2010
Our cats, Jeter and A-Rod, are great but they are a handful. Jeter refuses to get into his kitty carrier because he knows it means hell be going to the vet. I purchased a new carrier for him. It was a lot larger so I thought it would be easier to get him into it, but he seemed to know it really was a dog kennel. Not buying a dog kennel for a cat is not the only thing I learned about cats this year. I also learned not to give a cat one kernel of popcorn and expect him not to stalk you while you are enjoying the rest of the bowl while you watch TV. Did you know cats sit very still and watch their prey until they see their opportunity to pounce? Jeter saw his chance and leaped onto my lap, shoved his head in the bowl, displacing most of the popcorn, and shoved as much popcorn in his mouth as would fit before he jumped down. I could do nothing to defend myself against such ferocity. Now I take my popcorn out on the patio, a bit problematic since it has snowed.
As for A-Rod, he has become too brave for his own good. He used his speed to rush past me when I opened the door that leads from the kitchen to the garage. He explored the previously uncharted (to him) nooks and crannies of the garage. I had to hit the panic alarm for my car to scare him enough to have him run back into the house.
I have now joined the club of those who have visited all 50 states. Stew and I went to Charleston, South Carolina, in February. South Carolina was one of two states (Idaho being the other) that I hadnt been in. We got bumped from our Detroit to Charleston flight and were flown into Columbia instead. Delta Airlines then paid for a taxi to get us to Charleston. It was quite a mess, but Stew and I each got an $800 voucher from Delta. We used part of that to go to Boise in July so that I could get into Idaho and complete my 50 states. In Idaho, we went to an archeological site on the Snake River, Harmon Killebrews boyhood home in Payette, and a Boise Hawks minor league baseball game.
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Brenda coming out of the Boise airport and entering her 50th state. |
We also used the Delta voucher to get our plane tickets for Atlanta, where the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) convention was held. The exciting news out of the convention was that the 2012 SABR convention was awarded to Minneapolis. During the convention I rented a car and drove to Savannah to see a childhood friend of mine, Pat Walsh Straub. We had a great time eating lunch in a haunted historic pirate hideaway. Also, Georgians get my vote for the worst drivers in the country. The evidence is all over: wheels, bumpers, fenders, and other pits of cars left strewn along the roadway.
I had a couple other trips this year. One was to Cleveland to speak about the dangers of distracted driving. The Twins were in Cleveland too, so I went to the game and saw them beat the Indians. From my seat I got a great picture of two nuns in traditional habits attending the game. They were sitting a few rows in front of me silhouetted by the field below. It reminded me of the movie Major League.
Stew went to Bethesda, Maryland, in May for the annual communications school of the National Association of Government Communicators. He had a chance to roam around D. C. a bit and go to a Washington Nationals game, where he saw the center fielder for the New York Mets hit an inside-the-park home run and later start a triple play. During the school, NAGC announced that it would have its 2011 communications school in St. Paul, so its been a good year for Stew in luring national conventions to the Twin Cities.
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From the press box, a shot of Cristian Guzman of the Nationals hitting into a triple play. |
Another trip came up unexpectedly. Stew was informed that he was the 2010 recipient of the Tony Salin Memorial Award from the Baseball Reliquary in California. The Tony Salin Award is for commitment to preserving baseball history, so it was a nice honor for him. They flew him to California for the ceremony, and I tagged along. It was my first time in LA so Stew wanted me to see HollywoodHollywood Forever Cemetery, that is. We stayed on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, which is an interesting area. Later we drove over to see the Rose Bowl, and I drove back so I could cruise Colorado Boulevard and feel like the Little Old Lady from Pasadena.
The Induction Ceremony was in Pasadena. I was very proud. In addition to the Tony Salin Award, an award is presented to the best fan. This year that award went to Sister Mary Assumpta, a Cleveland Indians fan who appeared in Major League. She was not at the game where I took the pictureshe shares her season ticketsbut it was fun to meet a movie star. She is a known in Cleveland for bringing fresh cookies to the Indians at the beginning of every home stand. They are Nun Better Cookies and were served at the ceremony. You can get them on-line.
Stew took an impromptu trip in November. He and others had been trying to track down the gravesite of a former Negro League player who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2006. Someone finally discovered the cemetery this player was buried in. It was in Chicago so Stew drove down there to see it (even though its unmarked but theyre raising money to get a marker) and get the GPS coordinates of the spot before it got covered with snow.
Stews mom and I really enjoyed the season at the Twins new stadium. We went to a bunch of games together, including a playoff game against the Yankees. Phyllis was in a Twins jacket and I was in a Yankees jersey, so KARE-11 interviewed us and put us on the news that night. Stew also enjoyed the new ballpark. He has a great perch in the press box for when he is doing the official scoring or the datacasting for mlb.com. As the official scorer, he had another call reviewed by Major League Baseball, the third time in four years hes had that happen. Like the other times, MLB sided with him and upheld his call. He was happy about that, but its stressful when it happens.
Stew and I had a great year and wish you all a warm and safe holiday season.
Brenda and Stew
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2011
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Mickey, Jeter, Stew, Brenda |
Our big news is a new addition, Mickey Jerome, whom we got in October. Two months earlier, we lost A-Rod, who was five-and-a-half and a litter mate of Jeter. On Saturday, August 27, I got up and discovered A-Rod dead on the upstairs floor. We had a necropsy done and found out he had a chronic heart condition and died of acute heart failure. We took Jeter in for an echocardiogram, in case it was genetic, and were happy that he checked out fine. We were planning on going kitty shopping in late October, but then we saw a picture of a cat named Jerome on Facebook through the friend of a friend whose folks in Big Lake had taken in a stray pregnant cat who had a small litter on August 15. We went to Big Lake and got Mickey (we had decided on this name already and decided to keep his original name as a middle name) on October 19, which was also the eve of Mickey Mantles 80th birthday. Mickey got to listen to the first game of the World Series on the radio as we drove home, although he fell asleep stretched out between my shoulders on the back of my neck.
