On This Date in 1998

This past weekend started out on an early, quiet note. I stayed home on Friday since the boys didn’t have a Camp of the Trails program due to the holiday. I was hoping for a beautiful day so that we could hang out at the pool during the afternoon after a morning of yard work (for me, of course) and television for the boys – what else?!!) Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate. Around quarter to nine, as a matter of fact, if was pouring down rain, the proverbial cats and dogs, and the sky remained overcast for the rest of the day, with a lighter rain falling intermittently. What to do to pass the time? Well, the boys still had the option of television, obviously. For me, I found other choices. There always seems to be a load or two or laundry to do, so I tacked that and a few other light household chores. By late morning, I was feeling bored and housebound, but it was too wet to do anything outside. Even with a pause in the rain, the conditions were too click and muddy for a trip to a baseball diamond so that Andy could practice his pitching and both boys could take batting practice. I wasn’t in the mood to read – in fact, shamefully, I’m not even halfway through the book I started over a month ago. Giving in to a feeling of laziness, I lay on my bed, grabbed the remote, and zapped on the TV. I probably tuned it to the Game Show Network. I can’t remember now. I ended up dozing off for nearly an hour.

During the afternoon, after a week of insistent pleading on Andy’s part, I took the boys to Kohl’s to buy them new shoes. It was a necessary and not a frivolous purchase. It doesn’t take those two very long to beat up a pair of shoes. I ended up spending almost $110. I had vetoed a trip to the mall, The Athlete’s Foot, specifically, where I could have easily spent $150, so I should be thankful for a department store like Kohl’s that has a good selection of merchandise at affordable prices. By the way, Andy’s wearing a size 8 (!) now. I don’t doubt that he’ll be my size in less than 4 years – height, weight, and shoe size. Actually, since he’s almost 11, make that prediction in less than 3 years.

JoAnna returned home from work late Friday afternoon with takeout from our favorite Chinese restaurant, one entrée with scallops and vegetables and another called steak orange, breaded pieces of beef in a tangy sauce with orange peel. Naturally, you don’t eat the orange peel, but it does give the dish a very distinctive flavor. The boys, who don’t even care for egg rolls, popped a frozen pizza into the oven. We talked about goint out to a movie, but nobody could agree on what to see so we stayed home. Shortly before dusk, when the sky finally started to clear, I put on a pair of old sneakers and raked up three huge piles of creeping Charlie in the western third of the back yard, the next area for reseeding attention. I’ll have to ask Larry for the best solution in eliminating this pesky and extremely invasive weed. So far I’ve been mostly successful in keeping it from the new grass that I planted during the past couple months, which, to my satisfaction, continues to thrive.

We walked in another parade on Saturday the 4th, this one in Evansville, a community of about 4,000 located about 20 miles south of here. Starting time: 10 a.m. Once again, the adults passed our football schedules promoting Jon Erpenbach’s Senate candidacy and the boys, just Andy and Eddie this week, on their rollerblades, passed out candy. JoAnna had left the house early to pick up Julie, since her husband Ron needed their vehicle. Julie, by the way, is Jon’s campaign manager. (She actually works for JoAnna, and this is her big assignment for the year.) Fortunately, we were near the beginning of the Evansville parade, entry $48. The entire parade included more than 200 entries. From the look of the entries that I saw – or didn’t see – one band, no floats – it looked like a yawner. The parade was routed through an older area of town where many beautiful, well-maintained homes are located.

The boys accompanied Mom to a second parade in Brodhead, a community of a similar size another ten miles south and less than six miles from the Illinois border. This parade started at noon. My family rejoined me at 2:00, which gave us plenty of time for an outing at the pool, the weather having improved greatly from the previous day. It was overcast, and even a little cool, during the Evansville parade. Better for us. Not so good for the spectators lining the route, many of them wearing jackets and even a few wrapped in blankets, although I thought that was overdoing it. The afternoon provided lots of warm sunshine and the chance for me to get enough sun on my chest and stomach to feel a little tingle later in the day.

Either Mom and Dad were too lazy or the boys were really pulling our strings, but our Saturday evening meal was a take-out order from Subway. Hey, it’s summer and a holiday weekend to boot. We had a big party ahead of us so cooking out didn’t have a whole lot of appeal. Again, we had a quiet evening at home.

