Bi-District Playoff

Volleyball again

Abigail’s hiatus from playing volleyball has ended and she was back in action last weekend. She still practiced in the areas of the game where jumping was required during that time. The doctor cleared her for full participation week before last and the time off and physical therapy she had cleared up the pain in her knee, which was from overuse. Continue reading “Volleyball again”

The birds

It must be the generally dry conditions and lack of food that has made the birds so aggressive in getting at the grapes.  The table grapes were beginning to ripen but only just the end of July.  That didn’t deter the birds, though.  They ate any grape that was the least bit ripe and more than a few that weren’t.  By the time I realized what was going on and put bird-blocker netting over the vine it was almost picked clean.  I figured Joyce would be upset, the table grapes being her interest, but she shrugged it off.  The wine grapes were so far from being ripe I thought I could cover them at leisure but I was wrong.  We had a dickens of a time closing every little gap in the nets to keep the birds, primarily robins and mockingbirds though we did catch what might have been a variety of vireo, out.  We’d think we had then come back and find half a dozen birds inside the net where they couldn’t get out.  It was a pain to get them out, too.  Sometimes we could open a gap in the net at the end of the row and heard them down that way.  Finally we started just catching them, no easy task I assure you.  It required someone on each side of the row to flush them out and finally get them tangled up in the net so someone could get a hold on them.  The bird was inside the netting and whoever had a hold of it was on the outside, so we had to open a gap, usually at the bottom, so one of us could work a hand up inside the net to grip the bird.  Sometimes the bird’s foot was tangled up or, more often, they had a death grip on the netting which had to be peeled off toe/claw by toe/claw.  Rebecca was good helping to catch the birds and enjoyed releasing them when we freed them from the netting.  Once released the birds high-tailed it without so much as a thank you. Continue reading “The birds”

Labor(less) Day

Friday evening the neighbors had a weenie roast.   The guests were Abigail’s volleyball teammates and their parents, at least some of them.  The occasion was, well, there wasn’t one.  Kari said each family is supposed to host a “dinner”, which means there will be a lot of dinners since there are 12 players.  Kari drew the short straw, I guess, and had to go first.  It was really a nice evening.  There were some clouds in the west that kept the sun off early on and the evening was comfortable, just about right for an outdoor get-together.  Another mother organized the whole thing and people chipped in with drinks and dishes, so Kari didn’t have the whole thing on her shoulders.  Joyce and I showed up for hotdogs and left when it was smores time. Continue reading “Labor(less) Day”