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A-Rod in the picture above. The photos above that are of Mickey and Jeter. |
We love Mickey and Jeter, but we miss A-Rod, who had already given us a few more gray hairs (maybe justice for one of us) during the year. In July, the day before we were leaving for Los Angeles, A-Rod fell off the high ledge from our upstairs loft. Brenda thinks he may have been after a mosquito. She heard a thump, checked it out, and saw A-Rod on the floor. She was afraid he had broken his jaw and took him to the vet. The only thing he broke was a tooth, and he seemed to be doing fine and had no trouble eating. Brenda reconstructed the scene and thinks he hit the side of his face on the bannister as he hurtled downward. Fortunately, I had a sweatshirt hanging over the bannister, and that may have softened the impact.
I couldnt get too upset with A-Rod because he wasnt the only one in the family injuring himself with falls from high places. I hadnt skydived since 2009 because I was wobbly in free fall, especially when I tried a forward-motion maneuver, which caused me to spin out of control. This year I signed up for sessions with a personal trainer at the YMCA, and she worked with me on strengthening my core muscles, which would help with stability in the air. She was right. I went to the drop zone in Baldwin, Wisconsin, and jumped on Memorial Day and then again the following Saturday. I was more stable and did the forward-motion maneuver without spinning. I felt pretty good about that. I pulled my ripcord around 5,000 feet in the air and began floating to the ground.
I didnt line up my approach right and came down a bit off-target, in an alfalfa field adjacent to the drop zone. That was okay, but then I messed up the landing. I flared my canopy (pulling the steering toggles to bring down the sides of the canopy) too early. I compounded the error by unflaring. I dont understand all the aerodynamics of this, but the people at the drop zone said this collapses the canopy. I still had 15 feet to go and did a dead drop to the ground. I felt rattled and a little sore, but I didnt think there was anything wrong. However, I didnt feel like getting up. Its probably a good thing I didnt. They took me to the hospital in Baldwin, Wisconsin, and found that I had broken a vertebra (the T-12 one). They transferred me to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, and I was there for three days. I had to wear a body brace for a couple months. It was a little hot and uncomfortable, but I figured it was better than not being able to walk, so I considered myself lucky. I also got a lot of autographs on the brace from the people in the press box at Target Field and elsewhere.
This summer Brenda noticed a robins nest with three eggs in one of our shrubs. Soon after three robins were born. About a week later Brenda bought some worms to put out for the family. She stored the container with the worms in the refrigerator and labeled it because she was afraid I might think it was ramen noodles or something. I was afraid that, by feeding them, the babies would bond to us and wed be responsible for their upbringing. However they seem to be off with their real mom and dad, so all is well.
Brenda and I made our trip to Los Angeles (having the kitty sitter come in twice rather than once a day so that she could give A-Rod his pain medication) and went to the Society for American Baseball Research convention. We got to a Dodgers game and an Angels game (and got our picture taken together at Angel Stadium). Next year the convention will be in Minneapolis. I got back to L. A. in September to see the Gophers play Southern California. We also went to a couple of Twins at Angels game while we were out there.
Brenda made a few trips this year, including a transportation conference in Washington, D. C., where she made a presentation in October. A week later she and her friends Lisa and Ellen got away for a weekend down in Lanesboro, Minnesota.
I spent the baseball season doing either the mlb.com datacasting or official scoring for Twins games. The official scoring went well although, as usual, there were a few bumps. I had a scoring decision overturned by Major League Baseball from an error to a hit in April. It was the fourth time I had a call reviewed by MLB, but this was the first time I had one overturned. I changed a call on my own in late June after a Dodgers-Twins game. The Dodgers won 15-0, but after the game the Dodgers were mad because of an error I called in the fourth inning. They thought it should have been a hit for their batter. I looked at the play again and decided it was too tough a hop for the shortstop to handle, so I changed the call to a hit and told the reporters in the press box. Normally this isnt a big deal, but the reporters started buzzing because this meant the Twins had now set a team record for the most hits allowed (25) in a nine-inning game and started changing their story leads. I was mentioned in the newspaper game accounts in the Minneapolis and Los Angeles papers. LaVelle Neal of the Star Tribune wrote that the Dodgers were so devastating they kept collecting hits after the game was over.
I also did a lot of official scoring for the Timberwolves last season and even got to sit across the court from Kim Kardashian when Kris Humphries was in town with the Nets, but everything is on hold now since the league has locked out the players.
Ho ho ho and Happy Holidays.
Brenda and Stew
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2012
Hello
A lot happened this year, but we were happy that life with our cats, Jeter and Mickey, was uneventful. They didnt destroy themselves or each other or the furniture (too much). Mickeys getting to be a big boyhe had his first birthday in Augustand Jeter remains a big boy. They get along well, and we even got them to squirm into a photogenic position for a photo.
The big thing for us this year was that my mom died October 20. She was doing pretty well and staying active until July, when she had trouble breathing and went to the hospital. Other than a brief return home (about 12 hours before she had another breathing episode), she was in the hospital for about six weeks. Her heart was going on her, and we knew she was nearing the end. She wanted to get home and did and still had some good times. She got to a last Twins game with Brenda and went on a nice picnic with David and Dorene (my brother and his wife). She still had a good bit of energy until early October, and she kept plugging along. On Friday, October 19 she didnt get out of bed. Brenda went over there and called the rest of us. By the time we got there, Mom wasnt responding. By chance, this was the night of the monthly family card game. We were thinking about calling it off but didnt. People came over with their food and, instead of going upstairs to the party room, we stayed in Moms apartment. It seemed a little irreverent to have a party there, but our family has never been too conventional, and it was really nice having a lot of family members around. She died early the next morning.
