Extra nine


basketball game
Abigail covers her girl (click to expand)

Joyce and I were glad to get out Saturday morning to watch the Abster play basketball.  The wretched cold had kept us inside and thankful to be there since Wednesday.  Crockett and the other middle schools were playing a sort of mini tournament they called a shoot out.  They played two games facing a different team for each game.  Crockett drew Travis in the first game and Fannin in the second.  Wednesday we went to their regular game against Bonham, I think.  Prior to Saturday we’d watched two games and the opponents weren’t competitive.  Wednesday’s final score was 30-something to 4.  I asked Abigail why that was and she said it was because “they stink”, though I don’t think that’s really an explanation.  Travis made Abigail’s team work a little harder but they still beat them pretty good.  Before the Fannin game Kari and I speculated on whether the Crockett coach would substitute if necessary to win.  So far she’d played half the girls for two quarters and half for the other, alternating quarters, and that works out well because there are 10 girls.  Since the games have been blow outs we didn’t know what the coach would do if it got tight.  Crockett had Fannin pretty well in hand through three quarters but early in the fourth Fannin tightened it up.  They were out rebounding Crockett so the coach subbed three girls that quickly corrected the situation and Crockett won going away.  The Abster got some rebounds, put up a bucket, had a couple of steals and a very nice assist.  If memory serves she’d stolen the ball on the opponent’s end of the court but was tripped up on the transition.  Before she hit the floor she dished off to a teammate down the court who took it in for an easy layup.  Good stuff.  Fun to watch.  It seemed the last couple of years of Kids, Inc. basketball some of the girls were so much bigger and more aggressive than Abigail that I had mixed emotions about here continuing to play.  Now there are few girls that are significantly taller, although there are some that are definitely stouter, but the Abster holds here own so I’ve quit worrying.

It was such a nice day last Monday Mr. Shewbert and I were inspired to play an extra nine holes.  Much as we enjoyed ourselves, both of us were pretty well done in after walking 27 holes.  What’s that?  Yes, it’s just a par 3 course.  So?

We were very lucky with our weather while the Wylie clan was here for Thanksgiving.  The little ones got to play outside quite a bit.  I don’t know about the others but Sophia told me she was sad to go.

Whilst eating dinner one evening I witnessed black rooster and one of the black hens knoodling out in front of God and everybody.  Like a movie cliche where the two young lovers run toward each other in slow motion, with arms reaching and smiling faces, hen and rooster loped toward each other and wasted no time in getting down to business once they’d closed the gap.  They had to be quick to finish before red rooster broke up the party.  He tried but didn’t get there in time.  Joyce expresses sympathy for the hens when the roosters do what roosters do, but at least in this instance, it was consensual.  Maybe that hen is just a loose chicken.