Sunshine, Leaves, and a Little Dog Named Oliver

Our little Oliver has been loving the fall weather lately. Earlier this week, Carrie took him on a walk through the neighborhood. Although they couldn’t find a spot on the patio at Salute, he still enjoyed the outing. Trotting through the fallen leaves and soaking in the crisp air, he was the big dog on the block. A few times over the past couple of weeks, we’ve let him outside, and he just sits in the sun with a goofy look on his face, completely content and clearly enjoying life.

This is also the kind of weather where, on a typical weekend when I’m trying to watch football, Oliver insists on going in and out of the house a dozen times. Eventually, I just prop the door open so he can come and go as he pleases. Of course, he’d still prefer that one of us be outside with him to enjoy the weather together.

Seeing the leaves fall is a welcome sight as we hope for a long, beautiful autumn and an easy winter ahead.

Love, Lawn, and Long Balls: Our Wild Weekend

Carrie and me at Wedding Reception

Carrie and I attended a wedding reception a few weeks ago. The picture to the left is a selfie we took at the reception. We had a great time celebrating and did a lot of dancing too. It was a good party at a cool spot just outside of Topeka. I had never been to or heard of The Brownstone. It's a great spot for a party, and we all had a fantastic time.

Today has been a combination of exercise and getting some things done around the house. This morning at 11 am, I did my weekly bike ride on the Peloton with Ally Love. Following my bike ride, I took Oliver on a mile walk, which is one of his longer walks in a while. He was so excited! I told Carrie I am going to try and take Oliver on a walk following each time I do a bike ride. After the walk with Oliver, I mowed the backyard and did some picking up in the front and back by blowing things off the driveway and back patio. The main reason for doing so is to prevent Oliver from tracking oak tree debris into the house. Finally, after mowing, I took our glass that had been overflowing for a while to the recycling area.

It is beautiful out today, so after I finished my tasks, I told Carrie I was surprised she was not sitting out in the hammock. The next thing I knew, Carrie was headed out to the hammock with Oliver. Meanwhile, I am inside watching the Royals hit a home run franchise record. We are up 11-6 in the bottom of the 9th against the Orioles. Both sides have been hitting a lot of home runs, but in the last inning, the Royals set a franchise record for the most homers in a game.

New Work Picture

About a week ago I had a new profile picture taken for work. I had been using the same picture for I am not sure how long. I am presenting at a conference in May, so I needed to provide a higher resolution picture which prompted me to reach out to our campus photographer who took about two dozen pictures of me. In the end, I picked the one to the right. 

Old Profile Picture

To compare, my old profile picture is to the left. It was also taken by our campus photographer, but it was probably over ten years ago. I really do not recall. I know when I would do virtual meetings with people that had not seen me in a while, they would comment on my old picture that I looked young. So, the new picture to the right is a better reflection of how I look today.

Another somewhat rambling post on this Sunday afternoon. I am happy to report that the Royals won 11 - 6 and won the series against the Orioles.  For me, I am headed outside to enjoy the weather. Have a great rest of your Sunday and a fantastic week!

 

Winter Storm Blair: A Tale of Snow, Slush, and Unexpected Days Off

On Sunday, January 5th, the snow arrived as predicted, and it arrived in force! Topeka was blanketed with over 12 inches of the white stuff, leading to a prolonged closure of many businesses, including my own.

From Sunday through Wednesday, the city streets remained largely impassable, forcing us to work from home. Then, another snowfall on Thursday night resulted in another day off on Friday. This has been an unusual start to 2025, with more days off due to weather than I can remember in recent years.

In fact, I've only been to the office once this year! I took Thursday and Friday off after New Year's Day, and with these unexpected closures, it feels quite strange. While working from home has its perks, I do enjoy the social interaction of being in the office.

Winter Storm Blair certainly lived up to its name. At times on Sunday, the snow was so heavy and the winds so strong that we couldn't even see the houses across the street from our back window. The snow piled up on our windowsill, a sight I don't think I've ever witnessed before.

Oliver, our [pet's name], seemed to enjoy the storm in his own way. He sought out warmth wherever he could find it, snuggling between us and wearing his sweater to combat the chill.

The additional snowfall on Thursday further complicated the situation, as many residential streets remained untouched.

I'm hoping this is the last of the significant snow for this winter. It's probably wishful thinking, but one can always hope!

Stay safe and warm, and I'll update you all next week.