Mom was lucky to have two such great daughters-in-law as well as a lot of other good friends and family who often visited and helped her out. We had a nice service for her at Lakewood Cemetery in November and got to see a lot of folks we dont often see. Thats one of the things I like about funerals and memorial services (that and the food). All of this was a reminder to me of what a great family we have. Many thanks to those of you who came to the service, sent best wishes, and/or donated to the memorial fund in her name at Friends of the Hennepin County Library. More than $1,500 came in, and that will keep a lot of people reading, which would make Mom happy. In addition, Norton Stillman (my first publisher, who became a great friend of the family) had a tree planted for my mom in the Millie Stillman Forest in Israel.
Other than that, it was a pretty calm year. No skydiving incidents, but Im still feeling the effects of the bad landing I made last year, so Ive been going to Physicians Neck and Back Clinic, where they work me out pretty well twice a week. Looking for something else to do, I tried trap shooting but instead settled for cribbage as my primary sport and joined a cribbage club. One night I finished first and won $145. However, it still lacks the rush of skydiving.
Brenda and I didnt go anywhere to get to the Society for American Baseball Research convention because this year we hosted the convention in Minneapolis, which was a great time. We went to Cleveland in August to see the Yankees in a weekend series. Brendas travels were all about connecting with friends. She was off to San Antonio in June for a wedding in the Winona Walsh family, then to Winona for a 40-year Cotter class reunion, and, the weekend of the memorial service for my mom, she shuttled back and forth for a reunion with some friends in Red Wing.
I got to the annual convention for government communicators, which was in Arlington, Virginia, this year and was able to get to a couple Washington Nationals games. In July I went to Miami because the Marlins have a new stadium, an overdone monstrosity that makes you feel like youre in a Chuck E. Cheese. I also saw the Yankees in Kansas City in May and went back to Kansas City for the All-Star Game in July. We had our guy trip in November to see the Gophers play at Nebraska. Weve been to all the Big Ten stadiums now, but while we were in Nebraska, we got the news that the Big Ten is going to be adding more schools to the conference. While in Nebraska, we also followed the Connie Kunzmann murder trail in Omaha. Connie Kunzmann was a player in the Womens Professional Basketball League who was murdered next to a cemetery (as good as any place to go) and dumped in the Missouri River in 1981. We went to all the sites, including where Connie lived in Omaha and the home of her killer, who was released from prison in 1990. He didnt appear to be home, and I wasnt planning on talking to him anyway, but I may do an article about the murder.
In February I went to New York for a meeting of official scorers at the Major League Baseball headquarters. Best meeting Ive ever attended, and a lot of the others scorers said the same thing. Its a pretty select bunch, and we all enjoyed spending time with each other. The season itself was challenging. Because of a new system MLB has for appealing scoring decisions, a lot more scoring calls got sent in by players and teams for review than in past years. We all survived it, although Joe Torre, who has to review the scoring decisions that get appealed, probably was pretty frazzled by how busy he was.
I enjoyed the baseball season, as always, and am now back with basketball doing some of the official scoring for the Timberwolves. I did the book for an exhibition game in Fargo. The team had a bus for us (scorer, stat crew, dance team, and a few others), and we made the round-trip in one day, crashing as best we could on the bus ride home, getting back about 1:30 in the morning. I told Brenda I slept with the entire Timberwolves dance team. She wasnt impressed.
Happy Holidays.
Brenda and Stew
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2013
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Mickey, Stew, Jeter, Brenda |
The weather this summer was so great we decided to allow Jeter and Mickey to have some outside time. Mickey had some adventures on the leash in the neighborhood. He tried hunting birds, but the human at the other end always scared them away. The results were the same with frogs and bugs. He much prefers riding on Stews shoulders or in the car. Jeter stayed out of harms way by watching from the stoop. He remembers being shut out of the house when he was a kitten and is still a little gun shy of the great outdoors.
The travel year began with Stew and me going to New York in May. We went shopping on Fifth Avenue. I never thought I would write those words. I learned that Stew has good taste in something other than women. He also has good taste in jewelry.
I am very proud of him. The purpose of the trip was for him to attend a meeting of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Official Scorers. He was selected to be on the MLB Official Scorers Advisory Committee, so we had to go out a day early for him to attend a meeting at the MLB Headquarters. He also is writing the introduction and a section on scoring rules for a case book they are putting together.
By getting out there ahead of most of the other scorers, we were also able to go to a Yankee game. Over the next two days while he was in the meetings, I rented a bike and rode around Central Park. I was able to attend a dinner with all of the scorers one night.
Stew also went to Montreal in October. The Timberwolves played an exhibition game there, and he was the Official Scorer. In addition to the basketball game, he was able to go to a Montreal Canadiens hockey game.
I went to Savannah with my sister and wine country in Michigan with my friends. My sister Deb and brother Steve and I had unexpected trip to the Black Hills for a funeral of our cousin Mark Himrich. He had been recovering from a stroke and was once again fishing and hunting. Sadly, he had another stroke. I hope the warmth of Christmases past bring comfort to family.
In the spring, baseball once more was central to our lives. Stew worked every Twins home game either as the Official Scorer or the cybercaster for MLB.com. I was grateful for the company of friends from work and SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) who attended games with me. I missed Phyllis very much this season. Like her, I am a loyal fan and enjoyed all the games I attended, win or lose.
