Good Poker Night

This evening my poker game was starting around seven. I got the garage swept and set up the table. Then I counted the cards, counted the chips, and got everything ready to play cards.

People started to show up and we had a full table. I was doing pretty good, building up my own little stack of chips. Loren showed up and he was a little more aggressive than many of the other people there. In one hand a pair of sixes where on the board and I have a six in my hand. The other card on the flop was a queen. I had a two. I felt Loren had a six with an Ace so he would out kick me. We bet back and forth and he finally went all in for thirty some-odd bucks. I called and I beat him.

By the end of the night I was up fifty bucks, plus the use of the pop and candy machine was taking place. That is good. I just got to start to hold some more games at my place.

Two Second Alarm Days

This morning I woke up sort of early, but I wanted to be some more sleep so I was trying to get back to sleep when I heard my pager’s second alarm tone. I heard the dispatcher start by saying “Rescue Thirty-Two”. So I assumed they were going to say it was out of service, but soon the words “delta response for a car accident” came across. I jumped out of bed and went to the station. One other person showed up and we went on a t-bone accident. They were thinking extrication was going to be necessary. But as it turned out we didn’t need to cut at all.

I went home and planned my workout for the day. I was going to get my upper body workout done plus lower body. I was at the rec center for about an hour and a half doing both and some jogging. I am going to have to work on my jogging like I did the swimming I did.

After working out I went to Moscow with my motorhome to have the door measured. It is going to cost around four-hundred and fifty bucks to get that fixed. I fueled it up in Moscow and brought it back home.

I planned to meet up with Rhonda to work on the website. I need to get information from her. While there we got toned for a second alarm for a structure fire. I responded to the station, but no other reserves showed up. So I just stood by for almost two hours. When I cleared I went home for dinner, then back to Cougar Country to conclude my meeting with Rhonda. I got some guidance from Rhonda about what she wanted for the website.

structure fire

Another Shot in the Ankle

I started the day by having lunch with Jon, Jim, and Terry at Three Pigs. After the lunch I went across the street to the doctor’s office for another talk with the doc about the ankle. He looked over the MRI shots once more and then gave me a shot in a different spot than the one before. It was very painful going in. I was fighting the pain off.

I hit the road to come back to Pullman after that. I actually stopped in Colfax to hang out at the fire department for a while. Shortly after I got there we got called out to a car accident, but it turned into nothing major. We were cancelled within a tiny bit.

I hung out for a while longer, but nothing new cam out. I did find out from Pete, when I saw him when I first got there, that Brandon was fired from IS. Well it was more of his position being eliminated. But that was interested. After I left the FD, I ran into Dan, who I use to work with at IS with Brandon. He gave me some more information about the whole thing. Brandon had been with the county for ten years.

Watching Jon Play Ball

I had to head to Seattle this morning for a meeting at the office. I went straight there after getting some pop. The meeting started around one o’clock in the afternoon. It went for two hours. We were talking about the new projects that we are going to start to work on.

After the meeting I stayed at the office until around five to talk with Barb. She filled me in on a lot of the things that have happened to the two companies since the purchase.

I headed home for some dinner then it was off to meet up with Jon for a softball game at Marymoor Park. It turned out to be a double header. Both teams that played were not all that good, really. But Jon’s team had a chance to win the first game, but gave up a big inning. The second game was not even close. I am not sure what level of play these teams were at, but I would have put them in B or C ball around here.

Poker Night at My Place

With yet another rainout this softball season we played another night of poker at my place. I was disappointed that we were rained out with the small amount of rain that had fallen.

John and Peter came over for cards. We played with the three of us for a couple hours. Peter had to leave around ten, then John and I did a twenty dollar Texas Hold’em heads up tournament. John won again. At the end I wasn’t getting anything to play with.

One thing I need to do is start to be more aggressive and try to read John a little more. I think with him I have been so predictable that when I bet he knows I have something and he runs away, unless he has something. So I need to get the reputation with him that I could be bluffing so he doesn’t know what I am trying to do.

