And the Games go On

View of the GORC Pirates Bench

Although the Baltimore Orioles did not play baseball last evening, the GORC Pirates took the field for their third game in five days! It is a tough and demanding schedule--no practices to work on fundamentals, just game after game. 

It has been a string of tough games. Thursday the game was shortened because of lightening, Saturday the team dropped a close 3-2 game when the opposing team scored two critical runs in the bottom of the 6th inning. Last evening was a long, almost two-hour affair played in bright sunlight that resulted in a demoralizing loss by more than 10 runs. Ugh!

Me working with the Infielders 

The boys get a break and we finally get a practice on Thursday. There is so much to work on the hard part will be selecting the truly important fundamentals that need to be addressed. For instance, base running. Last evenings game saw our team victimized by a double-play on a pop-fly that could easily have been a triple play except we already had one out. In reality it should have been an infield fly rule situation. And then there was the ground ball home run! 

This is where baseball is played and skills are learned--in the trenches! I love the dust of the infield and the short outfield.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - May 4, 2015

1. May the fourth be with you! Smile, it is Star Wars Day!

2. My favorite foreign holiday is tomorrow--Cinco de Mayo! It is interesting that both of my favorite foreign holidays involve the French.

3. And so summer begins! The pool is open--bring on Memorial Day. 

4. Seven of the next ten days are projected to have high temperatures above 80 degrees! Yay!

5. Responsible dog owners know to pick up the poop. I read an article about excessive dog poop on a mountain near Aspen, Colorado, where dog owners are not cleaning up after their pets. It is call Smuggler's Mountain. 

6. The curfew is lifted in Baltimore! That doesn't mean that life has returned to normal. 

7. As the home team in an away stadium this weekend the Orioles took two out of three from Tampa! They head to New York to relive the excitement of the 1969 World Series beginning tomorrow against the Mets. I hope Baltimore wins this time.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Surprise--The Pools is Open

The Pool is Open

This is a late day edition of my blog because I didn't get one done earlier. 

When I woke up this morning, opening the pool was not in the plan for the day. 

I did expect to play a round of golf and spend the afternoon doing projects around the house.

When I returned home after playing a good, for me, round of golf, the temperature was heading for 80 degrees and the view in the house was that today was the day to open the pool. 

Ugh! Really? But it was still before noon and there was plenty of time to get the project completed--and so we began. With incredible enthusiasm the cover was removed and the real work began.

The reward for a long hot day's work? Burgers on the grill.

The pool was actually in pretty good shape and the entire attitude in the house is that summer has actually begun!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Sunlight on the Green Leaves

From the Back Deck

Looking out my window today as the day dawns, I am enjoying the green. I still remember how bare the trees were just a few weeks ago. They have filled out with leaves to catch and filter the light.

The sight is something I want to etch into my mind. 

As I was landing in Baltimore returning from Denver the other afternoon, I looked out the airplane window and saw the trees--they were full of leaves. Just two weeks earlier the leaves were barely visible as I was returning from my trip to Salt Lake City. On the areas surrounding Baltimore, the trees are everywhere and surround the houses in many neighborhoods. 

There is something peaceful about the trees that fill in the spaces around the houses. People sitting next to me on the place remarked about the number of trees in the area. Denver has some trees, but mostly open fields and spaces.

I enjoy the green, and I know that the leaves are not fully deployed yet--soon they will envelop my yard and provide and amazing screen of privacy for the summer.

Next weekend is pool opening weekend! Finally the cover will come off and hopefully the last throes of winter will be past. Outdoor living will begin! 

And the trees will provide privacy, shade, and quiet broken only by the chirping of the birds.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Out the Hotel Window - Denver, Colorado, April 2015, Part 2

Out my Hotel Window
April 29, 2015

I was reviewing the post about the scene out my hotel window and I realized that it was a pretty gloomy view. 

Over the past two mornings, however, I was treated to am such more exciting sight out of the window. In the first, the early morning rays of the sun cast long shadows across the land, but the sky is clear and the day is dawning with great promise. 

Pikes Peak
April 30, 2015

In the second,  taken a bit later in the morning, Pikes Peak is in view to the south. The snow capped peak was majestic on the horizon rising almost 9,000 feet above the plains well to the south to an elevation of 14,114 feet.  It is sad that my cell phone camera could not capture the spectacular beauty of the scene that greeted my eyes. 

Out my hotel window the scene changed every day. I'm glad that I took a few moments each day to view the world as the day began.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Would it be a Game, If no Fans were allowed?

April 29, 2015 White Sox vs Orioles Game
Without Fans

Yesterday the Orioles defeated the White Sox 8-2 in a MLB record setting game. The stadium was empty--no fans were allowed to attend the game due to the unrest in Baltimore. 