The Thornleys had a family tradition of going out to breakfast with Phyllis on Sundays. With Stews brother, wife and U of M student-nephew, we have continued this on a monthly basis, more or less. Being with family is a great way to start the week.
Happy Holidays.
Brenda and Stew
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2014
We all had our adventures this year. Mickey got locked out overnight last summer. He apparently slipped out on us, and we went to bed without checking to see that both cats were in. It was scary when both didnt come out for breakfast the next morning. We couldnt find Mickey inside, so Brenda brought his food outside and called for him. He finally emerged, scared and a little mosquito-bitten but otherwise okay.
Jeter got a trip to the vet when Brenda noticed blood on the sheets where he had been sleeping by her. Jeter checked out okay, and Brenda finally figured the blood might have been her own, from where Jeter had scratched her on the legs. Other than a stressed-out cat and a vet bill, everything was okay.
Brenda was visiting with friends in Milwaukee in June when she fell and broke her right arm. She was a real trooper and got through the whole thing very well, although she was sorry that it meant a summer without golfing and being able to ride her bike.
I had been having pain in my right hip since October 2013. The doctors kept sending me to physical therapy and finally had an MRI done on the hip in mid-August. The pain was being caused by a growing tumor in the cartilage of the hip. A biopsy showed it to be malignant, although there was good news in that a scan showed that the cancer had not spread. On October 1, I went in for surgery that lasted 13 hours. They got the entire tumor out but had to, in addition to replacing the hip, take out part of the pelvis and also some muscle. Nine days after the original surgery it was discovered that the hip had dislocated from its socket. Three days later I had another three hours of surgery to relocate the hip.
We were then able to start physical therapy, and the progress has been pretty good. I got great care in the hospital with the nurses and therapists and was there for a month, getting sprung November 1. Brenda was busy, seeing me at the hospital every day and setting up things at home so I could return. She got a hospital bed for the living room, so I can operate mostly on the first floor, and Im amazed at all she got done while still going to work and carrying out other things in her life.
Im now home-bound. A nurse and physical therapist are coming in for a few weeks, but my primary caregiver is still Brenda. I can get out for church, medical appointments, and haircuts (thats all Im allowed while they are sending in nurses and therapists to the home), but its nice to be home.
I did violate my house arrest by going to the Gophers-Ohio State game on November 15. The Gophers were nice enough to issue a credential for Brenda, so she could be with me and help me out. Brenda enjoyed watching the game from the press box, especially since it was warm. (Outside it was snowing and 15 degrees.) It was great seeing so many people I hadnt seen in a while, and the Gophers even made an announcement in the press box welcoming me back. It was very nice.
Were getting through this together, and there are lots worse things that people go through than this, so we are grateful. Friends and family also help a lot. Our uber friend Jerry Janzen has stood out. Among a lot of other help, hes now picking me up for church (Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis), a group I enjoy and one that is really committed to peace and justice.
Brenda and I had to bail out on a trip to Mexico City. The Timberwolves played there in mid-November, and I was going to be the official scorer. However, the surgery meant we had to cancel.
Fortunately, I got through the entire baseball season before surgery. The highlight was the All-Star Game, and I was one of the official scorers for that, a big thrill. Brenda and Jerry Janzen went to the game together and were also asked to be part of the group that unfurled the giant flag during the national anthem before the game. They were on the field as the lineups were introduced for both teams and then unfurled the flag. I enjoyed watching them do that as much as anything that happened that entire All-Star weekend. It was a great time, going to Fan-Fest (I was on a couple panels there), the Futures Game, celebrity softball game, home-run derby, all leading up to the All-Star Game, which was a good one. A perfect time.
Brenda and I had a couple trips together. She came with me to New York in February for our annual meeting of official scorers. I was busy with it all. Im part of the Official Scoring Advisory Committee and had to come out a day early for some pre-meetings. I led some sessions on scoring rules, and Ive been busy for a while writing the rules section for a case book we are developing for the scorers. Brenda kept herself occupied, including by going to the opera, and we had some time to roam together, including to Central Park, Times Square, and the new World Trade Center.
In late July we went to Houston for the Society for American Baseball Research convention, a good time.
Shortly before my surgery I had a guy trip to Dallas. Four of us went down to see the Gophers play football at Texas Christian in Fort Worth. We also went to two Texas Rangers game and did other sightseeing, including the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco. We also went to Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum, which is in the Texas School Book Depository overlooking the plaza. We followed the trail of Lee Oswald after Kennedy was shot, going to his rooming house, to the intersection where J. D. Tippit (the police officer) was shot, and the theater where Oswald was captured. It was a great trip.
This was a busy year for books. I hooked up with a new publisher, The History Press in South Carolina, and did a history on the Twins, which came out last spring. The biggest book project is one on the Saints with Minnesota Historical Society Press. MHS Press wanted a book on the historic and the current Saints in conjunction with the Saints new ballpark. I finished it the day before I went into the hospital, and it should be out by next spring. I also worked with the Twins, writing the copy for a book on their memorabilia that came out during the season. And I have an anthology on the Polo Grounds; I had fallen behind on that one as I worked on the other projects, but I got a lot done on it while I was in the hospital and am back on track with that one. Im kind of booked-out at this point.
Brenda had spent the entire year organizing a family reunion in Custer, South Dakota, in late September. I was afraid my surgery might interfere, but the timing worked out well. I had planned on going with her, but we decided it would be best for me to stay at home. She rode out to the Black Hills with her brother and niece and had a great time. One of the highlights was that while they were there was one of the two times during the year when visitors are allowed out onto Crazy Horse. They hiked up the back side of the monument and were able to walk out onto Crazy Horses arm.
Brenda got back with a day to spare before my surgery. Im really glad she was able to make the reunion.
Happy holidays, everyone.
Brenda and Stew
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2015
Dear Family and Friends,
Tradition has it that the Himrich/Thornley Holiday Newsletter begins with a cat tale. This one ends with me going shopping for new earrings. It begins with the discovery of kitty barf in the dining room caused by Jeter, presumably caused by him eating the stuffing out of an old favorite toy mouse. Having removed the offending barf, I began to pick up the remains of the toy only to discover that (you guessed it) it was the remains of a real dead mouse. Hence the trip to the mall.
Everything is getting back to normal, and everything is different. We are thriving, healing, changing, and grateful. I think that sums up surviving Stews cancer surgery, major changes in my job at work (much less OSHA stuff), Stew becoming a Mennonite, learning they got all the cancer and that the nerves in his leg are not likely to come back, and me thinking of retiring in 2016 (maybe).
I am aware that some of you have nominated me for Sainthood for taking care of Stew during this year. Since Saints are supposed to be selfless, I thought I would share some of whats in it for me. While acting as Stews personal assistant I received first class treatment from the Twins along with a pass to watch games from the press box. The guys there even gave me a nickname. I received similar treatment from the Timberwolves, where I had a close encounter with Ricky Rubio. During warm up he came very close to running into Stew and his walker. I came close to throwing myself on him (Stews not sure if I mean him or Rubio by that). Thats my story and I am sticking to it.
I was able to go back to Milwaukee for a do-over of the girls weekend that was disrupted by my broken arm last year. In February Stew had been home for a couple of months. He and I were able to go to New York for his annual meeting of the MLB Official Scorers. Good thing his friend the gynecologist (who is also an official scorer) was there since he was able to go into a pharmacy, flash his doctors credentials, and get a prescription that Stew needed. In June, we went to Chicago for another baseball trip with the Society for American Baseball Research. Chicago was more fun as Stew was still using a walker in New York and needed more help (I was a nervous Nelly).
Overall, it looks like last year was a bump in the road. Heres wishing you peace, happiness, and health for the Holidays and the New Year.
Ok. The nickname I got from the guys in the Twins press box was Windy. Guess why.
Brenda and Stew
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2016
Stew and I have good news, good news, and more good news.
As tradition mandates, the first story in our annual letter is about our cats. Mickey and Jeter are doing fine, but Jeter, our larger orange tabby, needed surgery for a gland issue. Around this time, we found out Stew would need more surgery because a couple of the screws in his rebuilt hip had broken. With all this going on, I became concerned that Jeter was having more problems and rushed him back to the vet. The diagnosis was that Jeter was fine and that I was once again transferring my anxiety about Stew to the cats. Since the cats are more agreeable to being squished into a box and rushed to the doctor, this is a relatively heathy coping mechanism. Jeter disagrees.
In late July we went to Miami for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) convention. At the banquet they presented SABRs biggest honor, the Bob Davids Award (http://sabr.org/about/bob-davids-award), named after the organizations founder and presented to someone for contributions to SABR and baseball research. We were sitting at the back of the room when the announcement was made and were both surprised when we heard Stews name called. As he hobbled up to the front of the room, I followed to help him up the steps to the stage. He pulled me up with him, so I stood next to him as he accepted the award. It was an incredible moment for us to share.
Stews surgery wasnt going to happen until October because they were building a new device to insert in him. That was convenient because it meant he could get through the entire baseball season, doing the official scoring and also the datacasting for mlb.com. We then learned he would need two surgeries. The first was to take out the broken hardware and insert a spacer, a temporary device that also oozed anti-fungus medicine to clear out an infection in there.
In between his two surgeries, Stew was able to attend my retirement party at work. I was so proud to have him by my side as so many people turned out and said wonderful things about me. I specifically recall the big honcho saying that I was leaving after having made the organization a safer place. There is no higher praise in my book. They also said I was fun. That was a surprise to me as I was always telling people not to light grills inside, race their office chairs, eat food in lead-contaminated areas, or plan a party on a crowded rail platform. I always thought I put had a wet blanket on all their fun.
Stew had his final surgery November 21 and is at home recovering. I call him Rocky because hes had as many hip surgeries as Rocky has had movies. He also had two operations last spring, one in February to do some minor work but it required an overnight stay in the hospital. A couple weeks later I kicked him out of the house for a week because I was having the kitchen floor redone (it looks great, by the way). Stew went to Florida for spring training. While he was there the incision from the latest surgery started leaking. He managed to get home (finding that sanitary napkins can work just fine for men, too) and went straight to the hospital for more surgery. But we hope everything is fixed now and that were past all that.
If you have been counting, I have probably mentioned more than three good things. Thats life. Our 2017 is full of great plans already, and I am happy that you are all a part of that. We wish you peace and joy.
Brenda and Stew
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2017
Our cats, Mickey and Jeter, are great, as usual. However, we may have stressed them out with a nine-day absence in March (more on that below). On the eighth day, Jeter attacked our cat sitter. She emailed us and let us know she wouldnt be returning. At least we were only a day away of returning and being reunited with our guys, who were as sweet and lovable as ever.
Brenda, in her retirement, has been more active than I have with a midday golf league, art classes, and a new job with Major League Baseball. MLB created a new position in the press box: BOSS, which stands for Balls, Outs, Strikes Spotter. She has a computer in which she enters the balls, strikes, and outs (hence the name of the position) as well as runs, hits, and errors and the position of baserunners. This information goes to various places, including onto the graphic you see when youre watching the game on TV. She sits in the press box two seats from the official scorer (which might be me) or right next to the mlb.com Gameday datacaster (which also might be me, depending upon the game), so were spending more time together.
We both got a warmup for the season in March when we went to Guadalajara for the World Baseball Classic (the picture is a selfie we took there). I was the official scorer, and Brenda was in the press box to relay announcements of my scoring decisions in Spanish. Venezuela, Mexico, Italy, and Puerto Rico were the teams in this pool, so we got to see Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Salvador Pena, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Felix Hernandez, and others. There were seven games, including a tiebreaker game in which Venezuela came from behind on a home run by Miguel Cabrera in the ninth inning to beat Italy. It was wild, with some long games and long days, and a bit overwhelming at times.
We went to New York in June for the Society for American Baseball Research convention. We got a special tour of Brooklyn from a native, John Labombarda of Elias Sports Bureau, who took us to where he played baseball against a future star, Shawon Dunston, and to his favorite New York pizza place, Spumoni Gardens. The Yankees were out of town that week, so we had to settle for seeing the Mets during the convention, but we also had a big group that went to Coney Island to see the Brooklyn Cyclones play.
It was our second time in New York this year since we had our usual meeting of official scorers there in January, and we are now preparing to go back for the scorers meetings next January.
The baseball season was exciting with the Twins doing so well. It was a smooth year in official scoring although I had one scoring decision overturned (my first since 2014) by Major League Baseball when I called an error on Alex Gordon of the Royals and MLB changed it to a hit. I accept the change, although I still say Gordon should have caught that ball.
Things are good for me health-wise. I even got a scooter paid for by my health coverage (and I hope someday everyone can have good health coverage). Its a good thing Im good, because Brenda will have a hip replacement in January. My turn to be the care giver. Happy holidays, all.
Brenda and Stew
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2018
We started the year with Jeter having diabetes. He was really sick, and on the first Saturday in January Brenda rushed him to the kitty hospital, where he stayed for three nights. Now we have to give him an insulin shot twice a day when he eats (and also have to keep Mickey from eating his food). Its working, and the guys are doing well. Brenda was concerned enough about Jeter that she stayed home from New York at the end of the month when we had our meeting of official scorers.
The following weekend she went to Houston. Brenda is again doing the BOSS (Balls, Outs, Strikes Spotter) at Twins games, and Major League Baseball wanted BOSS operators cross trained as field timing coordinators (FTCs), who operate a clock to show the time between innings and between batters. The FTCs came to Houston to train for what they thought would be the coming of a pitch clock in 2018. However, the day all these people arrived, the news came out that there would not be a pitch clock used in 2018. Nevertheless, they kept the folks around and went ahead, as planned, with having them operate a pitch clock at a college tournament held at Minute Maid Park, where the Astros play.
Brenda did both BOSS and FTC duties during the season. As FTC, she had to make a note of batters who took too long to get into the batters box. She was the FTC in the Twins last game of the season, when the focus was on Joe Mauer, who was playing his last game. When Mauer led off the bottom of the first, he got a standing ovation, causing him to take some time to wave to the crowd. Brenda wrote him up with a violation for taking too long to get into the batters box. Shes such a hard ass.
Brenda delayed a hip replacement so she could go to Houston for the training. She had the hip done later in February and was out of the hospital in two days and has been doing well ever since. We got to switch caregiver roles, and I got to take care of her a bit, although it wasnt nearly as good as the care Ive gotten from her with all my stuff in the last few years.
We went together to Puerto Rico in April for a two-game series between the Twins and Cleveland. We left after three straight games at Target Field were snowed out and arrived to enough heat and humidity that I almost missed the snow. Since it was a Twins home series, I was sent as the official scorer. The games were good, the second one going 16 innings, getting us back to our hotel so late that by the time I finished my paperwork, it was time to leave for the airport. It was a great experience, though.
Another trip we took together was out east to visit our friend, John Gregory, in the Boston area. We all went to a Red Sox game as well as minor-league games in Portland, Maine, and Lowell, Massachusetts. Our favorite, however, was a game in the Cape Cod League. We went to a game in Brewster, Massachusetts, and enjoyed the atmosphere there more than any other place. The place was loaded with scouts, who invited me to sit with them behind the plate (Brenda got a picture of that), where they had their radar guns and evaluation forms. We would like to go back and stay on Cape Cod for a week, going to a different place and game every night.
As usual, its been a good year filled with lots of stuff. In addition to a lot of baseball, Brenda has been registering voters with the League of Women Voters and taking classes in Spanish and water color. (One of her paintings, which she made into a card, is below.) But, best of all, she has been using her new hip to golf and ride her bike.
Happy holidays!
Brenda and Stew
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2019
Festive Greetings to All,
An alarming event occurred one morning this year as I crossed the dining room toward the kitchen. I saw a mouse lying on its side. I quickly determined it was dead. Since there was no blood, my hypothesis was that Jeter killed it, as he is quick when it comes to dispatching vermin, and Mickey likes to play with the corpse. I texted Stew at work, and he responded, That was a real mouse? I thought it was a toy and kicked it out of the way. So the body had been moved, which nullified the hypothesis. A forensic search identified the actual kill site, where it was necessary to conduct a biohazard cleanup. Glad my skills are still of use in retirement.
In January I joined Stew on his trip for the Major League Baseball Official Scorers meeting in New York. While he worked, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Right after that trip I went to Houston for additional training for my summer job at Target Field. One of the things I do is the field timing to help keep the game moving along. I am very diligent. Last year I wrote up Joe Mauer for not being in the batters box on time. He was waving his cap to the crowd, which was giving him a standing ovation in his final game. No matter, I wrote him up. This year I wrote up one of the junior p. a. announcers, who get to announce the batters for one inning. One kid stumbled through a name, which delayed the batter from getting in the box. Dont mess with me.
