Taming the Panthers

Saturday night my son's basketball team accomplished an amazing feat.......they tamed a team of panthers. We had lost badly to the Panthers a couple weeks ago and I was expecting a repeat performance........especially while playing under the watchful eyes of this big panther mural on the wall of the fieldhouse:

There was more than one big cat face to be seen in the Panther Fieldhouse. Here my son and his teammate (they've played together since 5th grade) retrieve the ball from the snarly feline whiskers:

This fellow--whom I'm quite well-acquainted with--is brazenly laughing right into the panther's face. Read on to find out why.......
Take a look at this bizarre final score......in our favor.
The Panthers are the defending state champions.......this banner is presented as proof:
It will be a cheerful bus ride home:

Hooray, we tamed the defending state champs and knocked them out of contention for the conference title, too. Heehee. How was that accomplished? I still shake my head in disbelief. The Panthers failed to do something crucial......play their own run & shoot style of basketball. Our coach's strategy was to change the game's tempo, bringing the pace down to a crawl......hence the low final score. That very slow, deliberate gameplan threw the Panthers far enough out of sync that we were able to eke out a victory.

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Husband couldn't make it to the game; he stayed home to milk the cows......and feed my calves. When I phoned to tell him the awesome news that we had won, he said, "Oh, you liar." He'd been expecting our team to lose, too.

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After the game, some of us celebrated by dining at "HuHot". If you don't know what that is, tune in tomorrow to find out.

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My Mom Knows Kurt Warner's Grandma-In-Law

Because of several regular weekday evening basketball games being postponed due to snowy weather earlier in January, we are now making up games on Saturday afternoons. Due to the cows needing milked in late afternoon, Husband cannot attend these afternoon games. Today's contest was on the other side of Cedar Falls, so I made arrangements to pick up my daughter at UNI, and my mom, who lives in Cedar Falls, so they could accompany me to the game.

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On the drive to Cedar Falls, I wished for scenery other than the dingy blanket of dirty snow which now covers the landscape. A-ha......here's an old, delapidated barn sitting along C-57 north of the twin cities of Waterloo and Cedar Falls. The remnants of red paint were intriguing......as was the checkered look of the old cement silo staves......and, the spindly, bare tree branches interspersed. (Sorry.....the mood may be ruined by that swing-set sitting in front of the barn.)

This next photo is nothing to write home about......I know that......its blurry, but I liked the ball hanging in the air above the basket, with the flag behind it. This scene will be in honor of my husband's nephew who just left for a one-year tour of duty in the Middle East.......in fact, I just received an email from him saying he is in Kuwait right now, enroute to his base in Iraq.
Another bad shot, but good action going on........my son going up for a layup, which he did make.

Our team squandered a ten-point first-half lead, and the score ended up tied with .9 seconds left on the clock. That's right.......nine-tenths of a second, making me fairly certain---and dismayed----that we would have to endure watching an overtime. The other team was throwing the ball inbounds on the side by their basket.......a high lob pass sailed toward their tall guy.......both teams were massed together and the whole group fell down together in a pig pile. Incredibly, a referee blew his whistle for a foul. We couldn't believe it......no time left and a foul was being called in that mixed-up mish-mash of players. "Eeny-meeny-miny-mo" and the referee's hand was pointed at my son! Oh, ____. No, I don't use bad language, but the guy next to me sure did.

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The kid made his two free-throws and the game was over.......with us losing, which is inconsequential in the whole scheme of life, of course, but it was one of the crappiest endings to a basketball game that I have ever seen. I heard our coach say to the referee, "Thanks alot.......you handed the game right over to them." So it goes.

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After dropping my daughter back at her dorm, and my mom at her house, I stopped at Pizza Hut so as not to arrive at home empty-handed.

While stopped for a red light at the Oster-Regent Theater corner in Cedar Falls, I tried to snap a shot of the cute "Cup 'O Joe" windows. The photo is blurry, but hopefully you get the picture......of this unique coffee shop on the downtown parkade.

