First Day of Fall

How time flies. It is already almost the end of September and today is the first official day of Fall. Thoughts turn to cooler days and crisp nights, warmer clothing and fall foliage. We have already begun to experience some of these in our area. This last week has been wonderful as far as the temperatures are concerned. We turned off our air conditioner last week and opened windows. We still had the ceiling fans running and occasionally a window fan, but overall conditions have been much more comfortable of late. For the first time this season I wore pants to our Friday night football game instead of capris.

The turning of seasons is also evident in the activities around us. Hay is being cut and baled in many a field. Pumpkins have already begun to appear in stores. Daylight comes a little later in the morning and night falls just a little earlier in the evening. The oak trees in my yard are full of acorns waiting to drop.

We still have a ways to go this fall to prepare for the coming winter. There are several things that we needed to have finished before cold weather sets in. One of the things we need is more firewood, since we only have a small percentage of what we will use. We will probably have to buy some wood, which is not an economical way to do things. Fortunately we are not solely dependent upon wood for heat. We use the wood to supplement our gas heat. Two other things that we need to accomplish is that we need to finish a bathroom and get the kitchen to the point where it has sheetrock and the plumbing is complete. I can't wait to have a fully functional bathroom and kitchen in the house, so we no longer have to go into the trailer for all of our water needs. We had hoped to have these rooms finished before visiting Connecticut this summer, but it did not work out that way. We have to complete these rooms so that we can move the trailer from it's current position. I grow weary of the primitive situation and the inconvenience related to it.

To this end, the kids and I have been trying to hang the sheetrock ourselves. We tried to hire help to come in and do this, but that didn't pan out either. We have set a goal of hanging a sheet of sheetrock a night, as our schedule allows. We have the ceiling in the bathroom complete and now will begin on the floor. It would go faster if we were able to hire someone to come in and do this, but at least we are making progress.

Remind me why we do this

Last night was Friday night. In the south, at this time of the year, that means High School football. There are other parts of the country that put just as much importance on this sport as southerners do and I wonder if parents in those other locations feel the way I do. I can understand the importance of playing other teams that are of similar size and skill level. However, I do not understand the logic behind traveling 3 hours to play such a game. That was the situation last night. The game was a 3 hour drive. Consequently, we did not arrive back at the school after the game until 1:30 A.M. By the time we got home it was almost 2:00 A.M. I am ever so thankful that I had taken today off.

As to playing teams of similar skill levels, just because a team may be of comparable size, it does not mean that the skill levels of the teams will be equal. Last nights game was very one sided. Our boys ran over the other team. The final was 47-6. Of course it did allow our second string to get in a good amount of playing time.

On the bus ride home many of the band kids napped. I myself was so exhausted that I cat napped, with my head propped on my arms against the seat in front of me. It was not very restful, but I was so tired that I simply could not fight it. I don't think my bed ever felt better. It makes me wonder why we put ourselves (and our kids) thru this time and time again. I suppose in years to come I may look back on instances like this one as fond memories, but I somehow doubt it. I think it will more likely be placed in the category of doing what had to be done. Jacqueline is really pinning her hopes on some kind of musical scholarship in order to attend college, so if enduring 3 hour bus rides gets her a college scholarship then I'm sure it will be worth it.