The Battle of the Banners

Last year during the 2010 Football season, I took up making the banners for my Grandsons’ football team, The Miller Park Vikings.  The cheer coach had been making them and she was trying, but failing to make any impression.  Some of her banners looked like they were thrown together and drawn by a 4 year old….no imagination.  I later learned she was doing them in marker.

About halfway through the season, I managed to acquire enough paper to make the banners and using my son as the artist to draw figures on the banners I used Tempura paints to paint them.  They became a big hit with the parents and team. Now they could be read from the other end of the field with no problem…..and I had fun doing them.

I took up the Banner battle again this year but I have reached a point where I am getting a little burned out….Perhaps this is because my grandsons are no longer here to enjoy them.  I don’t know why, but it is getting harder and harder every game to come up with something to write on the banners. Our coaches prefer that are banners are positive statements and not the usual bashing statements like “Pound, Beat or roast” the other team.

I went on the internet and created a CD of drawings of Football  “Characters” for my son to copy.  He free hands the figures from the drawings I provide.  It doesn’t take him long to draw them .  Then I take the roll of paper out to the sidewalk in front of my house with my bucket of paint supplies and something to weigh the paper down, I begin painting.  Last week was a chore because the weather has turned dreary, and it sprinkled off and on all day.  I painted the figures on both ends and managed to get the slogan painted on outside in between showers.  It didn’t have enough time to dry so I rolled it up with a thicker absorbent paper…then later rolled it out inside, and touched it up little by little using a hair dryer to dry the paint as I went.

I have at least 5 more banners to go until the end of the season…and that is only if we don’t make it past the first level of play-offs.  This year, even the team has been in a slump.  We have only won 2 of 6 games…..But the games we have lost have only been lost by 7 points at the most. But we are 5th in the league as of last Saturday….This from a team that has spent the last 5 years in the top 4 positions with 3 2nd place, a Championship and a third place finish.

Tomorrow should be an interesting evening.  The 2 teams currently in a tie for first place (neither have lost any of their games) play at 6 p.m. before our game.  If our team is playing well, we should have no problem beating the team we play at at 7:30….they have only won 1 game so far, and that was Saturday against the only team to not win a game yet.

But I haven’t even started on the banner yet…..and I have no idea what to put on it……

Hugs and Love to all!!

Well….All righty then!

So the other day, I was scrolling around Facebook through my friends pages and I came across something I was happy to see. 

 

My youngest grandson did join a Youth Football team where he lives.  The 49ers. They just started practicing so they haven’t had any games as of yet.  He has to play for a team in the 8-10 year old age group (even though he turned 11 last Sunday) because of his weight.  But my middle grandson told me (by text message) that he is the fastest kid and hardest hitting kid on his team…..Well no Kidding!! He is a “Viking” and always will be.  He played for them for 3 years straight. Although the part about the speed and hitting didn’t surprise me, the photos made me cry a little….I won’t get to watch him play.  I can only hope that more photos will get posted on his page….Or that he will use the paper, envelope and stamp I enclosed in his Birthday card to write to me.

I still do not hear from my grandchildren….I sent a text to my grand-daughter on Thursday and she was at work.  She said she had to go home and go to bed for school but that she would “Talk to me tomorrow”….So on Friday I sent her another text and she wasn’t home from school yet (It was after 2 p.m.).  I still have not “talked” to her. I wish they would think enough of me to send me a message once in awhile.

But I did manage to take a picture of the Parking lot at the football field this weekend when I went to watch the games on Saturday. 

Now this is almost 4 months since they “fixed” the parking lot…..I told you it was a mess and a vehicle nightmare!!

Every game, I try to take pictures of whoever is playing….Sometimes people will come up to me from other teams and ask me to take pictures of their children….which I don’t mind doing. Then I go home at the end of the day, upload the photos to my computer, separate them into folders, send some via e-mail or Facebook….and Move the folders from my (sons) computer to a hard drive….just in case….Saturday was no different…. A man with 2 sons playing gave me his phone number and said he would “friend” me so he could get the pictures….and as usual, something extra always catches my eye……

 

It was a bitter-sweet game for me this past Saturday.  We played the team that my oldest grandson started out playing Football for….The Razorbacks…..Last year, they were league Champions….This year they are acting too cocky to suit my tastes and I am almost embarrassed to admit we once cheered for them….While all the other teams run on to the field as a team, they WALK ( more like strut) on to the field like they are better than everyone else….Only 1 other team did this 1 time last year….and they are no longer a team.  Someone needs to knock them down a couple of pegs…Although it was a good tight game, the were the winners at 6-0 against the Vikings….this time.  We have to play them again in October and I hope by then we have figured out what to do to beat them….