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Goodness gracious.......I almost forgot.......this post's title needs some explaining. Mom and I were pulling into her driveway after the game and she suddenly said, "I have ridden to Knights of Columbus suppers with Brenda Warner's grandmother." Another random remark from my mom, I thought.......racking my brain for a moment.......Who is Brenda Warner? Then Mom continued, "Brenda's grandma speaks very highly of Kurt." Oh, then the lightbulbs went on.......Kurt Warner, who will be quarterbacking the Arizona Cardinals tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Duh, Jeannelle, that's right......Kurt Warner is from Cedar Rapids and went to college at UNI in Cedar Falls, and met his wife, Brenda, there. Leave it to my little, white-haired mom---who possesses miniscule knowledge of and interest in professional football---leave it to her to have a connection (however miniscule) to a Super Bowl quarterback!

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Bye, Bye, Laptop

Boo-hoo.......my daughter packed up her gear and hustled back to the college dorm over the weekend. Of course, I will miss her a bit, but when kids get to her age they need to be off doing their own thing. If you are presently a mother of young children and can't comprehend that you will ever feel that way about your kids......just wait......you will. I fully believe parents are supposed to feel that way when their children are grown. How I chuckle over our mother cat, Miss Kitty.......once her kittens are weaned, she greets them with a motherly HISS and runs the other direction!

What I will miss most---on a practical level---is my daughter's LAPTOP computer! She allowed me to use it over Christmas break and it quickly spoiled me rotten. The laptop allowed me to blog comfortably from a recliner in the evening, or from the kitchen counter during the day, instead of sitting in the cold computer room with stabbing pains in my upper back shoulder blade area. What is the deal with that?! Do any of you experience similar pain from working at a desktop computer? I make an effort to sit up straight, but it seems to make no difference.

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I may have to start saving my shekels for an inexpensive laptop to use just for surfing the internet and visiting blogs. There's a world of difference between the comfort levels of the cushy recliner and this computer chair I'm sitting in right now. Then again, I think its not the chair's fault, but simply the position one sits in while typing at the keyboard. I can't imagine what it must be like to have a job that requires working at a computer desk all day. Those of you who do that have my sincere sympathy!

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I'm open to any words of wisdom from you about shopping for laptops. My daughter has a Dell Inspiron 6400 which she bought with graduation money two years ago. She wishes she had a lighter weight one now, so maybe I should offer to buy hers and she could look for a different one. I won't be carting the laptop around with me, so its weight is not an issue. Our desktop is a Dell, too, four years old now, and works well.

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Cyclones of Winter

Last week, the weather had the upper hand and all basketball games were postponed. Finally, last evening, a game took place---against our arch-rivals down the road to the west.....The Cyclones. Oh, I was so hoping this first photo of the game would turn out.......it looks like my son--#21--just barely has the upper hand here in the opening tip-off jump......unfortunately, his tongue is hanging out. Ack. Maybe that helped him to jump higher!

Next......he's taking a jump shot......which did go in! Click the photo to see the festively-attired student cheering section in the background. By golly, I do believe we have a good foot-race in the makings here!!

Number 21 shall from henceforth be known as "Sir Fouls-A-Lot! In every game so far this season, he has found himself in foul trouble. In the next photo, Sir Fouls-A-Lot is waiting for the official call that he has fouled out, so he can sit down on the bench. In the center of the bottom row of lighted numbers on the scoreboard is glaring notice that #21 has 5 fouls! The good thing is that the game is almost over.......the guy Son fouled made his free-throw and we ended up losing by three points. It was a stinging defeat, for we especially dislike losing to The Cyclones, our local arch-rival.

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It was SO awfully cold last night. What a relief when Son finally got home from the game and Daughter pulled in safely from working her evening shift at Kohls. I'm very glad they have cell phones in case of an emergency, and particularly in weather like we're having right now. The extreme cold is so dangerous.......I'm quite sure that if, say, you were driving alone and ended up in the ditch and knocked out from a bump on the head, you would freeze to death in a matter of minutes.

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Stay warm today, and if you have to be out Christmas shopping or whatever, please drive safely! My day will be spent preparing to host the get-together this evening with my old school friends, which will probably end up getting postponed again---or cancelled altogether---as another snowy winter storm is headed our way today.
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Basketball, Basketball

Its that time of year........you know what I'm talking about........there's colorful lights involved:

And lots of suspense-filled anticipation:

Has your mind reached out and grabbed hold of my meaning yet?


