The Ole Ball Game

Baseball is a game that is played from 5years old all the way up and through adulthood. Take away the business end, big contracts,player ego, and steroids. Take way all the scandals through baseball history.These are the things that the game of baseball aren't.

These things are what baseball is supposed to be: It is cotton candy, a bag of shelled peanuts,score cards,

kids with their baseball gloves waiting for a foul ball. Baseball is listening to the game on the radio with someone like Ernie Harwell drawing the game in your mind,                       

it is the applause when Nolan Ryan throws a no hitter, it is when Ted Williams hit .400 for season, it is seeing Babe Ruth run the bases after one of his many home runs. You know what really makes Baseball? Its the kids in little league getting up at 8am on Saturday to play t-ball, machine pitch, kid pitch, all the way up. The grass has dew, the sun is coming up starting to dry the infield, coaches are marking the diamond, parents are setting out their chairs with a cup of coffee,teams are warming up getting ready to play a game America loves.Then the Umpire calls "Play Ball".  Then for the next 1hour and half, the kids play their hearts out between the lines. That's the moment everyone is ready for.
 This is Baseball.

                                                           

Hatchet Continued

Sanding this down has taken a lot of elbow grease, I had to use the Dremel to try to get the charring deep in the wood.

 This was the good side, I sanded it down just to kind of match up the wood.
    I'm at the point where I could continue to work on it to get it perfect or I can be happy with where it is. I would like to get the blade sharp again. I'm also undecided on whether or not I want to leave the handle be or stain it. So I am not quite sure if I am ready to call this done or not.                                      

Hatchet Progress

This is where I left off.


So I got back out to the garage today and worked on the hatchet. I finally got a wire wheel for the grinder. This is what I got done......

I don't think I can get out all the pitting but it sure has brightened up. I also put the blade on the grinder and it is somewhat sharper than before. I really need to get the grinding wheel bolted down so its not so hard to to work with. So then I started on the handle.....

You can see its turned a lighter color, and see the grain in the wood again. This is going to take a lot of elbow grease.

U.P Trip

Well, I took Jeff up to the U.P again. This is the third time I've taken him up there, he's the one the one that has been asking. We cut down some trees, burned some old brush for Grandma and did some shooting with our brand new .22. This is a sweet little .22 Marlin semi-auto with a scope. I am teaching Jeff how to respect the gun, handle it and take care of it. He's an enthusiastic learner.
Trying the new saw

Shooting the new gun. Yes left handed talk about backward.


The fire, this burned for 8 hours.

I did some more reading. The thing that I found interesting this time was, in Roosevelt's Junior year of college instead of heading south for spring break, He goes to the Northwoods of Maine. Yes there's snow and its cold. Then he gets with a couple of guys (Cutler and Emlen) and decides to climb Mount Katahdin (5,268 ft). They tired out half way and quit. T.R soldiered on and made it! I forgot to mention that they canoed 20 miles just to warm up!
I will add more later cause I knocked down about 60 pages of this book and there are things to report but I don't want to over kill it. I am going to just stick to the action stuff or things I find extraordinary in ways of his outdoor activity. Oh I forgot to mention, sometime later the doctor told him he had a heart condition and to cease strenuous activity. Needless to say, he does not follow doctors orders. In fact he set up a trip with his brother Elliot to go hunting through the midwest.

A Book I'm Reading

For the last couple weeks, I have been working on the book "The Wilderness Warrior-Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America." This is about his interest in birds, animals, and preserving America's beauty. The one thing that impresses me early on is his interest in taxidermy. At age 10, he was collecting birds for his museum. He had detailed records of birds, that impressed some naturalists of the time. He looked up to Audubon. I am troubled to learn that at that age and into his teens he also study and admired Darwin. I am not so sure his belief in evolution held up over time, or maybe I am hoping it didn't.
The one thing about T.R, is that he was a man of action. After he was beat-up by bullies at Moosehead Lake, he made sure it never happened again. He immediately started working out, and engaging in strenuous activities. He never let asthma hold him back.
Anyway, that is enough for now. But for being an autobiography, as with all the Roosevelt novels I've read, its just like reading an novel..........Stayed tuned for more.