I also need to stop being timid about winning a lot of money on the pots. For some reason I feel bad when I start winning a lot of money, so I don’t play as I should be playing. I need to get over that.

Golfing at Colfax

I set the alarm clock to wake me up in the morning only to wake up on my own. I got myself ready for golf and drove to Colfax. I did some putting while waiting for the tee-off time. Joe, Ron, Heather, Jonathan, Dan, and Michele were all there.

Once it was time to tee-off we had a group of seven golfers. We started our way around the course. I was doing okay overall. I shot way over my normal average, but I had some good drives. On the seventh hole I always have some issues with the small stream. I got up to it and only needed to chip over it. I hit a ball, it made it over the stream only to hit a tree and bounce back, landing in the water. Heather was laughing so hard.

The second round was a lot better for me. I came close to getting a birdie on one hole. But I missed my putt by several inches. I did get one chip from the fringe that hit someone else’s ball sending mine in to the hole.

After golfing we went to Ron and Heathers for dinner and poker. I was able to play one short tournament. I won twenty bucks in it.

I went to the fire station where we did some learning on the new EMS computers. We also went over a couple things on Rescue with Chipper and Williams. After washing it we all went home.

It was a quiet night until just after four in the morning. We got called to a dumpster fire. Rescue was on scene second and we helped put out the fire and do the overhaul. Loren was just getting home from the casino and was the RP on the fire.

We spent almost two hours between the fire and clean up of the equipment afterwords. I went home and went back to sleep.

Moses Lake Softball Tournament

I wasn’t all the excited about the long wait between waking up and playing in our first softball game after the noon hour, but what are you going to do. I stayed in bed pretty late, going to sleep after waking up every hour or so.

Finally I got up and had some breakfast. I got my motorhome ready to go and helped some of the others get their camping area taken down.

We hit the road to head to the game early. I wanted to fuel up and get some donuts. After seeing them yesterday and someone else talking about them I had to go get some.

After having the donuts we went to the field. Everyone else was just getting there. We did some throwing of the ball around and got ready for our first game. We, again, had some troubles winning the game. I went one for two. That is not a good sign when you get only two at bats in a game.

We didn’t have a lot of time between games. We made our way to the other field. We were playing a team that Geo’s brother plays on. We should have beat them, but we couldn’t get timely hitting. We hit into so many double plays during this tournament we were killing our own rallies. On a personal note I went three for four with three RBI. It was a good game for me.

We left with our heads down after losing a lot of games we shouldn’t be losing. Bruce and I hit the road and Warren went back with his girlfriend.

We were about one-hundred miles from Pullman went I heard a loud noise. We pulled over to find the skin on the door get torn off. Bruce and I put a tarp over it to protect it and then just slowly drove back into Pullman. That added a lot of time onto the trip back.

Once back we unloaded stuff from the motorhome. I put my stuff away and I was thinking about going out, but I decided to stay in and work on the webpage for the Merchants and just relax. I had to be up in the morning for golf.

The Third Tournament

Took off this morning with Bruce and Warren heading to Moses Lake for our softball tournament. The drive was pretty uneventful. We pulled into the parking lot about thirty minutes before game time. We got ready, threw the ball around and started to play. I had a bad first game going hitless in three at bats. But the second game was much better.

We were playing against a guy who use to play intramurals. Kelly and Jake really wanted to beat his team. We played them tough and our hitting was better. I was two for three at the plate. We won that game which made us feel a lot better going into the evening.

We carpooled out to a ranch in the country where we were going to spend the night. I got the motorhome set up, but the AC wasn’t working. I need to have that looked at.

BKoe came over from the academy to play softball with us. Bruce, BKoe, and I drove into town and went to WalMart to get some food for cooking on the grill. When we got back we cooked everything up and sat around talking.

The winds started to come up and it was getting very windy. We huddled on the backside of one of the tents to act as a wind break. Everyone headed off to bed around ten o’clock which was early compared to normal.

Moving Crew

After waking up early I thought I would get to the rec center to worked out and swim. But the swimming pool wasn’t open. When I completed my upper body workout I went to the basketball court. I shot hoops for a while. Then I jogged up and down the floor doing lay ups when I go to the opposite end. I did that for several minutes as a work out.

