Everyone is critical (of the Twins)!
Says Roger de Roseville: “Twins manager Rocco Baldelli might want to consider this when he sets up his pitching rotation for next year.
“Years ago, the Boston Braves, as they were known then, had two standout pitchers, Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, in their starting rotation. These two alone won the 1948 pennant for Boston. [Bulletin Board interjects: Shouldn’t that be “double-handedly”?] His fans, during the pennant race, adopted the motto ‘Spahn and Sain and pray for rain’.
“OK, now fast forward to today. The Twins have two, and only two, fairly reliable pitchers in their five-man starting rotation: Joe Ryan and Sonny Gray. So, to update Boston’s catchphrase, let’s have our own: ‘Ryan and Gray and pray for a 4 day weather delay!’
“PS: And by the way, our relief pitchers have been anything but a relief. But that is another story”.
Our theater of the seasons
GRANDMOTHER PAULA writes: “When a hanging basket of purple petunias I bought last spring still looks so good in September, I have to share the photo I took of it this morning. A lot of watering, fertilizer and pampering are the care I have given it. Oh yes, and lots of sun!”
Our mushrooms, ourselves
Wayne Nelson of Forest Lake: “Subject: The creation of nature.
“We were gone for four days, and when we came back we had a yard full of mushrooms. Then I cut the grass and began to mow the largest and most beautiful. I stopped mowing, looked at them closely and realized how different and characteristic they are from each other. I was sorry I hadn’t taken some photos of them before I cut them, so I went into the house and grabbed my camera. I walked over to another part of the yard and took some photos of the ones I hadn’t destroyed yet. They all look different from each other and have their own personality and beauty, kind of like all of us!
“The next time I see some wild mushrooms, I think I’ll stop and take a good look at them and admire them in their different, natural beauty.”
It could be verse!
Another timerick from TIM TORKILDSON: “When I look at the bills for this winter,
“I think I’ll wear blue,
“because to warm my modest hut,
“My bank account I’m going to have to gut.
“O Lord, make the winter mild and gentle,
“Or else make chilblains very chic!”
the unforgettable
Y: In memory
THE Nininger ASTRONOMER writes: “Subject: Colonel Dave.
“I met Colonel Dave in 1961. I had just killed a very nice mule deer on the grounds of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado and he helped me load that deer into the back of my car. his old Jeep Wagoneer. We towed it to the mess hall, where my squad, the Twenty Tough Trolls, would share a venison dinner together. I was just a third class student (sophomore), and this was our first experience together, which led me to know for many years a great fighter pilot and nature lover. He took a photo of the deer, with me perched behind it while holding that old 1911 Remington ‘humpback’ shotgun. Several years later I was shocked to see that photo in the pages of Sports Afield magazine. Colonel Dave wrote an article on deer hunting at the end of the season and used me as an example.
“He grew up in Coleman, Texas, and yet after 24 years in the Air Force and fighting in two wars, he spoke with a Texas accent that let you know where he was from. When I met him, he was already retired from the Air Force. He and his wife, Bobbie, lived behind the Broadmoor Hotel in North Cheyenne Canyon. His door was always open for me and my family.
“I grew up in inner city Chicago where my only hunting and fishing opportunities were pretty much limited to small game on the Illinois plains. My father took my brother and me out at least once, if not twice, every month, so we could get used to the outdoors. Now in Colorado, I eagerly seized every opportunity to broaden the horizons of my outdoor experiences. And knowing that the future promised to become an aviator who would fly and one day defend the freedoms of our country, my relationship with Colonel Dave was incredible. He wasn’t just a retired Air Force fighter pilot; he was a writer of hunting and fishing stories. We really get along well together.
“Colonel Dave had already earned his wings when World War II broke out and Pearl Harbor, where he was stationed, was attacked. He confided in me that he was still in his Mess Dress (formal) uniform that Sunday morning when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He was returning from a formal dinner in the early hours of the morning. He was assigned to a P-40 fighter wing, engaged in training missions. The plane was not loaded with ammunition, but he took off anyway, desperate to save the plane from being destroyed on the ground. He barely took off and raised his landing gear when his plane was hit by enemy fire. He was shot down on takeoff. He managed to survive that ordeal, the chaos, the carnage, the start of World War II.
“In World War II I was in my early 20s. Wars are fought by young men. This was no exception. He then went on to serve in New Guinea, where he flew P-38s on the wing of Richard Bong, the Ace of Aces. Colonel Dave didn’t talk much about his exploits. He was a humble gentleman, but he won the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Flying Oak Leaf Cluster Medal, among others.
“The Good Wife and I visited Hawaii, wanting to see the airfields and what it was like back then. Colonel Dave and Bobbie eventually moved there and then to Alaska. Over the years, he had taken me on quite a few hunting and fishing trips.
“I remember a goose hunting trip in Lamar, Colorado, where it was so cold (minus 52 degrees F.), we had to put cardboard in front of the radiator to keep his old Buick pickup from freezing. How cold was it? He was using a friend’s old Winchester Model 97 pump shotgun. It was sloppy, not oiled, but worked fine. Weapons that were well oiled froze because it was so cold. We only got one goose that day, but we enjoyed it together at Colonel Dave and Bobbie’s house.
“Over the years, we went bass and tarpon fishing as well as deer hunting. I learned secrets that allowed me to catch fish more effectively. But I learned more about him. He had a deep respect and love for his God. After his passing, Bobbie said that they had regularly tithed money to his church and that he always seemed to come back to them in the form of blessings. He had a connection to the outdoors that was reflected in his writing. He published books, including ‘The ABC’s of Freshwater Fishing’, but probably wrote more about hunting wild turkey than any other game. Several times he used me as a guest author to complete on musky fishing. Before he passed away, he sent me a huge box of musky lures, some of which he still uses today.
“There is a special place in heaven for people like Colonel Dave. I can rarely go turkey hunting without thinking about some ‘secret’ techniques that he had told me about. And I still use that rigged purple worm like Colonel Dave taught me. He called it his ‘já de cerco’ because we caught a lot of bass with it. I learned about the special thrill of flying, a love of the outdoors, and a respect for God and man.”
Oh, and their faces were red!
KATHY S. from St. Paul writes: “Subject: Stories that live forever.
“Some things we never forget, like when a co-worker disposed of a chemical per standard lab procedure at the time. Through no fault of his own, he managed to get a group vice president (and future CEO) of our company evacuated to the parking lot of our building. The vice president left and never saw the dog and pony show that he had gone to see. And the co-worker went down in history with everyone who spent 45 minutes in the parking lot waiting for the go-ahead that day.
“What this reminded me of was on ‘The Daily Show’ tonight. Trevor Noah ends each show with a brief Moment of Zen, in which someone says or does something ‘not brilliant’. Today was September 19, and the news anchors were naming the dignitaries arriving for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. A car stopped and a couple got out, but the [Australian] the news presenters did not recognize them. They then said that the new arrivals must be minor dignitaries, until they learned that the woman who had just arrived was Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister of England, who had met the Queen on September 6. Whoops!
“The story of that nonsense is guaranteed to follow those news anchors forever and ever.”
Band name of the day: minor dignitaries