Posts Tagged ‘spectator sports’
Stage 14
I’m stealing my writing time this morning to watch a bike race that is happening in the mountains in the east of France, where sunshine has been mixed with brief downpours and thunder and lightning.
Exciting!
Maybe the World Cup third-place match between England and France this afternoon will be just as exciting. I hope I’ll have the mowing finished in time to watch it.
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Plugging Away
It was a calm day at the lake place yesterday. Since it was an off day for the World Cup, I made a concerted effort to get out and walk the grounds after watching the 5th Stage of the Tour de France. Later today, the tourney resumes with the first of the quarter-final matches kicking off. After watching the majority of the competition to reach this point, I feel compelled not to miss any of the remaining matches. I will keep plugging away at consuming the riches of spectator sports available to me.
That continues a frustratingly large number of hours in front of a television, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for entertainment’s sake. My days back on a lawn tractor will return soon enough. I’m trying not to think about how much horse manure is accumulating in the compost area that will need tending.
My survey of the grounds provided an opportunity to snap a few creative photos and witness the evidence in the gravel driveway that the storm that raged overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday created a bit of a flash flood. A significant amount of sand and gravel was removed along one slope of the driveway and poured down into the lagoon, leaving the water looking like a milky coffee drink.
The water at the beach remained clear and inviting, making for a perfect, soothing soak as the afternoon drew to a close.
A swim felt ideal after digging into a messy chore I’d been putting off since we arrived last Friday. There was a firewood storage box located on the upper deck of the house that was far from watertight. The dregs of firewood on the bottom were soaked and rotting. The plywood bottom of the box was rotting, too.
Unfortunately, that led to the boards of the deck underneath it rotting. When I looked in on it when we first got up here, I saw there was a hornets’ nest being built under the lid. It took me a few days to get around to dealing with that. Cyndie and I finally sprayed it on Tuesday night, and yesterday, I started scooping out the mess of decaying, soaked firewood left in the bottom. That process involved several trips down from the deck to dump the rotting gunk and felt an awful lot like plugging away toward accomplishing a task.
When I had the box emptied, I enlisted the help of neighbors to carry the box off the deck to a spot where I plan to unceremoniously deconstruct it. I suspect the old firewood box will become fuel for future outdoor campfires, that is, the parts that aren’t soaked and rotting, anyway.
The moral of today’s story: Water erodes gravel driveways and rots any and all wood with relentless tenacity. To avoid it, enact routine preventive measures.
You know, keep plugging away at it.
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Suffering Sports
I’m looking at it this way: The US Men’s National Soccer Team won’t get embarrassed by Spain on Friday afternoon in Los Angeles. They took care of getting embarrassed last night in Seattle under the pressure of Belgium, which showed everyone the true level of our team on the world scale. I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of the World Cup tournament without the extra whipped-up frenzy of hype about US soccer.
Another thing that just got wrapped up is the log work on our house and shop/garage. It is a little strange to be away from home when the project was completed, but I received a picture of the house garage doors from Ella, who is staying at our place while we are up at the lake.
They look a lot better than when we left.
I’m only functioning on half my cylinders the last two days, while my digestive system copes with some disruption that involves a fair amount of uncomfortable cramping. I’m hoping it wasn’t something I ate at the fabulous barbecue dinner of the 60th anniversary celebration Saturday night. I haven’t heard of anyone else from the event feeling ill, so it could be some other microscopic invader that I have encountered.
On the plus side, it made it easier to justify lying on the couch to watch the 3rd stage of the Tour de France cycling race yesterday. I ran into one small problem while feeling a little under the weather. After enduring many minutes of little action while the peloton reeled in the breakaway rider(s), I opened my eyes to see Slovenian star Tadej Pogačar being celebrated for his victory. I had unintentionally fallen asleep during the final, most exciting portion of the ride.
I wish I had fallen asleep during the soccer match last night instead.
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Wet Start
Another day when we found ourselves feeding horses in a morning thundershower and finished the day under oppressively hot sunshine and high humidity. The rain allowed me a reasonable excuse to stay indoors and watch England’s victory in the World Cup. Harry Kane, how do you do it?!
In the afternoon, since the grass was too wet to mow, I put in more time trimming back the tall growth encroaching on our grass trails.
There are places where the tall grass has grown over my head height. When it gets wet and leans into the pathway, walking through it can leave a person soaked. I speak from experience.
After trimming the tall grasses, I reached the curve through the trees near the end of the north loop trail. Those branches reaching for sunlight can infringe on trail space even more than the grasses. The hedge trimmer allows me to create an even-walled border along the pathway.
I suspect that part of the trail could eventually become a tunnel if the tree branches overhead fill out enough on both sides. It’s so different from the winter when there are no leaves on the trees, and you can see right through.
My new favorite work gloves have held up well against the abuse I’ve been putting them through. The last few days, they have stayed wet due to the high humidity. There is something about them that is bugging me, though. I think they sewed on a finger in place of the thumb on the left glove.
