Wildflowers~!

More wildflowers from seed I threw down.

Poppy in full bloom

My idea of planting flowers is to throw down a bag of wildflower seeds. Here's one of my wildflowers. I think it's a poppy~!

So Green This Year

Here's a look at part of my back yard from the south west. I sure love this yard.

Day before they fledged.....

Here are four baby bluebirds one day before they left the nest.

He Emerges~!

Here's my Monarch butterfly after the worm slept in his chrysalis for 10 days. Isn't he/she/it beautiful?

Louie gets a first-ever Fur Cut~!

What an incredible difference~! Take special note of his PAWS~!~!





After

Chomp Chomp Chomp~!

Click to see it full size .... Here's my future Monarch butterfly dining on my milkweed plant in my front yard garden. Here's a video of him eating~! Enjoy~!
And here's one of the butterfly he became later.

Peacocks on Log Cabin

I pulled off Farwell Bridge Road, next to the Pecatonica River, while on my way home one night from work. What I saw surprised me: four peacocks roosting on the roof of a cabin just off FBR. I called to them (OK, Ok, yes, I talk to animals) and they were mostly fearless. One came very close. It's too bad it wasn't sunny.....

Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar

Here's a picture of a monarch butterly caterpillar who decided to make my front yard garden, which has several milkweek plants, his home. I am hoping he will spin a cocoon and come out a beautiful butterly. Watch for updates and more information about my Monarch.

For more information, this is a really good site: http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/Caterpillar.htm

For fun, here's another pic:

Class Reunion

Click on Pic~!

My high school class of 1973 held its reunion July 19 at Eilert's in Freeport and we had a blast, evidenced by Jackie (first row, left) who could not contain her mirth. Left to right, back row: Fritz K., Barb M., Nancy C., Wayne A., Steve J., Jim B., Mark G., Dalon T., Danny K., (front row); Kenny M., Jackie S., Bonnie C., me, and Kathy B. Missing from the photo is Bill Reeter who somehow managed to slip away without saying goodbye~! Later in the evening Class of '74 leader Kevin Lamm shamed the class of '73 by pointing out at their 30th they had nearly 50 classmates show up. Hmmmmm..... We'll have to try to do better for the 40th.~!

Play me~! Lazy Louie.....(sorry it's sideways...)

Here's what it looked like when Freeport flooded, in June.

ALMOST PERFECT!!!

July 7, 2008

Inside The Shell -- Flirting with perfection
Submitted by beek on Mon, 2008-07-07 21:35.
Posted in Featured Blog | Modesto Bee Staff | Sports/Athletics | beek's blog »
Visalia 4, Modesto 2. Game 88 of 140

GAME IN A GRAF – Oaks’ righty Wes Roemer took a perfect game into the seventh inning before giving up two runs, but that was all the Nuts would get as they had to settle for a split of the four-game series.


Keith Weiser pitched well, but allowed three runs in the sixth inning. Daniel Mayora broke up Roemer’s gem with a one-out triple in the seventh,



and Mike Paulk followed with an RBI double. Cole Garner’s two-out single scored Paulk, but those were the only three hits Modesto would collect.

Finally ... a WIN

Eat some dirt
Oaks bang out the hits against Lake Elsinore Storm
BY ANDREW BETTENCOURT • ABETTENC@VISALIA.GANNETT.COM • JULY 3, 2008

Wes Roemer (4-7) turned in his third straight quality start, limiting the Storm to five hits and three runs in seven innings. Roemer has a 2.75 earned run average over his last five starts.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/SPORTS/807030325


Visalia's Wes Roemer tosses a pitch against the Bakersfield Blaze Friday at Recreation Park. Roemer went six innings and allowed just one run, unearned, in picking up a no-decision. The Blaze beat the Oaks 2-1. (MICHAEL ALVARE
**
Oaks lose pitcher's duel to Blaze

BY ANDREW BETTENCOURT • ABETTENC@VISALIA.GANNETT.COM • JUNE 28, 2008
***
Some good news was the starting outing turned in by Wes Roemer.

With Valdez out of the rotation, the Oaks are in almost in dire need of a dominant pitcher — especially if the offensive woes continue. Roemer, a 2007 first-round supplemental pick of the Diamondbacks out of Cal State Fullerton, could be a staff-ace candidate.

Roemer gave up just six hits and an unearned run in six innings. Over his last four starts, Roemer has shaved almost a full run off his ERA — going from 5.51 to 4.63 since June 3.

Prom, 2008

Jon and Tyler, Prom, 2008

Storm over Chicago

I thought this was so cool I borrowed it. This was shot and posted on the Chicago Tribune's Web site by a subscriber. Cool huh?

Lake Summerset is WET

Spring storms are hammering the area. I captured this photo while videoing a possible tornado. Later I captured photos of the aftermath: Flooding along Yellow Creek at Bolton Road and a video of the fierce clouds at Lake Summerset, some of which later assuredly spawned tornadoes just east of the lake.

Gore and politics

http://politics1.com/

EDITORIAL: DRAFT AL GORE FOR VICE PRESIDENT. AMERICA WINS WITH OBAMA-GORE.

Senator Barack Obama needs a Vice Presidential runningmate who will calm older, union, Jewish, blue collar and white voters who voted for Hillary Clinton ... voters who still admire the Clintons ... voters concerned about Obama's experience in foreign policy. ...Email the Obama campaign: Let them know you support Al Gore for VP. For our party. To strengthen our nation. To heal our world.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 06.05.08 | Permalink | COMMENTS (365)

My lilacs

Each spring nature paints her beautiful picture of lavender in my back yard. I made a lovely centerpiece for my coffee table.

Thank you for using easyedgeSM Picture Messaging by U.S. Cellular. See www.uscellular.com for info.

Great Modesto Bee article on Wesley's 7 shutout innings on April 25, 2008, against the (Rockies) Modesto Nuts.

http://www.modbee.com/sports/story/280846.html

From the Fresno Bee newspaper

"Because of the Diamondbacks' willingness to promote their prospects quickly, Roemer knows exactly what he needs to do to earn his ticket out of Visalia: perform.

"I'm going to try and do what I did in college and last year in Yakima, and that's pound the zone with strikes," said Roemer, the 50th overall selection last year out of Cal State-Fullerton.
"If I do that, I'm sure I'll move up quickly."

Roemer said he received his share of hazing during spring training, including a tongue lashing from veteran second baseman Orlando Hudson for not being ready soon enough before an exhibition.

"I learned a lot while I was up there," Roemer said. "Everyone thinks of big leaguers as being laid-back, but they work their butts off. You can't mess around or Hudson or [outfielder Eric] Byrnes are going to come up and kick your butt."

Here we are at beautiful Chase Field in August 2007 after Wes signed his contract. Fun huh? I can't wait to go back. Wes is on the right.

FresnoBee.com: Sports: Leap seems shorter for Oaks

Nice Fresno Bee pic of Wes plus an article about how rookies rocket through the DBacks system. Enjoy.

FresnoBee.com: Sports: Leap seems shorter for Oaks

In "The Heartland"

America, the beautiful. Click on the picture to enlarge.



Seen on Rt. 11/81 at County Road "S" east of Monroe, Wisc.

Diana's Tuscon

For a week, I languished in Tucson, visiting Wes while he worked out with the DBacks in Spring Training. Ah, the life. Nobody told me what to do. Nobody told me where and when to go. It was magnificent and I'd love to do it again and soon, and not so much because I was in the lap of luxury: it was fine, but this is the view from my hotel room. Note the bullet hole in my window.

Below is the DBAcks mascot, Baxter. Everyone loves Baxter.

Where's Wes?

Relatives are beginning to ask: It's almost time for the season opener: where's Wesley? Well, he's done now with Spring Training and in Visalia, California, where he'll join the DBacks farm team "The Visalia Oaks." Here's a link to his schedule:

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_sch&did=milb&cid=516

I think you can listen to games free on the Web site.

