The camping finale for the season was this weekend, the annual Wiessner /Pinkster /Beavers /Wagonaar /Knight /etc campout, again at Michawana after a year away. It was a smaller group this time, since the Wiessner cousins and some friends couldn’t come, but there were several day visitors. Ted and Monica came over Saturday with their new puppy Clara (what an incredible cutie pie!), A friend of Judy’s brought her guitar Saturday night to lead some campfire songs, and some friends of Ric came over that turned out to have been taught math by Jim Daily back in the day. Anyway, it was a really good time, and the weekend seemed really short. Ric brought over a bunch of Beth’s dad’s army discharge papers he found and they spent a lot of time looking over those; Julia brought Willow so there was a lot of fetching going on; the zipline was open so we did that.

Softball on Tuesday was rained out, sort of. It had been wet the day before, so the fields were all muddy and they postponed because of that. So once again, games called for no rain.

I called in to Pulse-FM for “Fresh Outa Bed and Head to Head” again Tuesday and got on the air. Coincidentally the person I played was the 2019 tournament runner-up as I was the 2020 tournament runner-up. And I maintain that I should have won (I got 1 of the 3 points) but there was definitely a time delay with my call. On at least one of the questions I for sure rang in before I heard the other person ring in, but they heard the other person first. So, anyway. I was not a winner.

Went for a run together with some Fight Club guys Saturday morning, ran 4 miles with them then 8 more miles afterwards. On the run one of the guys lent me some bone-conduction headphones, which were nice, so when I said I liked them he gave me an extra pair he had. How cool!

Softball Tuesday was unusual: unlike several times this year when the games were called and it didn’t rain, this time it did rain and we played anyway. As Missy and I were driving to the fields, we could see lightning up ahead, so I thought we would never play. But we did. And the rain started not too long after the game, but we kept going. We did have a delay in the 6th inning of about 10 minutes, but we played while it was actively raining (and lightning off in the distance) for several minutes too. We lost the first game, handily, and came within a run (with a blown lead) in the second game. So the losing streak continues….I also misplayed a hard grounder a little bit, missed it and it bounced right off the inside of my left ankle. That’s gonna leave a bruise.

I have sold my RC plane stuff. The whole kit & kaboodle. I had an ad on Craigslist for a while, and had assumed that I probably wasn’t going to sell it, but some guy emailed me asking if it was still available. He was mostly interested in the controller/receiver, which as it turns out is outdated and sells for around $50 nowadays; I think I paid something like $120 for it. All those years ago. Anyway, I had the whole kit listed for $50; I told him to make me an offer and I took $35. So that experiment is now over. When was it that I bought all that stuff? 2012? And two successful flights.

Ran out to FW yesterday. The girls needed girl clothing so they went shopping while I went elsewhere. But I am just not that interested in the mall anymore. We thought maybe we should look for some cool antique places in FW while we were there, found one that was ok, found another two that were closed, and then nobody was in the mood for it anymore. We tried to help someone on the way home whose car had died in the middle of the road somewhere in eastern FW, but she was so upset that the screaming and cursing basically scared the girls off. There were some other people who stopped too to help push her car off to the side of the road so we just slunk away and went home.

 Among the Fight Club assignments for this week: deliver flowers anonymously to someone with a note that Jesus loves them and you’re praying for them. Beth and I delivered flowers to Linda across the street. Also this week included a neighborliness sort of challenge, where we set up something in our front yard or driveway to attract people over, and show the love of God. I set up the firepit in the driveway on Saturday and put up a sign for free s’mores, but there were no takers all afternoon. Maybe it was just too hot.

Also as part of an exercise in loving your wife, find creative ways to say yes this weekend. So Beth and I spent a lot of Saturday doing a bunch of little things that she’s wanted done for some time. We pruned all the bushes in the yards, planted a bunch of mums, replaced the broken headlight in the van, weeded the gardens, delivered the flowers across the street, put up the curtain rods and started working on shortening the curtains in Alex’s room, and cleaned the tub. Later in the day she says “I had so much fun doing all that stuff with you!”