Stew and I went to San Diego for the Society of American Baseball (SABR) convention. I did a lot of walking keeping up with Stew on his rented scooter. Of course, we also found time to drive around the area to go to the graves of a couple Baseball Hall of Famers (Duke Snider and Tony Gwynn.)
With our SABR friends, we went to a lot of townball games and a minor-league game in Cedar Rapids where our friend, Emma Charlesworth-Seiler, was the plate umpire. Emma is in her third year of umpiring in pro ball. She is only the seventh woman to umpire in the minor leagues, and she did a great job.
Stew took a road trip with a couple others to see the Gophers play football at Rutgers in New Jersey. He did all the driving, and they came straight back after the game, 1,200 miles in 23 hours. Stew said he did get a half-an-hour nap at a rest stop in Indiana, but he wore himself down so much that he ended up with pneumonia a few days later. He said he wouldnt do something that stupid again. (Im not sure if I believe him.) Even though he got pneumonia, we got to celebrate him being cancer-free for five years.
We did some home updates with new carpet, new fireplace, and new rollout shelves in the kitchen. I am looking forward to spending more time at home in December. We hope this season finds you happy and well and wish you the best for next year.
Happy holidays!
Brenda and Stew
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2020
Festive Greetings to All,
Our cats, Jeter and Mickey, are making sure we know who is running our house. I was in Florida, visiting my sister in Fort Myers and going to a Twins spring-training game, leaving Stew and the guys to take care of themselves. Stew sent me an email that Jeter and Mickey wouldnt leave him alone when he was trying to eat lasagna (the boys are real lasagna monsters), so he finally took his dinner into the bathroom, shut the door to lock them out, and ate in there. I said he could have just put the cats in the bathroom and shut the door until he finished eating. He said he didnt even think about that.
We had to cancel some trips because of the pandemic, including one to Baltimore in June for the Society for American Baseball Research convention. Also, my sister and I were going to go to Puerto Rico in February, but we had to call that off because of the earthquake there. Instead, I went to Florida later in the month to stay with her and her husband in their winter place. Before that, Stew and I did get to New York for the annual meeting of the official scorers. While there, I got to go to the opera and Stew spoke to the New York Giants Preservation Society on the Polo Grounds baseball stadium, which he has written two books about. We also got to the top of the One World Trade Center for the first time and got our photo taken together (left). I walked around the city while Stew attended the first day of his meetings, which were held in the new headquarters building at Major League Baseball in midtown Manhattan. The next days meetings were at the MLB Network studios in New Jersey. They bussed the scorers out there. I puttered around New York and flew home separately since Stew flew home out of Newark, which was close to where they were having their meeting. As always, we love New York.
Stew has still been working this year and has spent a lot of time at the Health Department helping out with case investigations and contract tracing for COVID. Stew is thinking about retiring and keeps saying he might do it in the next year or so, although he says he might keep saying that for the next year or so or more. He still likes his job. He also likes being in the KMA Club, something he learned from his dad. If at some point you no longer like it, you can say Kiss my ass and go retire. I sometimes think hed like to go out that way.
Even during the pandemic, I was able to get together with my golf group and play nine holes every Monday morning. I bought a new electric-assist bike, a Pedego, which I love and Ive done a lot of biking, by myself and with others. I have been taken painting classes, which have been on Zoom rather than in person for the past few months. I was also an election judge for both the primary and general elections this year. Stew and I went on some Black Lives Matter marches this year (I march, he rides his motorized scooter) and done other racial justice things.
We both still have our baseball jobs. I was at Target Field to do the field timing coordination. Stew did official scoring, but all the scorers this year had to do it remotely, so he was doing it in his home office, watching the game on television. He also has a special computer video feed and some replay capabilities. He communicates to people in the ballpark and others through Slack, telling them if he is calling a play a hit or an error. Hed much rather be at the ballpark. For the games he wasnt scoring, he got his own credential from the Twins and attended games in person. At the end of August, he also got a credential from the Toronto Blue Jays, who played this season in Buffalo, so he went out there for a weekend series between the Blue Jays and Orioles. He saw three really good games and also enjoyed going to major-league games at a stadium where we had once attended a minor-league game in 1992.
Happy holidays!
Brenda and Stew
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2021
Howdy,
Mickey and Jeter proved to be excellent mousers this year. We had more mice than usual around our place, and a few got in but didnt survive long. Brenda worked extra hard at eradicating the mice outside because she hated coming downstairs in the morning to discover mouse entrails and viscera. Good for the guys, and they had as much fun as ever this year.
Like everyone else, Brenda and I spent more time at home, and I didnt travel anywhere until September when we resumed training activities at work (drinking water program at the Minnesota Department of Health) and got to go to hot spots such as Duluth and Moorhead. Im still working, still enjoying it, and I intend to keep working until they whiz me off.
Brenda continues to take painting classes with Dorene (my brother Davids wife) and they went on a retreat to northern Wisconsin to paint nature stuff. They planned a 10-day trip to do that in the Cotswalds in England in October, but the pandemic postponed that until next spring. Brenda also painted a picture of us crossing the Stone Arch Bridge, where we got married in 1996. Its below.
For our 25th anniversary in May we had family and friends over so we could celebrate the event (photo to the right) and then have a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity (advertised as a game for horrible peopleand it is).
Brenda and I were happy to have another full season of baseball this year. She again did the field-timing coordination for Twins games (its that clock you see above the bullpen at Target Field that she operates to make sure the managers dont take too long with mound visits and that they dont start a new inning before they get all their commercials in). I did the usual of official scoring and computer entry for Gameday. Since the Saints became affiliated with the Twins this year, I also did those duties for some of their games at CHS Field. With the baseball season over, Im now back with basketball, doing the official scoring for the Timberwolves. Ive been doing more and more things with the Minnesota Gophers. In addition to the usualsome public-address announcing and official scoring for baseballIve been filling in on other sports, including operating the shot clock for basketball, timekeeping and scoreboard for hockey, running the scoreboard for football and soccer, and whatever else. (Soccer scoreboard is hard to screw up, but I have demonstrated that it is doable.)
