Anyone who knows Thomas knows that he loves baseball. His favorite team is the Tigers, who happen to Spring Train about an hour from our house (with traffic, it's probably more like 90 minutes on most days). This year, the baseball season got off to an inauspicious start with the owners locking out the players over money disputes. Alas, it appeared as though Spring Training would be canceled. Then, they miraculously reached a deal and an abbreviated Spring Training season was announced! Thomas missed out on attending last year, due to Covid restrictions on attendance, so he really wanted to make it to a game this year. He finally got his chance for the very last home game of the Spring Training season. Kara and Luke skipped school to join him and a good time was had by all!
Luke also loves baseball. He loves playing on a team and practicing. We go out into the park next to our house and play catch and sometimes wiffle ball (not quite enough space for real baseball hitting). Thomas will hit him balls with a tennis racket to work on catching fly balls. Luke was breaking in his new glove and reached above his head to catch a ball and it fell out of the stiff glove and hit him on the eye. I was outside too and it really looked like nothing, but Luke collapsed to the ground, crying (unusual). He had his hand covering his face and when he removed it, there was already a huge bump under his eye. It doesn't quite rival the Jack Shiner of 2013, but it was a pretty good black eye.
Jack's band participated in a competition (MPA--but not sure what that stands for) and Thomas went as a chaperone. He said the band was amazingly good and he enjoyed the experience. They ended up getting straight superiors and Jack even had a solo in one of their songs. (We have told the kids they don't have to wear masks, but for some reason our middle-schoolers are still wearing them to school.)
And, some pictures of the "finished" house. There is a problem with one of the thresholds that will not stay down, but hopefully we can get that taken care of. I agree with those who said we should do all wood, I was a little worried, but I am very happy with how it looks. Although, I know it will be harder to keep clean than the tile. Finished is in quotes because we already are getting estimates on a few other projects to complement the work that was done--especially in the upstairs bathroom, which is now half updated and we want it all updated. I had a contractor out here last week, the same one who fixed the roof, but he still hasn't sent me his estimate.
And, in final news--work on the pool has begun. Another saga! I will spare you most of the details, but we signed a contract on January 6th, work was supposed to start on March 14th and take 2.5 weeks. Work started on April 4 and they are still doing the prep work that was supposed to take 2 days (they have only been here 3 days, there are just a lot of days in between when they aren't here). In fact, the prep person (supposed to be a "team" but only 1 came to work today) got here today at 8 to finish. Then, at 10 his work called to pull him to an "emergency" situation. Emergency is in quotes because they seem to happen too frequently to really be considered emergencies. Anyway, they couldn't reach him, so they called and asked me to tell him to call the office and to let him know he was being pulled away. And, he refused to go! He said words to the effect of: "I've been pulled away from your house 3 times now and I am not leaving this half done to sit over the weekend. Plus, what emergency is one guy going to solve? I will call them when I finish if that is okay with you." Obviously, that was very okay with us and we were happy to buy that man lunch!
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| Drained pool with tile chipped away |
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| New tile installed! |
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