We spent Sunday from 3 until 10 at Lance and Sue’s, friends of ours who host a party each year to coincide with the Rhythm and Booms fireworks display, which the city of Madison promotes as the biggest and best in the Midwest. (They might be right.) About 30 people were there, mostly adults. With two exceptions, l this was a group of younger couples and singles whose childrearing years are, at a minimum, two years in the future. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Ron and Julie have a baby within the next three years.) We sat around and talked, played cards, and set up two bocce ball tournaments – singles and doubles. I missed the first one since the boys wanted to check out the rides and amusements at Warner Park. JoAnna always passes on this diversion. It’s definitely rink-dink stuff. Even the boys lost interest after an hour of wandering around and emptying dad’s wallet of $20. The “midway” games are so expensive, except for the ones that involve tossing ping-pong balls into glass bowls or jars. (11 balls for $2.) Those are the ones I encouraged Eddie to play. Andy, of course, wanted to shoot a basketball (2 throws for $2) and guess the speed of a baseball he pitches (3 for $2, the guess coming after the first two balls are thrown.) Eddie won a goldfish. At least I think it was a goldfish. It was handed to him in a plastic bag filled with water tinted with green food coloring. (Green + gold = Packers, I suppose. I just figured that out right now. Duh!) I almost made him give it back, wondering to myself, “What are we going to do with this?”

“Hey, we have a friend for Boxer!” I told the boys, as we left the park, imagining the cat’s reaction as soon as he saw this little morsel.

Back at the picnic, we put Eddie’s prize in a safe place.

In the doubles bocce tournament, Andy burned up the course. He and his partner beat Dad and his partner in the first round, Mom and her partner Lance – the host, who set up the course and had finished second in the singles event – in the second round, but lost the final 10-8. Lance has a huge back yard, not particularly wide but very deep. Using space belonging to two of his neighbors, he set up an “18-hole” bocce course, complete with a water hazard (a kid’s wading pool), uneven terrain, and trees blocking a few of the “pin”. Somebody should market this idea.

As the dusk settled over us, we gathered in the front yard for the fireworks. As was expected, it was a spectacular display lasting for 30 minutes and accompanied by music broadcast over one of Madison’s radio stations. All the neighbors had their radio blaring, too. All in all, a very enjoyable day, but the killer, as always, is getting home. In Lane and Sue’s immediate neighborhood, we were stuck in traffic for at least an hour, despite our efforts to park the van in a place that would provide us with the best chance for a quick getaway. Yeah, right. What were we thinking. 250,000 show up for this event. It took us two hours to get home. Under ordinary driving conditions, the trip takes 15 minutes, at the most. The beginning of the designated route for Middleton traffic (and to other points north and west) was clogged by drivers coming from the other direction using both lanes. I was tempted to make a few comments as we literally inched our way along, but two words made me keep my mouth shut: road rage.

I thought we had left the fish behind in Lance and Sue’s back yard, but JoAnna found it in the van Monday afternoon when she was taking out some stuff we had missed Sunday night. Amazingly, it was still alive. We put it in a glass container, then placed it on a cupboard out of the view of Boxer before leaving for the boys’ baseball games. When we returned home, Eddie found the fish on the kitchen floor, unmolested. Baggy – we had already named it – had jumped out of his container and make what must have been a spectacular dive onto the linoleum. It must have already been dead when Boxer happened up on it or else Boxer just wasn’t interested in such an itty-bitty thing. Eddie took the loss very matter-of-factly. I guess we’re not fish people. 


Eddie’s baseball coach is such a jerk. I had no idea why he accepted this responsibility in the first place. He arranged a list of volunteer assistant coaches to help out. There was no way I could help out and now I’m happy my schedule is so busy. The assistant coaches have been left in charge. The head coach arrives at games late and leaves early. Yesterday he left during the middle of the sixth inning (and these are only six-inning games) and asked someone to drop off the equipment at his house. Julie Novinski, one of the moms and the wife of Andy’s baseball coach, has kept track of the line-up and keeps the kids organized in their batting order on the bench when they’re not in the field. I know she’s biting her tongue, and I admire her for stepping in and keeping things running smoothly. From what Julie said, I guess a number of parents have already called the organizers of the baseball league and said don’t let this guy coach again. And he’s got a kid on the team who’s a real whiner. Fortunately, the coach’s attitude hasn’t affected the players’ enjoyment of the game. Eddie is always excited on a game day and he and his teammates always play with enthusiasm.

