Spring Training 2014 part 8 (Rick Departs)

Thursday March 20th - (Day 378)

 This blog entry is one of those bad news--good news types. The bad news is that Rick left and the good news is that Harris still has one more week in Phoenix watching baseball!

 The last game for Rick was a Brewers vs Mariners game. We ended up sitting next to Jim Gatner's wife. Jim Gatner is a retired Brewer's all star player and we enjoyed bantering with them about their low key celebrations whenever the Brewers did something good. The game was a good one with lots of scoring and some good defense plays, but the Mariners couldn't come back in the 9th this night.

Virgil, the Washington neighbor who cooked dinner for Harris a couple of weeks previous, had promised a fish fry from his Dakota ice fishing expedition, so on Rick's last night  he delivered. The walleye was breaded with Ritz crackers and some spices after the fish was dragged through an egg mixture. He skipped the Cajun seasoning upon request. Virgil also provided seasoned fries and coleslaw. Rick provided the cheesecake dessert! Harris simply enjoyed the delicious dinner.

 

Thursday morning Rick packed up and treated Harris to a send off breakfast at the nearby diner. The breakfast/lunch/dinner consisted of eggs with spinach and feta cheese scrambled together, homemade corned beef hash with a couple of eggs atop it, cottage cheese, a pancake, hash browns, toast, and coffee. As this blog is being written, Harris is still full.

Rick's good bye wave.

Harris found a way of dealing with the separation. He went to Surprise to watch the Angles vs Royals game. He found a seat in the shade and thought of Rick. Shortly after this picture was taken, Mike Trout launched a sinking fastball  off Weaver that rocketed over the deep center field wall 450+ feet. That was worth the price of admission!

And of course, Harris never passes up a picture of a cutie that reminds him of River. After the game he  proceeded to Howie's parking spot in Peoria to write up the blog before heading to the night game.

Spring Training 2014 part 7

Sunday March 16th - Wednesday March 19th - (Days 374-377)

Four more days of baseball and sun find Harris and Rick with only one goal-- get in a double header. And they did with a game at Brewer's stadium and later back to the Mariner's home park hosting the San Diego Padres.

 On days that the Mariners were off or a distance away, Rick and Harris saw much of the Padres and met several of the players' significant others. This made it easy to root for the Padres (when the Padres weren't playing the Mariners).

Harris used some Costco baked chicken leftovers with avocados, tomatoes, cherry craisons, walnuts, and lettuce for one dinner.

On one of the daily walks Harris noticed a bunch of balloons drifting over the area.

The perfect Thomas house? Great lawn for Harris to mow and roses for Judy!

Harris and Rick noticed one of the new baseball play review trucks practicing for the season. The MLB guys said this year they are also trying to get all the teams to take no more than 2 minutes between innings for commercial breaks.

At the Brewers home park...and in the shade!

Rick mentioned that this is a high light for many Brewers fans...Since this is the only stadium that plays a recorded national anthem, we guessed that it was to pay for these guys to perform.

A new spot that they found 2.3 miles away from Peoria stadium for cooking dinner (and the only spot Rick's bocci balls let him down).

Dinner between the double header.

The night game started at a comfortable 80 degrees, but dropped slowly while people (including Harris and Rick) kept adding layers. They have become true desert creatures. 

 

It was an exciting game with the lead changing hands several times and a dramatic comeback at the bottom of the 8th inning. The Mariner fans were going crazy!

And the Padres tied it up at the top of the ninth! This was 3.5 hours into the game and the coaches decided to call it a game at the end of nine. Not a  bad way to end the day.

Spring Training 2014 part 6

Friday March 14th - Saturday March 15th - (Days 372-373)

The guys usually start the day with a walk (or in the case of Rick, a walk/jog) around 7 AM. Coffee is served at 8 and they usually head off to the ball park around ten. 

 Harris came upon a neat woodcarving on the side of a house.

One of many bird condominiums along the walk.

Two very juicy tenderloins for dinner on Friday.

One of several places where Rick trounced Harris in a game called "Cube".

San Francisco Giants played the Mariners to a packed 12,000 plus crowd 

with almost half being Giant supporters.

The Mariners couldn't come back in this error plagued game. The 6 errors didn't count several passed balls, a wild pitch, and two "sun singles".

Somehow Rick managed to lock his keys in Goldy. Luckily for him, Judy had forced Harris to have AAA coverage when he goes down to Spring Training.

The nice man had the doors unlocked in a jiffy.

And all was well once again...

Spring Training 2014 part 5

Wednesday March 12th - Thursday March 13th - (Days 370-371) 

On Rick's first full day in Phoenix the plan was to catch two games: an afternoon in Surprise watching the Texas Rangers versus the Los Angeles Angels and an evening game in Peoria watching the Mariners play the Chicago Cubs. The afternoon game was a blowout with the Angels stomping the Rangers 12-2.

 These Texas fans were very discriminating in only letting Ranger fans participate in their tail gating. How intolerant!

Rick and Harris found some shade after a couple of innings. Another 80+ degree day.

In between games they stopped at River Park where Rick slaughtered Harris in bocci ball (even when giving Harris a handicap of 5). Rick supervised Harris cooking some Alaskan salmon that was topped off with a dash of home made blackberry  jam. It was delicious!

