Keeping it All Inside

Keeping it All Inside

I have completed back-to-back-to-back A-Z challenges, just to get my writing hand sharpened up, so for at least a day or so, I am going to give the alphabet a rest. I enjoy the A-Z’s because they are a mindless exercise, and keep me focused on a plethora of possibilities, as far as keeping me plugged into the blogging world.

I am amazed at how much the A-Z thing seems to drain so many people.  It seems as though, for many, writing on a schedule, drains the creative process.  That’s not a bad thing-just not the way it works for me.  But writing has become a necessary part of my daily routine.  Even if I do not write a word, I am constantly running ideas though my little pea brain, sifting and weighing, even when I am working.

I have been focused on construction the past three days, shingling the bay roof, and painting the eaves on the west, north and east walls of a “new” addition, and painting the north wall, which did not make the agenda in the boys’ recent push.  Yesterday saw the completion of the eaves-painting, a challenging task at best, because of all the ladder work.  My knees protest every step of the way, but I pay no attention, because I can’t afford to.  The bills do not care if my knees protest, so why should I?

Speaking of protests, yesterday was the world-wide March Against Monsanto, with protests taking place in fifty-two countries.  I had planned from the first I heard of it, to attend the one in Eureka, but I was forced to resist the impulse, remaining here at home, instead, to put some hours on my time-sheet.  The rent for our Willits duplex is due on the first, and the rest of the bills are due on the immediate horizon.  I have found that I can toe the line for ten days to two weeks, and then I need to give my body a rest.  I just can’t do the nonstop approach to work any more.  I’m not complaining, mind you, just stating it like it is.

Yesterday, while painting, I listened to the Giants game, while recording it on TV for later viewing.  Regardless of the outcome, I enjoy having the game on in the background, just because something always seems to happen, that I have never heard or seen before, and yesterday was no exception.

Down four to nothing, going into the sixth inning, the Giants scored three to make it a one-run game.  Then, despite having the home umpire blow a call at the plate, in which Brandon Belt was called out, when replays showed that he was safe, the Giants scored one in the seventh to tie the game, 4-4.

In the eighth, the Giants again fell victim to a blown call, by the same umpire, this one at third base, when Marco Scutaro was called out trying to go from first to third, on a single by Pablo Sandoval.  Replays showed the Rockies’ third baseman, clearly missing the attempted swipe tag on Scutaro.  Bruce Bochy, beside himself after the second blown call, could not restrain himself, and was ejected from the game.

Thus Bochy was not around in the tenth, when Angel Pagan, despite a home run by Troy Tulowitzki in the top of the tenth, hit an inside-the-park, walk-off home run, with Brandon Crawford on base, to win it in the bottom of the tenth.  It was the first time a San Francisco Giant had ever ended a game with an inside-the-parker, and the first time a Giant had accomplished this feat, since 1931, when Bill Terry did it against the Cubs, while the Giants were still in New York.

I can’t overlook the significance of this victory, because the Giants, after taking ten consecutive victories from the Rockies, over the past two seasons, had dropped four in a row, and were in danger of losing their fifth strait to the Rox, when Pagan saved the day.  It’s not the deed, so much as the timing, that makes this an epic game.  

Timing is a key element in baseball, just as it is in life.  Whether it is the rent, or the insurance, and whether it’s due on the first or the tenth, it needs to be paid.  Hence, time to post and examine my options, since the rain makes it impossible to paint.  I’ll just have to be like Angel Pagan, and work inside, to rack up some game-winning loot.