A lighthouse at Eddy's Resort on Lake Mille Lacs stands out in yesterday's pristine sunshine.
Rod Carew patiently poses with an endless stream of fans outside of Target Field.
April 21, 2010
Had a chance to run down for a ballgame, so I took it.
Twins won 6-0. Liriano was on. You could see the batters flailing at his pitches from down the left field line.
The park is also a winner. Every corner has something new, and every vantage point has great views.
Spent a good part of the evening walking around, seeing things from all the angles. The upper decks in left field are particularly good. The field is laid out right below you, and you can see the entire field.
They are going to make a lot of money on that ballpark, especially if the Twins keep on winning like they are. The place has character. It is homey, yet impressive in scale. The small lot forced the designers to improvise. There are catwalks and staircases and nooks and crannies galore.
The right field wall is going to be interesting. It has three different surfaces: the padded wall at field level, what looks to be a wooden wall above that, then higher yet, the limestone facing. The ricochet will be impossible to predict. Tonight, one ball hit a hard surface and bounced hard back towards the infield, forcing Cuddyer to run back to retrieve it. My thought is that on a ball hit to the wall in right, the left fielder should run like crazy to shallow right field to get the carom before somebody gets an inside-the-park home run.
As for the Twins, these strings of boring wins are what winning teams do. I mean, the Twins haven't really been hitting up to par and yet they are winning.
The reason?
Starting pitching. It all goes back to starting pitching. The Twins have five solid starters. If they keep coming through, this is going to be a fun season.
If Liriano keeps on like this, the Twins will have their ace.
Baseball is funny, though. It all could fall apart in a week.
That's why we keep watching.
April 20, 2010
Spoke at Good Shepherd Lutheran church to their senior group last night. Their senior group is 55 or older which hardly qualifies as senior in my book. I spoke there last year on the same day, and it was a lot of fun both times.
This absolutely crazy beautiful weather continues. Makes you wonder when the other shoe will drop.
Deep thought: Every time we get a cold spell, people say "so much for global warming!" Haven't heard much comment on this warm spell, however.
There were ashes falling on the nursery yesterday. I don't think it was from a volcano. Probably from one of the many grass fires in the area. The smoke was hanging heavy in Moorhead yesterday evening as the sun set. It was actually very pretty.
April 18, 2010
This beautiful weather means crazy busyness at the nursery. Yesterday was a busy, busy day. I gave three seminars and everybody else was running, trying to keep up. People are planting trees, mostly. Because selling trees is labor intensive (people rarely just pick them out on their own as they do with flowers), the longer the season means less stress at any one given time. So far, so good.
Each year, the same people return. Due to the distances involved, a person rarely sees them in between, so you get an annual snapshot of people as they age. Some never change. Others have declined markedly. Either way, they make their annual trip to the nursery if it is the last thing they do. Gotta have a donut.