The evening game lasted over 4 hours with the Mariners trailing by as much as 7 runs. In the last two innings the Mariners tied the game (with a bases loaded bottom of the ninth single that scored 2 runs). They played a tenth inning and the M's were victorious with a walk-off single when there were runners on 1st and 3rd. Wow---What a game!

On Thursday the guys wanted to see the Mariners play Arizona but when arriving at Talking Stick Park found the game sold out. They went with plan B at Peoria watching the Padres and Milwaukee Brewers. Harris had a healthy salad for lunch while Rick went with brats. (Notice that Judy?) 

Harris noticed that these two were married one year before he and Judy were. He had to ask them to lean forward so he could take a picture of the shirts. By the way, the Brewers stomped the Padres (and the Mariners won their game 6-1)

Arriving home, Harris grilled up some stuffed chicken breasts, made a salad, and Rick provided some brownies he made for dessert. Just another awesome day here in Phoenix. After dinner they finished a game of Quarters they had started the day before; Harris squeaked a victory (6 points). He was quoted as saying "Take that Rick!" (Maybe he only thought that).

Spring Training 2014 part 4--Rick Arrives!

Sunday March 9th - Tuesday March 11th - (Days 367-369) 

Rick arrived on Tuesday after leaving Belgrade just ahead of a Central Montana snowstorm. He spent the night in Fillmore, UT. Luckily, he didn't repeat last year's experience of being snowbound for two days in the hotel. He arrived just in time for dinner (chicken thighs, ranch beans, green salad, and peach pie) and a cold beer. Tomorrow will bring a baseball double header with a day and night game!

 Another cool sunset here at the park.

 Harris met Roy and Sandie from Wenatchee who have been traveling for awhile in their Navigon...cool people!

 Rick arrives in his Montana garb.

Goldy and Howie reunited again.

Spring Training 2014 part 3

Friday March 7th/ Saturday March 8th - (Days 365-366)

 Wow!! Add up all the days spent in Howie over the last 5 and a half years and it equals a whole year! Harris couldn't think of a better way to celebrate that fact than to catch a couple more games in Peoria and Surprise. The first one was a roller coaster game where the Mariners were behind 0-8 in the first few innings. Many folks were thinking of leaving but the M's came back and tied it up in the 6th and then more runs were scored (total of 5 home runs). The Mariners had a chance for a walk off in the bottom of the 9th, but with a runner on 3rd the batter struck out. Final score 9-10. A great game.

Geocaching at one of the parks in Peoria. Gotta love the perfect shady fishing spot.

The father/ son pic was taken during the nail biter inning. Usually it's the father into the game and the kid sleeping.

Tail gating at the Dodgers/ Rangers game today. There was plenty of music and food. Dodger fans know how to do the pre and post game party.

Eighty two degrees but the wind kept it cool at Surprise stadium. 

Plenty of people kept the baby amused.

After the sixth inning it was time to find some shade.

How to demolish cotton candy. Gone in under 3 minutes. All in all, a good way to spend the day and celebrate a year in Howie.

Spring Training 2014 part 2

Saturday March 1st - Thursday Mardh 6th - (Days 359-364)


Well, life has been rough for Harris these last few days. He gets up in the morning after the temperature reaches 60+ which is usually right around 7AM. He's mentioned that he's grateful to Judy for insisting that he brings the down comforter since he's been using it in the wee hours of the morning (4-7). He's missed the heat generating source that stayed in Lake Stevens!

And then he's off to geocache near the stadium that he's visiting for the day. He'll include a stop at a Winco or Fry's supermarket to see if something inspires him for a meal and then it's find a place to park Howie and head to the game. Afterwards, head back to the RV park, make dinner, watch a sunset, and then read or watch something before calling Judy and going to sleep. Rinse and repeat.

His Spring Training partner is in Great Falls, MT watching the Belgrade Boys team this weekend before he heads down from the cold. Harris is hoping for some wins for them.

What follows are a few pics of the past 6 days.

 The predicted storm approaches and ends the Mariners game after 7 innings. Most people left early. Harris stayed and was drenched by the time he made it to Howie.

 The eye of the storm on Saturday afternoon before the floodgates opened and doubled the rainfall that night.

 A new favorite. Harris would buy a crispy chicken tender at Winco, slice it up, and put it on top of a salad for a wonderful dinner.

 Three days after the rain the ditches are still carrying off water. This was west of Sun City where Harris did some geocaching.

 One of the many wonderful sunsets this past week. The rain set a record for Phoenix, but was gone 30 hours later. Nice!

There was a caravan of old time cars going somewhere today that Harris came up on. This was on the way to Camelback Ranch Stadium where the Dodgers and the White Sox play.

Howie was told to park with the "Big Boys" at Camelback Ranch stadium. Harris was ticked that the LA Dodgers and White Sox reward the "Designated Drivers" at Camelback Stadium with a key ring while all the other teams reward them with a soft drink or ODul's beer. Wow. Nice stadium, but really cheap!

 Tonight Harris offered to cook burgers for dinner with Snow Bird bud Virgil. Notice how Harris is cooking.

The finished meal. Harris really scored on this!