Lives in a Shoe

The Bugler

"Public Enemy Number One" -- Vin Scully

Forget velocity, the curveball's resurgence is changing modern pitching -- Sports Illustrated.  Some good writing over there.

Terrifyingly beautiful, like summer thunderstorms and whitewater rapids, the curveball of Astros pitcher Lance McCullers can be found at the intersection of violence and wonder. It is a demon he unleashes on hitters, especially with two strikes, when he throws it 68% of the time.

. . .

The legend of the first curveball starts like this: In the summer of 1863 a 14-year-old boy named William Arthur Cummings experienced a eureka moment one day while tossing clamshells along a Brooklyn beach with some buddies. “All of a sudden it came to me that it would be a good joke on the boys if I could make a baseball curve the same way,” Cummings later wrote.

Four years of practice later, Cummings, then pitching for an amateur Brooklyn team as a 5’ 9″, 120-pound righthander, broke out his new pitch in a game against Harvard University on Oct. 7, 1867. Harvard won 18–6, but Cummings rejoiced in the success of his curveball, later writing, “I could scarcely keep from dancing with pure joy.”

Disc Dogs!

 Video here:

http://www.goskagit.com/home/article/mount_vernon_man_dog_learning_to_fly/

 

 

 

 

 

(I have to break in here to note that in this photo Rick has the disc in his mouth so he appears to be dedicated -- but really it is so he can go "Nyah nyah nyah" to Radar and keep it to himself.)

 

 

 

Spring -- And Our Thoughts Lightly Turn to Watercraft and Seedlings

George has a new toy --  As soon as it came home our Kittle jumped aboard and gave her approval.  It is a 1999 SeaSwirl Striper sportfishing boat.  It is 26 feet with a cuddy cabin and is powered by a 250 Johnson two-stroke and a 9.9 Evinrude four-stroke as a kicker.  George says, "It's a perfect Puget Sound fishing and cruising boat."  He took it out this morning for a fishing derby and said it is everything he could ask for.  "It kicked butt."

Here are some of my seedlings, ready to be put into little pots this week.

They were all started from seed in late January using the Winter Sowing Method.  Clamshell fast food containers, or any kind of clear container that can be closed, filled with good potting soil, with air holes top and bottom.  Plant seeds.  Water.  Don't forget to label.  Close container, set outside in the light (but not in direct sun) and wait through rain, snow, ice -- doesn't matter.  In their own time the little green seedlings poke their heads up.  Lots of them for not much money.  Enough to share.

Pictured, outside now, are artichoke, rainbow chard, poppy, sweet pea, Shasta daisy, convolvulus, painted daisy, blanket flower, broccoli, Napa cabage, brussels sprouts, English daisy, Oriental poppy, snow pea (vining), beets, bush peas, hollyhocks, carnations.  Still in the unheated greenhouse: pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes.  There are at least this many seeds planted since January, and more seeds going into their own little clamshells, so more seedlings will arrive in a few weeks.  Our last frost day is reckoned to be May 1, so I'm keeping an eye on them. 

* Doesn't "convolvulus" sound anatomical?  "Dude, I've got to stop partying so hard.  My convolvulus can't take it."  "The doctor said it was the most inflamed convolvulus she had ever seen."  Actually it's a pretty flower -- a bush morning glory.