Andy’s team is 7-1, and he’s been pitching on a regular basis and doing quite well. His hitting is improving, too. His games are a lot more interesting to watch, as the boys have developed some skills and a more advanced understanding of the game. In Eddie’s league, some of the kids still have trouble e throwing the ball.

On This Date in 1998

Another warm weekend. And another busy weekend, but of a different, less focused sort. Not everything has revolved around baseball, although it did start out that way.

Andy was the only one with a game scheduled for Friday evening. On Wednesday, both of the boys’ games were postponed, not due to rain but rather the threat of rain and a skyful of lightning. It was quite an electrical display. They occurred during the late afternoon/early evening at the beginning of the week, during the night later in the week.

Maybe it was the result of a week-long heat wave, but both teams looked ragged on Friday. Most of the boys didn’t seem to be interested in the game they were playing. Every once in awhile, I heard a parent shout out an encouragement that seemed to border on a reprimand.

 “Chase, keep your head in the game!” The second baseman was acting a little goofy.

“Brandon, watch what’s going on on the field.” The rightfielder practically had his back to the rest of the team.

Andy stayed focused. He played right-centerfield for the first two innings, first base for an inning, sat out an inning, and then pitched the last two innings. Like his three teammates before him who pitched, he had a little bit of trouble with his accuracy. With runners at second and third and two outs, he managed to get the batter to look at a called third strike on the outside corner. Good pitch! I missed the final inning so we could start for our next destination right after the game. While playing with a couple of boys who also have brothers on the baseball team, Eddie managed to get himself covered with dirt, a regular Pigpen. We went home so he could clean off his face, arms, and legs and then change his clothes. Our friends Ron and Julie were hosting a sheepshead party, which got underway around 6:00, the same time Andy’s game started. We arrived around 8:30 and Ron fired up his gas grill again and cooked us some hamburgers. Otherwise, our food options would have been limited to chips and salsa, chips and dip. And we were hungry folks. We sat on their new deck, the one we helped put together a couple of weekends ago, until the mosquitoes drove us inside, shortly before ten o’clock, then played until midnight in a chilled living room. The air-conditioner must have been cranked to high.

I had terrible cards all evening. Even so, I was up a couple dollars after the first hour or so. I either had a partner hand, and went along for the ride, or the picker didn’t get enough points to win. By the time we left, though, I was down at least a couple dollars. We don’t play for big stakes: a quarter per hand.

While the adults played cards, the boys watched TV. Air Bud was on the Disney channel. Andy and Eddie were wonderful the entire time, never complaining, never getting in anyone’s way. They always seem to enjoy the time they spent at Ron and Julie’s house.

Oh, by the way, Andy’s team won by a score of 11-2. Andy walked all three times he was up to bat. The opposing team had one marginally good pitcher, but the other three could – literally – barely get the ball over the plate. A lot of runs scored on bases on balls. For that reason, it was a very slow-paced, uninteresting game, at times comparable to watching paint dry. It was a lackadaisical evening all around – for both players and fans.

Saturday morning we began phase one of JoAnna’s pre-Bastille Day Party housecleaning. From the list of locations she had prepared, I selected following: utility room, back hallway, and garage. JoAnna gave the kitchen a thorough going-over: cupboards, stove, floor. She even cleaned the salt and peppers shakers. It was that kind of attention to detail. The boys, of course, lounged in the family room watching TV. I actually didn’t’ get to the garage until Sunday morning. 

Andy had made arrangements to have a friend sleep over. Drew Farrell and his mom stopped by at 2:00. Drew and Andy actually have a mutual history going back a few years. They played on the same coach-pitch baseball team three years ago and the same basketball team the year before last, when Andy was in third grade. Drew also plays on the select baseball team. Drew will be a fifth grader at Sauk Trail School in Middleton this fall. Andy ran into him at the new outdoor pool early last week, and since then things have really clicked between the two of them.

