K lost his second tooth today.
The wrestling team worked a food stand at the Akron Aeros game. We made over $100. I am not sure the total, but not too bad. We have 4 more times to earn $$$.

Me and K before one of his games.

Sorry again. I try not to go so long without writing things down. It just seems something is going on every night.

Recap of the week:

Saturday: Mogadore boys team finished ahead of Rootstown! We did not win any events, but did manage to score in most of the events. I went to the "post meet" gathering. We talked about the pros and cons of the first team/second team awards the coaches must go back to Rootstown and vote on.

Sunday: Akron Aeros game. We had 7 people working. We need to get 10 and we should have that next time.

Monday: K had a game. K has changed his swing. I am not sure why, but he is now doing a check swing. I will need to work on that. He could be getting more power in his swing.

Tuesday: Best day of the year, weather wise. It was 85. I mowed the yard and tried to straighten up where the stumps used to be. I will be rented a tiller soon and getting the yard ready for the barn.

Wednesday: What a difference a day makes. A storm front went through in the middle of the night. I was awake most of the night, only J made his way into our bed. The temp dropped into the 50's. The district track meet was held at Norwayne HS. It rained on and off most of the 7+ hours we were there. We managed 1 point. Zack Trainer was 8th in the shot. We will have chances to score tomorrow night. I doubt we will have anyone or relay team advance.

Thoughts on the Cavs: I actually watched 2 games so far in the series with NJ. I hate pro basketball. Give me the NCAA any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Thoughts in the Tribe: There are some in the national media that think the tribe can make it to the World Series. Are they kidding. This is Cleveland. Nothing good happens here in sports. The pitching is ok. The closer has 2 blown saves where he was one strike away from the save. I watched him give up a hit and homerun to tie the game on Sunday. Then the next 2 guys get hits and then a 3 run home run to win the game for Oakland.

That is enough for now,

Bayou

I am sorry I have not blogged in a few days.

Monday: It was golf night. I shot a 44. I did hit some good shots tonight. It was only 4 shots better than week 1, but it felt better. I birdied 7. I hit a monster drive, good 3 wood across the water. My pitch shot was 15 feet from the cup. I hit the putt!

Wednesday: Day one of the PTC Championship. We did not advance as many as we thought we should. The Mog coaches ran the girls discus. We missed most of the first part of the meet.

Today: Mogadore hosted the JR High PTC County Division Championship. It got off to a rocky start. Some of the coaches we upset that we changed the format from what was sent out. The coaches meeting took alot longer than it should. It got heated. In the end, the "games committee" (me and Rich) have the right to change the format. It went alot quicker than a high school meet. Here is the link to the results: http://baumspage.com/track/ms/ptc/county/res07.htm

Tomorrow: We will be at Ravenna for the high school PTC meet.

I missed Kent's game on Wednesday night and tonight. I feel bad about missing these things. But Coach Tom is doing a good job with the kids. I will be there Monday for the game.

Have a good weekend,

Bayou

Thursday: The track team did ok at Dalton. I spent most of the night talking to Jerry Somerville while watching the relays. Our best finish was in the shot and disc. Both teams finished in 2nd place. The weather was beautiful.
Friday: My tooth is hurting more and more each day. T tried to call Dr. Cohen, but he is not in til Monday.
Saturday: We were at Avondale. We did not look as good as the other night. We need to continue to work on defense and backing each other up. Kent hit the ball pretty well. He is practicing with his own tee in the backyard. Grandma picked up the kids so T and I could go to Prom. Prom was held at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was a good time.
Sunday: We had K's birthday party today. It was a wonderful weather day. The kids played nice together. K got plenty of gifts, but he did get his bike. It is a tad big for him now, but he will grow into it in no time.
I have golf tomorrow. The weather should be nice. I hope to play a ton better than last time.

5 weeks of school left!

Bayou

Yesterday, I received an email from United about a flight number change. So, I went into their website to copy down the new information. I noticed they changed B's seat assignment. They moved her 3 row behind us. I called their 800 number 2 different time and no one could help move her back to her original seat because the plane is full. Today, I called one more time. Brian at United was able to "open" a couple of seat together and move me and B a couple of rows in front of T, K, and J. I am amazed by fact Brian was able to help me, when no one yesterday was willing to help.
We ran against East Canton last night. We were able to get the meet in before the rains came. There was heavy rain and thunderstorms at bedtime. We even got pea-sized hail. We will be at Dalton tomorrow for the Toby Grimm Relays. It is the "funniest" meet of the year.

Keep on Smiling, Bayou

Tonight was K's first t-ball game. We played at Navarre. There were some good plays and some bad plays. We don't have another practice for almost 2 weeks, but we will play 4 games between now and then. K did ok. He made good contact with the ball when he batted. When we got home, he went to the back yard and hit off his tee. He still needs to work on his fielding. He played first base and right field. One of the rules of the league has everyone playing every position during the season. Coach Tom has each kid playing 2 positions per game. Tom is doing a good job. He does ask for the coaches' opinion. We play again Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
The rest of this week is busy. We ran at East Canton tomorrow and Dalton on Thursday. A jr high meet is squeezed in on Wednesday.
I ordered our shed today. We are buying a 10x14 shed. I need to get the site ready. I have 3-5 weeks til it is ready. The shed is built in pieces and put together on site. We will need to paint it when they are done building it. I would like to have this done by the time we leave for Texas. Speaking of Texas, I purchased the 10 game flex package for the Colts. We are going to see them play on the 16 and 17 of June.
B is sick. Nana took her home from K's ballgame. She won't go to school tomorrow. Her temp is 102. T will take her to the dr tomorrow.

Good Luck to the Eagles (k's team sponsor is the local Eagles' club.)
From the Bayou

What a night last night. It was a cool damp night for the Wildcat Invitational. I managed to stay dry, of course I was in the press box. We had some problems. Mo Raddish said he had everyone for the finish line. Well, we did not have anyone and Dave Ross recruited the stands for workers. Then I was told I had to let coaches make substitution for the races. I was not happy. I gave all coaches until 8pm Thursday night to turn in their lineup. But Rich told me I had to let them make changes. It wasn't to bad only a couple of changes that did not figure in the scoring. The results can be found at http://baumspage.com/track/mogadore/res07.htm
This morning we had t-ball pictures, then practice. It will be interesting to see our first game. The kids don't know all the basic rules. It is hard to keep their attention long enough to do some work. Jeff called during practice to fill me in on the draft. The Browns were able to draft Joe Thomas, OT from Wisconsin and Brady Quinn from ND. It had to be like Christmas for Phil Savage. The Browns traded with the Cowboys to get Brady. Jeff brought the boys over for pizza and draft watching. Ok, the kids played and Jeff and I watched the draft.
Tomorrow we are heading to Atwood to put in the dock. Tim W should be there to help out. He will be camping on the Moores old lot and sharing our dock. It will be nice to have a familiar face at Atwood since the Bates and Moores will not be there.

Til next time....Bayou Out!

Guess what happened today? Kent lost his first tooth. I was wiggling it and he moved his head and pop! He didn't even know it at first. It wont be long until the neighbor tooth is gone. I havev a feeling he will lose a bunch of teeth in the next couple of months. He had t-ball practice until the rain came.

The entry deadline for the Wildcat track meet has come and gone. I am waiting for Gary to email me the files to upload the data. I am using the school's laptop to run the meet. I do not trust our old computer. I will be glad when the meet is over. It is a lot of work, but hopefully, everyone has a good time.

The Indians are on a little winning streak. They have won 5 straight and 6 of 7 since the trip to NYC. I am glad they are off to a good start. It seems like most years they get off to a horrible start and can't recover. I hope to see them in person soon.

