Yesterday we enjoyed goodies and drinks at Jim and Cheryl and today they will come over for dinner. I think we are pretty brave. I am using the grill for the FIRST time and am doing a brisket for the FIRST time. AND we really invited guests! Perhaps we are very confident or have a "I don't care" attitude or maybe we just want to entertain friends at any cost! I can write about how the meal went in my blog tomorrow!
I did not play tennis today. I just decided that my body needed some time to rest and rejuvenation
I started this yesterday
no tennis Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Well I may go over and work on my serve but as of this morning at 9:00 it is raining.
Terry and I had dinner guests last night (that was Friday night) and used the pellet fed grill/smoker for the first time and I should add we had brisket for the first time ever. A 1.86 pound of flat brisket was in for nearly 4 1/2 hours and came out delicious. So much for the FIRST time. Will try something else in a day or so to find out if I really know how to grill/smoke or if it was beginner's luck!
Not much planned for the day. Maybe it is a day to watch the rain drops in the pool and read a book.
Late winter of 1962
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| Freshman team of the winter of 1962 ( 5 are not with us today at the age of 72) |
We are nearing the end of the basketball season. So far my freshman year of high school has had many highlights. Some low lights also as my shyness comes into play OFTEN.
In the fall I was on the football team and we had a fun season. The year before the team had gone undefeated in the Wild Rice Conference. That did not happen this year but still with a 5-2 record it was a success AND I was able to letter. I played end and the future looked like I would be a starter next year. Our ends were Bob Zollar and Chuch Kiefer. Chuck would graduate in the spring and I was sure I was set to take his place. I had found that I was not that "sure handed' end but I felt my defense sense and skills more than made up for it. The big thing was I got a lot of playing time as a freshman, I earned my football letter and that meant two things. I would be in the letterman's club and I would be able to order a letterman's jacket. I had concerns that Dad would not have the money for a jacket so in thinking about that possibility I had saved a bit of money from summer work. I had helped Rollof and cousin Russel bale hay and ALL that money went into a box under the bed at home. I am not sure but I think I had close to $50. I did not know how much a jacket would cost but I was ready to pitch in if Dad asked me to.
I had another interesting happening that I kind of fell into. In October we had the homecoming dance and I drove myself. Towards the end of the dance a girl came over and asked me to dance. I had NO idea how to dance and I certainly was not interested in girls at the time BUT some of the guys saw her coming and insisted I should dance. SHE ended up asking me to take her home and then she proceeded to tell me we should drive around the country for a while. I experienced my first ever kiss and I was shocked. It gave me this warm feeling. So after that night I kind of had a girl friend. I would say it certainly added to my freshman year and really she was very nice but in retrospect it was not the best thing in the world. Of course I was not ready for it and I was just taken back that anybody would be interested in a country boy who lived 25 miles from high school. AND had no phone or indoor bath! Prehaps thoughts for a later writing.
Back to late winter of 1962. We had a freshman basketball team, a "B" team and a varsity. I was a starter on the freshman team and it was a fun time. John C, Dan J and myself were the standouts on the team. Later my best all time friend Larry would grow and become a very good player but as a freshman he had not begun to grow so to speak! Anyway we went through the season undefeated and in most games won by a large margin. IF I remember correctly John and I were kind of the mainstays of the team and the thought was that with 5 seniors on the varsity we would be candidates for varsity the following year. There was a "B" team but there were not many good players on it. In fact on nights that both the freshman and "B" team played coach Hanson would usually play John and I only 2 or 3 quarters for the freshman team if possible so that we could also play on the "B" team. The ultimate came near the end of the season. The varsity was having a very good season and actually lost their first game of the winter when they lost to Lidgerwood 59-67. There were only two games left and then tournament time would be on us. We had Havana and Wyndmere left to play when we started practice the week of February 19-24th. Coach Wohler, the varsity coach, came to watch a bit of our freshman practice. Before he left he invited John and I to suit up for the varsity game the following Thursday. Of course our answer was "yes" and so continued my fun freshman year. John and I suited up for the Havana game and Wyndmere game. Both games were fairly close with scores of 65-57 and 67-60 but I did get in for a few minutes in each. John and I did end up making the varsity the next year as sophomores as 6 juniors stayed on the "B" squad. I did not start on the varsity until I was a senior as the class ahead of me just had several very good athletics. As a junior I was the 6th man on the team and got a lot of playing time.
As I look back on my high school days they were, for the most part, very fun. Of course one can look back and think, "Why did I do that?" but then if that were not the case I suspect one would have taken the part of a wall flower! I was VERY shy as a high school student but a wall flower I was not!
No it is time to read. We still have rainy weather and my FP is gone. I did spent about 45 minutes in the kitchen this morning as there was some work to do after our dinner last night. Much was done last night but I wanted the kitchen to be in order when Terry woke up and it is. On to my book.
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