Summer Fun at the Ballpark

Royals Game Friday Night

Friday night found me at the Royals game. Erin and Greg were planning to go into the game and asked if I wanted to go when Carrie had to work that night. I took them up on it and go my ticket. They were in another section with another friend and no seats available around them, but I was able to get a seat a section away and it worked out perfectly. About the third inning I was able to move over to where they were sitting and sit right in front of them for the remainder of the game. 

Selfie at the Game

We watched a fun game with the Royals winning 7 - 4 over the Phillies. A beautiful night for a game with a cool breeze blowing most of the night. We picked a good night to go into a game with the temperatures rising on Saturday through Thursday. Not to mention on Saturday the Royals lost 11 - 2 which I watched from home in my lounge chair. We had a great time at the game and it was good to be able to sit with Stacy, Erin, and Greg and topped off with a Royals win.

Friday Night Fireworks

Friday also happened to be fireworks night. We watched as we walked back to our car where we hung out watching fireworks, chatting, and snacking. They put on a good show after the game although I did not get any photos they were fun to watch.

While we were at the game, Carrie was working. She checked in with us through the night and it even sounded as though she was following the game. We got back to Topeka late. She confirmed when I got home that the event went well.  This was my fourth Royals game to attend on the year and I think Carrie has attended two. I am hoping to get in 2 - 5 more Royals games before the post season. 

It was good to be able to go to the Royals game after a long week. Our AC is working again as of last Tuesday. Classes started and that is always a busy time. It was a good first week of classes though although still hard to believe that the fall semester has started again. 

Until next time, have a great week! 

Hattitude and Happiness: A Royals Fan's Perfect Sunday

Showing Off Our New Hats

Carrie and I attended the MIAA Day at The K game on Sunday, July 21. We had a great time. We got our new hats (pictured to the right) that have the Royals and Washburn on them. It was fun seeing other MIAA attendees with their hats. It seems as though Fort Hays State University had the most people attending the game as I saw their hats everywhere. It was a fun day and I am glad that we decided to go somewhat last minute (the day before the game).

The hats are really sharp. We tried to get additional hats but we were told they are not available. Sold out or something, but later I saw boxes of hats as we were leaving the game. Could easily put those on a site to sell them as they look great representing the Royals and Washburn.

The day was beautiful even with our seats in the sun but soon the clouds moved in and provided the perfect ending to the day. We met up with the Mosers' briefly before the game to have a quick beer. Plus we saw the Ybarras' in the ball park.

Section 248 at Royals Game

Our seats were good sitting in section 248 row MM. Good crowd on a Sunday afternoon which was good. It has been fun watching the attendance continue to increase as the Royals continue to win. This was my third Royals game to attend this season and so far the Royals are 3 - 0 when I attend their games. 

We need to find our next game to attend. This next week we play on the road the whole week. We are back in Kansas City starting August 5. Probably good we are away this next week as high temperatures are back in the area starting tomorrow.

Royals Win!

The Royals won 4 - 1 this day. Got a little burnt on my knees but overall it was a great day. So fun to go in for the Sunday game and back in time for Sunday evening relaxing. As I mentioned, we need to do more of these when it is a Sunday afternoon game. It is easy to get into the games and we are having fun watching our Royals play ball.

Until next time, have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful week. Go Royals!

Washburn Football Won Saturday to Wrap up the Season and Disappointing Kansas Game... Plus Oliver Being Sleepy All the Time

Last week was a busy but it also flew by which can happen when it is a busy week. The weekend consisted of going out Friday night for drinks and dinner. When Carrie and I returned home Friday night, Oliver just wanted to relax and get tickles on the couch. We sometimes say that Oliver would be happiest if we were to lay around with him all day long and pet him. When we are not touching him, he throws little fits or paws at us with his paw to get us to tickle. Poor guy!

Saturday we went to the last home Washburn football game of the season. We won the game 45 - 14 to get our second win of the season. It was a rough season, but hopeful that we will bounce back next season. I went to all of the home games this season except for one when I was out of town. Carrie went to all the home games this season with me. We had a fun time throughout the season. For this last home game, Carrie made chili and hotdogs were made by Greg that we enjoyed throughout the day. We had beautiful weather for a game in the middle of November.

Basketball season has started and the first home game for Washburn is November 18. Carrie and I have season tickets and will be attending the games this season. We have a fun time attending Washburn basketball throughout the season as we have had season tickets now for a few years. 

Disappointing Kansas football game yesterday that Greg and I were following while at the Washburn game. Next weekend will be fun to see Kansas State vs. Kansas, but hoping we have Bean back in the game for Kansas. Bean went out of the game yesterday and so we had a freshman quarterback leading the Jayhawks. KU lost to Texas Tech yesterday 16 - 13 moving to 7 - 3 overall and 5 and 1 at home. Two games remain in the season.