See you Down by the Bayou

0.5 seconds was the difference between winning and losing. The 4x400 meter relay team lost by 0.5 seconds to Rootstown. We were leading the meet 63-60 going into the 4x4. We ended up losing 65-63. There were a couple of spots we should/could have picked up points. We had a good showing against Garfield, but still lost.
Against Rootstown winners included: Kirkpatrick (1600, 3200), Bauer 300H, Green 200, and Holland 400. The 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams won. We could have picked up a couple more points in shot or disc. Trainer is getting pushed by Seymour. Hopefully this will push Trainer to work even harder. Seymour needs to work on his work ethic. He could be a 45' guy in the shot, if he worked harder and listened to coach Cat. He is a big boy and can only get better.
The weather will turn rainy for the next couple of days. Hopefully, by Friday, the sun will return.

Til next time,

Coach Bayou

Tonight was the first night of golf. I shot a 48. It was an ugly 48. I putted the ball better than I hit it with the driver. I will miss next week due to Kent's first t-ball game. The weather held out long enough. It started to rain as I was driving home. It kinda reminded me of the hail storm of 2004.
I gave the hytek disk to Anthony at school. He was able to install and run the meet manager. I hope things work right when I get the computer tomorrow. I want Gary Baumgartner to send me a "dummy" meet to run. I need to refresh my memory on the program.

Bayou out.

What a beautiful weekend. I mowed the lawn yesterday before t-ball practice. J was out "mowing" with his bubble mower. The kids are happy to be playing outside. It was in the 70's all weekend.
The t-ball team has a name: McKinley Eagles #2370. It is the one the Moores belong to. We went there once with them. The team looks ok. We have some talented players. I include K among them. We will have a couple of practices before our first game on April 30.
T and B went too a girl scout camp for their first over nighter. T said they had a good time. I hope she keeps with it.
I tried to load the hytek software on to my computer on Friday. It is not working. I will be talking to tech support tomorrow. I need to get a new copy or get this worked out. I CANT run this Friday night without. It works with baumspage. I will talk to Rich about our options. I hope we don't need to spend $200 for the software.

Pray for dry weather on Friday.
Thanks,
Bayou

We did not fair as well as I thought we would do. Zack and Steve did not score in the shot. Zack did place in the disc. Sean scored in the 3200. Our times are coming down as they should as the weather warms up. Here is the link to the results.
http://baumspage.com/track/aurora/res07.htm

The sun was out for most of the meet tonight. Woodridge adn Streetsboro invaded Wildcat Stadium. We got beat bad versus each team. However, we ran some of the best times of the year. Sean Kirkpatrick set personal bests in both the 1600 and 3200. The throwers did well against both teams. Steve Seymour stepped up big tonight winning the shot put. We found out today we have a meet Thursday night at Manchester. I am not happy and neither is Gary, Jen and Dave. We all planned other things for that night. Rich forgot to put it on the schedule.

I was saddened to hear the news out of Va Tech yesterday. But we had good news today. Mrs. Muncy had a little girl today. I am sure Jeff is very happy to welcome a little girl. I am sure she will have him wrapped around her little fingers.

See you next time Down by the Bayou.

This was about 30 minutes of fun tonight. As you can see, Jarret got his foot stuck in the ball shot of this toy. We were on the verge of going to the ER to get it out. I tried one more time to bend his foot and slide it out. He did cry a little bit, but once it was free he was ok. He is walking fine and has just a little swelling and red mark on the top of his foot. But, we did not go to ER, thankfully.

On a happier note, we finally booked cabins for the cruise. T went over to see Jackie this morning. We are in a JS and mom and dad in a D1 balcony. Dawn booked her family in a JS about 4 door down from us. Craig called tonight and he will book his family before he leaves for MN. I think we will have even more families join us on the cruise. We all "Can't wait til '08".
We run against Woodridge and Streetsboro tomorrow. The meet will go along way to determine the PTC regular season champion. Of course that would between Woodridge and Streetsboro and we are just hosting the meet. The weather should be dry, which will make everyone happy.

Til tomorrow,

See you Down by the Bayou!

We ran at Ellet HS on Friday night. We ran against mostly city series schools. We were able to beat Kenmore. Zack and Steve placed in the shot, but Zack scored in the discus. Sean placed 3rd in both the 1600 and 3200. There are not online result available. We are home on Tuesday night and at Aurora on Friday. I will post updates latert his week.

T and the kids come up and had lunch with me at school. They even stayed for 8th grade rotation. We are in the middle of building our CO2 cars. I think they had a fun time. After school the wrestling parents and I had a meeting. I think we will be able to staff the food stands at the Aeros games. Hopefully, we will be able to raise over $1000.
I did some checking on cruises. I found an August cruise that is cheaper than the Bermuda cruise. We could save over $1100, plus get 2 more nights on the ship. I will talk to Craig about it and see what he has to say. I am pretty sure he doesn't care where and when.

See you Down by the Bayou

First, I forgot to mention, K had his first t-ball practice last Saturday. We went indoors for practice at a local church. The weather was cold and snowy outside, but we were warm inside. We will have 11 players. In t-ball, teams play with 10 boys in the field. There is some talent on the team and some kids ready to learn baseball. I am just a coach and not the head coach. I don't have the time to be the head coach. But, I am going to help out as much as possible.
Tonight we ran against Waterloo and Lake Center. We did not kept score against LC, because they have only 12 runners. I am ready to start keeping score against them, because we are not much bigger then them. Waterloo was stacked and will have a good season. We held them under 100 points. Sean Kirkpatrick lead the team with wins in the 1600 and 3200. He also ran the 4x800 and 4x400 relays. Jordan Douglas showed promise in the 100 and 200. He also looked good in the 400. He ran a 12.2, 25.0 and a 55.5 split in those races. Now, those times are going to get him to Columbus, but they are not bad. He does not practice with us, due to baseball. He only practices with us when it does not interfere with baseball. We did manage points in the field events. Zack Trainer and Steve Seymour scored in both the shot and discus. They are so close to breaking 40' in the shot. I think once they do that, they both could be close to 45' They still need work in the discus, but are improving. We will run at Ellet HS on Friday night. I will let know how we did here on my blog.
Here is the link to our opening meet at Western Reserve on 3/31/07
http://baumspage.com/track/wreserve/neodiv3/res07.htm

Til next time,

Bayou

Happy Birthday to me and my brother in law Tim. It snowed again last night. I never know what type of weather to expect. I have had b-days in the 80's, thunderstorms, snow, sleet and tornado warnings. I guess that is par for the course in Ohio.
It is also Easter Sunday. We got up early and the kids got baskets from the Easter bunny. We saw his tacks in the snow by our front door. We went to church and enjoyed the service. Then it was on the my parents for lunch. There was an egg hunt. It was funny seeing all the kids run around trying to find their numbered eggs. Then it was off the T's parents. Less congestion, but still a hunt for eggs and good food. I did get cupcakes at both places for my b-day. T went with her mom to the hospital to see Aunt Jeannie. She is having surgery tomorrow morning. Our prayers go out to her for a speedy recovery.
The tribe still has not played their "home" opener. A double header was called yesterday and today. There is a double header schedule for tomorrow. We will see if that games gets played. The Mariners will need to come back to Cleveland and play 2 at some point in the season.
I talked to Mom about the cruise. We believe the price for the Bermuda cruise is too high. The sail dates and prices will be released tomorrow for the Caribbean. I think we will head back to Florida to sail. There is talk of dad not going next year. I know he wants to go to Oshkosh, but we will miss him if he doesn't go with us. Speaking of Oshkosh, dad is talking about going this year. I will need to talk to him about the plans. I am thinking about taking Kent. I believe he can hold his own camping with us. We will see.

Happy Easter from the Bayou!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Today was Opening Day at Jacobs Field. Jared drove down to see the game. I was suppose to go to Opening Day in Detroit, but I went to Atlanta. I am glad he come down. However, due to snow, the game started an hour late. There was a delay in the second inning. Mike Hardgrove got the umps to delay the game with 2 out and 2 strikes in the top of the fourth. One more strike and it would have been an official game. The game was finally called at 8:41pm. The entire game will be played over tomorrow at 1:05pm. I will not be able to go due to t-ball practice.

Before I left for the game the kids colored Easter eggs. They had some fun. I am glad there was not a huge mess afterwards. We are going to have a hunt at mom's on Sunday.

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip home. Troy rode back with me. I dropped him off in Columbus. He slept most of the way home. He partied pretty hard after the game. I tried to drive about 3 hours between breaks. Thanks to the satellite radio, I did not have to try to find radio stations. I listened to ESPN radio and Blue Collar Comedy channel. I am glad I made the trip. I wish the Buckeyes could have won, but you need to be in it to win it.

We changed our cruise date to June 28, 2008 this afternoon. Jackie did everything over the phone. The price is higher than I thought, but we can change it again. We are on Explorer of the Seas in a Family Suite. There will be 7 of us in the 2 bedroom suite. We will be sailing out of Cape Liberty in NJ. I will be talking to Craig and other to see if they are interested in booking the cruise. Hopefully, we can get a small group together for the cruise.

See you Down by the Bayou.

Do you know who the person in the red shirt on the aisle? That is Jimmy Jackson former OSU great and NBA star. You cant see him, but Lawrence Funderburke(sp?) in sitting in the row in front of him. During halftime of the game I moved to Section 108 with Troy and Rick. There were 2 open seats. The picture below is from Section 108, last row. These seat were in the seats the Georgia Dome brings in for basketball games.
I wish the Buckeyes could have won the game. They had a great season. Winning 35 games is nothing to sneeze at. I am almost 100% sure Greg Oden will head to the NBA. A 10 million dollar contract is tough to turn down. The Buckeyes will have a good crop of returning players for another deep run in the tournament next season.

After the game we headed back to the hotel. A couple of player come to Troy's room. They were upset with the turn out of the game, but were upbeat about next year as well. We ended up going to bed about 3am. I was up at 6 to start the trip back to Ohio. I will post a couple of pictures of the trip tomorrow.

Bayou Out!

I made it back from Atlanta. I drove down to Mike Yost's house on Sunday night. It was a quick 3 hours to his place. I was able to get a "normal" night's sleep. I was up early Monday morning and on my way to Atlanta via I-75. I arrived at the hotel about 5pm. Troy and his friends were in the room and had a pre-game party under way. I was able to buy a ticket at near face value from a Buckeye fan. The picture below is from Section 302. The view wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. There almost was a fight between Gator fans 2 rows in front of me.

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WAY TO GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Buckeyes defeated the Hoyas 67-60. They advance to the National Championship game on Monday. I have not finalized my travel plans yet. I think I still will drive to ATL, but I am looking into flying into the ATL area. What a year the Buckeyes have had. Coach Matta has returned the Buckeyes to a national power.
Earlier today, the Wildcat track team scored 9 points at the BCWR track meet. Sean Kirkpatrick scored 8 points. The 4x100 team scored the other. However, we did better top to bottom than we did last year. We had a few guy finish 9th, just out of the money.
I will let you know my travel plans, we I figure them out.

Good Luck OSU, from the Bayou!

Hello Springtime! 75 and sunny. Too bad by Saturday it will be rainy and 50 for our track meet at Western Reserve. I am feeling pretty good about this season. We have smaller numbers, but everyone wants to work. Coach Cat is really getting the throwers into shape. I am looking forward to a good season.
How about them Buckeyes! Final Four! I talked to Rick today and see if there may be a ticket for me in Atlanta. There is a chance, if/when the Buckeyes win Saturday night, I will be in Atlanta for the Championship game at the Georgia Dome.
If I was to see the Buckeyes play and win a National Championship, it would be in my top five all time sports moments. Here is a recap of my top ten.

1. Super Bowl XXVIII. Dallas over Buffalo.
2. Mogadore over Hardin Northern. After 2 loses in the state championship game, the Cats win it all.
3. Kent State beats Alabama to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
4. Cleveland wins the AL Central in 1995. It marked the first time the Indians would be in the post-season since 1954.
5. Ohio State beats Texas A&M in 1987 Cotton Bowl.
6. World Series Game 1 in 2006. It would be higher if Cleveland was playing St. Louis.
7. Playing in the Opening Ceremony for the World Series of Golf in 1987. The Perry Band was the official band of the NEC at Firestone CC.
8. 1985 HOF Parade. The Perry Band was behind Roger Staubach.
9. Watching Nolan Ryan pitch in old Arlington Stadium in May 1991. This was with Aunt Helen and Uncle Joel.
10. Kent State losing in the Elite Eight to IU. I still hate them, but it was amazing to watch the Flashes nearly make it to the Final Four.

Thanks to Aunt Helen and Uncle Joel, Jared, Rick and Teresa, I have been able to see some amazing sporting events. As I wrote them down, there are so many events that could be in the top ten. The one-hitter in Boston. Opening Day at the Jake in 1994. The final game at old Cleveland Stadium with my parents. Mogadore's 15 point come from behind win over Badger in the district finals in basketball. Seeing Michael Jordan play. Driving 3 hours to Houston to see Ozzie Smith play in the Astrodome. Flying to Texas to see the Colts play in the CBL Championship. (That would have been a top ten event, if they would have one it all) There is still more. Does fantasy football count? The Bayou Steelers have won 3 MNFLL Super Bowls!

Til the next great sporting event, See you Down by the Bayou.

I am just waiting for the Buckeye's game to start. It is going to tip off near 10pm. Maybe Oden and the boys can be up 20+ at half and I can relax in bed for the second half.
I just wanted to jot down about going to the dr yesterday.
We did book a cruise yesterday. We are currently on Explorer out of Cape Liberty in New York. The sail date is April 20, 2008. We will change the date once the summer of 2008 dates are opened by RC. The dates look like either 6/14 or 6/28. I am not sure what type of cabin we will book. I would like the RFS with my parents, but we may go JS or even aft ocean view. Jackie at AAA will have her work cut out for her when we show up during spring break to change our cruise. Once we have a date, then we can let others know when the ship leaves and they can book their trip. I am not sure we will fly to NYC unless their is cheap airfare to NY. I dont know if we will stay before the cruise or after. But I still have 16 months to plan. Plus, Philly has a new stadium or we can take the kids to Shea. Half of the fun of vacation is planning it.

Sitting out by the dock of the Bayou!

Thank goodness spring is on Wednesday. There was snow/sleet falling all day today. It is going to get into the upper 50's by the end of the week. We are going outdoors for practice on Wednesday.
What a weekend for basketball. Ohio State escaped defeat with the OT thriller over Xavier. I have 12 of 16 teams left in the tournament. I still have all my final four teams. T is in the top 1% of all pick'em players on yahoo.com. She is winning my pick'em contest. She has 44 of 48 games correct. However, she had Wisconsin in the championship game. That will hurt her point total. I talked to my buddy Rick yesterday. He has tickets to the San Antonio Regional, with the games on Thursday/Saturday, I cant make it to them. Plus, a short notice airplane ticket will cost big $$$.

Go Bucks!

--Bayou

Let the MADNESS begin!!! There is nothing like the NCAA tournament. I first went to the tournament in 2001. I was in Atlanta for a conference. I know MSU and Temple were there, but I forget the other two teams. The next year, I went to Greenville, SC with Jared to see Kent St beat Alabama to advance to the Sweet 16. We next went to Lexington to see the Flashes lose to IU. I still hate Indiana!!!!!!We were ready to head to Atlanta for the Final Four! Last year, G and I meet Jared in Michigan to see the Flashes lose to Pitt at the Palace in Auburn Hills. Even though the Flashes lost, it still was a fun time.
My Final Four: Oregon, UCLA, UNC and Ohio State. I have to go with the Buckeyes to win it all.
We have heard that RC will start booking for the summer of 2008 on April 2. We will book our "Cant Wait til '08" cruise. It looks like we will sail from Baltimore. I think it will be fun to sail from Baltimore to Bermuda. The ship is docked in Bermuda for 30 hours or so. Hopefully, we will have a group of family and friends on the trip.

