The softball tournament started this week. We usually say that the tournament is our regular season, but I'm not feeling it this year. Not that we're not enjoying playing, we are, but we have been in quite a slump. And I've got more aches and pains this year... I pulled or sprained or strained something in my hip several weeks ago and it still hurts, and I re-hurt it every game. So I have put myself at catcher for the remainder of the season. Anyway, this week we had 2 games. We won the first one 16-12, and then an hour later we lost the second one 13-3. First Baptist is leading the division and they smoked us 3 times including this week during the season. So win or we're done next week. You ask me, either way.

Some rare good news on the automotive front: The van (which we're planning to send to college with Missy) has been starting really slowly lately, many times not at all on the first turn of the key. I suspected the battery was getting run down so I took it to AutoZone before the camping trip, and indeed the battery was nearly dead but after they installed the new one I bought, they tested the charging system and it registered as bad. Meaning, the alternator may be on the verge of failing too. So anyway I made an appointment to get it into the shop when we got back, and they reported that everything looks good and the alternator seems to be charging normally. So only a little labor charge and we're good to go.

And the bad news on the automotive front: the truck started showing the check engine light just before we went camping. I had actually already made an appointment to take it in to the Ford dealer, just to fix the rear set belt that doesn't latch, and I had hoped to get it before leaving for camping but couldn't. The light was on and off several times during the week of camping. So when we got back and I got the truck in, I asked them to check out the light. As it turns out, the light meant that 2 of the O2 sensors had gone bad, which means the fuel/air mixture may not be right. So I got those things fixed, which was a lot more than I was hoping to spend on just the seat belt fix. They also didn't have the new seat belt buckle in black, so I had them put a tan one in. Rather get it done faster than worry about matching.

Saturday Missy was working, so Beth and I did some shopping for her. The Warsaw Big Lots, which has been open maybe a year, is closing, so we checked it out to see if we could find any good deals. They had a nice chair like what Missy has been wanting for her dorm room so she doesn't have to sit in a dorm chair all the time, so we picked it up for her. We also went to Walmart and got her a small fridge for her room, since she'll have a single room this year and she used her roommate's last year.