Kevin's Ramblings…

We are in the middle of a heat wave in Alberta. They seem to be happening more and more often. Calgary is going to see temperatures in the upper 30s this week, which, for any Americans, is the upper 90s / low 100s… Unusually hot for Alberta. Thankfully, it is not humid.

It is even really hot in the mountains where I live which is rather unusual. It was 34C yesterday, supposed to be slightly hotter the next few days.

The house isn’t horrible, at least it cools down at night. As of this writing, it is 12C, welcome relief from the heat and it gives the house a chance to cool down. At about 930am or so, I close up the windows, close the blinds and curtains and try my best to keep the hot outside. Hera isn’t particularly impressed with the hot temps, I can’t blame her, she does wear a full fur coat after all.

To tell the honest truth, I prefer winter temperatures over this stuff. Maybe if I had AC it would change my mind. It is easier to put layers on and snuggle up on the couch, rather than take layers off and swelter. Plus, if I walk around outside in a bathing suit, people will complain – that I am sure of.

Temperatures will drop to more normal levels by the weekend by the looks of it. Good thing, I am umpiring two double-headers on Saturday and Sunday. Wearing all that gear in the heat is a good way to lose some pounds, that’s for sure.

Try to keep it cool.

I headed for Calgary shortly before 7am on Saturday to umpire for the weekend. It was a non-eventful trip, the sort of trip that you expect. Eventful might typically means something goes wrong, we don’t want that.

I was umpiring with a new partner. We started on time, weather conditions were warm, but there was a nice breeze. It was a pretty decent game. I took a hit off of the facemask, something that doesn’t happen all too often.

The game ended in the bottom of the sixth inning on an ejection of a player from the home team, who were behind in the game.

The player apparently didn’t like my strike two call, which he looked at. On the called third strike, which, by the way was belt high and right down the middle, he complained to me about the strike 2 call. He chirped, I allow that, get it out, I am tough, I can take it.

He continued for a moment, I asked him to return to his dugout, which he did, chirping on the way. Then, for whatever reason, he swore at me, so I had no choice but to toss him. I don’t eject players too often, in fact, he’s only the 2nd or 3rd player ejection that I have ever made.

Well, the team did not have any subs for this player, so the game ended. Didn’t really matter, he was the second out, the time limit had expired and the home team was down by 6 runs or so. After I called the game, I heard a few more chirps from parents, telling me I need to know the rules – sure, parents, you’re the experts.

I returned to my truck to sit in the AC, we had 30 minutes until the next game. I had to do back-to-back plates as my partner wasn’t ready to do a plate at this level. As it turns out, maybe I wasn’t either.

In the bottom of the first inning, I took another shot off the face mask. I will admit that I have not umpired in the last 3 years and I am out of practice. As the pitch was fouled, I slightly turned my head, which is human nature and I took the ball off of the side of my mask which then slammed into my shoulder. Thankfully, I wear a catcher style one piece helmet, otherwise I would be dealing with a broken jaw, I am sure.

It hurt. I ripped the mask off and swore, something I normally don’t do when I am umpiring (the swearing, I mean). I took a few minutes to collect myself, apologized to the fans for swearing and returned to my position behind the plate.

A few pitches later, I started to feel woozy. On the 1-2 count, I was unable to show the count on my fingers, I knew something was up. When another ball was thrown, making the count 2-2, I felt sick to my stomach and called time. I stepped away from the plate and took a knee.

My partner ran in from the field, as well as some of the coaches to ensure I was ok, I wasn’t. I was escorted off of the field to sit in the shade of the dugout. I was given a wet towel to put on my neck and an icepack for my head and face. Someone, for some reason (overly cautious, I am sure) called an ambulance.

Over the next hour, while we waited for the ambulance, I started to feel better. The President of Babe Ruth was called, he made the decision in this case to suspend the game as there was only one umpire and the game had already been delayed for an hour. It turns out that the ambulance came from south of High River, so it took them that long to get to the diamond, they are stationed out of Vulcan, Alberta. Unbelievable that they had to come from so far, looks like our health system needs some updates somewhere.