See you out by the Bayou!

Congratulations to the Miami(OH) Redhawks on winning the MAC. They beat Akron on the 3 pointer with .6 seconds left. Jared drove down the see the game. We ate dinner at Gordons in the arena. We spent about hour in the bar area. We didnt go to our seat til after the 15 minute mark in the first half. I did fell bad for Mogadore grad Melissa Horak. She is a cheerleader for the Zips. I guess they will be going to the NIT.

Look who I ran into at Gordon's. Jared used my phone for this picture. Only 4 weeks til Opening Day at the Jake!

The NCAA invited 65 teams to the big dance. THE Ohio State University go a #1 seed. They could make a nice run to Atlanta this year. Jared and I might go somewhere next weekend. I will know for sure later. This Thursday and Friday are the 2 best days of the year. 32 games in 2 days. Basketball heaven.

GO Buckeyes from the Bayou!

Only ion Ohio can you drive to work and the temp be 21 degrees and on the way hom eit be 61 degrees. It was a beautiful day today. The sun glare was bad on the drive home, but it is better than gray overcast.

This is a look at the Mogadore High School. It is just a matter of time until I get my new room. It has been 23 months since I moved out.

This was the view of the sky on March 8. Due to atmospheric conditions, contrails from airliners marked up the sky for hours. This view is just south of Mogadore. I wish I would have had my "good" camera. This is a great picture. My students will see this pictures on a test in the future.

Sports Update: Went to teh Perry-Hoover game with Mike Necko. This was the first time I saw Kenny Frease play. He was as goos as advertised. Perry won and will play GlenOak for the district title tomorrow. Kent St will get another chance to beat Akron tonight. The winner will play Miami for the MAC Championship tomorrow. Jared is coming into town for the game. It will be good to visit with him.

Tonight the family went to the Perry pool for some swimming. Jarret had a blast. He did not want to get out. Briley's girl scout troup rented out the pool, so it was not crowed. Kent was better in the pool than in Hampton Inn. He had a noodle to play with. Briley jumped off the diving board a few times.

Til next time,

See you Down by the Bayou

Welcome Leighah Hope Bracken. She was born this morning at 5:57am. She, Heather and Jeff are doing fine. She is my second neice and my parent's 10th grandchild.

Tonight was the awards dinner for wrestling. We had a good time eating and handing out awards. Everyone was there but Zach Glagola. I am not sure why he was not there. Oh well.

Welcome Leighah, From Uncle Bayou!

Happy Birthday Jear-Bear! He turns 2 tomorrow. He is starting to talk more and more each day. He says thank you anytime he gets something from me or T. He is going on the potty. We are not pushing him to use the potty, but he wants to use it in the morning and anytime we change him. Hopefully, it want we too long before he is potty trained. We had a small party at mom and dad's. He got plenty of clothes and he loved them. K even got a present. Mom got them Cars bedding for their bunk beds.
After the party Jeff and the boys come over for a couple of hours. The kids played nicely. T went to visit Heather. She ready to have the baby anytime now. It will be their first girl.

This is the view from our seats at the state wrestling tournament. It is tough to follow the action. Nine matches going on at one time. K and I had a fun time. We didnt get back home until 11:30 or so. Hopefully, next year, Mogadore will have a wrestler inaction.

See you Down by the Bayou.

The weather warmed up today. It was in the 40's and the melt off. The snow look bad. I hate seeing piles of black snow melting away. I have enjoyed this week off. Track will start on Monday. If it is track season, then it must be near the end of school.
I am slowly, check that, fastly growing sick off my classroom. In a way I cant believe I have been in there for 2 years, but i am ready to get the h*ll out of there. Moving wont happen until the end of the school. It will be a happy day when I move into my new room.
I am heading to Columbus tomorrow for the state wrestling. I will take Kent after he gets home from school. We had fun last year. Hopefully next year I will be taking a wrestler or two.

See you Down by the Bayou.

The wrestling season ended this weekend. Shayne went 2-2 and that included a thrilling 39 second pin of the #1 seed and #8 Brakeman wrestler in the state. He ended the season 32-15, not bad at all. Joe went 2-3 and placed 6th the district. He won both matches on Friday but lost 3 in a row Saturday. He needed just 1 win in the Saturday morning season to advance to the state meet. He ended up 28-13. All in all it was another step forward for the program. We will a new mat for next year, new uniforms and home matches next year. This should help the program continue to build.
Now that wrestling season is over, it is time to start thinking about March madness. Kent State will need to win the MAC to go the big dance. Ohio State is a lock, and maybe a #1 seed. They have a big game today against #2 Wisconsin. I don't think any other school has played in as many #1 vs #2 games as THE Ohio State University. They played 3 in football and now 1 in basketball.
Baseball has started spring training. I already have a few games planned. I will see 2 opening day games. I will be in Detroit for their opening game and then in Cleveland for theirs. The Labor Day trip will be "Back to the Bronx". We are taking the kids to NYC. It will be more for the kids than the adults. Years from now, they will be able to say to their kids, I was at "old" Yankee Stadium. I also will be making a trip to Texas to visit "my team" the San Angelo Colts. We will spend the weekend in San Angelo while visiting family in Fort Worth.

--Bayou

First, lets review the Presidents' weekend. We drove to T's aunt's house in Uniontown, PA. It is a 3 hour drive. We stopped at CiCi's Pizza in Washington, PA. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Uniontown. The kids loved the pool. We were able to swim Sunday night and Monday morning. We went to Amana's for lunch. She had the usual spread out for us. I mean to say, she had enough food for my family and two more families. We ended up taking home leftovers for the rest of the week. B picked Eat'n Park for dinner. We really didn't need to eat again, but it was dinner time. Amana just spoils us. We arrived home about 11pm.

Tomorrow, Joe and Shayne will wrestle at the Maple Hts District. We are staying in a hotel again this year. It is a nice reward for the kids. I booked a hotel for next week when the advance to the state meet. I also booked the same hotel for the weekend of state track. It is a nice Hampton Inn with a pool and breakfast.

Mom and dad got back from FLA OK. They had a wonderful time. T's parents are enjoying their last day in Hawaii. They will be flying home tonight. It is a red-eye flight to MSP with a stop in Portland. I am sure they are having a wonderful time.

I will check in with everyone later, Bayou

Congratulations to Joe Bailes the 103 lbs Sectional Champion. He went 3-0 with 2 pins over the weekend. Shayne Stewart also advanced with his 4th place finish. They will wrestle next weekend at the Maple Heights District. Zack Glagola and Josh Bailes finished 5th and are alternates at 145 and 152.
The snow is falling again. A clipper from Canada is handing us some more snow.
Went over and played some cards tonight. Did alright. I broke even, minus the beer money.
I received an email from mom. They are having fun aboard the ship. They will return home monday.

That is all from the Bayou tonight.

Back to school for everyone. I thought maybe we would have another day due to the cold (-6 on the drive to school), but I am glad we have one day left just in case of something crazy happening.
Joe, Josh and Shayne got seeded in the sectional tournament. They should advance to the districts next week. I dont think anyone can remember the last time Mogadore had more than one wrestler advance to districts. We may get lucky and squeeze someone else to next week.

Good Luck to all the wrestlers, from the Bayou.

Yea for me!!!!!

Yea for the kids!!!!!

My parents are enroute to Florida. They may be late, but they are on their way.

This is from last night. We still have not heard from my in-laws. I am sure they are having too much fun to call.

T served a wonderful dinner tonight. What a wonderful Valentines' Day gift. We spent this snow day like we did yesterday. The kids played outside for about an hour. It was colder today than yesterday. But the sun did come out this afternoon.

Happy V-Day from the Bayou.

I turned on the Christmas lights today. It looks like Christmas here in Ohio and it feels like Christmas vacation with all the snow days. Oh by the way, SNOW DAY #4 is tomorrow. I got the call about 8pm tonight. Again, it is nice to know ahead of time. Perry is closed tomorrow as well.

This was my breakfast this morning. T is so good to me!

Here is a picture of the kids with the next door neighbor. They spent about an hour out playing in the white stuff. I looked out a minute a go and their tracks are covered up already. I shoveled the driveway and it looks like I didnt even shovel at all. Oh well. It looks like this stuff will contiinue to fall all night.
T's parents are enroute to Hawaii. Their flights were on time and not effected by weather. The weather in Hawaii is high in the 80's and lows in the 60's.

I think it is safe to say, the Bayou has frozen over!

SNOW DAY#3

I was about to get in the shower, when the call came in. I guess flushing the ice cubes worked last night. The kids and I flushed them before we went to bed. This is because of snow. We could get 7-14" of snow. There is a good chance of another snow day tomorrow. I will cancel wrestling practice. I believe the road will be too bad for the kids to drive to school. I will call Rich and see what other teams are doing.
I am glad I went to Columbus yesterday. I had a good time. I enjoyed the sessions and the keynote speaker was really good. I got some good ideas I hope to use with the kids. I would like to go back to the ITEA convention next year. I seem to get a ton of stuff there.
We talked to T's parents and there are at the airport. It looks like the will make their flights to Hawaii ok. It may be tougher for my parents to get out tomorrow on their trip to Florida.

We finished 11th in the PTC ahead of Rootstown, Waterloo and Field. Joe placed 3rd at 103, Josh 6th at 152 and Shayne 5th at 160. We look forward to sectionals this week. The team went to see Kent State wrestle Ohio. They won 19-16.
I am heading to Columbus tomorrow to attend the etech Ohio conference. It will be interesting. I havent attended a conference like this since the last time I went to an ITEA conference. I am sure I will have fun.
This is the week both sets of parents are heading off on vacation. T's parents are heading to Hawaii and mine are heading to FLA for a short cruise.

The weather is not as cold, but still well below freezing. It does not look like any warm up in sight.

Til next time, Stay warm from the Bayou.

The Cowboys hired Wade Phillips as the new head coach. I dont think Wade was on anybody else's short list. I dont think Pittsburgh interviewed him. I don' think he was the "hot" candidate out there. I wish him nothing but the best. I want him to win a Super Bowl in Big D. It has been 11 years since they last won a Super Bowl.

It is so cold here, my car did not start this morning. I had to take the van to school. T had to take care of it. She let the car "warm up" and it started right up in the afternoon. The battery is ok, just freeze over night.

Til the Bayou warms up, see you next time.

SNOW DAY #2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I received the call about 5:30pm yesterday. The best snow days are the ones you know about in advance. I am pretty sure we will be back in school tomorrow. Current temp is -3 and wind chill -18 according to my computer.

I talked to Jared and made up our minds to head to Yankee Stadium this year for our Labor Day trip. This one is for the kids. We went to New York in 1999 for the famous 2 games, 2 stadiums, 1 day trip. Oh yea, Jared proposed to Erin on the trip as well and the second most famous quote on our trips, "It is not our Budget!" K will get to see the Devil Rays play the Yankess that weekend. I am planning on taking him to see the Rays against Cleveland as well this season.

I think the Bayou is freezing over.

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The word came right before the Super Bowl. Then, Perry and Louisville called off as well. I think just about all schools are off tomorrow. The forecast is for -20 wind chill tomorrow and it could continue into Tuesday.
Went over to Brian's for his birthday/Super Bowl party. We played cards as well. I played terrible. It was ugly. I need to start playing on-line more.

Til next time from the freezing Bayou!

Today was the day ALL the furniture arrived. The guy arrived about 10:45am. They moved and assembled the boy's bunk bed and dinner table. The couch and chair was the last to brought in. They left about 1:15. Now, T and I have to clean and staighten the house. We ate dinner at the new table.
We had a couple of inches of snow last night. I shoveled it and put down some salt. They are calling for a couple of more inches tonight into tomorrow. Maybe I will get lucky and get a snowday. We did not have one snowday last year and so far none this year.


Good night from the Bayou.

I am trying to recover from the weekend. The wrestling team was at Rootstown on Thursday and at Austintown Fitch Friday and Saturday for the Hephner Tournament. We beat Rootstown but lost to Aurora on Thursday. Shayne finished 5th at the Hephner. It was a tough tournament. There were plenty of D1 schools there and most of the wrestlers had a ton more mat time then our guys. I think everyone wreslted well, but everyone needs to improve. We had a week and a half off til we go to South Range. I have added a picture of Matt in action during the match at Rootstown.
We spent most of Sunday getting ready for the furniture to arrive. T cleaned the carpets in the boys room and part of the family room. Our dinning room table is gone as well as the dresser. Scott "Moby" Dick took our old couch. I went to high school with him. I was in Austintown when he came and picked it up. His wife nows my wife, or something like that. It will be a hectic day Tuesday with the delivery of everything.

Til next time, See you Down by the Bayou.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow......That is a teacher's favorite song this time of year. The Lake Erie snow machine is kicking up tonight. The local weather guys are saying 4-8 inches of the white stuff between 4am to 4pm tomorrow for Summit and Portage Co. If the snow falls right, then no school tomorrow.
We received a call from Ashley's Furniture today. They can deliver the furniture tomorrow, but we schedule it for next Tuesday. I will take a personal day to help move everything. Now, we have to clean and move other stuff to get ready for the new stuff.
The neighbor's house sold over the weekend. They got close to their asking price. We will watch the paper to see the final selling price.

See you next time Down by the Bayou!

The flu/dehydration bug is still flying about our house. Jarret made his second trip to the ER this morning. They gave him an IV and a popsicile. He threw up about 11:30pm and that set into motion his trip to ER. He had not had anything to eat or drink since noon. Finally about 3:30am he was allow to go home. Mom took the kids to her house and then brought them home for the bus. Once the kids were gone, T and I went back to bed. J seems to be ok this morning so far.

Til next time, See you Down by the Bayou.

Last day of the semester today. I will get new kids on Monday. Tech Ed and Yearbook are the only two yearlong classes I teach. I had a meeting today about my new classroom. The darkroom was scratched from the plans. However, since the room was already built I will use the room as a digital photography center. Our Director of Technology will install 7 new computers in the room. The darkroom and yearbook room were going to be side by side, now they are combined into one room. It will still have room for my couch and a bookshelf. I was able to take a mini-tour of the new building. This included a close look at my rooms. The storage space is a little smaller than I thought, but will work just fine. The shop area is spacious. It will take some time before I get all the tools and equipment I need, but it will be just fine for now. I still have plans for the cornhole boards as the first project. I cant wait for spring break. The Project manager still has hopes everything will be done before then. I hope so. He even thinks the parking lot in front of the school will be done before graduation. That means the old school will have to be knocked down. It should be an exciting time at MHS.

Bayou is rooting for the Saints to defeat the Bears this Sunday. I think everyone outside of Chicago is rooting on the Saints to make it to the Super Bowl.

Til next time, See you Down by the Bayou


Here is a picture of K near the old entrance to the hallway that lead to my classroom. This picture was taken in April 2005. They knocked down my classroom shortly after this picture was taken. I will post another picture of what my classroom looks like today next week.

