When will the Time be Right�Anytime but Now

A wise man once said, �Timing is everything.??? That has never played out more for us than this week. Not only was Murphy�s Law in full swing at my work, but Mother Nature seemed to be against us and our outdoor activities as well. We have to be way over on our precipitation levels for the year. It�s nutty how much rain we�ve gotten this year already. Not that I�m complaining, as everything is green and our water table is back up where it had been years ago; but it was just in the timing of it all. It seemed that when we had something to do, it would inevitably rain and when we had nothing, it would be perfect weather. We mush have a dozen make-up games due to rain this year�meaning we�ll either get gypped out of them, play a bunch of doubleheaders or play past the 4th of July for the first time in recent memory.
On Monday, it had rained all night, but woke up early to see the clouds finally move off to give us a little reprieve. The sky was still ominous looking as we were up early to get Matt in to football practice at 6 am. I went bike riding after dropping him off. It was a little chilly that early in the morning, but it was so peaceful. We left early to get to Abby�s game against the top team in the league. Last time we got blown out and ended on 15-point mercy rule. This time out was a little different. Abby went 2 for 3 with a single and a double. She rocked her double to the grass (more importantly, earning an ice cream cone from Daddy!), had 2 RBI and scored a run. She made no errors in 4 attempts in the field, playing 1st, 2nd and shortstop. Although the girls still lost again, they were competitive and that was what we stressed. The girls are getting better in all aspects, but still need help defensively. I think we have finally found a defense that works for us and will try to keep the girls at the same positions for a while now. After Abby�s game finished up, we went up to watch Matt�s game. He was playing his old team with all of his friends. Although it was a close game, the boys still lost again, making silly errors on defense at times. Matt went 0-2 at the plate, striking out both times. He has been in a bit of a funk lately, and probably needs to hit the batting cages to improve his timing. The swing still looks good, but the timing is wrong (there�s that theme again). Defensively, he fared much better, making a couple nice plays as 2nd base, but seeing no action in the outfield in left nor in right. He actually got the start that night at 2nd base, which was cool to finally see. It didn�t stop Matt from being upset after the game, though. He is pretty down on himself, on his team and on baseball in general right now�

On Tuesday, Matt was back out at football practice early in the morning. He also had baseball practice in the late morning that lasted a few hours. Then, he had a 2nd football practice in the mid afternoon. Luke�s game for that night was rained out due to an hour downpour in the mid-afternoon. I was surprised they cancelled it, to be honest. After it stopped raining, the sun came out and dried up things pretty well in Columbus, but I guess the fields faired worse here in Greensburg, so we took the night off and enjoyed a popcorn dinner and played Wii. Wednesday, it rained pretty hard again in the early afternoon. Again, it dried up pretty well in Columbus once it stopped. Luke�s game was the first to be cancelled, but for a while, it looked like Abby�s was still on, so I left work and headed home to get out to her game. I got about 10 minutes from home when the call came through that Bu�s game was now cancelled as well (even though the sun was out and had been for two hours now). It was probably for the best anyhow, since I was going to have to figure out how to coach at both Luke�s & Abby�s game at the same time. 🙁 Matt�s game, however, was an away game at Rushville. Our old friends, the Welage�s, gave Matt a ride to the game, since Ann was late getting off work. We had no idea where we were going, but we had a few cell phone #�s and a small town to work with; so we eventually found it fairly easily actually. They ended up starting early and we got there just as the bottom of the 1st was beginning. It was a quaint field, kind of rustic that needed a little TLC. The field itself was very nice; it was just the surroundings that needed attention, including the bleachers and facilities. The game was very close all the way. Again, our team was plagued with mental errors. The practice didn�t seem to help much. Matt again went 0-2 at the plate with 2 K�s. The coach got on him for not swinging at strikes, which will usually fire him up. It did a little, as he actually fouled one straight back � a sign that he was seeing the ball well, but then was called out on a breaking ball that appeared to low and outside of the strike zone. To his credit, although he obviously disagreed (as did the crowd), he walked away and didn�t argue. In the field, he played 2nd, right and left fields again. He made one nice play at second base and had 2 chances in left field. On the first one, it took a weird bounce and hit him in the shin, leaving a big red mark. Although the runner didn�t advance, he still felt bad. The 2nd chance came later in the inning when a ball was rocked to the left field alley, way over both his and the centerfielder�s heads. Although neither of them had a chance to make a play on it, the coach rode their asses for not catching the ball. I don�t think he realized how hard that ball was hit, as it three-hopped the fence on what was easily the biggest outfield we�ve played on this year. I would estimate the fences to have been about 325 down the lines and about 360 to dead center field � as big as most minor league fields. Luke & Abby found a couple new friends, as they played out behind the stands, in between chasing foul balls. It was pretty late when we finished up, so we went out to eat there in town. We ended up at El Reparo, a Mexican restaurant we also have in Greensburg. On our drive home, the sky was absolutely lovely; looking like it was made of cotton candy with gorgeous hues of pink, blue and white. Although we snapped off a couple pictures, the color clarity doesn�t do it justice�This day also marked Mom & Dad B�s 32nd anniversary. It�s hard to believe just how much our lives would change forever after that day back in 1978. I think about it quite regularly, as I am often drawn back to it either by talking to our kids here at home or while processing with a child at work during verbal de-escalation. I hate to even think of where I would be today, if it weren�t for that one hot June day all those years ago. It would certainly look much different than what it does right now. Funny how one small event in front of the justice of the peace can make such a difference in three people�s lives and how it touches so many other lives from there is unfathomable�I tried to stay up late and watch both the NBA finals (the Lakers lost to the Celtics in game 4) and the NHL; but I fell asleep in the 1st OT of the Stanley Cup Finals, missing the Blackhawks clinch the championship over the Fliers in the 3rd overtime!