They looked me over, I was answering questions, my heart rate and blood pressure were fine, eyes were fine, they asked if I wanted to go to a hospital – I declined. One, I felt OK at this point and two, if I had gone to the hospital, I would have been there for hours and hours, they were going to take me to Airdrie, north of Calgary, getting back to my truck would have been a pain in the ass. The paramedics were great, asked me a bunch of questions and ensured I was good.

The team from Olds that helped me out had left by the time I was done in the ambulance. I wanted to thank the parents who helped out, it was much appreciated. I felt bad that the kids didn’t get their game in. I come from 250km away to umpire, I am not doing this for the money, I lose money every time I umpire, I do it because I love baseball, love umpiring and like working with the players and coaches – baseball has been part of my life since my late teens, that doesn’t go away.

I spoke with the President of the League and the Supervisor of Umpires, it was decided, sort of for me, that I would not umpire on Sunday. They could cover off my games easy enough.

The motel I stayed at in Calgary was awesome. I booked a place that didn’t look like much from the outside, a typical 2-level motel. The room was excellent, almost luxurious. The bed was one of the most comfortable I have ever had in a motel room and the bathroom was spa-like. Unbelievable water pressure in the shower, blew me away. I went for dinner to Denny’s, was totally full ($50 later as well). I went to bed very early, just after 7pm. The AC in the room was great, slept very comfortably, until just after 1230. I typically sleep about 5 hours, well, that was more than 5 hours.

I spent some time watching TV and chatting with a friend online. Around 230am, I went out to 7/11 for a Big Gulp. I had a shower and planned on leaving around 5am for home, I ended up leaving right around 4 and made great time home.

Yesterday was a relaxing day for the most part. I picked up the dogs at 10am from boarding and stayed in most of the day, it was too hot to do much outside. We are in the middle of a heat wave, rare for the mountains.

Other than my jaw since being a bit sore, I am back to normal. I head back for another double-header this coming weekend. I will endeavor to NOT turn my head, it’s a habit I need to get back into.

Play Ball !!!

Both my plate shoes and base shoes arrived yesterday. I ordered them the previous week, they shipped from Mississauga. For some reason, they used UPS which I don’t like. It took them over a week to arrive. UPS’s tracking information sucks. I prefer Purolator, they update tracking at every stop. I digress.

Anyway, so I now have proper plate shoes and good base shoes. Both are made by New Balance and are very comfortable, well, once they get broken in anyway. I will be able to break them in this weekend. I am doing two double-headers, Saturday and Sunday.

It’s going to be a warm weekend. Upper 20’s both days. I am going for dinner with friends on Saturday night, so I have booked a cheap motel room. I don’t want to go out for dinner after umpiring 2 games without having a shower, how nice of me, eh?

The dogs are booked in with my friends, so they’ll be good, and I will pick them up on my way home Sunday night.

Speaking of dogs, Hera is booked for potential surgery. We still need to do x-rays / MRI to verify, 100% what is wrong, but it is looking more and more like surgery will be needed. It’s booked for late August, after I return from Ontario. I am not going to get it done and then have to go to Ontario, leaving a crippled dog behind for someone else to care for, that would not be fair to Hera, nor my friends.

She isn’t limping too badly right now, so, I am still sort of hopeful that it was/is a bad strain, but we will see.

I got my vet to send a prescription for pain meds to the local vet here in the Pass. A 2 month supply was $140, so not too bad. I don’t want her to be in pain anyway, that’s for sure.

Well, it’s Friday, that means the weekend is here. Enjoy. I will have fun on the baseball diamonds in Calgary.

Wednesday was cleaning day. Now, this doesn’t mean that I was cleaning, no. My cleaning lady was in. 🙂 Wednesday’s are also the day that the dogs go to doggie day care. They love the interaction with the other dogs and they come home exhausted and happy. Hera didn’t go, I didn’t want her to over-stress her leg/knee. She doesn’t understand this, of course.

Blondie and Twix happily jumped on the bus (the dogs are picked up and dropped off) while I was holding Hera’s collar, if there was ever a sad dog, it was then. I took Hera for a walk, I was initially going to take her down what’s called Miner’s Path, but when I started to walk in that direction, she wanted nothing of it, she wanted to go for a car ride.

So, into the Beast we go and head out to one of our regular walking spots. I think Hera would be perfectly happy being an only dog. She seems to have a great time with just me, no sisters around to steal possible attention.

I had a great nap, although Hera wouldn’t join me. Blondie and Twix got home and were happy and tired.

I watched the Rockies who won, on the road for, what, the 4th, perhaps 5th time of the season. It was against Seattle, so I am not sure if it really counts. They held on for a 3-1 win, I think it was. Good game anyway. Right as soon as that ended, the Astros game started in Baltimore. It was a drubbing, with the Astros winning 13-0. The Astros are hot right now, that was their 10th straight.

It’s almost time for the MLB All-Star game, it’s July 13 which also means it’s my annual MLB All-Star game dinner with my friend that I see once a year on this day. This will be the 10th annual dinner, it’s a great tradition. We stopped working together, 7 years ago, at least, and we catch up, once a year. We go to Boston Pizza, always good food and it’s a good price as well. I will be in Calgary for a few days, a mini-vacation. It will be a great time, I am sure.

Yesterday evening we had rain and thundershowers. We are getting that again all day today, so I doubt that slo-pitch will be a go tonight. One good thing to note is that Hera no longer appears to be afraid of thunder. She used to climb up on the couch beside me when it was thundering, no more. She’s such a brave girl.

Today is market day and the first market that is outside. Of course it is supposed to rain all day, why wouldn’t it. I have ordered a couple of key lime pies, I haven’t had one in ages, so that will be great.

Enjoy Thursday, it’s almost the weekend.

Other than my legs being sore yesterday, I had pretty well “recovered” from umpiring on the weekend. I am not used to getting into the strike zone, of course. When I bent down to get the dogs food dishes, my legs screamed at me. Sorry, legs. It will be better this weekend, for sure.

I am umpiring a double-header on Saturday and another on Sunday. Saturday night, I am heading out for dinner with friends so that will be good.

The dogs will be in boarding for the weekend. I will pick them up Sunday night on my way home. I am definitely not umpiring to make any money, it is really a near break-even position, or I might lose a bit of money when you consider wear and tear on my truck. But, I enjoy it.

Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day, not much going on at all. I did have an email exchange with my vet about Hera’s knee. We are thinking that it is indeed a tear that will need to be surgically repaired since her limp has really not improved. He is going to speak with the surgeon to see if it can wait until I get back from my trip to Ontario in early August as right now, they can’t fit me in until mid-July which would mean she’d be in the early stages of recovery when I was away and I won’t do that.

There’s a chance that the surgery may happen much sooner, like this week. I will hear back today and we’ll make a decision. The first week or two are going to be tough on both me and Hera. I think I will board Blondie and Twix for at least a week after Hera’s surgery so that there isn’t that distraction in the house. I plan on moving my bed (just the mattress) into the living room, that will give Hera a place to sleep right next to me – she won’t be able to get on the furniture at all, for at least 2 weeks. I also plan on getting a couple of dog beds and 2 baby gates to stop her from going into the kitchen and hallway.

I hope her recovery goes well, poor girl. We will tackle whatever comes up anyway. Wish us luck.

I guess there is a time in everyone’s life that we have to admit that we are getting too old for some things. I will readily admit that I am too old to umpire two triple headers on back-to-back days.

As I have said, my feet were killing me by the end of Sunday. Now, the shoes that I was wearing behind the plate were brand new, that, I am sure, had something to do with it, although they are generally comfortable. Perhaps a nice gel insole would have helped. I am also not used to being on my feet all day for two days. I was a desk jockey, so I spent most of my work-days behind a desk and not on my feet.

My feet felt much better by yesterday morning. It was a bit sore to walk, but not too bad. My legs are also rather sore, crouching down to get into the strike zone is something that they are not used to. This coming weekend will be better, I presume. I am scheduled to do two double headers, Saturday and Sunday. I have asked to have Sunday off, but I don’t think they have the umpires to cover the games. I will not be staying over in Calgary, I don’t think though, I will come home Saturday after my games. I don’t mind staying over, but there isn’t a lot (or anything) to do in the evening. Driving home and back again is 5 hours and $70 in gas… So, if I stay, I am a bit ahead for the weekend (financial wise), if I come home Saturday and return to Calgary Sunday, it’s just about a break-even weekend. It’ll be a Saturday decision, I am sure.