Last night was not good for the wrestling program. We lost to Ellet and Field. Nobody looked good. We have a week til Rootstown and the Hephner Tournament. They will need it.
This is exam week. 7.5 year at Mogadore. It is truely amazing I have been there this long.
I should have posted my blog on Monday. We went back to Ashley's and purchased a dresser for me and a kitchen table and chairs. We did manage to save the shipping charge. They will deliver everything together in 2-4 weeks. I dont think there is anything else we need to buy for the inside of this house.
Phase One of the great furniture move started today. The love seat went to my parents. They will hold it til I move into my new classroom. I would like to go into my yearbook office. One of T's friends is taking the dresser. So, I had to clean it off and out. There is so much stuff I should throw away, but I cant or wont. All of my clothes from the dresser are in clothes baskets til my new one arrives. Another one of T's friend will take the couch later. This all will end within 4 weeks when everything is delivered. We ordered: kitchen table and chairs, computer table, bunk beds, 2 dressers for the boys, 1 for daddy, sofa and recliner. This is all due to the fact Santa brought us a computer for Christmas. But, since we have never purchased furniture, it is a small price to pay.
We are starting to get interest from several people about the cruise in 2008. I would love to have 15-20 people go on this cruise. We will see. I know we are going and that is that.

Til next time, See you Down by the Bayou

How easy is it to spend 2 grand or more? Ask my wife. We went fuirniture shopping today. Santa Claus brought us a computer for Christmas. We need to makes some room for it. So, follow along, the train table will move to the boy's room. The crib will come down. The boys will get bunk beds. We purchased bunk beds today. Also, the boys get matching dressers as well. The dresser they have now will return to T's parents. The space left open by moving the train table will now have the new computer table we purchased tonight. The couch and love set will be finding new homes soon. The love set will find its way to my new classroom. We are planning to donate the couch. I got the couch, loveset and chair as a gift from a co-worker at Marhofer in 1991 or 1992. We bough a recliner-sofa and recliner for the family room. They should arrive in 2 to 4 weeks.
In other big news.....J used the potty tonight. He has sat on the potty before but today he used it! I hope he keeps up using it and is potty trained soon.

That is all for now, See you Down by the Bayou!

We wrestled at Garfield tonight. So close but yet so far. We last the Kenmore match by 2 matches and the Garfield match by 1. We still need to improve in so many areas. Other than that, not much else going on. Till next time, see you down by the Bayou.

I am still recovering from Monday night. I could go on and on about what I thought about the game, but it is over and done with. All I have to say is it took a coach born in Ohio and an alumni from THE Ohio State University to win the National Championship. We finally got the new computer up and running. I took several call to get the internet working, but it is working now. Guess what? We had snow today. Not much, but it was snow. We had to go back to the fish store yesterday due to a death in the fish tank and followed by another trip today. We had our water tested and have made the needed changes and hopefully, all the fish will be ok. Til next time, See you Down by the Bayou

Thankfully, the Cowboys season ended last night. Now, I will not have to watch them play football again this season. Hopefully, Tony Romo will be more worried about being the QB of the Cowboys and not dating Jessica Simpson or Carrie Underwood.

The wrestling team did OK at Northwest. Joe and Josh Bailes placed. I would have like to see Shayne place. Bretton should be back for Garfield this week.

I heard we might have snow on Tuesday. Maybe Terry will call offf school since the Buckeyes play tomorrow night. We are heading to the Moores for the game. We will stay til halftime. The kickoff is at 8:30. I dont know why they did not play it on Saturday night. I would have rather watched the Bucks play then Cowboys. I am on record say THE Ohio State Buckeyes will win 38-28. Jared put $20 on them minus 7, in Las Vegas last week.

GO BUCKEYES

Beat the gators!

Did anyone see the Bayou Bengals beat down the Irish last week? The Bayou area is proud of them!

See you Down by the Bayou.

Back to school yesterday. Break was fun, but it was time to get back to work. We have about 100 days left of school, not that I am counting.

We booked airline tickets to Texas today. It was only $144 per person on United. That is dirt cheap!. We will fly out of Pittsburg, change planes in Chicago, and arrive in Dallas on June 12. We will return on June 20. Hopefully, the San Angelo Colts will be playing at home that week. I am not sure what fun and stuff we will do in TX, but the kids will have fun playing with their cousins.

Tomorrow the wrestling team will travel to Northwest HS. It is a 2 day tournament. We will be tested by some bigger schools. I would like to see 4 guys place in the top 4 and at least 1 more in the top 6.

The fish seem to be doing well in their new home. The kids even have a feeding schedule for them. I think we need to get some more "stuff" for the tank, but that will come in due time.

The bear is starting to say words. He told mommy "cookie" today. He can say "please", but it sounds more like "peases". He not only will smile "cheese", but give you the cheesiest smile you have seen. He is thinking about starting to go on the potty. This is a big step. I hope he catches on quickly.

Til next time,

See you down by the Bayou!

Happy New Year!

It has been a nice week around the household. We went back to the in-laws for Christmas for the cousins on T's side of the family. We went to Christie and Mike's for an evening. We also did some running around. We bought a fish tank for the kids. It is set up and waiting for the fish to move in. B spent more night away from home than home this week. She stayed with grandma and grandpa for a couple night and last night at a friends house.

We got word today that Dawn lost her baby early this morning. She was so happy on Christmas with the news and now this. I wonder if they will try again.

The wrestling team did well yesterday at Waterloo. A 2nd place, two 3rds and a fourth. Sixth place as a team, not too shaby. Hopefully, we have turned a corner and will continue to improve the rest of the year.

Til next year,

See you down by the Bayou!

Merry Christmas!

The family had a wonderful time today opening and exchanging gifts. We were up at 7:30am to open the gifts from Santa Claus. He brought us a new computer. Everyone was glad he brought it to us. Then it was off the Nana and Papa's house for the gathering of the Brackens. It was announced by Nicholas's shirt that Dawn was pregnant. She is due in late August. Then it was off on the task of unwrapping every gift in sight. When the dust settled, everyone was happy with the gifts they received. Then on to grandma and grandpa's house. Grandpa had the drinks ready when we arrived and we start off on another round of unwrapping gifts. Again, we all loved what we received.

On a side note, the Bayou Steelers won MNFFL Super Bowl VIII over the Donut Holes 70-39. It was the first time since MNFFL II that the Steelers won the big game. Congratulations to me!!!!!Now I will have to go order my Championship ring.

Til next time,

Merry Christmas from the Bayou!

What a week. There are things they cant teach you in school, and one of them is how to deal when tragedy hits your school. I did not hear about it til Wednesday morning on the radio while I was driving to school. One of Mogadore's graduates raped his ex-girlfriend, who is in one of my classes this year. She is 17, so I will not write her name. Once he left her house, he was chased by police. He ran his car off the road. Before the police could reach him, he shot and killed himself.
The school was shaken up, but relieved that she was going to be ok. She was treated and released from a local hospital the same night. She was not in school either wednesday or thursday. My prayers are with her this Christmas season. Also, my prayers go out to Doug's family. He was one of my first 7th graders I had in class as a teacher. He was always kind and polite towards me. It was truely a sad day in Mogadore.
So, Thursday had to be better right? Well, it was not on the scale of the day before, but the day was weird. I had been getting the idea from Chris Adams, Mogadore's treasurer, that we would be getting new mats for the wrestling team. Well, Rich shot that down again. I got word that Bretton was in a fight. He will be out of school for the first three days of the new year. That means he can not wrestle in the Northwest Tournament. Then Josh quit the team, saying he does not have fun anymore. So, the team went to Streetsboro and got waxed by Streetsboro and Salem. What a way to start Christmas break.
Yesterday, the coaches talked Josh into stay on the team. We had a team meeting and got something cleared up. Hopefully, thing will be better for the Waterloo Tournament next week. After practice I did finish Christmas shopping.
Tonight, we are going out with the Yosts. We will meet them somewhere near Chapel Hill. It should be fun. Also, we are the two teams left in the MNFFL Super Bowl VIII. It would be the Donut Holes' first championship or Bayou's third. We will have a fun night.