A game without fans? The players demonstrated that baseball is our national pastime whether fans are allowed or not. Further--this weekends home series between the Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays has been moved to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, where despite not being in Camden Yards, the Orioles will be the home team for statistical purposes. the series promises to set records for low attendance as it it much too far for the Orioles faithful to make last minute plans to attend. 

Yes, it was still a game. This weekend's series will still be games as well--it is just that the local fans do not get the enjoyment of seeing our team in person.

Buck Showalter
Baltimore Orioles Manager

I was having trouble understanding understanding the decision to play a fan-less game, so I did some digging. Turns out, it was because the Orioles did not want to dilute the police and security forces protecting the city to be at the game for crowd control. I hadn't thought about it like that before, but it does take quite a large security force to keep us all safe when we attend sporting events.

Buck Showalter, quoted by MLB.com, had one of the classy comments of the day:

 "Everything in life, this too shall pass. Something's bad if you keep repeating it. We hope to take out of it a starting point for our city." 
-- Orioles manager Buck Showalter on the magnitude of the game

-- Bob Doan, writing from Denver, Colorado

Out the Hotel Window - Denver, Colorado, April 2015

Looking at Denver April 27, 2015

Yes, I am at a hotel near Denver looking south across the plains to the mountains and the ever increasing urban sprawl. 

It is amazing how different the scene can seem separated by a day. 

Looking at Denver, April 28, 2015

Even separated by a day, however, the effects of the drenching rains can still be seen in the huge puddle in the overflow parking lot. Both images were taken in the morning, just about sunrise. One day dawned rainy and cold with only the promise of more rain all day. The next dawned cold but clear and ended with sunny and bright skies.

From the ViewHouse Restaurant
Centennial, Colorado
April 28, 2018

Yesterday's ending was far more spectacular than I would have imagined. I enjoyed dinner at the ViewHouse Restaurant in Centennial, Colorado, and was treated to the spectacular sunset as I was leaving. I could not pass up taking a quick image of it--the colors were fantastic and placed an exquisite exclamation point on the end of the day.

Today promises to be an even better day!

-- Bob Doan, writing from Denver, Colorado

Unrest, Anger and Baltimore Burns

It pained me to see my home city of Baltimore figure so prominently in the news during the past few days. 

It obviously was not for something good and it has become almost a media circus not unlike a feeding frenzy.

I am saddened for the good people of the region that are being held hostage and viewed in a bad light by a few thugs who have taken a valid and important point and protest and moved it into the theater of the absurd.

A man, Freddie Gray, is dead. Riots and vandalism do nothing to bring the people who killed him to justice and they further do nothing to promote increased awareness of the causes for which the peaceful marches were held. I was encouraged that his family called for peace and also noted that the violence tarnishes the memory of their son and brother.

I watched CNN most of last evening in total disbelief that the city that I most closely associate with my home with was being held hostage by violence for the sake of violence. I was appalled that one of the targets of the violence was a newly constructed senior center--which was constructed by a church to serve the people of Baltimore. 

I was appalled that the Mayor of Baltimore failed to act proactively.  I was, however, encouraged that the newly elected Governor was ready to respond within seconds of the request for help to stem the violence with the National Guard.

I believe there is a problem that needs to be investigated and reviewed, but it cannot be accomplished amid the destruction and unrest of the moment. 

Pray for peace. Work for healing and help rebuild the damaged areas.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Denver, Colorado

Monday Musings - April 27, 2015

1. Weekends pass too quickly. There always seems to be more things to do than time to do them.

Victory Cheer

2. Flying is becoming like being packed in a cattle car. Has anyone flown on a plane lately with an open seat next to them?

3. Although I missed the game because I was at a wine fest, the Pirates, Jax's baseball team, won their first game in dramatic walk-off fashion! It is fun to be coaching in a league where the scores actually matter.

First Tee at Carroll Park
April 26, 2015

4. I got to play nine holes of golf yesterday morning. It was nice to be out on the course. I played miserably--but that is golf. I'll do better next time. I am learning more and more every time I venture out. Weirdly, yesterday I did best on the par 3's--they usually are my toughest holes. 

5. Prayers and support are needed for the people of Nepal after the earthquake and aftershocks. 

6. I just have to write it--the 18 runs the Orioles scored yesterday are the most in a single game since 2006. I hope they didn't use up the whole weeks allotment of runs.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Denver, Colorado

Waiting at the Door

Dogs have a way of expressing themselves even without words. 

Yesterday, while we were stopping by Patrick and Tina's house to drop off Makayla for a play day, two overly rambunctious dogs--Chewie and Warren, had to be separated from the larger group.  Realizing the error of their ways, they stood at the door hoping be reunited with the group. To no avail. Makayla was sitting next to me, quietly enjoying the respite from her high energy companions.

But Chewie and Warren were clearly repentant.

Really? Is that anthropomorphism? I think so. 

But they were cute standing at the window hoping to be allowed to rejoin the group. 

Another day in the life of a dog.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD