Postcards From the Edge: Mom's Family Cards 18

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The organ in the background has over 11,000 pipes.

 

Black Canyon at Gunnison National Monument in Colorado.  

Mount Rushmore at night.  The rip on the back was the way Grandma received it according to the note.

Postcards From the Edge: Mom's Family Cards 17

Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico.  The church is reported to have some miraculous healing powers.   

This is the Ghost Ranch at Abiquiu, which was made famous by painter, Georgia O'Keeffe. 

Tijeras Canyon near Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Albuquerque is longest word I know how to spell correctly on the first try.

Postcards From the Edge: Mom's Family Cards 16

Snow White and Dopey from Walt Disney World.  According the postcard sender, they'd gotten pictures with Goofy, Mary Poppins, and Pooh.  They rode the riverboat and went to EPCOT and saw France, USA (that seems superfluous), Mexico, Norway, and China.  Tomorrow they're going to MGM Studios.

Bread baking ovens at the Taos Pueblo.

Truchas, New Mexico.  I have never heard of this place, but I've spent almost all of my time in southern New Mexico.  This town is near Santa Fe in the north.  The Milagro Beanfield War was filmed here.

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 This is a dramatic postcard.  I'm not sure it exactly sells the state of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Buffalo Herd.  This is a bit less threatening view of Oklahoma.

Verde Valley, Arizona, Peck's Lake.  These postcards were sent by a friend of the family on vacation.  

Postcards From the Edge: Mom's Family Cards 14

This postcard promotes the North Shore Animal League, which is in Port Washington, New York.

The Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City, Missouri.

The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC, Canada.  Sounds like Greg was having a good trip here.  You have to take a boat to the Gardens in choppy waters.  "Lots of people got sick."  He had dinner in Space Needle in Seattle and was going to the Boeing plant.  

Postcards From the Edge: Mom's Family Cards 13

 Back to Mom's Family Cards.  The first is Sunset on the Plains of Kansas.

The next two postcards feature the Legend of the Sand Dollar.  The sand dollars are from the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  These cards are also postmarked from North Carolina.

Postcards From the Edge: Plain Postcards 5

 The first three stamp postages feature buildings.  The first is the Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood, Oregon.  The next two are unnamed.

This was the back of a postcard to a Women's apparel store.  Very pretty.

 

Writer Sinclair Lewis is on the postage.  The back of this I have no explanation for.  I got no idea what this is about.  Seems like a marketing thing.  Maybe there was a follow up letter with it.  

I like this one with the Thomas Jefferson postage.  It's an invitation to a Christmas party with a little verse.

NM State Aggies vs UTRGV Vaqueros Baseball 4-17-22

 

Let’s break this down.  This game was scheduled to be played on Easter Sunday.  The game start time was moved up an hour to 11:00am.  Finally on the radio call, Adam Young started off by saying that the game was going to be limited to seven innings and there was a 2:00pm stop time if necessary for the visitor’s travel considerations.  As I mentioned for yesterday’s game, this series with UTRGV didn’t count in the conference standings, though they are conference opponents.  (And you couldn’t miss them in their painfully bright orange tops.)  So, this game really didn’t need to be played.

 

That’s about how it worked out with the Aggies’ efforts today.  With the seven-inning cap, it was like they’d already been run-ruled.  I only took about a page of notes, so I was low-effort, too.  I credit the 500-plus fans (Aggie and Vaquero) for showing up.  I was glad to see that some kids were present for the Easter Egg Hunt after the game.  Initially before the game, Ron noted there weren’t any.  “More for us,” I said.  The weather was good.  It was warm and sunny though a stiff breeze was blowing in.  This would affect game play and knock down most of the flyballs. 

 

Also affecting the game, Gunner Antillon was back playing, but out-of-position at second base.  Kevin Jimenez, the regular second baseman, was still being DH’d.  Sunday starter, Ian Mejia was out.  Ryan Grabosch was out of the lineup after a bad experiment in putting a catcher in the outfield.  I hope his fielding and hitting confidence haven’t been destroyed. 

 

Most importantly, the Easter Bunny was in the dugout.  Yep, EB also shook his little cotton tail and threw out the first pitch.  I was briefly hopeful that he might actually be today’s pitcher.  Things probably would have ended up the same, but it would have been more entertaining getting there.  A little later, Sports Marketing goddess Emerson suddenly appeared.  I keep wondering if that’s her under those bunny ears.  If it was her, I hope this doesn’t awaken something inside me.  I don’t want to be a furry.

     

At least these scorecards added up quickly.  Frankly, nothing much happened in the first two innings.  Preston Godfrey struck out on a check swing in the second.  Somewhat comically, he was in disbelief and didn’t want to leave the box.  This started a chain of questioning the umps for the game. 

 

Aggie spot starter, Cam Blazek’s, wheels came off in the third.  The first five Vaquero batters hit their way on.  This included Chris Mondesi, who is the nephew of the Major Leaguer Raul Mondesi.  His name got butchered by the PA initially, but was corrected on the next at bat.  Mondesi led off with a double.  The next batter tried to sac him to third.  It was a good enough bunt that there was some confusion on it and it became an infield hit.  Three singles followed, including one that went by second base that I think KJ would have gotten to and stopped.    

 

Noah Estrella came in with two on and no outs.  One runner advanced on a foul out and was nearly thrown out at third. Two wild pitches followed.  I had one as a passed ball, which only makes a difference in terms of earned runs.  In any case, I think Grabosch would have done a better job catching the last two days, if he’s healthy enough to catch.  There was a walk and then two scored on what was ruled a triple, which involved a double and then the ball getting kicked around the infield, but I’m not the scorer.  It was 6-0 Vaqueros by the time the inning ended with Mondesi coming back up to bat for a second time.

 

To start the top of the fourth, the PA left the music playing during the first pitch.  There was the dreaded glare at the pressbox from the ump over that.  There is the famous incident of the 80’s El Paso Diablos’ PA, Paul Strelzin, getting ejected for playing a sarcastic song at an ump.  I’ve also seen an umpire in a Chihuahuas’ game force a do-over because of the music playing.  This rubbed out the game-winning out and instead led to the Chihuahuas rallying and winning the game.  PA, you have been warned.  Before grounding into a double play, the third batter of the inning fouled a ball off his foot and let out a loud curse, which got a snicker out of the crowd, which is why players shouldn’t curse in play. 

 

The bottom of the fourth brought the Pocket Contest.  I was actually interested in winning.  Last series, they gave away something in a box.  Fellow fan, Michael, identified it as an Aggie snow globe.  Alas, what Emerson was giving away was just clear fanny packs.  (Me and Ron had already declined the clear bags they were giving away at the gate.)  I was even wearing the first item called for—an Aggie t-shirt.

 

Vaquero starting pitcher, Jesus Aldaz, struck out the side in the inning, but Gunner did single in the middle of it.  Gunner stole second, even though the throw beat him there.  The throw went into center and he took third.  For a terrifying moment while I’m listening to the radio call, I thought the scorer wasn’t going to hand out an error on the play and space/time was going to collapse. 

 

During the inning, I found from the radio that KJ played for Nogales High School in Arizona.  Their nickname is the Apaches, so hashtag-cancelled.  Their name next season should be the Guardians or the Commanders.  Logan Galina was another strikeout victim.  A fan guy sitting below us looked back at Ron, and Ron looked at him and nodded.  They’d been doing this during Logan’s at bats the last two days.  They’d had some discussion on Friday where they’d agreed that Logan should cut down his swing and focus on contact.                

 

We’ll skip to the bottom of the sixth.  By now, fans of both teams were chirping at the home plate ump over his strikezone, sometimes on alternating pitches.  Aldaz finally showed some vulnerability.  After getting the first two batters out, gave up a single, a walk, and then two run-scoring singles.  He finished the inning and his day with a looking strikeout.  6-2 Vaqueros.

 

Lyle Hibbitts came in for the top of the seventh, our final inning today.  He gave up a run that was mostly self-inflicted.  After giving up a single, he concentrated too much on trying to pick the runner off and threw the ball away for a two-base error, which was cashed in on a ground out.  There was no Stretch.  Fans in attendance might have been clued in that the game was about to end at that point.  Cal Villareal singled in the bottom.  The ball was bobbled in the outfield and he took second.  On the bad throw back to the infield, Cal was able to take third.  Only one error was given on the play, which was probably wrong, but whatever.  Vaqueros win 7-2. 

There’s an easy gameball to toss to UTRGV’s Jesus Aldaz.  He pitched 6 innings, only giving up 2 runs with 10 strikeouts.  It’s Easter.  Of course, Jesus was the star player.  (I’m sorry.  That was too easy.  This is why they shouldn’t have played on Easter.)  For the Aggies, I’ll give one to Noah Estrella for his 4 innings of relief.  He gave up 1 run of his own and 1 inherited runner. 

 

The best I can say about this game is that it only took two hours.  Ron was so disgusted, he wouldn’t stay for the Easter Egg Hunt.  I was crushed.  I thought he’d enjoy watching kids stumble around the field looking for eggs.  We were done way too early to hang out waiting for the NASCAR race this evening.  I’d been hinting at going across town to the Dairy Queen to sample their new Stack Burger.  Mine was kind of disappointing to be honest.  Ron had two and thought well of them.  We both loved our Blizzards.  (Strangely, I don’t think Caliches offers cookie dough as a topping.)  I was surprised how nice it was inside given how shabby the restaurant looks on the outside. 

 

More honestly, much like Softball this season, I think I’m mentally done with Aggie Baseball this season.  It’s hard watching them lose and look pathetic.  I’ve been critical of the personnel shuffling.  The truth of it may be that some players may be too hurt to play their normal positions, but are still in the lineup trying to contribute.  This likely means that the bench players have been deemed too green to play.  The Aggies seem very thin.  I may be looking for excuses not to go to the remaining games this season (especially the GCU games), but I’ll probably feel obligated to show up.

NM State Aggies vs UTRGV Vaqueros Baseball 4-16-22

This series was an odd match up.  These games were between conference opponents, but didn’t count as conference games.  Both teams had an open weekend and decided to play each other.  I regret not listening to Friday night’s game against the Vaqueros on the radio.  The Aggies won 11-8 in an exciting back-and-forth fashion.  Today’s game (Saturday) was not of that caliber.  At least it was pleasant.  It was overcast, but warm with a cool breeze.  Ron was there Friday and said I also missed an unlicensed beef jerky vendor in the stands that might have come from an outdoor concert going on next door, who was subsequently ejected.  I was warned that UTRGV brought a bunch of fans with them.  They have a couple of El Paso players on the team. 

 

Indeed, their fans were tailgating outside a strangely quiet Presley Askew Field.   One family even had sharp-looking jerseys with their last name on the back.  Ron and I wondered if the game was still on, but actually the pregame warm up music was mutated because there was a dedication ceremony going on for the new batting facility.  Ron wasn’t interesting in going to that.  Instead, we went inside the grandstand and met with fan, Michael, who wasn’t interested in the ceremony either.  This may have been a mistake.  They might have been handing out some free ice cream at the dedication. 

 

The conversation, at least, was interesting as usual.  I found out that the Aggie dugout ballkid was actually the son of a donor.  Once again, I saw the kid impressively taking infield with the team.  Coach Kirby chatted with him a bit afterward.  Michael also told a little story about the zealous enforcement of parking permits at the university.  When the coach had first arrived at the stadium, he was nearly ticketed for not having a permit.  Michael, on the grounds crew, recognized him and vouched for him.

 

Gunner Antillon had had big night Friday, going 4 for 4 with 4 RBI’s.  Unfortunately, he was hurt and not in the lineup.  Catcher Ryan Grabosch was in left field today.  Okay.  Ace second baseman, Kevin Jimenez, was DH’ing.  A freshman, Jacob Wiltshire, was taking his place on the field.  If KJ had been there, I think he would have made a couple more plays.  Later in the game, a fan asked me about a couple of pitchers, who were in the stands with a radar gun and a notebook.  Looking at their player numbers, I told him that Sammy Natera and Ian Meija were both injured.  Ian is the team’s Sunday starter.  In other words, the Aggie lineup is messed up.   

In spite of the number of runs, these scorecards added up pretty quickly, if hurtfully, because of the results.  Pablo Cortes started for the Aggies.  He got two outs before yielding a hit.  Unfortunately the pivotal play of the game happened right after.  The next batter struck out, but the ball went to the backstop, so he made it to first and an additional error was charged that advanced the runner on first to third.  Four unearned runs followed—three of them on a home run.  4-0 Vaqueros.

 

During the first inning some interesting people came in.  I recognized Assistant Coach Hertel from the Volleyball team sitting behind us.  I turned around and said, “Hello,” to him and asked if he brought some players with him.  Yeah, they were right behind us, too.  I didn’t recognize them.  I talked to one of them later and found out they were new freshmen players.  I mentioned a freshman player that wasn’t there, Mia.  A co-worker had met her at the gym last month and was infatuated with her.  Coach Hertel wasn’t surprised.

 

Later, former volleyball star, Tatyana Battle, joined them.  She’d been hired by the team after working for the Miners two years ago.  Funny, I’d mentioned her to Ron when we came into the stadium.  I greeted her and said, “Welcome back.”  She left before I was able to catch her to ask for a briefing on Conference-USA.  Taty went over to talk to this one Aggie fan lady that’s at all the games.  They were chatting with each other for most of the rest of the game.  Also coming in was new Men’s Basketball coach, Greg Heiar.  He walked by with five obvious basketball players that I didn’t recognize.  The radio call said that they were new recruits being given a tour.

 

In the top of the second, a walk to start the inning was followed by a bloop double over first base.  The Vaqueros scored two more runs on ground outs.  6-0 UTRGV.  The Aggies came back in the bottom with a first pitch ambush homer by Logan Galina.  Two more hits and a walk drove in another run.  6-2 UTRGV.

 

Adam Young on the radio call talked to Mike Johnson in the third inning.  Mr. Johnson and his wife had financed the new batting facility and some other stadium improvements.  They’d been very unimpressed with the ballpark when they’d first seen it and wanted to help.  The improvements that have been made over last few years have been with the goal of taking Presley Askew Field up to NCAA regional tournament standards to host games.  Mr. Johnson was pretty sharp about baseball, too.  He was successfully predicting upcoming pitches.

 

On field, Cortes worked a 1-2-3 inning in the third.  In the bottom, Nolan Funke doubled and Preston Godfrey singled him in to make it 6-3 Vaqueros.  Also on the radio, Adam mentioned that former Aggie, LJ Hatch, was currently starting with the Albuquerque Isotopes.  I’d heard him come into a game against the Chihuahuas last season.  There was a competition going on in the stands.  The ballhawk kid, who has been a fixture at games over the years, had a little brother with him today.  They were rushing out of the grandstand trying to get foul balls from each other.

 

In the fourth, Cortes gave up three hits and two runs before being taken out.  Two more runs came in after before the inning finally ended.  Worse, on two balls to left field, Grabosch was out-of-position to make a play.  The Vaqueros were now up 10-3.

 

In the bottom, the highlight was the Easter Bunny showing up to hand out eggs to the kids.  Yay!  Oh, I’m not a kid.  Boo!  At least the kids were happy.  EB was all about customer service and even took care of a couple kids that were late coming over.  A little boy also wanted a hug and got it.  Ahh.  Hey, when EB showed up, Emerson the Sports Marketing goddess, disappeared.  Hmmm.  (Actually, I’m not sure.  Otherwise, I would have gone over and asked for a hug.)