It’s a nuisance, but since it’s on the left hand and I am right-hand dominant, it only occasionally affects what I’m trying to accomplish. Still, it irritates that OCD part of my nature. Ever since I first noticed it, I haven’t been able to unnotice it, and it nags at me repeatedly.
We ended the day watching the USA match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The day started wet, but finished with a win! On to the round of 16. I’m not sure I can handle going much further in the tourney.
I’m sure glad these aren’t best-of-7 series playoffs.
Things will pick up this weekend when the Tour de France 21-stage bicycle race starts. The weeks ahead are going to be filled with more televised spectator sports than I can sit through daily. I’m sure happy to be free from trying to balance employment responsibilities with sports watching.
Catching competitions live is the best, and watching the stages in France means prime morning hours here.
Maybe we can get even more morning showers while the bike race is happening.
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Busy, Happy
The first pass through the group stage for each team in the 2026 Men’s World Cup has been completed. Today begins the series of second matches for the groups. For the broadcasters and the fans, there is no rest. I don’t know how a person is supposed to watch each exciting moment and also continue to fulfill their daily responsibilities. Sacrifices need to be made.
I will miss seeing the first game today because I will be driving Cyndie and Elysa to the airport for their flight to Amsterdam, and ultimately, Norway. It’ll be Asher and me managing the ranch for the next 11 days.
We won’t be completely on our own, though. We’ll have the support of our property-guard-snakes keeping watch over the goings on around here.
The bigger of these two knows its way around the shop garage. I spotted it the other day, slithering on the top edge of a stack of cardboard leaning against one wall, about chest height.
That explains the discarded snake skins we frequently find in the vicinity. I sure hope they are controlling the rodent population in the building.
I started scrubbing the wood paneling of the shop/garage yesterday, but had to hold off on sanding it until the rain stops and the wood dries. We have retained the services of a log building expert to repair and reseal areas of both this building and the house, and I will be doing as much of the prep work as possible to reduce the cost of the project.
In addition to that work happening while Cyndie is away, we are expecting a visit from This Old Horse personnel with vaccines for the horses, a farrier appointment, a first-time house-cleaning appointment by a local start-up business out of Ellsworth, and I need to drive Asher to a grooming appointment in Baldwin.
Between all of that, I need to keep up with the usual mowing and, if possible, continue trimming back the vigorous growth encroaching on our grass trail around the north loop and all of the trails through the woods.
The fluttering leaves of the poplar trees down by the road were putting on a show in the breeze between rain showers when I rolled our trash and recycling bins down yesterday evening. There is a pretty healthy expansion of that grove, which we are very happy about.
As I reached the top of the first rise in our driveway and took in the view of the variety of lush trees beyond the barn and hay shed, I felt a deep appreciation for our little forest.
It is always such a striking difference from the months when all the branches are bare after the leaves drop off in the fall. When our trees look happy, it brings me great joy. Despite how muddy it has made the area just beyond the barn overhang, I am grateful that the rain over the last few days appears to be providing the trees with all the hydration they need at this time.
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Split Attention
So much sports to watch now that the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament is underway. Last night, it was complicated by the concurrent broadcast of the 6th game of the NHL Stanley Cup final series. It is not an easy feat to pay close attention to both at once. At least the Carolina Hurricanes solved that issue in the future with their Cup-winning victory over Vegas.
Of course, the Tour de France bike race will start in July, so my attention will be split again, soon.
I spent the early part of the day using our battery-powered string trimmer to cut the growth beneath the fence line around the back pasture. Precision timing (or mere chance, if I were to be honest) had the trimmer battery drained just in time for me to catch the start of the first World Cup game of the day.
As long as I’ve accomplished something along the lines of property maintenance, I feel justified in lounging around watching athletes entertain me with their team skills for the rest of the day.
It helps that the horses and Asher have been taking care of themselves for the most part, lately. When we came in for lunch, Asher decided he wanted to stay sprawled out in the front yard, enjoying the breeze and keeping watch over his domain.
Mia was showing us that she understands what the shade sail is for. The other three horses demonstrate much less interest, preferring to remain under the overhang. Their loss, I say.
While I was watching sports deep into the evening, Cyndie occupied herself with packing preparations for traveling to Norway with Elysa. They will be celebrating a milestone birthday for E, experiencing the light of the midnight sun, and visiting with Friswold relatives while they are there.
I have warned them that Norway will be playing two matches during their visit, so the people may be a little preoccupied on those days –or I should say nights, given the time difference.
There will be no shortage of things commanding my attention while Cyndie is away. Here’s hoping Asher will remain content to stay within our property boundaries for all the days I am the sole person in charge.
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Watchin’ Hockey
Maybe it’s a carryover from the US Olympic hockey victories a few months ago. The NHL Stanley Cup tournament is underway, and I’m finding myself drawn to not only the games of the Minnesota Wild but also those of any of the other teams, too.
It has me staying up past my bedtime too many nights in a row and leaving me a little bleary-eyed during the day.