Of course it has.......its high school basketball season! We found ourselves parked on bleachers the last two evenings. In the above photos our squad was battling the team from Parkersburg, the town whose school was blown away by the tornado last May. Should our team have been kind, sympathetically allowing the other team to win? No, sirree......we managed to get way behind in the first half, but then came back and won!
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Though he's not the tallest guy on the team, my son is the designated center court jumper. In the next photo he goes up against a MUCH taller opponent. Not surprisingly, my son did not get the tip, but one of his teammates did nab the ball to get the game rolling.

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What goes around, comes around, they say.......on the second night, we had a firm lead by halftime, but squandered it badly and eventually lost the game.



Being an aggressively defensive player, Son has a frustrating knack for racking up fouls. In both games, he found himself benched with three violations by early in the second quarter. He needs to work on that. In the first game he ended up with more fouls than points---much to his chagrin---but in the second contest he sank two three-point shots, assuring that the first game's stat situation would not be repeated.

After sitting and thinking about it for awhile, Son was able to play with more focus and awareness......here in the next photo he (#20) has planted his feet and making a concerted effort to avoid touching his opponent and hence be called for a foul. Sometimes you just have to let the guy go on by for a score.


Bear with me, here........sometimes I get bored during time-outs and start shooting at odd-ball scenes. We were sitting right behind the scorer's table last night and at one point I glanced down and spied this intriguingly random combination of the microphone and a Starburst. The Starburst was actually yellow and the paper was white, of course. This photo was redone in honor of our school colors, black and gold.



It was fun sitting there so close to each team's bench; we were privy to the coaches' excitedly animated pep-talks during time-outs and quarter breaks. The opponent's bench had two coaches, sitting side by side and dressed in identical team sweatsuits. One coach barked and the other one rasped......they steered their team in tandem as if they were a two-headed creature......it was quite entertaining!

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We had arrived at the gym in time to watch part of the girls' game. Cheerfulness abounded by the time this photo was taken---at a late stage in the game, with our team holding a commanding lead (click the photo to hopefully be able to read the scoreboard way over on the left). Daughter had driven home from college for the evening to watch her little brother play basketball. What a considerate sister!
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I may have to put myself under a blogging moratorium next week in order to focus on Christmas shopping. I can't get enthused about going shopping, but must take a stab at it so the family won't consider me a complete Scrooge. Mostly, I need to buy gift certificates, which won't be difficult.......that's how gift-buying goes as kids get older, I've found. Fortunately, my newly-married son and daughter-in-law still have a bridal registry list at Target, for them I can choose something from there. My college daughter wanted an iPod, which I have already purchased, so she is taken care of. My high school son wants clothes, hence he will receive gift certificates, as will my older married daughter and son-in-law. I don't wish to get into the habit of giving what-nots that sit around the house.......my own house is cluttered with stuff that well-meaning relatives and friends have kindly given me over the years. But then, sad to say, I never have the heart to get rid of any of it!!
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Daughter the Coach

A vehicle full of ladies went on an adventure one evening last week. It was my younger daughter, my mom, my sister, my niece.......and yours truly. For some unknown reason, I decided to upload these photos in medium size, so click on any of them to enlarge.

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Alway, always, its a challenge to find a gym in the dark in an unfamiliar city.......but FINALLY we found it. If only someone had given me the heads-up on the unique architecture and lighting of this roundhouse gym, I might have known better what to be looking for. Or next time I should think to ask, "Does the building have any distinguishing features?" Better yet......if I actually would have planned ahead and done a MapQuest search, that might have solved our problem from the get-go.

We are here to watch my older daughter coach her junior varsity girls' basketball team from____ ____ High School. She also assists with the varsity team. Should I say where she teaches and coaches? I never know how closed or open to be on the blog when it comes details about family members. Some of you might be able to figure out where she teaches and coaches.
Oh, no.......yikes.......the bleachers are those archaic, rickety, OPEN-to-the-floor type. Hold on to your coats and purses, ladies.......and for goodness' sake, keep a firm hold on little kids and grandmas! And, CAMERAS! A camera surely would not survive a tumble down one of these cracks!

Quickly now, turn your attention from the bleacher cracks to the game..........the action is about to begin.

We sat right behind Daughter's team's bench.......but, she was so engrossed in the game, she didn't even seem to notice us until the JV game was over......or maybe she was ignoring us. Talk about feeling miffed......we sure did! Or do coaches get THAT caught up in their games? Yes, they do! That's part of being a coach.