Merry Christmas from the Bayou

Its beginning to look a little like Christmas......NOT. It is nearly 60 degrees again today. THe mild weather has been with us most of the week.

The wrestling team faired well at the Hornet Holiday Classic. We finished 6th as a team. Joe Bailes, Josh Bailes, Shayne Stewart, Zack Glagola and Phil Everett all placed in the top 4. We will battle Streetsboro and Salem on Thursday.

We are going to put up Christmas decorations today. I would like to have them up for a nice long time, but Jarret's little hands would get them. Next year we will be able to have them up longer.

We are also looking into a cruise next year. It would be on Carnival. However, we are running into issues with the cruiseline. Most of the ships only allow no more than 4 per room and those rooms are the pricer suites. The good price on the cruise would be offset by booking multiple rooms.

We probably will wait til our "08 Crusie" for our next cruise adventure.

What happened to winter? It was back into the upper 50's yesterday and today. The 8 day forecast does not have 1 day in the 30's. Santa might have to use a delivery truck this year instead of a sleigh.

The wrestling team is at Malvern Hornet Holiday Classic this Saturday. Last year, Bretton, Shayne and Josh all placed. We should have those 3 plus Joe place. Zach and Zack might make some noise. The coaches should be busy going from mat to mat.

B and I are going around about homework again tonight. T has a dinner tonight, so she is missing out. B doesnt want to do the homework for me. T gets to help her in the morning. Most days she wont do her homework until I get home. I dont understand her at times. She will fly off the handle when she doesnt get her way.

Anyways, until next time,

See you down by the Bayou

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog. I wish I could update this blog at school.

I did manage to attend all 6 state championship games last weekend. Keith did not attend 1, so I have that hanging over his head. He will hear about this all next summer. I did save some $$ along the way. I bought a ticket to the D4 game ($7) and 2 tickets to the D6 game and 1 to the D2 game for $25. I paid for parking at PBTS for the first game ($3) but not at Fawcett or the night game at PBTS. I sold my extra D6 ticket ($7), so day one cost me only $28 for 3 games and parking. Saturday was even cheaper. I paid to park at Fawcett for the early game ($3). A guy gave me a ticket to the D5 game. I sat with someone I meet walking to the stadium. He had a group of friends to sit with, so I joined them. He ended up giving me tickets to the D3 and D1 games. I paid for parking at PBTS ($3) for the afternoon game. I avoided the pay lots for the night game back at Fawcett. So, I spent $34 and tickets and parking, and $6 on food....$40 for 6 games, not too bad.

The wrestling team finally had a meet this week. We wrestled at Waterloo on Thursday. The weather turned bad on Thursday but we had school. The team lost to Woodridge but beat Waterloo on a tie-breaker. Zack Kittle pinned his kid from Woodridge in his first ever wrestling match.

The team was at Conventry on Saturday. The beat Conventry and Ellet. 3-1 on the year....not toobad. The junior high was at Northwest Tournament. Joe Scarlaro placed 4th.

The Buckeyes finally know the Gators will be in Glendale, AZ on Jan. 8th. Good Luck Bucks!

Til next time, hopefully sooner than later,

See you down by the bayou.

Winter starts tomorrow, but the preview is tonight. The temp has been in the 60's all week, until shortly after 3pm today. The temp is dropping and the wind is picking up. The forcast includes thunderstorms, rain, ice and snow over the next 48 hours.'

The state football finals start tomorrow. There are 3 games tomorrow and 3 games Saturday. The change in weather will effect how the games are played. I will be at all 6 games. I will be able to rub it in Big Keith face that I went to all games while he was off picking up a door in Amish country.

We went out to the Olive Garden tonight. We had some gift cards to use and T did not want to cook dinner. She will be cooking chilli tomorrow for me. I will grab a bit to eat between games. I might need dry clothes as well.

It was a tough week for my brother and brother in law. Both spent time at Aultman. Jeff went to ER with a heart thing. Its wasnt a heart attck but he should see Dr. Rowley often to get checked out. Tim had a blood clot in his lungs. He is now out, but got a 3 day stay at Hotel Aultman.

B went to her first othodonist appointment today. She will go back in 6 months. They dont seem to be in a rush to do anything to her mouth yet. I cant relate to any of this because I never had braces.

Til next month.....See you down by the Bayou.

The season ended for the Cats friday night. They looked bad. No running game. No passing game. Good Luck to Shadyside next week. I cant wait to go to all the games. 6 games in 2 days...not much better in high school sports. I will miss talking football with Big Keith. He will not be able to go to all the games. I will go solo, but I bet I hook up with some others fans.

We had a good Thanksgiving. We split time between Dawn's and the in laws. Too much food, but that is what the day is all about. Plus, the Cowboys won!

I got the lights up on friday. The weather has been in the upper 50's since wednesday.

My brother in law is in the hospital. He is having trouble with blood clots. This not the first time, but still serious heath issue.

I hate the fact Mogadore blocked blogger.com. The kids today watched "Kramer" yell the "n" word on youtube.com but we have to block blogger.com

Anywasy, tonight was part 2 of parent/teacher conferences. I had 3. That is the most I have had in one night in years. I am glad parents take time to come in a check on their students.

Wrestling season is underway. We will have to wait until football season is over to have a full team. We should have 9 varsity and 3 junior high. That is a tad bit down from last year. Our first meet is at Waterloo with Woodridge on Dec 7. The football player might only have 3 days of practice if they make it to the state game.

Eddie Roberts might have me take pictures at the Mogadore game this friday. He doesnt want to drive to New Phil for $20 a picture. It would be nice to see my work in the newspaper.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from the Bayou.

WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!

Friday Night Lights: The Cats defeated Columbiana 21-14. They played one of their best games of the season. They will play Shadyside in New Philadelphia on Friday night.

Saturday Afternoon: First, I hate Brent Musberger as an announcer. He should never be allowed in a TV booth again. With that said.......The Buckeyes are Big Ten Champions and heading to Glendale, AZ for the National Championship game. The victory over the school up north was sweet. However, it was difficult to watch at time. Troy Smith and the Buckeyes did it again. They hit big play after big play to win the game. A thank you to Massillon Washington's Shawn Crable. He hit Troy Smith in the helmet with his helmet. The result was 15 yards and a first down.

The Pick 4 in Ohio yesterday was 4239. The final score of the Ohio State game 42-39.

Today....The Cowboys beat the Colts 21-14. I figured there was no way the Colts would lose to the Cowboys. I was wrong. My cousin Wes went to the game today and cheered the Boys on to victory!!!


Til tomorrow....See you down by the Bayou.

Ok, first off, Mogadore Local Schools blocked Bloggger.com. You can still watch youtube.com but blogger. com is blocked. Figure that one out.

Second, this is the greatest football weekend I can remember in a long time. It might never get this good again. Tomorrow night Mogadore plays Columbiana for the Reg. 21 Championship in Ravenna. The 'Cats have not won the regional title since 2002. Then about 17 or so hours later, The Buckeyes from The Ohio State University will play the team up north for all the marbles. Then less than 24 hours later the Cleveland Browns take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. It doesnt get better than that!

Third, I had parent/teacher conferences tonight. It was a waste for me. I requested 7 or 8 conferences and had none scheduled for tonight.

Latestly, wrestling practice started this week. We are not able to workout in the fieldhouse until football season is over. It is a good problem to have. I will gladly wait unitl December to have a full team and the mats out to stay. Right now we are rolling them out, practicing, then rolling them back up. We have 3 junior high team members and 10 varsity. I think we will lose 1 junior high and 2 varisty before the end of the season.

Go Cats!

Go Buckeyes!

Go Cowboys!

See you next time, Down by the Bayou.

Thursday and nothing new going on today.

We are spending the night at the in-laws. T took the kids (no school today) to her parents. Their mission is to clean out boxes in the garage. These boxes were placed there 12 years ago when they moved into the house. I am guessing there is not much in these boxes. If you havent used it in 12 years, you might not need it now.