Our games have been starting so dang late. Even though it’s the playoffs, when other games go into overtime periods, I tend to give up and shut ‘em off. But I can’t do that if it’s the Wild. What’s a guy to do? I gotta watch, but it sure stings double if we lose in sudden death a couple of hours past my regular sleep time.
Even if we win in late-night OT, there’s all the residual adrenaline making it impossible to fall right to sleep.
It’s interesting to be so fanatical about something that is basically a form of entertainment that means very little in the grand scheme of things that truly matter in life. It’s a little crazy to sacrifice a good night’s sleep over a hockey game.
I’m glad I have the luxury of not needing to show up at a workplace this morning. Still, I shut the game off at midnight last night when my eyes gave out.
I can always watch the replays.
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Watchin’ Basketball
I have trouble understanding how basketball referees decide when contact is a foul and when it isn’t. Last night’s four games of the sweet sixteen round of the NCAA Men’s were fun to watch, despite how often players “walk” with the ball and don’t get whistled for it.
Tonight, I will switch back to watching the Women play, since the lady Gophers are still alive in their tournament, having survived to the sweet sixteen for the first time since 2005. Wish us luck against UCLA.
There was a little competition for space in a chair between Asher and Cyndie yesterday. Not all sports were happening in tournaments. Our grand-nephew, Drew, stopped by for a visit from his dorm at UWRF, and that had Asher all excited and seeking nonstop attention.
Cyndie whipped up some Italian Beef sandwiches for dinner and served some fresh-baked goodies for dessert. Her buttery, super-sweet granola cookies were a big hit. I think I may have exceeded my daily sugar ration simply by looking at them. I ate several of them, just to make sure.
It’s a bad time to be consuming excess calories, since I spend a lot less time being active when there are so many March Madness games on TV, grabbing my entertainment attention. This would be a great case for powering the television with a treadmill. Then the only way I could watch would be by exercising.
In the meantime, my body at rest stays at rest.
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Doing Nothing
For the most part, I spent yesterday doing nothing but watching college basketball tournament games. Up until this week, I had not watched an entire basketball game yet this season. However, it’s March Madness time, so basketball it was, all day long.
Asher did a good job of helping me do nothing but watch multiple channels of overlapping basketball games on television.
I took a short break from the NCAA Men’s tournament to watch the #4-ranked Minnesota Gophers Women’s team win their first round game over Green Bay. That game was a little shaky until the 4th quarter, when the Gophers took over, ultimately winning strongly.
In two brief excursions into the great outdoors, I enjoyed a short walk with the dog and then some quality time cleaning up around the horses. By afternoon, all the ditches were filled with flowing meltwater. That hefty blanket of snow that fell 6 days ago has disintegrated into just a few residual piles.
Today, we plan to take full advantage of the first full day of spring to meet separately with two couples we haven’t seen in a while. We’re having breakfast with George and Anneliese in Hudson and dinner with Barb and Mike in St. Paul. After dinner, the four of us have tickets to see Classic Albums Live for the third time at the Ordway Theater. Tonight, they will be recreating the Eagles album, “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975).”
Based on the past performances by the Classic Albums Live musicians, I am more than happy to be trading watching some second-round basketball madness for high-quality live rock performances of the music of my youth.
Not that I need reminders that I am getting old.
Watching college basketball today reveals a glaring difference between what referees whistled for traveling or palming the ball violations when I was a kid, compared to the sport these days. This is no longer our daddy’s basketball.
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National Competition
Let the withdrawal begin. After two weeks of non-stop daily broadcasting of Olympic sports events, it is time for life to get back to normal. The NHL season will resume, so I suppose I could turn my attention to the Minnesota Wild [men] or Frost [PWHL women] for hockey entertainment. I see that the US goalie, Conner Hellebuyck, who repeatedly stymied Team Canada, will be returning to play for the Winnipeg Jets. I wonder if that will be awkward for him.
Yesterday’s overtime victory for the Gold Medal in hockey by Team USA was a really big deal for a lot of folks. There were plenty of references to the last time the US won gold in men’s hockey, 46 years ago. As thrilling as this win is for the US, I don’t think it compares to the 1980 Miracle on Ice.
That team was made up of amateurs who needed to defeat the larger, stronger, professional-level USSR team to reach the Gold Medal game, which they eventually won, triumphing over Finland. Now professionals are allowed, and the most competitive teams are filled with players from the NHL and European leagues.
The skills and experience in yesterday’s Gold Medal game were a lot closer to even between the two teams. If there were miracles to be found, they were probably related to the number of times Canadian shots missed an open net or how the puck slid barely wide of the post after deflecting off Hellebuyck’s incredible flailing stick.
Did the US team survive being shorthanded 5-on-3 by their skillful penalty kill, or did Canada fail to execute their power play opportunity?
I don’t mean to take anything away from Team USA and their winning the Gold Medal. It was absolutely thrilling. I have no doubt it will become one of the greatest life-long memories in the lives of all involved. I just don’t think it’s on the same level as what that team in 1980 pulled off.
I’m going to miss the adrenaline of the excitement and anticipation of national team competitions. Good thing I only need to wait 108 days for the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament to begin.
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Relative Something 