Below is their report on Wes on their Web site, which you can also find at:

http://visalia.oaks.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t516

"Taken out of Cal State-Fullerton with a supplemental first-round pick last spring, Roemer was limited to just 12 innings at Yakima after a heavy workload in college. He'll be free to show what he can do at Visalia to start 2008.

With a potentially plus slider and a fastball in the low 90s, he has good makeup and a big-league demeanor. The club has high hopes for him. "We're getting him the foundation to kick start his career, command and the ability to use his fastball and mix his pitches," Hinch explained. "He loves to compete and pitch inside and that makes it a lot easier to work with him."
Audio: Roemer fans two with the bases loaded

Let the games begin! Hey~! Get up off that chair~!


Listen to Wes on MLB.com for $14 for the whole season.

Other family news: Jon begins his OWN season as Dakota Indians varsity baseball ramps up its season. All the talk about Jon now is where he'll be going to college.

Isn't Spring fun?
**

Chase Field

Thank you for using easyedgeSM Picture Messaging by U.S. Cellular. See www.uscellular.com for info.
Just to see what it would do, I sent this picture I took at the Diamondback's field in Phoenix, from my phone. It posted all by itself. Not bad~!

First Major League Appearance

As a non-roster invitee to the Arizona Diamondback's Spring Training games in Tucson, Wes took the mound on March 2 against the Chicago White Sox. Here's a picture of him as he arrived at the mound.



And here he is pitching to Jim Thome (below, right) (Thome flew out)

(Photo courtesy of Mike Edwards)

And here's a pic of him signing autographers later.... (below) (Photo courtesy Mom Roemer)





The best part about the whole thing is Kirk Gibson is coaching him.




Here's a pic of the two of them in the dugout, below. (Wes is the first player wearing a black cap, to the left of Gibson.)


Wes got his shoes spray painted gold in one practice ... there's some "hazing" involved, though it's all in good fun. For more information on how the rookies, including Wes, were treated at Spring Training, go to the following Web site:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080303&content_id=2401889&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnered=rss_mlb

"Let it snow ......"

It's incredible, the amount of snow Northwest Illinois has seen this year. This is a photo of my parent's road, albeit not a very good one, because I took it with my camera phone. But what incredible beauty greeted me when I went outdoors on Tues. Feb. 26 after a night-long heavy wet snow coated the region. School was called off for the day. We are all hoping that this snow stops coming, though it is in the forecast for weekend (when I'll be in Arizona, watching the Cactus League games).

Along the line of things I do at work, one day, I came upon this white fox roaming beside the road. He wasn't very scared of me, and he was trying to find a way to get back inside that fence, to the field.



Ultimately he caught a mouse, and ate it, while I click click clicked with the camera.

!
People were stopping on the road to see him, and I had a field day writing the story later. Enjoy~

He Liked What He Saw

Wes update:

Feb. 17, 2008: TUCSON, Ariz. -- Bob Melvin got a glimpse of the future Saturday and the D-backs manager liked what he saw.

Above: Wes, in Omaha, 2007, after a good strikeout.

Feb. 17, 2008: TUCSON, Ariz. -- Bob Melvin got a glimpse of the future Saturday and the D-backs manager liked what he saw. As pitchers and catchers went through their first workout of the spring, Melvin watched some of the organization's top pitching prospects throw bullpen sessions. Max Scherzer, Jarrod Parker, Wes Roemer, Barry Enright and Hector Ambriz all took their turns. ... Among those that did were Roemer and Enright, who were drafted last year....
From: Arizona DBacks Notes: Melvin pleased with pitching
D-backs' young prospects turn in strong showing at camp
By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080216&content_id=2376368&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=ari

Left: Wes, pitching at ECU, spring, 2007

Omaha, 2007

This guy sat in front of us at the Omaha games in 2007. Great T Shirt right? Ty Cobb ... what a great baseball player.

One of the beautiful results of watching Wes and Jon play baseball was keeping score.




Over the years I learned to use whatever I had on hand to score and make up my own folder ... here's a copy of my scorekeeping when CSUF played Rice in 2007.

Jon loves to play basketball. Here's a picture of him on the court with his coaches.