Indian summer

Checking in ...

The last week or so went by in a bit of a daze. Mega amounts of baseball, at least compared to the rest of the season, when there frankly wasn't a lot on TV. Not the teams I was interested in, anyway.

But this year the Milwaukee Brewers made it into the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, so I was honor-bound to watch as much of them as I could (notwithstanding the fact that I'm not as much into baseball as I used to be. Hockey has taken over ... but the Brewers in the playoffs change all that temporarily).

How long has it been since the Brewers were in the baseball post-season? So long ago that I missed most of that World Series for two reasons. (1) My wife and I were taking childbirth classes at a local hospital, because she was pregnant with David. (2) We didn't have a VCR yet. It was the 1982 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. This was back in the days of Betamax vs. VHS. You don't know what a Betamax is?

Anyway, this year, the Brewers were eliminated by Philadelphia in four games, with the final game on Sunday. I didn't expect them to win; they faced very long odds. I only wanted one thing: for them to last longer than the media darling Chicago Cubs. And they did--the Cubs were defeated by the L.A. Dodgers in three straight, the night before. So I was happy about that.

I'll probably watch more of the baseball playoffs. But hockey season starts on Thursday night, and that's my No. 1 now. So let's just say I will be greatly distracted.

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Meanwhile, I'm wondering about how long the high school football season will go. Long-time readers know I have gone to the state championship game for the last four games--and our team won the Michigan state title last year. This year, I thought I wouldn't have to do that. Too many star players had graduated.

But guess what? It's six games into the season, and the team really hasn't been challenged so far. Last Friday, as temperatures dipped into the upper 20s, they played their biggest rival, in a town 30 miles away--and won 46-6. It wasn't close.

It's getting colder now, and the players' breath was steaming late in the game ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Grid-steamy-10-08.jpg[/IMG]

Earlier, I expected them to make the playoffs and last a few games. Now I have to adjust that projection. They are looking mighty strong, and my post-season may last longer than I first expected. Will I really have to make that 500+-mile drive down to visit my son over Thanksgiving and then the state title game on Friday morning?

Three weeks are left in the regular season and then the playoffs start. I won't worry about it. It's completely out of my hands. It's just that I would like to spend Thanksgiving at home for once. After all, it's been five years since I last could.

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I have had a writing project in mind, which would have appeared here, this week. But I think I'm going to put it on hold until next year. It had to do with that trip to the pagan equinox ritual recently. During the trip, I visited a small city that was the site of a major disaster, the most deadly fire in U.S. history. And I bet you have never heard about it.

But time is tight this week--we are working on one of our many special editions each year, and I need to get some stories written. Also, I don't have all the photos I want to help tell the story. I got a few during my visit, but just some of them. This story, I think, has to wait for another day. Or another year. Long enough for me to write it up right.

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I covered a cross-country meet on Monday. It rained for most of the day, and while the rain had stopped an hour before the race, it was still cool and damp and breezy. The seasons are definitely a-changing up here.

But then a front went through, with rain, and temperatures are now forecast to be well above normal for the rest of the week. Highs in the upper 60s. Beautiful mild autumn days. Indian summer.

There's a famous old cartoon by John T. McCutcheon, [URL="http://www.tkinter.smig.net/Chicago/InjunSummer/"]"Injun Summer,"[/URL] that appeared in the Chicago Tribune over a hundred years ago. About an old codger spinning tall tales to a boy while they are raking leaves in the fall. I always think about that this time of year.

Have you ever seen it? Click the link and you will.

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One other thing to mention: Last Saturday, we went to the local animal shelter, to look at the cats. We saw several that we liked. We have been talking about them since. Maybe we will make a return visit fairly soon.