Saturday
Yesterday was a pretty busy day.
In the morning and early afternoon, I spent some time outside, helping Dad with various things. We needed to move a few wheelbarrows of dirt from our side porch area to the back, near our pine tree line. For some reason, we have some sink holes or something that just keep reappearing, despite out best attempts to pack them in and fill them up. Hopefully, there’s just a finite amount of dirt that is needed to completely fill those to the point where they sink no more.
After that, Dad, John and I spent some time collecting black walnuts that have fallen from our, well, black walnut tree. I didn’t even know that those were walnuts — they look kind of like crab apples — but Dad thought they were walnuts. We were collecting them because evidently, my grandparents are interested in using them in baking.
This morning, I did some searching online, and I think our tree is, in fact, a black walnut tree. I’m not sure exactly how a black walnut differs from a “regular” walnut. If you happen to know, please send me an e-mail!
Yesterday afternoon, I drove over to my great-grandma’s old house in order to haul away a bunch of branches and assorted stuff that was trimmed from the hedges in the back yard. I loaded up the bed of the truck, secured a tarp over everything, and drove back home. I then unloaded everything onto our burn pile in the back of the property.
Later in the afternoon, we held a softball practice out in the ball field. It basically consisted of Dad hitting infield practice to Jude, Paul, Mark and James, and me hitting outfield practice to John, Jacob, Seth and Philip. So I really didn’t have to throw very much, which is good since my arm is still healing.
In the evening, the Braves and Astros played Game Four of the NLDS. Jorge Sosa pitched for Atlanta and Roy Oswalt started for Houston. It was a tight game for the first several innings, with the Astros leading 3-2. They scored four more runs, though, making it 7-2. The Braves managed to tack one more on, but they lost 7-3.
They play at noon today, and the Braves are in a must-win situation. If Houston wins, they’ll knock Atlanta out. If the Braves win, they will force a decisive Game Five tomorrow in Atlanta. The winner of the series will go on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series. The Cards made very quick work of the San Diege Padres in the NLDS, sweeping them in three games.