Sunday walk, Monday talk

Lots to cover here, so hang tight!  Pictures are coming!!!

First, A couple notes from the Hockey Update you can see on the NHFFL page.  First off, my Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team has done it again.  They upset second seed SKA 4 games to 2, and the exciting details can be seen up there on the aforementioned link.  I will note here that Lokomotiv, the 8-seed in the Western Conference with a record 2 games over .500, have eliminated 2 teams with a combined 64-25-19 record.  Next up is conference 3rd seed Lev Prague in the conference finals.

Also, as it is one of my teams in the finals, I'll note that Polish team Sanok won game four of their championship against top ranked Tychy 7-1 Saturday; they are now tied at 2 games apiece.

Finally, I oopsed and left out the just-started UK playoffs.  I'll hit that later on.


Yesterday, we had a quick, nasty, and fortunately non-lasting snowstorm.  While I bravely made my way to the grocery store, Laurie amused herself watching Scrappy and a squirrel ignoring each other on the porch.

Not bad for a rookie with the camera!

Next up, I have a few stories I have been consistently forgetting to tell that I am going to get to.  In chronological order:

STRETCHING THE BONDS OF CREDULITY:  If it has ever come up on one of your blogs, you know my feelings about the alleged "homeless" here in Ft Wayne who treat standing on the corner with a sign, wearing clothes sometimes better than mine with a scruffy beard to make them look "pitiful", as a job.  Simply put, if you stand at the corner with a sign, you are a fraud and a parasite.  This was taken to a new height a couple weeks ago when I saw some clown standing near the truck stop.    In view of the location, he had forgone his usual "homeless-hungry-anything will help" sign for one saying, "homeless-hungry-out of gas", with a plastic gas can in the non-sign hand.

Really?  Not too obvious, are we?  Would you have a "horse died" sign and stand in front of the stables if you were in the old west?  Guess what- if you need gas, you must have a vehicle.  If you have a vehicle, you have both a home and a means to go APPLY FOR JOBS!  Frankly, you should be honest and stand in front of a porta-potty and use a sign that said, "homeless-hungry- piss your money away."  Oh, and if your that hungry, how 'bout you eat the sign?  Lots of fiber there.

FIGURE THE SOURCE:  The other day, I was reading another story about a meth-addict mom abusing her baby.  I panned down to the comments (on the local TV news site) and saw this:

this prove my belief that everyone should be fix till they prove they can be parents

I would have brought up the point that, as there is no "parent practice" out there, this makes no sense.  Figuring logic would be useless, I replied:

And unfixed after they prove it? It just don't work that way...

To which the commenter, one "time lord", replied:

yes it is call insemination,

BTW, I didn't cut off their comment.  They just decided a comma's as good as a period when you don't use grammar anyway.

I was done at this point, but it didn't stop others from commenting.  Here's one:

lol right... I dont usually criticize what beliefs ppl may have....but that is beyond stupid lol

And here's the other:

What?


COSMOS WEEK THREE:  And I believe last.  Seth McFarlane used week one to draw everyone in, and week two went into telling us how stupid we are to believe in a creator.  Week three began what I'm betting will be the "subtle shot" trend that will continue from here- one shot at God, subtly placed and worded.  It was during his Isaac Newton story that Neil DeGrasse Tyson mentioned that science was being held back "by GOD..." (Emphasis his.)  Let me ask you this, NDT:  Why is it that Newton, the genius who discovered the laws of gravity and motion that "revolutionized" our thinking and "removed the chains" of belief in God, yet BELIEVED in a loving Creator God, and it is only the lower lights who come later on Newton's coattails that feel that Newton's discoveries "removed the need for the belief in mythologies"?  Lower lights that were lucky to find their asses with both hands, let alone learn what Newton discovered?

McFarlane, anytime you want to shift back to science and out of propaganda, let me know.  The science has been fascinating to watch.  I just don't feel like being belittled so you can prove a point unnecessary to the subject.

PUPPY LOVE:  In discussing with son KC a new Time Machine research project I was doing, KC heard me say, "Donny Osmond, Puppy Love"  He said:

"I thought the Beatles did Puppy Love."

"Nope, sorry."

"It SOUNDS like the Beatles."

"No, it don't".

"Yes, it does!"  He then proceeds to sing, "...They call it Puppy Lo-ove..." to the tune of Can't Buy Me Love.

"I see your problem,"  I said over laughter.


All Right, time for today's walk:

I never see beavers, but you can't deny the evidence:

  This walk was along the river on the soccer fields.  Here we run into the geese that have staked a claim on the on field:

 

 

 

 They were busy warning us to come no closer; they needn't have worried.  I was trying to go around the tongue of woods separating the north from the south, curious at the odd sounds I heard on the hidden side.  Scrappy knew a dog had been through about ten minutes before, and was running in circles.

But when we got around the tip of the tongue (refer to "the map" above if you desire), I found out what I had been hearing:

Yep, a whole herd of them  They ran around the north fenced in field and between it and the south one.

Where they were headed, I knew we'd meet again.  We continued (with Scrappy oblivious) around the duck pond and to the south field.

 

 

 The south end of the duck pond is one narrow window of high ground with water all around.  No problem if you use eyes instead of nose...

At the south corner, is where I knew I'd see the deer again.  I figured it would be a fleeting glimpse as they disappear into the thick growth of the "ends of the earth peninsula".  And I was right... but they came out where we just were...

... which is where Scrappy finally saw them.


We went on to the main trail and across the new footbridge towards the bunny field.

 

 

 Don't think I've ever seen that much water in the south canal...

 

 

 Ducks above...

...ducks below.

 

 

 Just though this look at water-weeds under the ice was neat...

We saw this HUGE bunny on the edge of the bunny field.

 

 

 

 Scrappy's first dip of the "spring"...

In the little bit of time it took to walk from the bunny field to the river bank (about 100 feet), this was the second idiot who ignored the dead end signs and was amazed that this end of California Road went nowhere...



OK, time to close with a last little bit of hockey.  The UK playoffs star with a week of quarterfinals in which each pairing plays a two-game, total goal series.  The winners go on to a one game semi next Saturday and a one game championship next Sunday.  This week, my Sheffield team one game one Saturday 3-2... and now wait until Tuesday for game two.  Nottingham- the defending three-time champs- opened with Braehead on Thursday and finished on Saturday- and the champs got stomped twice, 4-0 and 5-1!  The other two series played both Saturday and Sunday, with season champ Belfast beating Hull 4-1 and 3-2 and Fife upsetting Dundee 4-3 and 4-1.  

Not bad for a guy with one bullet, huh?

  And finally, the latest on the wandering Ouelette brothers.  When last I had tracked them down, the brothers (who we met playing for Adelaide last year until they mysteriously left mid-season), were in North America; Travis, apparently the mouthy one, had worn out his welcome on at least two other teams before landing with the Greenville Road Warriors- for all of two weeks before the team suspended him without comment.  Brother Britt was playing on a team in the SPHL- a league with a whopping four teams.  Travis had apparently been given at last to the St. Charles Chill of the CHL, where he was doing decent enough that the coach listened when he suggested they pick up Britt, who has scored twice in his first two games.  The rub here (and you knew there would be one)?  St Charles may well be the WORST team in North America, with a record of 7-49-10 and 40+ fewer goals scored than anyone else in the league.

Next stop: China Dragon?