Entropy

The process of something progressing from a high state of organization to chaos has been demonstrated in my back yard. In 2002 I built a small goldfish pond in the back yard. It had two levels with a waterfall connecting the upper and lower ponds. It had goldfish and flowers. It had clear water and was pleasant to sit beside and listen to. Here's a picture of our infant pond.



The following year, I added a G scale train that travelled around the pond and over a bridge, across the pond. There were a few more plants, especially aquatic plants, and lots more rocks. The water was still clear, the waterfall did not leak, and now we could play with trains. We even had lighthouses representing two of my favorite Chesapeake Bay lighthouses. And we had frogs.


Over the next few years the waterfall sprung a leak; the top pond stagnated because water could not be circulated through it. The Lily pad did very well for itself, as did the rest of the aquatic plants. The Terran plants, especially the weeds, also enjoyed their time in our yard. We acquired a snapping turtle, and a lot more frogs. The trains stopped working and the track was taken up, although the bridge remained as a decoration. The little ecosystem became self-sufficient; I even stopped feeding the fish because they didn't more food than the little pond provided. The snapping turtle ate some fish, which spawned to replenish their numbers. The frogs had plenty of bugs that grew in the stagnant part of the pond. However, without any external input, Entropy ruled. I had lost my pond.

I couldn't take it any more. I spent the day up to my knees in pond scum. I pulled out all the plants, which were absolutely everywhere. I had to cut the Lily pad into pieces just to get it out of the water, it weighed so much. The kids and I picked up every rock, removed the upper pond, shoveled dirt to re-design the landscape, chopped, pulled, yanked, and broke our backs removing weeds. Then, we put it all back together, not quite as good as new, but a lot better than Entropy would have it. We got a new waterfall. We kept the bridge, the lighthouses, small parts of the old plants to start new ones, the fish, the frogs, and even the snapping turtle. The water is not clear yet, but at least the pump is working, so maybe the little particle filter will help clarify it. Some days, that shower feels really good.

64 Days?

Can you believe it's only 64 days until the next kid is due to arrive? I can't. Time flies.

62-3-3

As best I can figure by going back to all the tournaments Kenzie has played in, that's the regular season record of the Lake Shore Lightning.

The softball season culminated in a fantastic battle of the titans when LSL met their arch-rivals, the Phiadelphia Spirit. After beating the Spirit 6-0 in a preliminary game on Saturday, the final showdown came in the championship game on Sunday afternoon. Everyone contributed to get us to this point but since this is my little piece of the Internet, I have to take a moment to extol the performance of my little #4. After a couple of scoreless innings, where both teams had runners in scoring position, but failed to cross the plate, Kenzie sent a one-out line drive into center field, earning her a single. Coach Terry gave her the "half-way" sign, meaning she should take a good lead, and she had permission to steal if the opportunity presented itself. To Kenzie, this meant she was going to attempt yet another delayed steal. I lost count of how many of those she's made this year. Anyway, after the next pitch, Kenzie took her lead, and following a lazy throw back to the pitcher, she took off. I thought she was a goner because her lead was very short, but the pitcher paid absolutely no attention to Kenzie. By the time the pitcher realized Kenzie was stealing, she had to make a hurried throw to second base that wound up in center field. This prompted Kenzie to take third, leading to another errant throw that hit the fence. And yes, Kenzie came home to score the first run of the game. All on a delayed steal. Very cool. The Spirit proceeded to get two runs to take the lead and a few innings later, we were starting to bite our fingernails. In the bottom of the sixth, our girls managed to scrape out two more runs. I am ashamed to say I don't remember who scored those runs, but I did have a ball fly at my chair at one point, knocking my drink off my little table and I know that's when the third run crossed the plate. I was in the process of getting out of the way of the stray ball and failed to see who was running the bases. After Ali shut down the Spirit in the top of the seventh, the Lightning emerged as champions once again. This kind of thing makes up for spending two nights a week at softball practice, spending 14 of the last 15 weekends in different towns and parks, spending lots and lots of money on softball stuff, etc.













Well, another thing that makes it worth it is the camaraderie that develops between the girls. There is a mutual respect that grows into friendship off the field. Between games the girls from both teams get along like they've been friends forever, even though they live in two different cities in two different states. Even after the heated battle of that final game, here's how they ended up, awaiting the trophy ceremony. The Spirit player, the coach's daughter, sitting next to Kenzie in this picture actually made someone else move over so she and Kenzie could sit together.

In two weeks, we head to Ohio for the NSA Eastern World Series. The Spirit will be there, too.

Oh, and just a note about the 62-3-3 record. All three losses and one tie were to the Spirit, one tie was with the Mystics, and the other with the DE Magic. So, the only team to ever beat us was the Spirit, with whom we share identical records, 3-3-1. I don't think two top teams could be much more evenly matched, although the Spirit did lose to teams other than us.

Who's On First?

After thirteen straight weekends of softball we get this coming weekend off. It'll be nice to do something different. Of course, we're still travelling, heading to "the Shore" for a day of kayaking.

For anyone who just can't live without a dose baseball/softball, here's my favorite tribute to the sport. I still laugh at this.

MD State Champions

The Lightning took home their tenth first place trophy today. They won the USSSA Maryland State tournament for the seventh straight year. Kenzie only helped them win the most recent one, but at least she stepped out of her hitting slump.


On Saturday, against her former team (Bayside Breeze), Kenzie went 3 for 3, including a double and a couple rbi's. In the championship game on Sunday, she got things started with a double in the first inning, scoring the first run of a 12-0 rout. The game ended by slaughter rule after only two and a half innings. We didn't need to bat in the third inning!


The whole team played awesome today; everybody was hitting, and the defense didn't allow a single run to be scored in either game. By my count, the Lightning outscored their opponents 39-4 in four games this weekend.


Here's to the champs!

Baseball's Done

Connor's baseball team had the best record in their leagure for the regular season. They didn't fare quite so well in the end-of-season double elimination tiurnament. After coming back through the loser's bracket after a disappointing preiliminary game, they arrived at the championship game the hard way. They were ahead for the first half of the game; then the rain came. First a drenching that temporarily halted the game. Then, after a short re-start, prolonged lightning and thunder that postponed the continuation of the game until the next day. The guys played hard the first day, and probably would have pulled out the victory. They just couldn't maintain that level of play and entusiasm for a third day in a row.

Coming from the loser's bracket, they had to play several games in a very short period of time, using up too many pitches for our top pitchers. Unlike in softball, Little League baseball has a strict pitch count and pitchers get used up very quickly in a multi-game week. On the bright side, Connor got to pitch in the last game of the year. He did very well, allowing no runs, but leaving a couple guys on base that eventually got home to tie the game up. Connor pitched a lot last year, but he didn't want to do it this year, until his coach had little choice to put him on the mound.

Anyway, they wound up with the second place trophy and that's not bad. Next year, Connor moves up to the next age group, Junior Boys (13-14). It's good to see him excited about baseball again.











Here's Connor pitching, before the rain came.









Here's the rainbow that appeared before the re-start.

Here's Connor and his trophy, another one that can go on the trophy shelf.

Have I Been That Busy?

I feel just terrible. Two weeks ago, the twins had their First Communion. I just noticed the pictures are still on my camera! I am still pressed for time, but I need to at least post some

pictures. Here's Tay and Ty all dressed up, the whole crew, and some presents.