Later on I met up with Bryce and we helped Bruce move. We were moving some of his bigger items from his house to his new place. That took a couple hours total.

I got home and worked on a couple things when I got a phone call to do a transfer. I went to the fire station. It was a transfer to Spokane. On the way I was talking to my passenger about softball and my ankle. He suggested that I do some physical therapy for it. He explained to me how that could help the ankle out. So I am going to look into it.

When I got home I did the things I needed to to the motorhome to get it ready for the trip to Moses Lake tomorrow. I loaded up Brandon’s stuff and some of my stuff. Tomorrow I will be ready to hit the road to Moses Lake with Bruce and Warren.

Fourth Rainout

I was looking forward to softball all day today. The weather wasn’t great, but it was nothing to worry about either. This morning I went to one of the elementary schools for EMS week. I showed the kids the outside of the ambulance. After we were done with all the kids we went to lunch with them and they, as usual, were full of stories.

Later on in the afternoon the rain started to come, but it wasn’t all that hard. Usually Moscow stays better than Pullman when it comes to field conditions. But today, just after I got my uniform on I call the rainout number to find the game was rained out. I was bummed. So I took the uniform off.

I used part of the night I had to go over my supplemental PFD questions. I checked my grammar and made sure I included everything I could think of. Once I was done looking at it on paper, I made my changes to the paper itself. I will leave it as is of several days before coming back to it.

Hanging with Andy

I went on a couple daytime calls with Nick today. It was fun to get out there and go on some calls. One was a gas leak report. We got there and helped search the building. Nothing was found.

I was going to play poker at Loren’s but he called and said only four people were going to be there so he cancelled. Before I knew it was cancelled, I spent time cleaning my den up while I was waiting for the poker game to start. I can see my carpet now. It is nice. I still need to organize it some more and go through more stuff. But I am pretty happy about it right now.

I got a call from Andy about going out. I thought he was gone from Pullman already. But he doesn’t leave until Friday. We went to ValHalla at first. We had some chips and beer there. But we decided to leave and head to Rico’s. He likes that place better. We were able to sit there and talk without yelling. It was a nice.

We hung out with his wife-to-be for about an hour or two talking about random things including his plans for the summer before he has to go off to the military. He told me to set aside his wedding date so I could go to it. I put it in my calendar already.

More Rainouts

The weather forecast for today is for rain. It started to rain early in the day and it went downhill from there. It rained harder and harder. It was pretty clear the games were going to get cancelled. Gollnick called about playing poker. So he will be coming over tonight. I invited many others to come over as well.

There were several calls that came out including a rollover car accident with injuries. But no other reserves showed up. I didn’t get to roll on it. I just stood by the station. Rich and I played some Ghost Recon as I was standing by.

I got home and started to work on my garage. I was going to set everything up out there for poker tonight. I got signs made for prices of stuff. I also lowered the prices in my pop machine. Gollnick got here and helped me move my poker table to the garage. That got set up and people started to show up. We has Kevin and Peter with us for a while. Then Dan and Denise showed up and we played until around eleven o’clock.

After everyone else left John and I played for a couple more hours. We did a twenty dollar winner takes all Texas Hold’Em game. It went both ways, but then I lost a lot on a hand that I should have gotten out of. Soon I was gone. I was down a little for the night. But it could have been worse.

More Poker at Loren’s

I decided to get my haircut today. I stopped in and got it cut nice and short. I feels good to get it taken care of. This evening we had training for extrication of people from cars. Not using tools, but just backboards and the such. I was in a group and we did a couple run throughs.

After training I was got to get to bed early, but I found a text message on my phone from Loren about a game tonight. So I made my way there and played cards until the game broke. I ended up winning some money. It was not a big night, but I won some more money. There is a plan for another game on Wednesday.

A Day for Softball

With our first game almost at noon there was a lot of time to sit around this morning. I woke up early and had some breakfast. Then I got the extension cords picked up and put away. I started to get the other things around the motorhome ready to go. I went to the main camp for a while and hung out there.

Then I went back to my motorhome and took a short nap. I got my uniform on and got the motorhome ready to head to the ballfields. That is when I was checking my oil. I found a belt was missing. Luckily there was an extra one in the motorhome. I got a tool and worked to put it on. But that was pinching my time that I had to get to the field. I still got there before a couple people from the camp.

I got to the field and Brandon was already there. It was great to see him again. I don’t know if he really wants to move to Pullman for a job working for the fire department, but it would make my day if he did get one there.

We lost the game due to seventeen walks given up as well as the the fact we stopped hitting the ball very well. Early in the game we scored a lot of runs. Then they had an inning that had around nine or ten walks. We said our goodbyes.

Warren, his girlfriend, and I went to get fueled up. Then got some lunch as well and bought a belt to replace the one I used. Then we hit the road. I pushed it hard the whole way trying to get to Pullman as fast as I could so I could play in the coed game. I started myself at first base.

We were doing okay during the game, but we were in a small hole with a couple run deficit. We were not able to climb out of it. We were playing Spellman’s team. Finally in the bottom of the seventh inning we got the first couple hitters on base with no out, but we had a women come to the plate. She didn’t hit the ball well, but always put it in play. I just knew there was a good chance for a double-play ball. That is what happened.

With two out and down by one we had a good hitter coming to the plate, it was the top of the order and we have one person on. We were down by one. I thought we may have a chance. But she hit a hard ball for an out. We lost by one run.

After the game several of us went to Cougar Country for dinner. We were there for around an hour talking before I went to Warrens. I dropped him and his girlfriend off but we didn’t unload their stuff to make sure I could get to the fields on time.

We unloaded their stuff and I went home. I got and unloaded some of my stuff during commercials on Family Guy.

Very Hot Day

Brandon came to the camp site and I got to see him for the first time a while. He got his uniform from Kelly and went to put it on. The team went to do some warm up hitting. I didn’t do so hot there. Brandon was crushing the ball as normal for him.

Then it was off to the fields. I had water with me but I would soon find that it was getting hotter and hotter. I was trying to stay hydrated but it was hard to keep up. I could tell I was dehydrated. So I drank more water through out the day.

The first two games were losses. But we were not playing super poorly. Our hitting in the first game was horrible however, we didn’t get but about two runners on base in the first three innings. Then we finally started to hit. We lost but a couple runs. It was almost the same thing for our second game.

After those games we played a team that was not doing well at all. We really crushed them. Our hitting was better that game as well. I didn’t do great in that game, but I did have good hitting in the second game.

After the games Brandon gave me a ride back to my motorhome. I turned on the air conditioner and tried to cool down and hydrate some more. Kelly was planning on going golfing. I was going to skip out on that, but I decided to go. Geo and Andy came along.

Andy and I were in one cart with Kelly and Geo in another cart. Kelly and Geo were good, Andy and I sucked. I shot my normal rate of double and triple bogie’s on most holes. We played until around seven-thirty.

On the way back I bought a couple gallons of water and some Gatorade. I got back to the motorhome and worked on getting the stats put into the computer. I had some dinner and then went to the main camp. We hung out and talked about many things as normal. It was just time to sit around and laugh and have a good time.

I went to bed early again tonight.

I was neat to see Brandon again. We use to be neighbors in Stephenson. That was more than a decade ago. He was only eighteen when we met. Now he is thirty. He looks older of course. He is still very athletic like he was when we met.

Heading to Wenatchee

After spending much of the day preparing for my trip to Wentachee. I got it loaded up with my clothes after putting them through the washing machine. I loaded up the food and put water into the water tank.

I went to Pullman Building Supply and bought a couple two-by-sixes to make some step risers for the front tires. That way I can level the motorhome. Once everything was complete I fueled it up and went to Les Schwab to have the battery looked at. I went to Rite Aid and got some oil as well as some reusable ice packs.

I went to Warren’s place and picked up him and his girlfriend. Then we were off. I was going to go through Colfax and turn on SR Twenty-Six. But I spaced it. We kept going North on SR One-Ninety-Five. Soon we went through Steptoe and I still wasn’t thinking about the detour we were taking. But about a couple miles from the rest area I realized I was going the long way. So I turned around went to Steptoe and we took SR Twenty-Three to I-Ninety. We pulled in later than I would have liked. I found out there were two places for full-hookups but they were taken by others in the group. I had to do dry camping. That was okay, but I needed power.

We were able to run some extension cords. Almost two-hundred feet of extension cords. So I wasn’t able to run anything with a lot of power. But for the things I needed to run it was enough. That was good by me.

I was able to meet Kelly’s parents as well as others from their family. All of them were very nice people. I hung out at the main camp for a while but I was tired so I went to bed sort of early.

Moving the Motorhome

I was on call for the fire department, but it has been quiet for most of the last week or two on duty nights.

I spent time getting the motorhome prepared for tomorrow. I tried to get it leveled on some leveling blocks in the motorhome, but every time I was getting it to the highest points on the blocks they were breaking apart because the roadway didn’t have enough friction.

So I gave up and moved it to another spot up the road. That way it would be level over night and the fridge would run correctly.

Lost at Poker

This morning I hit the rec center got a workout and swimming in, but I was running late to the CPR class I was teaching this morning. I wasn’t late to the class, just late getting things set up. The class lasted until shortly before noon. I went home and changed.

I picked up Tom at SEL and went to the Hilltop for our monthly lunch. We were up there our about an hour eating and talking about local politics and other issues.

This evening Loren had his poker game. I went to it. But I didn’t last all that long. In the first hand I got A-K suited. I raised and then I was re-raised by Bryan. I was worried he had pocket Aces. But I threw that idea away and called him down. I was going to fold away my hand but there flop didn’t totally miss me. I called it to the river where he showed pocket-Aces. That crippled me for the rest of the evening.

I won a little pot here and there until I got a pocket pair. I raised it pretty good, but I was called and the flop hit a Queen. The guy who called me had a queen and crushed my pocket pair. I lost a lot of money there. I was down to four bucks and in the big blind. I got pocket-fives. The pot was raised to four bucks. I called and lost on the river. That was the end of my night.

Over the last three games at Loren’s I am up over all, but I lost money tonight.

A Rain Out

I decided to go to the doctor and have my finger looked at that I hurt while doing some BO last month. I took a softball off the tip of my right-ring finger. Ever since there has been some pain and it is slightly crooked. It took awhile for me to see the doctor. Finally he starts looking at my finger and hand. He was feeling parts of my hand then asks what I do for a living.

I told him I have about eight jobs. He then looked at me and said “lots of them must be hand jobs”. I started to laugh. He thought out it and said “that came out wrong”. I said that several of my jobs are labor intensive. He said that I have big hands. I got an Xray but it is not clear what I will be able to do about the injury.

As the day wore on it started to rain. I was worried that softball would be cancelled. As it got close to six o’clock an e-mail came out saying the games were cancelled. So I decided to head to Colfax for training. Actually tonight is board and business. The meeting was pretty short.

Tim, Jim, Carl, Laura, Steve, and I played poker for a couple hours. I won a pretty big pot at the end of the night to put me up on the night.

Hickman Command

This afternoon we had a call-in meeting with the people from work. When it was all said and done the meeting lasted nearly four hours. I found out that a couple more people got laid-off. One developer also quit. There is not many left from NU anymore between layoffs and people quitting.

When the meeting was done I had to hurry up and get Nick so he could use my vehicle to drive to Spokane to get Russell. I let them use the Durango and I used the Bumblebee this evening.

I went to station one to attend training. We went over some water supply Powerpoints then it was off to the tower. I ended up being the officer on the first in engine. That put me in the role of Incident Command. I played that position for the whole training. The evolution at the tower lasted a couple hours in total between the training and clean up.

I kept on getting things thrown at me that I had to deal with. I had to call for more ambulances and more resources from outside agencies. We had a mayday situation and victims in the building. A wildland fire happened as well as the actual building on fire.