Not a lot of pictures from me this weekend, but we had a good time Friday and Saturday. No Chiefs game Sunday as it is a bye week for us this week. Chiefs play again on Monday, November 20.

Until next time, have a great Sunday and a wonderful week...

The Start of Fall is Here Along with Tailgating, Football, and Thinking Back to 12 Years Ago When We Brought Oliver Home

Wreath on Front Porch

Saturday marked the start of fall for 2023. Carrie made a new wreath for our front porch combining some older wreathes we had and it turned out great! Perfect wreath for the fall season. Beautiful weather to start the season which I hope sticks around as it is beautiful. We got ready to head to the tailgate for Washburn football.

As we were getting the car loaded and ready to head to the tailgate, the weather was a cool 72 degrees. It felt amazing! We ran to the store to get some snacks for the game and it felt warmer outside of the store, but it really was not bad for the tailgate or once the game started.

Selfie at Our Spot

We were a little late getting out to our spot as there was a line at Circle Coffee that went out the door. Good problem to have for Circle Coffee. Carrie got some coffee and a scone for us to share.  Parked in our spot and started enjoying the day. A nice cool breeze was blowing which kept it nice through most of the game and there was some cloud cover too. It was really nice! Caught up with friends, found out our friends, Burgs, were family of the year and would be honored. Chatted with Jeremy and Julie for a bit and Julie slipped in that they were family of the year. Too funny!

Washburn Cheer Team

Tuba Players Doing Their Thing

Whole Band Going Through TailGate

Washburn Team Enters Stadium

A fun time pre-game and the weather remained nice throughout until about the fourth quarter. Then the sun came out and it got a little warm. Plus the breeze stopped and we were not playing well. We lost the game 58 - 28. We were in the game the first half, but fell apart in the second half.  That puts us at 1 - 3 on the season. A lot of work to do. The first half we relied almost entirely on the rushing game. Second half, because we had to change, we changed over to the passing game but it was too late. There was not recovering.

Matt and John Watching Washburn

Our friend, Matt, stopped by and watched the game with us. Always good to see Matt and this was his first game to attend of the season. Chatted a little about the rushing vs passing game. Always good to catch up with Matt during football games. He lives close to Washburn, so he left about the start of the fourth quarter when it was really out of hand and no way we were going to come back to win let alone make it close.

We are away next week when we play University of Nebraska at Kearney and then we are back home on October 7 against Missouri Western State University. I will miss the next home game as I will be out of town. I thought I had checked and I would not miss, but realized yesterday as we were driving home from the game that I would miss the next home game. Seems to happen every year, but oh well.

Following getting home from the long day of tailgating and football, I slept for a while and did not leave the house. It takes it out of me to tailgate and cheer on a team. Plus, I had to get ready for Sunday football, so it was a quiet evening for us.

Oliver Joined our Family 9/24/2011

In non-football related news, 12 years ago to this day (September 24, 2011), we brought home a little fur ball that was full of energy and made us laugh. Twelves years later and Oliver is still making us laugh. I am so happy we made that trip to see dogs at the pet store. We came away with our bundle of joy that keeps us still laughing to this day.

I hope you have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful weekend. 

Friday Night Sirens and Video from Sister in Andover, Kansas of Tonrado

Little Oliver in our back yard on Friday evening as the storms are preparing to move in later in the night. He was having a large time in our back yard running around, barking at people walking, and having a good time. Early in the evening, we could tell he knew something was happening with the weather. Like other animals, he can sense the weather changing even before it changes. Before long as the storms move into the area, he hides behind my chair. The sirens did go off in Topeka, so we all headed to the basement. He was not scared at that point, it did not come until later when the thunder started and that’s when he hid behind my chair. Poor guy!

Friday night taking cover was the first time this year we have had to take cover and I believe the first time in a few years we have had to take cover. It seems this spring is lining up to be a storm heavy season. We have already had a few storms before this one that were intense with a lot of rain, lightening, thunder, and hail. We did have a little hail Friday night but it was only pea size. 

Andover, Kansas was hit by a tornado Friday evening that caused considerable damage to the area. My sister sent me a video that she recorded of the tornado as it went through Andover. The video perfectly shows the formation of the tornado, touch down, and then destruction as debris starts to float around the tornado. Scary night of weather in Kansas.