Here, Coach Daughter beckons her team to move closer to the mid-court line. Or else, she has completely lost her focus and is calling a volleyball side-out.
Hair can be exasperating at times........its sensible to keep a handy pony-tail holder on hand.
A time-out is called.......time for instructions from the coach. Hey.......pay attention and listen.......even if you're a bench-warmer at this particular moment in the game.

During time-outs, the coach may draw diagrams of plays on a dry-erase clipboard. I must confess that my daughter certainly did not inherit her good basketball strategist abilities from me. I can never even see plays going on! It all just looks like scrambled eggs to me........players mixing and milling about in random chaos. My sister sitting next to me there on the bleachers would exclaim knowingly, "Oh, that was a good play!" I'd nod in agreement as if I knew perfectly well what she was talking about......but, I truly didn't. To me, a good play is simply one that ends in points being scored!
One thing I do know how to do is draw smiley-faces, so I drew one on the clipboard, hoping it would catch my daughter's attention and warm her heart. I drew my artwork on the wrong clipboard, though......oops......this one belongs to the varsity head coach......a guy in his 30's. He probably thought, "What the heck is this?" Hopefully, he didn't think I was trying to flirt with him.......I would never do such a thing, anyway......flirt with a guy THAT young......are you kidding?!! (Sorry, the clipboard photo uploaded sideways.)
The game is going well........the coach is smiling.

What's a cage game without a cage-full of extra basketballs........and, a glossy wood floor is nice to have, too.

In between the junior varsity and varsity games, the coach enjoyed a well-deserved cookie break! The Band Boosters were selling Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies as a fundraiser. Yum......I had one, too.
During the varsity contest, my daughter recorded the game's stats on a little electronic stat keeper. Gone are the days of those hand-written statistician's notebooks, apparently. Apparently, too, there is plenty of friendly camaraderie between this coach and her players.
Between games, the coach must make sure the young scorekeepers are awake and up-to-date on any roster changes coming up in the next game.
Here's a closer view---although rather blurry---of the little stats-keeping gizmo. Look quickly, though; everyone is gathering up their gear and heading to the locker room, from there to board the bus for the ride home. The games are finished........two wins for the victory column!
Daughter and her husband stayed home for Thanksgiving.......they had too many games going on over the holiday weekend. They are a busy couple.......my son-in-law is an athletic/activities director.......he organizes activities for hundreds of kids........it sounds like an overgrown, nightmarish mom-type task. I feel sorry for him.......although, on second thought.......he does get paid for what he does.
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After the games, we had a brief photo shoot with my daughters and Grandma, Aunt, Sister, and Cousin there in the roundhouse gym.......then some quick hugs were exchanged, and we all went our merry ways. It was a fun evening!
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Sweet Sixteen Niece

I have a dear niece who is turning sixteen today! Happy Birthday, Lovely Girl! She was my 2-year-old son's first customer 14 years ago when he was attempting to get his baby-sitting business off the ground:

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Whoops.......at least he can get stroller wheels off the ground! Oh, his poor cousin.......what she had to put up with!

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For an extra dollar per hour, my son the babysitter would provide spelling lessons on the dishwasher door:
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And, he would hover over his charge, ever ready to provide comfort in times of distress. (It couldn't possibly be the case that he might have caused the distress in the first place.......nah......no way!)

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Once again......Happy Birthday, Niece! Kindly follow your parents' rules---they have your best interests in mind......use good judgement......drive carefully, etc.......and God bless you always!
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November Evening

A photo from the previous post.......cropped and tweaked:

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After chores, I happily came back into the house, all ready to sit down and relax for the evening........then the phone rang. It was my college daughter, informing me she was at a McDonald's near the campus and had accidently locked BOTH sets of car keys in her car. There is a third set here at home.......sigh. On went my shoes and coat, and down the road I went on an evening drive to Cedar Falls, about 25 miles away. Husband was just walking in from the barn when the phone call came; I asked him to go along, but he just rolled his eyes and wearily shook his head....."NO".

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Well, it was chance to see my daughter, at least, and meet two of her college friends. We chatted for awhile there at McDonald's. My daughter's mood was bright; she interviewed today for a position overseas for next summer and was accepted, and is very excited. (Maybe that contributed to her locking the keys in!)