 

In the top of the fifth, the Vaqueros tacked on another run.  I was miffed that Brandon Dieter at short was given an error on a ball he had to slide for.  (The scorer called the throw an error.  It’s the classic unfairness of handing out errors based on parsing out the play.)  11-3 UTRGV.  AD Mario Moccia was a guest on the radio.  He said the basketball prospects had toured the baseball clubhouse and were impressed.  Baseball opponents were also reported to be impressed by the Aggies’ new batting facility.  He mentioned that the Diamond Club was full today and that they were serving free hot dogs, ice cream, and beer.  Ron and I definitely got into the club on the wrong day.    

 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies mounted a comeback off a UTRGV reliever.  They scored three runs off of four hits.  Godfrey tripled in the inning, which will come up as important later.  11-6 UTRGV.  In the sixth, the Vaqueros led off with a home run.  Logan made a nice sliding catch on the infield to end the inning.  12-6 UTRGV.  In the bottom, there was a ricochet of a foul ball into the stands.  A kid made a nice diving play on it.  More importantly on the field, Godfrey doubled in a run to make it 12-7.

 

I noticed an Aggie player juggling in the dugout.  Since I know how to juggle, I like watching other people do it.  Godfrey made a great defensive play in the seventh.  From right field, he gunned down a runner trying to stretch out a single to a double.  The Aggies went down in order in the bottom.  Vaquero Diego Ramirez made a great shoe top diving catch on a liner in the inning.  Edwin Martinez-Pagani finally made it back into the Aggie line up as pinch hitter.

 

The Vaqueros scored another run in the eighth.  Grabosch tripped on a fly ball to left that dropped in for the run-scoring single.  Funke made a great running effort on a foul ball by the Aggie dugout.  He went down on his back and stayed down a few seconds.  I take credit for leading some applause for his attempt after he got back up.  EMP, now playing second, started an inning-ending double play.  Logan laid flat out and kept his toe on the bag on the throw to him for the final out.  13-7 UTRGV.

 

For the top of the ninth, Hayden Johns came in for the Aggies.  His family was shouting for him and girls were screaming.  He is tall with flowing, long blonde hair.  He worked a quick inning.  In the bottom, the volleyball girls behind us were gossiping.  Mia’s name came up.  I didn’t hear what they said (or won’t disclose it).  In the bottom of the ninth, EMP singled.  Later, KJ had an epic at bat that went eight pitches and ended with him driving Edwin in.  Grabosch, 0 for 5 today, was lifted for a pinch hitter.  (I’m not picking on Ryan—I’m pointing out that he shouldn’t have been playing out of position for the game and it seemed to affect his hitting, too.)  The Vaqueros win 13-8.

 

While there were some good plays today, at over three hours and 20 minutes, this defeat was too long to be enjoyed.  The outcome didn’t seem much in doubt after the first inning, but the Aggies put up a fight.  The Vaqueros get two gameballs.  Raul Ortega went 4 for 5 with three RBI’s.  This was bettered by Brett Cain, who went 5 for 5 (!) with 4 RBI’s.  Oddly, those were all singles.  For the Aggies, Nolan Funke went 3 for 5 and Preston Godfrey went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI’s.  He finished a home run short of hitting for the cycle.

 

The volleyball girls left.  One of them looked really tall and impressively built, not to mention pretty with a nice booty.  I think we’ll be seeing her play in the fall, even as a freshman.  Ron and I had had Jimmie Johns subs for lunch before the game.  Those were great.  Afterward, we went by Caliches.  I used an Aggie coupon and a gift card I’d forgotten and only spent less than $2 for two sundaes.  I’ll take credit for these good food calls.  Meanwhile, I’d been obsessively complaining about my milk going bad way before its expiration date.  I’d asked if we could go by a supermarket, but Ron was nice enough to just give me an extra gallon of milk he had.  That was so nice.  It took some of the sting out of the loss.