We are also going to fix the brakes on my Ion. The front end need some work as well and it needs tires before the snow flies.

Tomorrow is the big game. We are playing Cuyahoga Heights in Bedford. We are 4-0 agains them, all in the playoffs. We beat them at their stadium last year in round 1. Go Cats!

We had parent-teacher conference last night. 99% good things said about B and K. B needs to work on neatness when writing. It is good to hear good things about the kids. It validates what T and I are doing as parents.

Til Tomorrow---

See you down by the Bayou

It is over......Election season ended yesterday. I cant wait for 2,4 and 6 years when we can vote out all the Democrats that promise everyone the world then fail to deliver. I am glad to see Ohio is going smoke free. Now, if we can work on getting casinos to Ohio without messing around with the constitution. One day only Ohio and Utah will not have casinos.

Let's start off with the bad...........Perry, Kent State and Dallas......enough said.

Ohio State avoided being on this list. They will need to step it up when Michigan rolls into town in 2 weeks.

Mogadore handled Lucas 33-14. They will meet Cuyahoga Heights Friday at Bedford Stadium. The Cats are 4-0 in the playoffs against the Redskins.

We went up to Streetsboro for the weekend. We had a clam bake. The weather was beautiful for November. John wanted just family for a retirement party.

Is it me, or can you not wait until Wednesday? I hate political ads on TV, radio and in the newspaper. I can only think of one "positive" ad I have seen. Mind you I plan to vote tomorrow, but not many if any, ads sway my vote.

Get out and vote tomorrow!!!!!

Welcome to November. Tonight is the first night of the OHSAA playoffs. Division 2, 4, and 6 play tonight. Mogadore will host Lucas tonight. Massillon Perry will host Massillon Washington tomorrow night. It will be the first time Washington has played at Perry Stadium. The game is a sell out, 10,000+. The weather will be cold. The temp is around freezing right now, and only will get colder. Good thing I have my long johns to keep me warm.

Sunday we will go to the in-laws to celebrate my father in laws retirement from GE. He does not want a big party. He is not yet 60, so he doesnt think he is "retired" from working. Right now he is working at Kevin's hobby shop. He only wants his family to have a nice dinner together to celebrate.

Found out today our neighbors are asking $116900 for there house. Good Luck. There are several houses in the neighborhood for less than that. I hope for them they get it, but they may have to wait awhile.

Have a good weekend...see you down by the Bayou!

Just a note about yesterday in Ohio...When I drove to work is was 32 degrees, on my return trip home it was 72 degrees. Where else but Ohio can you have a 40 degree differential in temp in one day?

I did mow the lawn and mulched up the leaves as well. Also, saw a real estate agent put up a sign in Sean and Chelsey's yard. That puts the number of house in our neighborhood at a dozen. It will be sad to see them leave. The kids love playing with Tristan and it is nice have neighbors our age.

T worked last night. She will not get to work many weekdays when wrestling season starts in a couple of weeks. We will start practice in 2 weeks. I cant believe this is my 4th year coaching wrestling. I did not think I would go past the first year.

If it is Monday then it must be sunny. NE Ohio will be in the 60's today. Of course this is after a weekend of everything from lighting to snow, in the same afternoon. The Kent St/Ohio U game was suspended because of weather.

My neighbor's tree fell onto the fence and bent it up pretty good. I helped Sean and his dad clean up the mess. That makes 6 trees that have come down this year in my yard. I will have to mow today. I need to mulch up the leaves.

Yesterday was trick or treat. I had a cheerleader, pirate and a skunk this year. We had a good party at mom and dad's. All the cousin, except Noah, went trick or treating together.

Mogadore beat EC 6-0 in a mud pit. Perry beat GlenOak and Massillon beat McKinley. Mogadore will play Lucas in the first round of OHSAA playoffs. Massillon will travel to Perry and all the Massillon fans are whining about not enough seats for ALL their fans. Too bad for them, maybe if they won more games they could host a playoff game.

Tony Romo for President. If he keeps this up, the Boys have a shot a the playoffs.

Rainy weather will hamper my sports weekend. Rain is scheduled for tonight's Mogadore/East Canton game and tomorrow's Kent St/Ohio U game. Sunday the sun is scheduled to shine for trick or treat. My kids should be good at trick or treat after the haul they got at Atwood last month.

The Bayou Steelers are in the playoff hunt. We are 3-4, but have won our last 2 games. Leon Washington has been a great help to the team.

See you down by the bayou....

Happy Hump Day.

Welcome to another week in your life.

Busy weekend. I got up early Saturday morning and drove to Ann Arbor. I was at Jared by 11:30. We headed over to this parents house and tailgated and parked cars until the Michigan game started at 3:30. Then we headed into Detroit for Game 1 of the World Series. Appartly someone forgot to tell the Tigers, Game 1 was on Saturday. Reyes mowed down 17 Tigers at one point. It was fun to be the stadium for a World Series game.

I now have been to a Super Bowl, World Series, All-Star Game, College Bowl Games, NCAA Tournament games, and a D3 National Championship game. Not to bad.

TGIF

This week was nice and long. I had to head to the camper to help put away the camper and boat. The weather was not nearly as good as it could have been. I am just hoping for good weather for Game 1 between St. Louis and Detroit.

Mogadore plays Waterloo.......ho hum. It should be over early. It is senior night and all senior will start. Perry is at N. Canton. OSU is playing IU. The Cowboys are on MNF.

B is cheering in the Panther Bowl. It is one last game for the 8 year olds. I will miss the game, because I will be driving to Michigan at the time.

Til Monday...See you Down by the Bayou

Good Monday morning.

Last week was nothing to write home about, so I didn't.

Today, the sun is shining and it is another (near) perfect sports weekend. Mogadore, Perry, Ohio State and Dallas all won over the weekend. Also, the Mogadore golf team finished 6th at the state meet. It is their highest finish in 33 years. Congrats to Nate Tater for his runner-up finish!

The Detroit Tigers are in the World Series. Someone needs to send the Dolans a message that mid-market teams can make the world series. I will be heading to Detroit to see game 1 on Staurday. If the Indians can't win it, then lets keep the title in the AL Central.

The weekend got off to a slow start. Mogadore lost to Streetsboro (the wife's alma mater) 35-33, but the weather was great for a football game. Saturday was great. B had cheerleading. Her team is going to play for the Championship next Saturday morning. Go Flag Gray! We finally made it to Atwood around 5 saturday. We had my cousin's son with us. It was his first time camping. All he wanted to do was have a campfire and go for a boat ride. I think he had a good time. I am sure all his kindergartener friends in Texas will here how much fun he had in Ohio. he even learned a couple of cheer from B. I am sure my cousin will appreciate that.
Sunday afternoon we had an end of the year camper cookout. Good food and good fellowship was had by all.

Rumor has it......SNOW by Thursday :(

Nice and warm today. It was in the 70's today. A front will roll through tonight and drop the temp into the 50's tonight and in the low 60's tomorrow. The weather looks good for the weekend. It is the fall festival at Atwood. My cousin's son is coming to Ohio with my aunt and we are taking him to the camper on Saturday. All he wants to do is go on a boat ride and have a campfire. I think he will have a good time.

Tonight I am going to dinner with my in-laws. T's birthday was last week, but today is the first time they can come down for dinner. We are trying Cheeseburger in Paradise. It is a Jimmy Buffett type place. Should be a good time.

Perfect football weekend!!! Perry won on friday. Mogadore distroyed Woodridge and Massillon lost. Kent beat Akron. Ohio State rolled over Iowa. Cleveland and Dallas won on Sunday. It doesnt get better than that.

The kids went trick or treating at the camper on Saturday. It was bit rainy, but still fun.

It is Homecoming week at Mogadore. Today was "Team Day". Tomorrow is "Twins Day"