On the writing scene, a book I wrote on Twin Cities baseball parks is out and on the shelves. Also, Minnesota Historical Society Press has revised and updated Baseball in Minnesota, which I wrote in 2006, and the new version came out in time for the big shopping season.
While all has been good for us, that hasnt been the case for everybody, including my best buddy at work, David. He was playing with his daughter in July and fell off a playground slide, resulting in a serious spinal cord injury up near the neck. Hes been in Regions Hospital and Courage Kenny Institute and has worked hard on therapy and getting some function back. Ive been able to visit him, and we snark and laugh just like we always have; it always makes me feel better. David can move his arms but is still working to get back the use of his hands, which will make a huge difference in his independence. He has promised me that when he is able, he will give me the finger. Thats my Christmas wish. Im looking forward to it because it will be the most thrilled Ive ever been to get flipped off.
Happy holidays!
Brenda and Stew
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2022
Howdy,
Mickey and Jeter are doing wellMickey is almost a teenager, and Jeter is hanging on despite being 17 and having diabetes the last five years. Brenda bought a spy cam to put by the litter box because someone has been whizzing outside the box and she wants to determine which it is. She asked if I was the culprit before investing in the spy cam. I love how careful she is with money.
Brenda, as usual, has been more active with adventures. She and Dorene (sister-in-law) went on a painting trip to England. Brenda was surprised to see Saint Nick vacationing in the Cotswolds and she captured him in watercolor paddling the Thames (right). Brenda had girlfriend trips to the Columbia River in Oregon and to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
She was busy at Target Field this season but decided to retire from Major League Baseball after six seasons of being a BOSS (Balls Outs Strikes Spotter) operator and field-timing coordinator (FTC). She operates the clock you see on the back of the bullpen to limit the time between innings and batters. Next year, the FTC will be limiting time between pitches, which should improve the pace of the games. That is used in the minor leagues now, and Brenda did it at a Saints game to see if she would be proficient at it (she was). Despite that, she decided to call it a career and to enjoy the games from the stands next year, although shes been invited to come back to the press box. One of the things an FTC does is give extra time between innings for a pitcher who was at bat, on base, or on-deck at the end of an inning. Because of the designated hitter, that doesnt happen much. However, Brenda was the FTC when Shohei Ohtani pitched for the Angels and also hit for himself. Ohtani made the final out of several innings. Brenda had to start the 2-minute clock and then reset it to 2 minutes when Ohtani came out of the dugout after getting his glove. He usually took a minute and 40 seconds to do that, so we had extra-long inning breaks a few times, but it was fun to see him pitch and hit in this game.
All my fun was working sportball events in some capacity: official scoring for the Twins, Saints, Gophers, and Timberwolves, and some public-address announcing for the Gophers. I also filled in at various duties at whatever else came up: football scoreboard for the Gophers and Concordia; shot clock and other basketball stuff for the Gophers, Concordia, and Cretin-Derham Hall; and game clock and penalty timekeeping for Gophers mens and womens hockey. The hockey stuff is great because you sit at ice level between the penalty boxes (and sometimes hear the players hurl f-bombs at one another), but its cold there. I never realize how I frozen I am until I get home and have trouble thawing out. Brenda puts the fireplace on and also puts a pair of socks in the dryer so I have warm socks waiting for me when I get home. I also got a credential for the Winter Classic National Hockey League game on January 1 at Target Field. It was an outdoor game (5.7 degrees below zero at puck drop), but I was toasty, sort of, in the enclosed press box.
Photos from my perches with the Gophers
My big trip this year was to Dyersville, Iowa, when I got a credential for the annual Field of Dreams game (left). This years game, between the Cubs and Reds, wasnt too exciting, but its a spectacular venue. A few days later a group of us went to Beloit for a minor-league game, which is as far as I strayed from home this year.
I also went to Sleepy Eye in October for the 100th anniversary of Babe Ruth playing there on a post-season barnstorming tour. I was one of the speakers in an evening ceremony in town after ceremonies at the ballpark to unveil a plaque.
Next year, well go to Texas to attend games at the Rangers sort-of new stadium. That will be the 60th stadium Ive attended a major-league game at. It will be stadium 34 for Brenda, which is good although neither of us will ever catch our friend Seth, who has been to 86.
Next year, in addition to going to Texas, Brenda is going to Italy with her sister. Ill be going to my usual exotic hot spots for work such as Detroit Lakes, Moorhead, and maybe even Mankato. Im also planning on going to Portland, Oregon, for the annual conference of the National Association of Government Communicators.
Last year I mentioned my work buddy David, who was paralyzed in an accident. I have been hoping he could regain enough function in his hands to give me the finger. Unfortunately, he still cant flip me off. He can move his arms and has enough movement with his thumbs that he can do things on an iPad, such as surf the web and watch shows on Netflix. He can also send me brief emails, and they are often links to snarky things, which we enjoy. There are things they can wrap around his hands that have styluses (stylii?) to allow him to hit keys on his laptop, and he may be able to return to work. Hes an engineer and can do his work remotely. Since he cant give me the finger, please flip me off in his honor. Do it for David.
Im still at my regular job and am working on a video for the 50th anniversary of the passage of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which will be in 2024, the same year I turn 69. Maybe then it will be time to pull the plug. Or not.
Another project of Brendas was putting a heated bird bath on the patio and catching an inter-species rivalry in action.
Happy holidays!
Brenda and Stew
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