Moving forward, I think I am going to schedule just Saturday, or Sunday, not both days. Baseball Alberta has offered to pay me my expenses, $70 in mileage, so that’s a pretty good deal as well – they are also very short on umpires.

I am unsure why the shortage of umps. Some claim that it is abuse from fans. If that’s the case, I really haven’t felt any. Maybe I have been umpiring so long and have such thick skin that it bounced off of me, I am not sure. Maybe, I am a perfect umpire so no one abuses me? Yeah, that’s probably it.

Well, this weekend will be better than last weekend anyway. I am sure of that.

I arrived at the park to umpire yesterday shortly after 8am for a 9am start. The diamonds were quite a ways from the parking lot, bad planning on someone’s part, I guess. It was a cool morning, a few clouds and a nice breeze.

I umpired the first game behind the plate. Both the first and second games were pretty good and I had about an hour between games.

The third game it had gotten hot and the wind had died down to almost nothing. It was going well and looked like it should have been a mercy for the visiting team, they were up by 11 or 12 runs in the 5th inning, but, bad defence and lackluster pitching allowed the home team to come back and only be down by 8 or so, forcing a 6th inning.

At this point, I was ready to go home. Totally ready. My feet were killing me.

So, we play the 6th, the home team scored a few more runs and were only down by 4 or so. I was hopeful that the time limit was up – NOPE. Who the hell decides that no new inning starts after 2 hours and 30 minutes? That’s way too long for a 7 inning minor baseball game and it’s ridiculous. No one wants to play that long, and I don’t want to umpire that long, either.

So, we go to the 7th inning. I opened up the strike zone, I don’t think anyone was complaining. Swing the bat kid, otherwise you’re going back to the bench.

The game finally ended after about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Sigh.

Now, a long walk back to my truck with feet that felt like stubs. It took me what seemed like forever to undress and get into comfortable clothes for the 2.5 hour drive home. I must be insane to drive that far to umpire, at the vert least, I am insane for umpiring two triple headers to open the season.

I stopped at Okotoks for a bite to eat and to change into my slippers. My feet were relieved. I decided to head south on highway 2 as opposed to driving down highway 22. I had arranged for the dogs to stay over until this morning but then figured since I needed to clean the truck anyway (Hera was in it on Thursday so it needed to be vacuumed), I would see if they were ok with me picking them up on the way home – yep, no problem. I stopped at a gas station to get a little bottle of 5 Hour Energy as I was dozing off while driving which isn’t any fun at all.

I collected the dogs and headed home – I think we will all glad to be back. I had a nice cool shower and crashed. I went to bed about 11pm and was asleep less than 5 minutes later and slept, like a dead rock, for 6.5 hours. Not bad at all.

Today, my feet feel fine, I am walking almost normally. My back and legs are a bit sore, my massager will help with that.

Remind me to not accept two triple headers in baseball, ever.

I opened up the 2021 baseball season by umpiring 3 games for Babe Ruth Calgary. I left the house at 645am, the dogs are at a friend’s place for the weekend.

The first game started out well, the visitors built up an 8 run lead and held that lead until the bottom of the 7th. The home team scores 8 runs to tie the game before the final out was recorded. The bottom of the 7th took about 45 minutes to play out. The game ended in a tie.

The next game was much quicker, an 11-1 mercy in 5 innings. That’s the way games should play out.

Right after the game ended, the skies opened up and we had steady rain for an hour or so. I got dinner (pizza from Domino’s) and caught a nap in the truck. I wasn’t sure if the 7pm game would play or not.

It did, we started on time. It looked like it would end in the 5th by the mercy rule, but the home team scores 5 runs with 2 outs to force a 6th inning. It ended in the 6th by mercy, definitely wasn’t a defensive gem…

All in all, a good day of umpiring.

I start a triple header at 9 this morning, it’s 13u ball. Should be fun. It might be a little hard getting into the strike zone since 13 year olds tend to be short(ish). My partner is a young umpire, only 14. I’m hoping he does well, we’ll see.

I should be done around 5 and the have a 2.5 hour trip home. I’ll pick up the dogs and likely crash for the night.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there. I lost mine nearly 16 years ago, think about him often though. If your Dad is around, be thankful, and give him a hug.

