Monday, August 26, 2013

A question and a ball game

First of all, lets answer Phil's question on the last post about the Mackinac Bridge in the current header photo...    The Toll was $4 for cars, and was $5 per axle for motorhomes....  Busses and trucks are also by axle, but I don't remember now how much they were...

For the several days that we were in the Mackinaw City area, the bridge was full of activity that wasn't related to the traffic...  This must have been an ongoing project as I wasn't able to see much progress...  perhaps most of the summer..  They are painting the underside and the cables of the suspension bridge work..  The color is about picnic table green...  The vehicles visible were power generators for both electricity and compressed air...

They had visqueen plastic tents over the areas that were being painted so that cars wouldn't enjoy a nice green coat of overspray.. Also there are specially made cherry picker style arms that reach out over the side of the bridge and then up underneath...  I'm not certain what that ride would feel like more than 200 feet above the water...  If you fell out, you would be dead from the impact with the water....

As far as the toll booths they are on the mainland north of the bridge...  Since both sides of the bridge is the state of Michigan, you don't have customs or anything like that to deal with...

It has been rather hot here for this last week, as we have been in the mid 90s each day...  That has caused a serious case of stay indoors here at our house...   Really too hot for much of anything outside..

This weekend however, we have been attending my Grandson's baseball games around dusk...  Saturday night it was at 8PM and tonight it was 7PM..  This is a parks and rec league here in Olathe..  It is organized, to the extent that they have teams and a volunteer coach....

This particular league plays until the kids have scored 5 runs, and then the inning is over...  Outs are sometimes a mystery for 10 year olds, as they stumble catching the ball and tossing it to a team mate.....  without dropping it....!

The game lasts 1:45 without regard who is up to bat...  But by that time it is usually very obvious who the winner is...  So far, it hasn't been us, but we just started this team and our opponents have been playing quite a bit longer...

It was over 90 when we went out to the park tonight, so that was steamy..  But as the sun set over the Western tree tops, the breeze came up and it was comfortable..

Caden has played 2nd base for the beginning pitcher, and then first base for the second pitcher.  The second pitcher is the first baseman at the beginning of the game...  Caden caught a line drive tonight that was off of one of the big kids bats..  It was on top of him so quickly that it startled him, but he managed to hang on and put the kid out...

My son Ben has also helped with the coaching and practices as well, as parents seem really reluctant to do anything these days.....

Retired Rod

2 comments:


  1. Rod,
    My baseball team is the Tampa Bay RAYS ..... The ROYALS really beat us up today ..... The sportscasters stated that the temps were really tough to deal with on the field ...... Not as an excuse, just as a side-light !!!!! Grew up in KC but don't know the new ballpark ....
    It is always fun watching the young kids play baseball....and so good to learn the sportsmanship and team effort ....hope they have some fun this season ....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OOps sorry Sally, you know all is fair in love and war..... Or Baseball....LOL

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