The predictions the whole week leading up to Friday was that we were going to see intense weather. They were not wrong! Thankfully no one was killed from what I heard about the Andover tornado, but a lot of destruction. So glad everyone is safe! Thoughts and prayers go out to all involved in the path of the weather Friday night.

Royals Lose on a Saturday Night, Yard Work, and Oliver Being Scared of Thunderstorms… Uneventful Weekend

Oliver and I stayed up late Saturday night watching Royals baseball. Managed to get my hopes up as we took the lead in the top of the seventh and then did not score again through the end of the game. The bottom of the 7 Seattle scored one run to tie the game and in the bottom of the eighth, Seattle scored six runs. Brentz walked four guys with one of his walk leading to a run. One of those evenings where when it is done, I sit there and think what I could have been doing with my evening instead of baseball. 

The game finished sometime after midnight and I watched until the end. Disappointing way to end the night especially after coming back to lead the game and then lose it just as fast. The Royals started the season with two wins, went on a five game losing streak, won three games, and now are on a three game losing streak. Ah, the joys of baseball. We are once again in last place for the AL Central.

The Royals play again today at 3:10, so I plan on doing yard work today. I may or may not be done with yard work by the time the game starts, but that is OK. I can listen to the game and switch to music if I do not like the direction we are headed.

It is a beautiful morning and this will be my first time mowing for the season. I must say, this is the best our yard has looked in a long-time. I had the yard over-seeded last fall and it is paying off. A dark green lawn so far and I have not done a thing except over water in the late fall months. We had a good rain storm Saturday afternoon, so I should be good on watering at least for a while. I do have to monitor moisture as last year in the late summer months our lawn started to go dormant. 

The storm we had Saturday early evening caused Oliver to hide behind my chair. When it thunders, he does not really want us to look at or touch him. He knows how to keep himself safe. He is a funny little guy!

Short update for this week. One of those weeks where I was not sure what I was going to post until I sat down and started writing. Have a great week!

Short Update for the Week Thinking About Weather, Sports, and Yes Camping

Enjoying the nice weather we are having this week compared to what we saw last week. In a weeks time we saw ice, snow, melting snow, and temps in the 80s. The nice weather is a good change and can see that spring is trying to make an appearance. Early this next week we are supposed to be we will dip down into the twenties again with snow, but should not do much of anything. The weather goes back up in the 50s for a few days and then back down into the 30s. We can hope this is the last cold weather we will see. I think we are all ready for spring to arrive and hopefully spring weather sticks around for a few weeks and we do not go to another extreme.

Spring weather makes think of baseball weather of course not sure when MLB will be starting for the season as it has been delayed because of negotiation talks not going well between owners and players. Still, the warmer weather makes it feel like it should be starting soon. I have been tuning into Washburn baseball which has been fun and we are going to get out to see some home games this spring at Washburn.

The spring-like weather makes me think about basketball as we are now into March and that means March Madness. Washburn played in their first tournament game last night and beat Emporia. KU still has one regular season game to be played Saturday although I write this Saturday morning, so not sure the outcome… we need to get the W so we can have a part in the Big 12 title. 

Of course the warmer weather also makes me start thinking again about where we are going to camp. We do not have any dates set yet and hoping to get some long weekends locked in so we can do our camping. It is bad when it is nice outside in the evenings and I am thinking about how we could be out camping somewhere… well, the temps still drop down into the 30s at night, so a bit early to be going out to camp. Still, we know the camping weather will be here before we know it and I cannot wait!

A short update for this weekend. I hope you are having a great weekend. Until next week, have a great week!

Camping Discussion for September and October plus Future Camping and Taking Our Dog in Cooler Temperatures

Carrie and I have not been camping in a few months, so we are thinking about going here soon before it gets cold. We are debating on whether to go camping for our anniversary or wait until October. We are looking at options and trying to figure out when we could do a long weekend for another camping adventure.

We learned this week that the annual festival I attend each year, King Biscuit Blues Festival, has been canceled for the second time in a row. Sad to hear we will not be at the festival this year and not able to see our friends that travel from all over the country to attend. Although it makes sense with the rise of COVID cases across the country, it is sad to not be going again this year. So, instead of going to a blues festival, Carrie and I might take a long weekend and go camping instead. Although no dates are set and we do not have anything reserved at this time.

If possible, we would love to be able to do two or three more camping trips before it gets cold. I am not sure how that will work out though. As we see August come to an end, we move into September and if the first few weeks of September are anything like the last few weeks of August, it would be very warm to go camping. Granted, the weather should start cooling down where it will be nice to camp, but it would be cool during the evening and just the day to deal with the heat.