I mentioned that I am returning to umpiring. I have 3 games on Saturday for Babe Ruth Calgary and now I am umpiring some games for Baseball Alberta as well. I have 3 more games on Sunday, 13U just north-west of Calgary, so I will be spending the weekend in Calgary and area. The dogs will be boarded with my friends and they’ll have a great time I am sure.

I will be tired. Six games in 2 days will be a lot of umpiring to start the season. I will survive and it will be good money.

Last night we had slo-pitch. I guess they typically play 2 games per night so we played a double-header. We played well, mercied the other team in 5 innings in both games, it was nice to see. I played one game and went 2-3 at the plate, had one really good hit and a dribbler to the second basemen who bobbled it, almost got me out at first, despite my sonic boom type speed. It’s fun anyway, and I think that’s the point.

When I got home, I turned the BBQ one and made a steak, cheese and peppers sandwich. I seasoned the steak, a beef tenderloin, likely about 8oz with salt, pepper and Montreal steak spice. It was cooked perfectly and the sandwich was amazing. I really should not eat at 10pm at night, but what can you do when you’re playing slo-pitch?

Unsure when we play next, next Thursday I think – I may have recovered from umpiring by then. Maybe.

It’s Friday, enjoy your weekend.

Wednesday’s are the day that I sent my dogs to doggie day care. They get picked up around 930am in the dog bus and driven to the Crowsnest Pet Care facility and play all day running around with their dog friends. They come home around 330pm and are totally exhausted. I use Wednesdays to do my running around and what-not.

Yesterday, I put their collars on them and they know when we don’t immediately leave, that they are going to doggie day care. They then typically stare out the front window, waiting for the bus to arrive.

I decided that Hera would not go to doggie day care yesterday, I didn’t want her to strain her leg as her limp is getting much better. All three dogs were rather excited at the front door, I held Hera by her collar, Blondie and Twix zoomed to the bus and Hera was like “let me go, I have to get on the bus”… I don’t think I have ever seen a more disappointed dog in my life as her sisters took off in the bus. I tried to assure her that she and I would have a good day, I don’t think she was convinced.

We shortly headed for Lethbridge, but first, I gave her a good brushing and pulled out about a new dog in dog hair. She loves being brushed, I am sure she loves having the undercoat brushed out. We took the truck to Lethbridge, so she got another truck ride. I suppose I could have taken The Beast, but decided the truck was the better route.

I needed pants for umpiring. I have decided that after a 2-year hiatus, I am returning to umpiring. I have actually missed it, it’s something I really enjoy and I am pretty good at it. I am a far better umpire than I was a coach, I am sure, plus as an added bonus, I get paid.

Off to Moore’s Clothing and 2 pairs of grey dress pants on sale for $70 each and they tailor them for free. Not a bad deal and you can’t tell the difference from regular umpiring pants. I have new equipment, chest pad, shin guards, helmet and face mask. I actually need to find or buy a new black hat, I know I have one around, somewhere.

I have ordered plate shoes and base shoes, hopefully they will arrive next week.

Anyway, from Moore’s, we headed to Costco for gas – $125 some dollars later, the truck was full. I was going to go into Costco, but there weren’t any spots in the shade, I didn’t want to leave Hera in the truck, even with the AC on, it was a hot day. I didn’t really need anything anyway, not badly.

I stopped at Popeye’s Chicken, it’s decent, but nothing to write home about. Hera didn’t want any of the chicken strip, I should learn from her, if she won’t eat it, should I? Their biscuits are amazing though.

We stopped at a local dog park that is in one of the canyons in the area. Cool place for a walk on a hot day. We had a good walk and this time I actually remembered the portable water dish and water, Hera was thankful.

By the time we got home, Blondie and Twix were back already and happy to see us. I laid down for a nap and died – slept for about 2 hours. Guess I needed it.

I got a text last night from the President of Babe Ruth, they badly need umpires and he asked if I could umpire this coming weekend. I will take a look at the schedule and will likely drive up for 3 or 4 games. Will be a good start to the season. I need to fine the rest of my umpiring stuff and get organized, a job for this morning. I also need to ensure my friend can look after the dogs.

Lots to do to get ready. Slo-pitch tonight as well, I am mostly recovered from Tuesday’s game. I hope tonight it’s not quite 3 hours long though.

Enjoy your Thursday.