Softball got rained out Tuesday. The forecast was for rain, the skies were dark most of the afternoon, and they called off the games before 5:00. It never did rain.

Marve and Beth came by Saturday. They were in Indiana looking at a truck at a used car dealer, and since they were close by they came over to visit and go out to dinner with us. We took them to Oak & Alley. They didn’t buy the truck, though, it seems the dealer they went to was doing something of a bait & switch. Honest mistake or not.

 The pool came down this weekend. It’s been cooler in the past week (although it was super hot for the weekend) and the water was really frigid, so it seemed like the time. Not sure what it was this year but the water stayed really clear, even though I was fighting to keep any chlorine in it all summer. Must have been the algaecide I put in it. Definitely will have to do that again next year. With a new pool, because I drained most of it with a utility knife. I let it drain for several hours before slashing the sides and cutting the whole thing up into smaller pieces that are manageable to put in the trash. We just couldn’t keep any air in the inflatable ring any more, and there were a lot of patches on it for small leaks over the years. So we’re hoping we can get a new one next year…they were hard to find this year.

Missy has quit Kelainey’s. The late nights closing were really getting to her. On school nights, they close at 9, so she was making it home by around 9:45 or so on a good night, but it had been almost midnight before school started and they closed at 10. Typically a bunch of people would come in just before closing and make a mess and order things that had just been cleaned or put away, and it was getting to her. The place is crazy busy during the summer but it was continuing too and she couldn’t stand working there any more. They were going to be closing in a couple months anyway. Maybe Missy will get another job, maybe not…

 The Fight Club group I’m in (Warsaw) had a breakfast meeting at Maria’s Saturday morning, and I went with Matthew up to “The Lodge” by Syracuse (a lodge, just like it sounds, on a large parcel of land owned by a Goshen church that’s very instrumental in the Fight Club organization) to do the makeup assignment. We hiked (not far) down the path through the woods to the lake, attempting to climb a rope at a halfway point (didn’t get up very far), then I placed a handprint on a wall and collected a block of wood that we’ll be using along the way. I’ve also started the workouts (the running isn’t a problem, but I haven’t done a single push-up or sit-up in a long time…) and can do the whole challenge each time, but only when the 40 push-ups/50 sit-ups/50 squats are divided into like 4 reps. With the block, we are supposed to place our last name on one side of it (creatively) and when done, pray with our wives for our families. I charred the surface, punched an outline of the letters with a nail, and put a yellow handprint over it. Looks pretty good to me. Another assignment was to leave some Gatorade on the front step for a neighbor with a note that you’re praying for them. Another was to write a letter to the principal of your local school and pray for the school and the principal. Those are the kind of challenges. Plus Bible reading and verse memorizing.

Softball Tuesday was blaaah. Nobody had anything. We were lackadaisical, only way to say it. We got steamrolled, twice, once by a team that we should beat. But to be fair, they have more players now than they did earlier, I assume some college kids came back or something.  

 Beth, Missy, and I went to the Blueberry Festival Sunday. We were looking in particular for the craft booths, I think Missy wanted to find something in particular that she had seen there before, but the craft shows there were pretty poor overall. A lot less than have been there in the past, was my impression. Neither Beth nor Missy found anything there that excited them. There were tons of food trailers though, which we weren’t looking for. It was certainly hot and crowded nevertheless. Anyway, we didn’t stay all that long. Just walked all around, and went back to the car.

Today for Labor Day we all decided to take a drive out of town and find a new antiques place. For July 4 a couple months ago we stumbled upon one and liked the trip, so we found one (Green Oak Antiques) in Rochester and headed there. It was pretty cool, they had a lot of stuff (I do like browsing through junk shops). Natalie found some sort of old purse (from the 60s, maybe?) and Beth found a glass that she liked, but had a big crack in the base so she didn’t take it.