We did learn from our camping adventure back in June (see Camping in Hot Temperatures at lake Milford Near Junction City) that we can go camping in extreme temperatures, but it would be nice to be able to take our dog and not have him overheat in the weather. So, hopefully late September we can get a camping visit done and then two more in October.

I am not sure how much Oliver likes to camp as we have only taken him two times so far in our adventures, but he seems to like the experience. He sleeps throughout the day, enjoys going on walks as we do much more walking when we are camping than at home, and he likes watching the people at the other camp sites. The weather might be too warm to take him in September, but hopefully we can take him at least once in October if we can get a date set.

We did book a camp site for the future (2022) in Big Bend National Park and we cannot wait for that trip. The dates are tentatively set as Carrie could see the dates disappearing, but we do have that to look forward to in 2022.

What trips do you have planned for future camping sites? Do you have a favorite you would recommend that Carrie and I visit? We would love to hear from you in the comments. Until next week, have a great week!

Extreme Weather, Remembering Snow and Cold from February 2021 and a Dog Paw Hurting from Extreme Cold

What a few weeks it has been not only here in Kansas but across the whole United States. Record temperatures for much of the country and in Kansas we saw temperatures drop to -16 which did not include the wind chill. Our friends in Texas continue to deal with water issues from not being able to drink water to broken pipes when their temperatures fell below normal temps for the region. We have heard that friends in Houston and Dallas are starting to return to normal with drinking water returning to normal in some areas, but still many people in Texas reported as not having power or issues with the water they have in their area. With warmer weather, hopefully we continue to see areas return to their normal temperature for this time of year and get things back to normal.

Here in Topeka, I worked from home Monday and Tuesday as there was snow, extreme cold, and not ideal to be outside let alone traveling. On Wednesday, February 17, I went into work and found that the roads were not bad at that time. The city had not done much of anything to treat the roads, but I had no issue getting around. By the weekend, we are up in the low 40’s and find much of the snow melting away. 

After having what I would say is a mild winter, we were caught in extreme temperatures, snow, and even some freezing rain, to make the middle of February 2021 interesting. As we see MLB spring training starting next weekend, college basketball is winding down to final regular season games, we can only hope that no more extreme winter weather will be had for our state or others that suffered through an unusual winter period for all.

I know our dog, Oliver, is happy to have warmer temperatures. On Monday when I let him out at one time,  I think he hurt his paws with the being in the snow and cold. Prior to that time, I was not letting him be outside very long and would often go with him to rush him along, but one time on Monday when he was out, he appeared to hurt his right front paw when the cold got to it. He was not interested in our touching him or checking why he was hurting. By later in the week, he seemed to be back to normal and whatever was hurting him from Monday had stopped hurting. 

Be safe and just think that Spring is right around the corner.

Fall Weather with Snow in the Forecast Tonight and Tomorrow

Fall weather is here! Hard to believe it is supposed to snow tonight. It seems that the cold and snow came out of no where. We had been having such nice weather the past few weeks, months, and then snow is in the forecast.

I have heard some "experts" say that they are predicting a bad winter. Lots of snow... cold... and more snow. We will see what happens. The way 2020 has gone so far, I could see us getting a blizzard or two to finish out the year.

Today, I did leaves for the first time this year. I am not sure I did leaves at all last year. Instead, I let the trees in our yard drop all of their leaves and then called to have someone come out and get them. Seemed to work well, but I am sure our neighbors did not like our doing this at all. Back yard had leaves that went over your shoes in most spots of the yard and of course when the wind would blow, it would throw the leaves all over the place in our yard and neighbors yard too. Even with fenced in back yard, the leaves can manage to find their way out of our yard and into other yards.

I probably do the lazy method for doing leaves. I do not like to rake so I usually use the mower to mulch and then go over them again to bag. Yes, causes more trips around the yard to do this method, but less bending over to pick up leaves. For the work today, I have two full bags of leaves. This was only the front yard and both large trees in the front basically have not dropped many of their leaves. The back yard, I decided not to do at all as there are only a few leaves on the ground in the back.

Meanwhile, our neighbor in back of us has already done his yard multiple times to pick up leaves just this past week. I am sure he cringes when he sees our yard, leaves everywhere, and I won't even go into how the yard looks in terms of grass. Oh well!

Now we wait to see what the weather brings tonight through tomorrow. Just how much snow will we get? Always fun with the first one or two snows and drivers in Topeka. Be safe and when we do get our first big snow, I am sure I will post about it here.