JoAnna and I dropped the boys off at the pool and then continued our party preparations. We stopped at a store called Party City to pick up plastic plates, utensils, cups, wine glasses, tablecloths as well as napkins and a few miscellaneous items. We also went to Target, in the same “big box power center” strip mall to buy some new hand towels for the bathrooms, then to Menard’s for a fan light for the kitchen and a green metal arbor for the side yard.

While Jo fixed supper, I joined the boys at the pool. The water felt great after a couple hours of running errands on a hot day. Eddie kept me company during the hour that I was there. While the boys and I were enjoying the refreshing coolness of the pool, JoAnna barbecued chicken and ribs for supper. The ribs had been marinated with Cajun seasonings. Outstanding! We ate on the patio, one of the few times we have used our picnic table this summer.


After supper the boys decided they wanted to see a movie. Our choices were limited, due both to the quality and ratings of the summer releases. Eddie had been intrigued by the previews he saw on TV for Doctor Doolittle, a movie that had just opened to tepid reviews at best. Not being an Eddie Murphy fan, I gritted my teeth and decided to make the best of it. It turned out to be a very funny and entertaining movie, on that Murphy didn’t overwhelm with the usual steamroller force of his personality. He was relatively restrained, a performance that perfectly fit the character he played. Eddie chuckled throughout the movie, and at one point told me, “This is the funniest movie I have ever seen.” One reviewer remarked that parents might complain about the movie’s rating, but the jokes about a flatulent gerbil or a thermometer getting stuck up a dog’s rectum, for example, were very mild. The movie was rated PG-13, but I would have given it a PG. At least a third of the audience seemed to be kids in the age range of Andy and Eddie. I took the boys to Dairy Queen after the movie, forgetting that JoAnna had prepared strawberry shortcake. I had mind for breakfast the next day. I don’t think the boys would have been interested anyway.

According to the report we heard the next day, the boys stayed up until 12:30. Andy let Eddie join in on the fun. In fact, it was never an issue about where Eddie was going to sleep. We let the boys have the family room, opening up the couch. They watched a video and then some of the X games coverage on ESPN. Another storm blew in around 4 a.m., maintaining the one-a-day pattern. JoAnna turned on the TV to check the Doppler radar. We saw a lot of red covering Dane County and a few minutes later, when we looked out the window, the rain was indeed coming down in sheets. I don’t know if the storm disturbed the boys. They didn’t make any mention of it.

We walked in a parade on Sunday, promoting the candidacy of Jon Erpenbach for state senate. Jon used to work for JoAnna as public relations coordinator. He has a background in TV and radio, and, actually, used to work for the senator, Joe Wineke, who now holds the seat. Joe decided to make a run for the open seat in the 2nd congressional district. JoAnna, Julie, and I handed out Packer and Badger schedules and Andy, Drew, and Eddie, on their rollerblades, tossed Tootsie Rolls to the paradegoers. It took uis a half hour to walk the route. It was a hot day but, fortunately, not as humid as it had been a couple days ago. JoAnna and I were glistening with sweat when we reached the car. Drew’s dad, by the way, is one of Jon’s best friends. They went to school together from the elementary grades through high school. They used to double date and are both married to the “high-school sweethearts”, who are both named Kathy.

After dropping Drew off at home, the family went swimming at the outdoor pool. This was JoAnna’s first visit, my second in two days, probably the boys’ 10th or so. We are making good use of our family pass. Drew, his mom and Sister (Eddie’s age) made an appearance shortly after our arrival, which pleased Andy, of course. JoAnna and I left at 3:30, as she had a 4:00 meeting to attend. Another campaign powwow, this one for Rick Phelps, who is also running for the 2nd congressional district, and whom JoAnna and I favor over Joe. I ran a few errands before returning to the pool – Meikle’s True Value to get more potting soil for the final patch of backyard reseeding, Brennan’s for fresh fruit, and Sentry for groceries for the boys’ lunches this week.

Supper was pot luck, help yourself, whatever you can scrounge up. There was a leftover slab of the Cajun ribs that JoAnna barbecued on Saturday, which I claimed. JoAnna finished the chicken. Later, Andy and I went to one of the high-school ball diamonds so he could practice his pitching. Drew’s team was having a batting practice and I think Andy was hoping he would run into him. We didn’t. Andy threw some heat, pitching the ball very accurately. I was quite impressed.