And to make things worse for me, the other day I had put my little Shih-Tzu out on his chain to do his business….My mother-in-law called me over to switch out my laundry and I called to my husband to watch the dogs…Apparently while I was inside and he was “watching”, the Shih-Tzu chased a man and got a hold of his pant leg.  My husband told me he just got the pants….The next day, here come the Police….They filled out a report and asked if he had had his shots and tags which he has….although I can’t seem to find his old collar with his rabies tag on it….So my dog is under “House Arrest” for 10 days…..The very next day, the man and his wife came to my house….After threatening to suit me (“My son is a lawyer and we’ll take you to court”) and cussing at me, I decided it was time to start ignoring them until something else happens….I don’t have anything to “suit” for so good luck with that!!  Unless you want my 14 year old car or my useless husband!! I have no job, no bank accounts and I don’t even own any property…..Even this computer belongs to my 28 year old son!

So keep your fingers crossed for me…Things aren’t getting any better and the lottery isn’t hitting on my numbers!

Hugs and Love to all!!!

The Saga of the Football field

I have been watching the football field’s progress since Mother Nature decide she needed to change the terrain a little.  As you know, we had “monsoon” rains this spring that kept the football field, 1 baseball diamond and about half of the park where we play flooded for 2 months.

 

Part of this problem was man made when the “powers that Be” i.e…..City planners….. decided to “renovate” the parking lot yet again.  Every year they have done something to the parking lot to “improve” it….Yet they can not seem to do the most practical thing which would be put in a drainage system and pave it!  One year, they used this mulch/dirt mix…which created mud.  This year they came up with the ingenious idea of grading the lot,
Parking lot















putting down weed block paper and filling it in with 6 inches of loose gravel….which looked nice until any car, truck, SUV that drove into the lot got stuck in and had to be pushed, pulled or towed out of.  The other problem this created was the parking lot was now higher than than the football field, so every time it rains, the water runs down hill into the football field and baseball diamond.
So the Football league had to figure out what they wanted to do.  The City didn’t want to put any more money into the project as the past projects were costly, though ineffective.  The only solution would be to turn the field sideways so games could be played and leaving the goal posts in place with hopes next year the grounds would recover.


This turned out to at least provide a place to play the games.  We haven’t had any “monsoons” since the season began in July at the conditioning so the field has remained dry enough to play on….so far.  The down side to it is there would be no Field goals scored this season with no goal posts to Kick through. It also would pose a new problem; no place on one side of the field for bleachers because of the hill so all the bleachers would be on the side of the field where the spectators would have their backs to the scoreboard.
Well, someone decided to do something about the field.  They have begun work to improve the field destroyed by standing water.  One day I went to football practice and here is what we saw;

Several days later; it looked like this:

I would hope that one of these days they will seed it with some kind of fast growing heavy traffic grass seed.  We’ll see….As for the parking lot, well that’s another story.  If they had not put the weed block down, the traffic alone would act as a compacting tool and constant traffic would compact the rocks….but that’s not going to happen this year.  People have resorted to parking anywhere but in the rocks if possible….they park in the grass, on the shoulders of the road or across the street.
This week, we had some visitors to our games….

I think this guy showed up on Saturday hoping to find a free meal.  The temperatures were above 97 degrees(36c) and maybe he was hoping people would be dropping from the heat….
 
and there were a few things you don’t see everyday. I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture of the policeman chasing a dog with his car down the wrong side of the highway; or of when he got out of the car to run after him….which was really kind of funny.  But I did get a picture of this;


We have Amish that live in town. They come to the Farmer’s markets and sell their goods and they shop in some of the local stores.  I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I went to the grocery and saw one of their buggies with the horse tied to the light pole…Or when I woke up to Horse sounds outside my window on the street where I lived.
But back to my football banners…

short second banner

We had a game last evening against the Hurricanes and we won 14 to 0. We have another game this weekend. This one will be a little harder….we play the team that won the Championship last year and is undefeated so far this year…..my Oldest grandson’s old team the Rising Park Razorbacks.  If  our boys played as well Saturday as they did last night, we should do okay.  But they need to pay attention, block and RUN!!!  They need to keep their heads and their hearts in the game….
So for now…..
Hugs and Love to all!