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On the wall above our table there at McDonald's was a plaque with several quotes on it. One was:

The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ---- Marcel Proust

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Should I have pointed that quote out to my new-landscape-bound daughter?! And, suggested that those "new eyes" also be used for noticing the whereabouts of car keys before shutting the car's door?!

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Undesired Trophy

Hey......forget that trivial presidential election on tap for tomorrow! Here's true Election Day Eve excitement........a high school play-off football game!!

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This shiny guy observed the game from the sidelines, waiting to see which team he would go home with:

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When the gridiron battle was done, this guy joined our team. Unfortunately, we didn't really want him.......not tonight, anyway. Receiving this trophy tonight meant that WE LOST!!
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A tough, hard-fought game it was. Tied 7-7 through most of the first half and tied 10-10 for the majority of second half. They were evenly-matched teams specializing in defense. The game went into overtime. I knew it wouldn't go well, and couldn't even watch the OT. We lost 16-10.
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Our school's players, fans, parents, always meet in the middle of the field when the game is finished. Tonight the usually boisterous gathering was subdued, which did seem really odd. Husband described it as "morbid". Everyone will get over it, of course.......it was only a football game!
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And, tomorrow........another day of winners and losers.......oh, boy.......and, hopefully, we'll all get over that, too, and move on with our lives! Its ONLY a general election!!
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Sleep well.........John, Barack, Sarah, Joe.........and everyone else running in myriad races all across the country!! Steel yourselves to win or lose.
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Football Highlights

(Well, these photos uploaded in reverse order again......I guess Blogger has made some changes.)

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Ok........tonight was the last regular season football game; our game was an hour away and Husband and I actually went! We rushed through milking chores and headed for the hills of northeast Iowa.....with me driving, so we would get there quicker! Ahem. I am more willing to speed than Husband is. It was half-time when we got there, which was great.......we didn't have to pay to get in........and, had to endure only a half a game's worth of standing out in the cold and damp!!

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Sorry to inflict this silly "highlight" photo on you.......it reminds me of a scene in the famous movie, The Ten Commandments, when---with Charlton Heston/Moses watching in amazement---God inscribed the commandments on the stones with fingers of fire! It appears the scoreboard is undergoing the same fiery touch!

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The visiting team has a commanding lead----Hooray!----for we are the visiting team!! My son, shown here, had a very good game, scoring three touchdowns, rushing for 167 yards, and tackling lots of those pesky opponents! The whole team played well.........football is definitely a team sport!
The chain-gang guys always make a bright, flashy fashion statement there on the sidelines, bless their hearts!!


And, what would a football game be without......FOOTBALLS!!

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Hey......good news......our team has earned a spot in the play-offs! They are very excited! The first sub-state game is next Wednesday night.
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Rainy Games & Losses

Lalaladeedumdee.......

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"Hangin' around,

Nothin' to do but frown,

Rainy games and losses

Always get me down."

It was another rainy football Friday night. My perspective of the game was dictated by drippy umbrellas, which was fine, really, for things did not go well for our team out on the gridiron field. Oh, there were occasional bright spots.......a first down.......a pass caught........but, then immediately following that, something bad would happen........a fumble, a silly penalty when we were at the 2-yard line about to score.........etc. My son had one cool play, though.......he blocked an extra point kick!

Most of the time, my best bet was to hunker down behind this big black umbrella and wait it out. As you can see, MY umbrella was red and white.........the colors of the opposing team, which I certainly was not aware of before arriving at the game! If that might have been a jinx, it did not work! We lost 14-0. Some of the loud old men who are accustomed to our school having a winning team were voicing their displeasure repeatedly during the game. Oh, get over it already, why don't you.......was what I felt like retorting back to them, but I would never do that, believe me.

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Several years ago, I did tell a guy off at a game once, though........I shouldn't have, but I did. Funny thing.......I saw that same guy tonight......actually, I went up to him and told him how glad I am to see his son playing football this year. The guy reached right around and gave me a hug, which is really odd......maybe he had been drinking, I don't know, but then he and Husband and I had a really nice conversation. I feel as if things are fully patched up now.

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My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the path of Hurricane Ike. A bit of drizzly rain at a football game is nothing compared to being hit head-on by a hurricane.

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(Did anyone recognize the mangled song at the beginning?)

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