The boys went to bed relatively early for a summer evening, but I’m sure they were beat. Including the time we waited for the parade to start, they were on their rollberblades for over an hour and at the pool for nearly three, the sun shining relentlessly as a result of no cloud cover. I let them sleep in this morning until after 8:00.

JoAnna and I were in bed relatively early, too. We watched the Game Show network – a line-up of black-and-white golden oldies from the 1950s – until the station became scrambled. This seems to happen every night at 10:30 and I have no idea why. I had soaked up a lot of sun during the day, most of it seemingly absorbed by my face. I look like quite the outdoorsman right now. Ruddy complexion. Sun-bleached hair.

So much for this weekend news update.

On This Date in 1998

Backing up to Thursday.

We had back-to-back thunderstorms during the early afternoon. During my lunch hour, I stopped at a nearby grocery store to buy a few items, mostly paper products as we had just about depleted our supply of toilet paper, Kleenex, and paper towels. The heavens opened up while I was in the checkout line. I stood under the canopy outside for 15 minutes waiting for the rain to let up. Because of the bulk of my purchases, I had four bags to load into the car. I would have got drenched making a dash to the car, let alone trying to get anything inside. I saw long bolts of lightning. The ear-splitting crack and roll of the thunder made me feel a little weak in the knees. Once the storm started to let up, I made my getaway. I unloaded the bags at the house and then returned to the library. On my way there, a second storm blew in. Literally. All of a sudden, I see the trees start to shake violently, and, a half block ahead of me, a sheet of rain moving almost sideways, as far-fetched as that may sound. It was a sight to behold.

Thursday evening I drove to Oshkosh just ahead of the day’s third storm. Actually, my destination was Waukau, a small community about 20 miles west of Oshkosh. I had made arrangements to visit LeRoy and Patsy Stahle. They live in a remodeled farmhouse, with three outbuildings on the property they purchased. One of them is the barn in which their two horses are kept. From 1970 to 1993, LeRoy drove the county bookmobile for the Oshkosh Public Library. He and Patsy used to host a library hayride every October during the early 1980s. A tractor would pull a hay
wagon along the mostly deserted country roads and we’d make periodic stops at a number of bars, then eat chili and enjoy the warmth of a huge bonfire. Those were fun times. Patsy worked at Speed Queen in Ripon. She retired four years ago. LeRoy is 64 and Patsy is 61, so they have plenty of years ahead of them. They are two wonderful people.

JoAnna and I were a little puzzled by Melanie’s remarks, especially being asked if she is a Christian. They just don’t ring true. First of all, are Christians the only people who are offended by the use of alcohol and drugs? Any devout person – Muslim, Jew, Buddhist – would likely find such behavior offensive. I’m sure that even some atheists would be offended. It wasn’t clear if Melanie’s visit included a job interview, but even in an informal situation, I can’t imagine someone saying, “We allow drinking and drugs on campus.” Beloit College is above the law? The drinking age is 21 and drugs are illegal, but of course that doesn’t stop students on most American campuses from experimenting. Maybe she misinterpreted something said to her. Nowadays, questions about religious affiliations (or sexual preference or health conditions) aren’t asked even casually during a job interview. As for the two women “making out”, that is certainly within the realm of possibility on a campus as tolerant and socially liberal as Beloit.

Eddie played baseball yesterday; Andy had the night off so he went swimming. The game was wild and woolly, lots of runs scored. Again, Eddie had a good night at the plate. He made a great play at third, fielding a groundball and tagging out the runner coming from second. It seemed like he instinctively knew what to do. Once again, the coach did not show up, so one of the dads volunteered to be an assistant coach took over, made out the lineup, moved the kids around the field on defense. The final score, you might be wondering. I have no idea. I think Eddie’s team won, something like 15-14. On the way home, I dropped off Eddie at the pool. (I had brought along his trunks and a towel.) He had twenty minutes to cool off and join his brother and Meaghan. The pool should get a lot of use this week, by the boys and many other people. We’re enjoying some hot, but not too hot, summertime weather. So far, it still cools off during the night, the temperature falling to the high 50s or low 60s. We have no problem sleeping.