But I digress; on Thursday, Matt was up early again and at practice at 6 am for football. I decided to take Molly with me on my walk that morning. She did really well, but obviously wanted to stop and smell all the flowers along the way. She is such a good dog, very tame, docile and easy-going�just the opposite of Ms. Lola, who�s a firecracker; very high-strung. They actually make a pretty good duo. It�s a toss up as far as who can run the fastest or jump the highest; they are both very talented�too bad I can�t teach them how to catch a Frisbee � that would be cool! They have been cooped up so much this week with all the rain that when they do get out, they often rip around the yard playing tag. I have to get that on video some time, because man they really fly around back there! Thursday was a day off for us and of course, it was absolutely perfect. Lukey got a flat tire earlier in the day, while riding around the neighborhood with Abby and the other kids at the sitters. So, we ran out to Wal-Mart and picked up a new tire (it was so badly worn that you could actually see the tread bindings under the rubber from all the skid-outs! 🙂 It really took me back to when I was a kid. It seemed I got flats somewhat frequently, as I had my own patch kit and knew how to do it myself. So, we picked up a new tire and since Ann had picked up a new inner tube a week ago anyhow, I just got a repair kit. Luke thought it was pretty cool that I showed him how to fix his bike tire out on my workbench and I enjoyed passing that information just as a man once did for me on a very similar workbench out in California 32 years or so ago. Luke got his baseball pictures back and showed me a special picture of him and his super-sweet kindergarten teacher, personally signed � very neat. We also had a little fun with the newest Jib Jab video in honor of the US vs England soccer match in the opening round of the World Cup this week!

It rained again on Friday, so we feared we�d have yet another rain-out. However, they decided to play these games � shocking! The rainfall was very similar to what we�d seen earlier in the week with a short burst of intense storms, followed by sun & humidity. Luke�s team continued to try hard that night, but continue to make defensive errors � guess it�s just the age, but man the other coaches get so frustrated. Luke went 1-3 from the plate. The coach�s pitching was off the first couple innings, striking out a few kids (including Luke) � prompting me to go out and warm him up behind the dugout. We were down by a few runs at that point, but afterwards things turned around quickly. Everyone on the team contributed with either offense or defense. There were several big plays, but it all came down to the bottom of the last inning. With the sunlight quickly vanishing, we were down by one run. The first boy up got a hit, followed by Luke, who rocked a shot to the grass in centerfield. He represented the winning run and both runners were moved over by an infield hit. So with no outs and the bases loaded, a ball was hit out to right field. The coach sent Luke who was running really hard from second and the ball beat him to the plate. The play was close, but he was going to be obviously out. However, with all of the talk of playing hard lately, he slid hard in to the plate and catcher (he would later state that the he was �choked??? by him), knocking the ball loose and winning the game! It was very exciting; even the camera man was a little overcome with emotion. 😛 It was such and exciting game…a great way to end the week! I didn�t realize, but someone mentioned it was only their second win of the year � but I don�t know how accurate that statement is.

