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.

*

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.

*

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.

*

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.

*

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!

*

*

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.

*

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.

*

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.
*
*

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!
*

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.

*

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!

*

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!
*
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!!
*
*

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.

*

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.
*
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!
*
*

Today's Mail & Sports

Its been a quiet Saturday. I've been puttering around the house, keeping an eye on the state high school volleyball tournament being shown on Iowa Public Television. I should probably be ashamed to say I've never attended a high school volleyball game; my daughters were cross-country participants in the fall, instead. They played several years of grade school and junior high volleyball at our Lutheran school, however, and sometimes I felt I'd go insane from sitting and watching so many games during those years. It never hurt my feelings a bit that my daughters avoided volleyball in high school. Around this area, you won't play much, anyway, unless you also take part in the year-round club volleyball organizations, and Husband and I were never in favor of that.

*

Here's my excitement of today.......a package in the mail! What do you suppose it is??

A-ha! Its the gorgeous photograph I ordered from Kate of Chronicles of a Country Girl blog! She takes superb photographs and is now selling some of them on a website called "Etsy", where people sell things they've made.......or photographs, as in Kate's case.

Click here to view Kate's Etsy page. As you can see, this photo arrived very well-packaged.

I recall when Kate first posted this striking photo on her blog several months ago. I believe the scene is right out of the camera, untouched! What a great capture!

*
Its been overcast all day, evidenced by these dark blue clouds in the east......in the photo below. Just a few minutes ago the western sky cleared up enough to allow sunlight to touch the landscape before retreating below the horizon. I enjoyed the contrast of the dark blue clouds and the bright gold cornfields!

*
Its cold as the dickens outside today. My son is in Ames to watch the Iowa State Cyclones get clobbered by Big12 rival, Missouri, a Top Ten team. Sorry to sound so pessimistic.......perhaps a miracle will occur........anything's possible, I suppose. I don't envy the spectators in Jack Trice Stadium on this cold November day......brr!! My son dressed in many layers, and took a big winter coat, face-mask, gloves, blanket. The Hawkeyes played at home in Iowa City today, against Purdue. In fact......I just checked......Iowa won, 22-17.......hooray!! Maybe they'll make it to a bowl game yet!
*
Its almost time for evening chores.......I hope to keep checking in on the volleyball tournament games, too. A local team, Tripoli, is set to play in the 1A final, on tap as soon as the 2A final is finished. The 3A and 4A championships took place earlier in the day. Its fun to see these high school teams play on TV once a year!
*
*

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!!

*

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

*

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!!
*
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.
*
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!
*
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!!
*
Sleep well.........John, Barack, Sarah, Joe.........and everyone else running in myriad races all across the country!! Steel yourselves to win or lose.
*

Football Highlights

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

*

*

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!!

*

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!

*

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!!

*
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.
*
*

Track Meet

A sure sign of spring is a track meet! Yesterday I was privileged to be in attendance at one to watch my son compete in long jump and the shuttle hurdle relay.

I've encouraged my kids to go out for track because its an individual-focused sport, in contrast to the team focus of football and basketball......to add variety to their overall sports experience. As a spectator sport, though, track leaves much to be desired. It involves alot of standing or sitting around, WAITING and WAITING for the event you wish to see. And if the weather is at all cool, as it was yesterday, a winter coat, gloves, and scarf are a necessity......a blanket, too, to sit on on the chilly bleachers.

My boredom was so complete as I waited for my son's long jump attempts, that this poor little oak leaf lying on the asphalt track caught my eye, seeming to shout...."Take my picture before I get trampled by a runner's cleat!" I was more than happy to oblige.

Finally, my son took his turn at jumping into the sand-filled pit:

************

********

*****

**

He was pleased that he placed fourth in the preliminaries, with a jump of 17'11", advancing to the finals, along with seven other long jumpers. There he managed a jump of 18'1" (I always wonder how on earth they can measure the inches accurately in sand.), but placed seventh, meaning he didn't get a ribbon or medal. His goal for this track season is to improve to 19 feet or better.

After another long wait, the shuttle hurdle relay took place. I don't care for watching hurdle races------I worry the runners will trip and take a bad spill.

Actually, my favorite race is the 4x100 meter relay, but, of course, its spot in track meet schedules is always way at the very end, which I rarely stay around for. That race is totally enthralling.......sprinters running as fast as they can.......and then there are the breath-holding moments during the baton hand-offs. Yes, its a great race.....I can see why its at the end of meets.....in order to save the best for last.

When my kids were students at our Lutheran dayschool, I "coached" track for several years. Don't be impressed.......its difficult to get coaches, and often parents end up voluteering just to be nice. But, I did enjoy helping the kids get ready for their one track meet each spring; all the schools in our Lutheran district would compete on a Saturday in May.

My duties included sizing up the kids' situation and figuring out who should run what, throw what, jump what. Our school certainly did not have a track to run on, so we'd get permission to practice at a local high school a couple of times, so the kids could get used to running in lanes and doing baton hand-offs (hand-offs being the most nerve-wracking part of track, in my opinion).

Our small school often lacked enough kids to fill every event at the meets, but one event we always filled was the 4x100 relay. That would be the highlight of the whole meet, and we usually won it, too. One year, I thought we had a fairly good boys' 4x100 team chosen, although there was one kid I had qualms about. On the day of the meet, they started the race well......I was standing at the top of the bleachers, just praying the hand-offs would go well. Everything looked fine from the stands......although there was maybe a bit of iffiness in the hand-off on the far corner, but I couldn't see it well enough to know for sure. Our anchor runner crossed the finish line way ahead of everyone else, and we were all jumping for joy at a victory. So we thought, anyway.

Next thing we knew, they were announcing that our relay team was being disqualified because a runner had stepped out of his lane......during that iffy hand-off.....!! Oh, I was steamed for a moment. But, what can you do. The boys were SO disappointed, although I told them they were the winners in my mind, even if they didn't have a medal to show for it.

Anyway, after the race, one of the mothers......and, actually, she was the mother of the boy who muffed up......came up to me and had the nerve to ask: "Did you work on hand-offs with them in practice?" Like it was MY FAULT that HER SON had stepped out of his lane! It had been a very long day and I was sunbaked, and almost felt like slugging her. However, I simply said, "Yes", and walked away. But, it gave me a small glimpse of the crap that coaches have to put up with.

And, yes, I've done my share of complaining about coaches, but I'll take this moment to say: Appreciate a person who has the heart to work with kids, coaching them in a sport, and hopefully helping them to learn life lessons.

Have a great Saturday!!