because True Grit (the remake with Jeff Bridges) comes out tomorrow! Second because I’m getting a couple of old, new to me, western guns that I’ve been searching for for a long time. I did a trade a few weeks ago and have been waiting for these to arrive from Texas and Montana. The first is an old model Browning 1885 single shot rifle in 45.70 caliber. This was known as a buffalo gun in the 1800’s as it was mainly the gun and caliber used in the old west to hunt buffalo. It’s used but in really good shape. I’ve been looking for one for years. The second which has also been on my wish list for just about as long, is an old Colt 45 revolver like the calvary and famous gunfighters carried in the old west. I traded a couple of newer model Smith and Wesson revolvers for these and ended up only having to pay the shipping. They’ll make good heirlooms for each boy someday. There’s quite a market for these old guns of the west and you really have to know what you’re looking for, be able to know what you’re looking at value wise, and act fast when you find the right one, or it’ll be gone. Funny how I found both at the same time. I had to ship my guns to Cabelas in Billings Montana and another shop in Texas first, and then wait to see what kind of value they would give me. Luckily I got more than I paid (and hoped for) on both of them. I’ve probably traded over 100 guns in my life and am pretty educated on the subject and good at it. Both are functional and will shoot well and we’ll probably throw them in the back of the truck when going to the ranch this weekend. The boys each have their own 22 caliber rifle that they want to take and shoot again. They’re both really good shots with neither missing the iron targets over 100 yards out, last time we went shooting. I think it’s important to get kids, especially boys, out there shooting when they’re young. I know there’s a lot of bad stories everyday about kids and guns but I think that’s because they are not taught at an early age how to safely handle and respect them. Both our boys, after years of training, now have a healthy respect for all firearms and do know the number 1 rule, you never point a gun, loaded or not, towards anyone! In fact, the oldest is fanatical about this, even with toy guns unless they squirt water or shoot nerf stryofoam bullets. You never hear about kids who grew up on a ranch shooting their classmates or robbing a store, it’s these city kids who have parents who don’t take the responsibility of raising kids seriously. I’m really excited as I don’t have money to go out and buy these, and everything in these two trades worked out perfectly! Karma again!
Mom’s up and getting the oldest up to go swimming. Not sure if he’ll make it today after all as he doesn’t seem to be moving. Oh well if not today, we can start tomorrow. The littlest one goes an hour later at 7:45. Thanks to Grandma, Uncle T and Aunt B for showing up at the game. It means a lot to our son. We need to get Grandma to make another batch of her famous tuna salad this week. You see she made just a tiny amount last week that was hardly enough for one person. Man is it good summertime food. Ms. Luisa, my unofficial little sister who works for me, is in Bogota Colombia as she found out last week that her Mom has colon cancer and needs surgery this morning. Everyone say a prayer for her. It’s already in the 60’s and time to get moving, as John Wayne says, “we’re burning daylight” so time to go.
Have a great day, pray Sarah Palin DOESN’T run for President, as she’ll really screw it up, and God Bless.