Each year the elementary school puts on a Haunted House and carnival in October as a fundraiser for the 6th grade. The funds pay for the big field trip taken in the Spring. Each 6th grader and their parents are required to participate and in the event.
Emily was a character in the haunted house (themed as a haunted school) – part of the haunted school crossing. Linda was the coordinator of all volunteers (a HUGE job). I was officially a fill-in, designed to take the place of anyone that didn’t show up. Of course I like to get into the fun, too…
Oh, I ended up running the Revenge of the Pirates ride. The kids really loved it.
This past Thursday was awesome if you’re a K-State fan – a 59-7 trouncing of the KU Jayhawks. This game went a long way to help overcome the bad feelings about the previous week against Nebraska.
Carson Coffman did so much better in this game – accounting for 5 touchdowns. We just looked better all around – on both sides of the ball.
Of course, there’s usually the “wait until basketball season starts” comments. However, this year, KSU is picked preseason as the #1 team in the Big 12. Hee-hee.
Last night was the first Strings Concert of the year for the Middle School. Anna was 1st chair violin, thus the Concert Mistress. Not only is this a position of honor, but she also was responsible for establishing the correct tuning for the whole ensemble.
I will soon try to post video clips of portions of the concert.
Congratulations, Anna. All those hours of lessons and practice are paying off!
I recently cleaned up the man cave in the garage (termed the Doctor’s Lounge). This is a great place for watching TV, playing darts, and enjoying the finer things of life. The back door to the garage was open and in walked Sally. Seems like she just wanted to hang out.
I’ve been really busy with work the last few days, but it’s taken those few days to get over the horrible loss that the Wildcats suffered against Nebraska on national television.
The wonderful part of the experience was hearing the roar of the crowd at the beginning of the game. The KSU fans brought their A-game. It was so loud I couldn’t hear the announcer over the big speakers.
Nebraska was just too much for us to handle – either on offense or defense.
Half-time brought us entertainment from the NU Marching Band (which wasn’t well-received by a grumpy crowd) and the KSU Marching Band (which was very well received by a crowd that loved anything that wasn’t NU).
The girls stayed behind on this trip because it was such a late game on a school night. So, our very good friends Trey and Jennifer came with us. We had a wonderful tailgate with grilled burgers made from ground prime rib. Sides included beans and cheesy corn from Jack Stack BBQ. Complemented with good beer – the tailgate meal was awesome. Too bad we lose every game that we invite them to!
Well – here’s hoping that we can win against KU this next Thursday. We’ll be playing in Lawrence, so we won’t be going to the game. However, we WILL be watching as it’s on TV. K-S-U WILDCATS!
Both Anna and Emily have been lifelong members of the Blue Crew – a club for young fans of the Kansas City Royals. Their membership packet usually includes free tickets, a hat, and other free stuff from area businesses. A perk of the club is additional free tickets are often sent to the house towards the end of the season (they’re not exactly selling out the stands these days). Four free tickets arrived for both girls for a game against Tampa Bay the other night. Despite being a school night, we decided one last Royals game before the season ended this weekend would be a nice thing to do.
So, bundled up in jackets, we went to the game and enjoyed a win. Zach Greinke pitched the game and did very well.
Because we had to leave for the game straight from picking the girls up from dance (which they went to straight from school), we chose to treat ourselves to dinner inside the stadium. I decided I would do dinner Kansas City style: Strouds chicken dinner (a famous local fried chicken restaurant) with Boulevard Bob’s 47 beer (a seasonal favorite of the local brewery).
We had lots of fun, but needed to leave at the end of the 5th inning so we could get the girls home to bed.
Here’s hoping the Royals can do it next year…always hoping.
Wednesday nights have become a midweek Friday night for a handful of the dads in the neighborhood. Many of us congregate at a friends house after the kids have all gone to bed.
A full-sized dart machine, a flat screen HD TV and a refrigerator retrofitted beer taps and a keg provide hours of entertainment. Additionally, several of the guys often enjoy the cigars that always seem to show up with me.
If I’m working Thursday morning, I usually can only stay about an hour. However, if I’m not working Thursday morning, it’ll usually be well after midnight – and I’m usually one of the first to leave. I don’t know how the other guys do it when they have to be up and working the next day.
So, this blog has quickly become an update on the sporting events I’ve attended in the past week – mostly because that’s what I’ve been able to arrange my free time around. Saturdays in September mean afternoons in Manhattan.
This past Saturday was an interesting one, indeed. When we left Kansas City around 8:00am, we had noted that there was a 40% chance for rain all day. We grabbed the new KSU ponchos we purchased several months ago – and hoped we wouldn’t need them. As we passed Topeka on the interstate, the skies began to look very ominous – yep, rain was definitely ahead of us. A quick look, however, on the radar app on my iPhone showed the activity was all north of Manhattan. Maybe we’d get out of this without getting wet.
The temperature was great – 55 degrees – perfect football weather. 6 plays (and just barely 3 minutes) into the game, it was suspended due to lightning in the area. The fans were instructed to leave the stands – we quickly headed up the stairs to a covered area at the top of our section.
The skies began to look very weird. The picture above was posted on Facebook by a friend – that’s really what it looked like. Here’s the picture I took from the area we were standing:
We finally scored a field goal halfway through the 3rd quarter. Finally something to cheer, but still losing. This was supposed to be the game that took us to 4-0 at the start of the season. Linda commented that it was our just reward for the announcers commenting continuously about going 4-and-oh!
The 4th quarter provided enough drama to make up for the lackluster first 3 quarters. A few long passes, a touchdown, field goal (and a missed field goal by UCF) got us back in the game. With only several minutes left, we were down by 3 – needing a field goal to tie. With some good ol’-fashioned nose-to-the-grindstone football playing, the Wildcats marched all the way down field and scored the winning touchdown with just over 20 seconds left.
The UCF quarterback was awesome – reminding me a lot of Michael Bishop and the other KSU quarterbacks of old that were able to pass and run. I’m glad we were able to finish with more points at the end of the game – our offense and defense didn’t match at all.
Here’s hoping we play a WHOLE LOT better on October 7 when we host Nebraska University for a Thursday night ESPN game – the last time we play Nebraska as a Big XII opponent.
Linda and I spent the day yesterday at Arrowhead Stadium (home of the Kansas City Chiefs) watching KSU host Iowa State University. The two teams met there last year – Farmegedden I. The stadium is segregated so the fans sit behind their team.
KSU barely won last year – winning by blocking an extra point kick with just a few seconds left in the game.
The outcome of this game looked to be similar – several lead changes and nail-biting moments. However, a 27-20 win for the Wildcats is a welcome score. K-State is now 3-0.
More importantly, we spent the day with very, very good friends – Dave and Kaela Culkin. We’ve known Dave and Kaela from our early days of marriage in Manhattan. They now live in Leavenworth, too close to not spend more time with them.
Tailgating before the game was a blast. Coffee cake, fresh fruit, bagels, and Irish Coffee made for some excellent pre-game festivities. The game was awesome (although hot and muggy). The free fans given out to the attendees came in very handy.
Post-game tailgating with cold malted beverages helped beat the heat also.
Up next week – KSU hosting University of Central Florida. Here’s hoping the Cats go to 4-0.