Keeping myself busy….and out of trouble

As you well know; I have been a busy little beaver lately.
Last weekend was the opening day of the Youth Football League. I spent  all day there taking pictures, then came home and had to sort, edit, delete and post them to my various friends and websites.  I took pictures of all 8 teams that played, and special pictures for a few of the parents and grandparents….so I came home with 4 new e-mail addresses to send copies to.
I have still been going to the 4 weekly practices of my favorite team; The Miller Park Vikings, that my grandsons  played for for the past 4 years.  Even though they have moved away and are “too” busy with their lives to contact me; I still feel close to them by sticking with the team.  The coaches make me feel like family.  Sometimes they really depend on me to do things for them; like the spirit wear, and they have asked me to help with other things as well. And only occasionally do I have to hide away tears when someone mentions their names.
I also have been going to 1 of the junior highs 7th grade games on Wednesday when they are here in town, and to the other junior high’s 8th grade games on Thursday when they are in town….Both teams have former Viking players that want me to take photos of them still. Kiera  (George, our girl player) plays for the General Sherman Junior High 7th grade team.

And several former players play for Thomas Ewing Junior High….

My middle grandson would have played on this team if they were still living here….And you would be amazed at the number of older students who know me through my grandchildren.  It amazes me every time.
Then on Sunday, we had our annual family reunion.
(This is my brother-in-law’s family)
OOOOP! wrong way!
That’s better!
We went to “Old Man’s Cave” in the Hocking Hills of Ohio. ….about 30 miles from where I live give or take a few twist, turns and hills…..The first time I ever went to a reunion here, my children were young…in fact, I think I only had my older 2 at the time.  All of my husband’s brother’s, his sister, all the spouses and the children they had at the time went down into the “caves”  and were “hopelessly lost for hours.  Back then, the signs directing you to the different parts of the caves were on single posts…..and someone kept turning them around….By the time we finally found our way out, most of the relatives had already left, over half the food was gone and they were getting ready to send the rangers after us!  Now the signs have 2 posts each and are cemented into the ground…Try as we might, we could not lose anyone….
watch that next step It’s a doozy!!!

Although all the children are now older, 2 of the “children” died in car accidents years ago and most of my husbands aunts and Uncles have passed away as well….we still get a pretty good crowd together. In my brother-in-law’s photo alone, 2 of his girls did not go down with us as they were babysitting 1 year old Skyler at the picnic area:
Malia and Kendra with their brother’s and Dad “on their backs”
and a son was unable to attend. 
Only 1 of my sister-in-law’s 3 children was able to attend with his wife….leaving their teenage children at home…
Glenna’s husband Terry with daughter-in-law Misty and Terry Lee
Only 1 of my children went;
my middle son, Jeremiah
and none of my other brother-in-law’s family came including him!!
But all of my husband’s remaining Aunt’s family showed with the exception of Dawn, who had to work….but her daughter Emily came. 

I take pictures of Emily all the time, and was told that Dawn wanted more photos made soon
….She wanted me to take pictures in a park somewhere, and later she will need new Christmas photos too.
I received a text later when I got home from Dawn and we arranged to go to a park near me on Tuesday….Where for 90 minutes give or take, we followed along behind Emily trying to get 100+ pictures of her NOT frowning!
  Dawn, Emily and Dawn’s fiancé
Afterwards we went to Wal-mart and made copies of some of the photos for her and her CD’s so she could take them right home and pass them out…
Since then; there have been 4 practices, 2 more Junior High games and today 3 more Youth football games….This time I remembered the sunscreen. It’s a good thing too because today it got over 100 degrees (38c)…During the third game, they announced that it had “cooled down”…..it was only 95 degrees (35c) at 3 p.m.
During this past week, after making money taking Emily’s pictures, I bought 3 birthday cards and sent them off.  One went to my sister in Florida, another to my son in New Mexico….Their birthdays are the 6th and 7th.  I waited until Thursday (my husband’s retirement check day) to send the 3rd card to my youngest Grandson Tyree, in Florida. His birthday is the 4th, and I wanted to include a little money….I was worried it would not get there in time, so I wrote a note on the inside of the card.  I wanted to let him know if it was late, that I still remember what day it is, that I miss him and that his football team misses him.  I also included 3 sheets of notebook paper and a self addressed stamped envelope….in case he wanted to write to me…….Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I took his card to the post office to mail it hoping it would get sent quicker….Then I texted both his brother and sister and told them both to tell him that he had a card coming that may get there late…..It didn’t, it got there today, a day before his birthday and he liked it.
So I am still around….just trying to stay as busy as I can for now so I don’t have time to miss the grandchildren…..I dream of them often and that’s painful enough…..to wake up with a pillow wet from crying…and not from the sweat of the summer heat…..
Hugs and Love to all!
Last one out, turn off the light and turn on the Snow machine! (I’m ready for winter!)