It made for an interesting command situation. When we were done we did a critique of the whole call. I was able to get some questions answered that I had. Chapman and Brown said I did good at being IC. Brown also said my arrival report was really good.

When training was done I had to get to the Daily Grind to meet up with Kelly. We were going to go over the line up for tomorrow’s softball game. We were deciding where to play people and what positions they should hit.

Russell and Nick got back after one in the morning. They topped off my tank of gas and I gave them a ride to Nick’s apartment.

Ended in a Tie

With the weather not too cold, but with work needing to be done I went to work on my garage. I moved around some of the stuff I have on the shelves I built. I also put a lot of Brandon’s stuff on those shelves to get them out of the way from where they were. I was getting things cleaned up. I still need to get the things off the table in the garage and put away. But I am a step closer.

I washed my car and cleaned the inside of it as well. I mowed the lawn. I was going to work on my den, which needs cleaning bad, but I decided that is something I can do at night when it is dark outside.

It was getting close to game time so I got ready and made my way to the field. I was expecting more women than showed up. We were playing one woman short today. That was hurtful. We got another out each time through the line up.

My first at bat I sent one sailing over the fence for a two-run homerun. We went to work that inning and scored eight runs. But Zeppoz climbed right back into it scoring more than that. It was a seesaw battle back and forth.

The game ended in a tie however. Because it was a preseason game and we were out of time they didn’t let us finish it. So we are one, zero, and one in the preseason.

After the game I went down to Cougar Country. Got some dinner and talked with a couple people from the team who showed up.

Last Thunder Game of Season

This morning I helped Mike D’s little sister move her bed to her storage place. That didn’t take too long. I went to the fire station to meet up with Yean. We took the engine to Koppel Farms for an open house. We showed off the engine for a while, but I had to leave early because I had to get to Lapwai.

I hit the road getting there later than normal. But I was not too late. I got my computer set up and did my normal pregame activities such as getting photos of the players and confirming the names of the players on the other team.

We were going to not have the game clock again and it started out that way. But then the PA Announcer from the other team came across to run it. The Thunder held their own for a while, but after the second half started it went down hill. The Thunder allowed the game to slip away.

I ran off to Pullman. I started to work on my application for the fire department. I don’t know if I have a chance at being hired, but I figured it would be better to be on the list than it is to miss out on the list. So I figured I would test. I don’t know how I will do on the written portion, but there is only one way to find out.

I got a lot of the application filled out. The previous job portion took forever to do. They wanted a ten year history. I also got my three references set up.

Working the Jail

It was a day to work in the jail. I spent almost eight hours there. It was pretty quiet for the most part. I did a booking, teletyped a couple warrants. Right now we are in the process of upgrading all the equipment in the control room to include new cameras, audio, and doors systems. Right now the control room is torn apart and everything is set up pretty different from what you use to be.

No Calls

Chipper and I went out with Rescue to the tower area and worked on pumping and doing a pump and roll attack. He picked up on it very quickly. He did a good job while we were there. We finished with enough time to get dinner and get back to the station for daily rig checks.

The rig checks, when it was all said and done was nearly an hour and a half to fill some air bottles and wash the rig. The night however was dead. Not a single call.

Coroner Training Meeting

I took some time before the coroner meeting to work on typing up information to share with everyone else at the meeting tonight. We were going to cover the things that I learned in the week long class. It took some time to type it up and get it ready for everyone.

It took a little over an hour to give everyone the information. We also touched on the double fatal car accident.

After the meeting I went to Loren’s again for another game. This time we had about six or seven people there. We played for a couple hours and I ended up winning around twenty bucks.

Game Number Two Not So Good

This evenings game was against Charles from my IM team. He plays for the Bomb Squad. I started myself at pitcher. But it wasn’t very good. I was having a lot of problems getting the ball across the plate. After the first inning I put Dave out there and only did the EH roll. I had an okay day at the plate. It was a slugfest between the two teams, but we ended up losing. During the game Greg came up to me and asked me what the “number” was. I didn’t know what he meant, but he noticed that I have been losing weight.

Later on I went to Loren’s place in CCS. He was having a one-hundred dollar buy-in cash game. I ended up winning one-hundred and fifteen bucks in the game.

I had a hand with pocket-Aces. I raised and then I was re-raised. We went to the flop and there were a pair of Two’s on the board. That scared me a little but there was a bet. I re-raised and then the guy who bet went all in. I thought about it and called. He has a ten-five. I crushed him with my Aces. That was a big part of my winnings for the night.

Mayday Training on Cinco De Mayo

This evening the fire training was the Mayday training where we spent time learning about LUNAR acronym. Then we went out to practice that as well as other drills where we would get tangled in wires. We would have a lost firefighter and more. Each time we would have to call a Mayday then use the LUNAR acronym.

It was a good training where we were able to practice the things and not just watch them on a Powerpoint and go home.

I spent some time also working on the website for the Pullman Merchants.

Co-ed Softball is Underway

I was excited about the softball game this afternoon for the city coed league. We were going to play against a team I didn’t know much about. We were short women and men. I called Peter on the way to the field and he came to play. We had nine people total.

I ended up having to bat two guys together. Which meant we would get an out each time they would come up in the order. Three times Steve came to the plate with two outs meaning that the inning was over when he completed his at bat. I had him keep running after he hit the ball. All three times he ended up getting an inside the park homerun. It was amazing that he was able to do that all three times.

When the last inning started we had a good lead on the other team. So I let Steve pitch. I went to play short stop. I didn’t get a play, but it was fun to be out there. I love getting a chance to play positions I don’t normally play.

Moment of Silence for Wally

I worked on getting my things ready for the football game. I made a flier to post around the field for Wally. It had a pic of him playing football. I put his name and number on it as well. I went to the field and put them up. Then I spent some time taking photos of the pregame warm ups. I talked to the other team about the pronunciations of some of the players.

Once the game was close to starting I read the statement written up by Jerid about Wally. We held a moment of silence. Once the game was underway the Thunder went down early, but soon they caught up and took a lead. The Thunder would go on to win the game. That was pretty neat to see a win. Those are really rare for the Thunder. I wish they were more of a dominate team.

Preparing For Football

I got on to the website for the Sabercats and got their roster downloaded and ready for my laptop. I will have the football game tomorrow to take care of.

Mike came to town from Montana. We went to Rico’s and played pool for a while. Andy and Andy’s brother showed up. We went downstairs and spent some time talking. Andy is walking through graduation tomorrow. Mike’s sister is also walking. That is why Mike came into town.

Men’s Summer Softball Season Starts!

Today is the first day of the summer men’s season for the city. It is always a lot of fun. As the team manager I seem to be under a lot more stress than just being able to show up and play. Today’s opponent was the Tax Dodgers. They have been our biggest rival for years. Our games are always close and we always seem to have good games.

Today it was a little different. The team we have this year is really powerful and we didn’t seem to have many problems taking them down quickly. We scored a lot of runs. They took four in the first inning due to some poor play, but after that we were done giving up runs.

I didn’t do great in the game, but I need to break in my bat still. It is not broken in and I can feel it in the hit of the ball. Doesn’t seem to jump like it should. We dominated the game. I started at first base. Then I let Jake in at first and others moved around.

Wally Died

I was looking at the Daily News website when I found a death notice for Wally from the Palouse Thunder football team. We played together some years ago. I knew he had cancer and things were getting bad. I didn’t know however that he was in a Pullman-area nursing home due to it.

I notified Jerry and Jerid about it. Jerid is the league commissioner. He wrote something up and asked all teams in the league to hold a moment of silence before the Saturday game.

I went to the funeral home to talk to Bob about it. He didn’t have a lot of information but was able to tell me that the funeral would be held up in Fernwood in Idaho.

Wally would always greet me when I would come into the locker room after driving from Seattle for the game. He was always very nice and friendly.

He played football and loved it. Playing for the Thunder was a great chance for him to get on the playing field again, and someone who knew him said it meant more to Wally than many of us would ever know.

In his final game ever he scored a touchdown and that was one of the best football moments he ever had. It was a big deal to him to score and everyone on the team was so happy for him. It was a great moment.