After the game, it began raining again (shocking!). It rained on and off all night and most of Saturday morning. The kids and I were bored, so we decided to go see a movie with some free movie passes that Bu had earned over the past year. Ann decided to stay home and sleep (party pooper!) as we headed out to Wolf Theaters to see the A-Team movie. Luke instantly pointed out that Hannibal is the same guy (Liam Neeson) that played Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars I � The Phantom Menace; Matt thought it was cool to see Quinton �Rampage??? Jackson as �B.A.??? Baracus from the UFC and I was pleased for the eye candy of the lovely Jessica Biel in a supporting role. We all enjoyed the movie and thanked Abby for treating us. It was a great summer action movie. Basically, if you liked the TV show, you�ll like this movie � it was very true to the source. Afterwards, we ran a couple errands and dropped Lukey off at his buddy Oakley�s birthday party, where he spent the better part of the afternoon. It continued to rain on and off the rest of the day, but I managed to get the mowing done at Mom & Sandy�s house before taking Bu to Dairy Point for a waffle cone and to cool down � it was so stinkin� hot and humid! We came home and began mowing here as well. I had Matt pull the van in to the drive for the first time. He had previously driven the truck, but this was his first time behind the wheel of the van and he did a great job. I had to stop mowing a couple times in the back yard to let rain showers pass over for a couple minutes. The rain didn�t have any lightning, so I let the kids stay in the pool. They helped me out by cleaning the walls (Abby) and vacuuming the bottom (Matt). It was weird how humid it was and then it would rain a few minutes and be even more humid when the sun came out. That happened a few times before I finally got it all mowed. I didn�t even bother trimming; I was dripping wet with sweat at that point that I called it quits, showered and kicked back to watch the US play to a tie with England in the big soccer match in the World Cup. I just hope that their goalie is OK and will be ready to play against Slovenia on next Friday. We called Mom B and wished her a happy birthday (# 62!). It was good to talk with her a couple times this week, as we really miss her and Dad B� After dinner, the kids stayed out for another few hours before calling it quits when the skies turned dark and cloudy again. Luke came home just before the big storms hit. We say hundreds of lightning strikes. We unplugged everything that wasn�t on a surge protector as we started to lose power. It went down about five times that night. Thankfully, it didn�t last more than a few seconds or maybe a minute or two one time before coming right back. There were tornado warnings in the area, but thankfully stayed north. Our kids were a little excited, preparing to evacuate to WTRE. They got dressed and even stopped playing the Wii / Game Cube so we could watch the weather on the local news. We got a couple close lightning strikes – one that really got the attention of Lukey and sent him running back in to the house! He got his shoes on and kept asking if we could go to WTRE (they have a basement in case of a tornado warning). We kept reassuring him that there were only thunderstorms right now and no tornadoes. It was very windy with really heavy downpours � it came fast and furious. We did not see any hail thankfully and we were no worse off for the wear. There were several areas of the state hit hard though, with many trees and power lines down all around, with thousands of people without power for the rest of the weekend. Luke was so funny. He showered on his own in the early evening � and thought he should shave his legs like Ann and Abby! He didn�t get the whole leg before Ann caught him and told him that boys didn�t need to shave their legs. 😛 He was so cute�he�s such a curious and funny child. On Sunday, it was mostly overcast until the afternoon. After 3 it suddenly got much warmer and jumped about 10 degrees. The kids got in the pool a couple times. Abby went to Dee�s house to play with Grace for several hours. Ann and I slept during the race in Michigan and missed the end (I heard that Gordo got a top 5!). I loved the Kyle Petty commentary since I no longer get a chance to watch one of my favorite racers in action. He had a hilarious little piece during the prerace that was really cool. Did you see Adam Sandler & Kevin James say the most famous words in racing? Classic!! 😛 I love watching the Michigan races, so I�m a little disappointed that I missed it; but I love napping on Sunday afternoons! It began raining again at night and eventually started storming hard, just like the night before � including losing power three times. The Lakers ended up losing again this night in game 5. They now face elimination back in LA for games 6 and / or 7. The Celts looked unbeatable this game, but if the officiating doesn�t change out in LA, they don�t stand a chance. Maybe I just haven�t paid close enough attention this year, but the referees were terrible in both games this week! If it can stop raining this coming week, we have games planned each night and have several make-up games�wouldn�t you know it – they�re calling for scattered thunderstorms all week � but timing is everything, so we�ll see. Here is the trailer for the new A-Team movie we just saw and a pretty cool biography of Zeppelin I hadn�t see before. Although the info isn�t anything new, the pictures at the end were new to me.

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Here�s a couple videos from this week, including the thrilling ending to Lukey�s game on Friday night:

Let�s take a look back and get to our Waybac feature. Leading off this time, we start in the fifties and sixties – we have a personalized picture from Mom O in her sophomore/junior year in about September of �52; Great Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown in their living room in Lafayette in October of �62; one of the oldest pictures of me, back in December of �68 in what I believe is Great Grandma Brown�s old farm house in Rossville and Great Grandpa & Grandma Morgan with Keith & Sharon�s kids at Keith�s house on Father�s Day in June of �69.

Next up we move on to the seventies – we have and old one of a young Smith family in about �74; two great photos from that special day 32 years ago at the courthouse in downtown Lafayette. With us that day are Uncle Dan and Vicki Crum in the first picture, along with the justice of the peace; Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown in the second picture and then finally Ann with her dance partner at Dixon Dance Studio also in 1978-ish.

Next, we move go on to the �totally tubular � as Matt & Ann call it – 80�s: Ann and her cousin Jill at a church function in about 1980; our new puppy Peanuts in Rob�s bedroom in LaPorte, Katie, Rob & Nathan at the boys� birthday party in late October of about �85; and also in about �85, we have Lou Atha, Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Marylou at the Houser�s pole barn for a party of some sort � possible Tammie & Brett�s wedding? I see balloons that say just married in the background.

Finally, we go to the nineties: Keith & Rosie at their wedding reception in LaPorte in �93; Rob & Katie at our wedding reception in Columbus in September of �95; Mom, Dad, Rob and all the gang at the Sand Pebble in Treasure Island in May of �96; Rob & George driving The Other Woman in September of �96 in LaPorte and finally Matt and I in Columbus, also in September of �96.

Well that�s it for this time out. Thanks for keeping up with the Scheu Family Blog and hope your summer is going as good as ours! We�ll catch up with ya next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu